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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Pammy's doctor tell Anne to watch Pammy carefully in her final days?
(a) Pammy was teaching Anne how to live.
(b) For Anne to see that cancer affects the body, but the essence of the person lives.
(c) Pammy's doctor did not want her as a patient any more.
(d) For Anne to call and report Pammy's progress.

2. What did Anne's book do for her father?
(a) It gave him an ulcer, because Anne was not a very good writer at this point.
(b) It gave him inspiration to write a book before he died.
(c) Gave him the best possible months before he died and the best death.
(d) It gave him hope to get better.

3. What does Anne believe drives a writer's work?
(a) The writer believing in the position taken by the characters.
(b) Deadlines.
(c) Publishers.
(d) The climax.

4. According to Anne, what should our stories encompass?
(a) Half truths, which are much more interesting.
(b) The truth as we know it, that is all we have to share.
(c) The truth as others see it, no one cares what you think.
(d) No truth at all, total fiction is riveting.

5. According to Anne, what is publication not going to do for you?
(a) Make writing easier for the next novel.
(b) Change your life.
(c) Assist you in writing a screen play.
(d) Help you get over your jealousy.

6. When you are still, and breathing calmly, what can happen, according to Anne?
(a) You can write from the perspective of the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
(b) KFKD blares louder than ever.
(c) You fall asleep.
(d) You can hear the voices of your characters, above the rantings of KFKD.

7. What is publication like for Anne?
(a) It is really uneventful, no one notices or comments.
(b) Her phone rings off the hook with friends and publishers calling her.
(c) The last few weeks of pregnancy and the first day of seventh-day PE class.
(d) A joyous event and all her self-doubt is erased.

8. How many people have told Anne they were thankful to know what the wire was on champagne bottles?
(a) Hundreds.
(b) Five.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

9. What does Anne suggest students do when faced with "writer's block?"
(a) Write about school breakfasts to get the creativeness flowing.
(b) Breathe calmly and meditate.
(c) Accept that they are not in a creative period right now, in doing so you free yourself to fill up again.
(d) Accept that they are challenged writers who should take her class again later.

10. What does Ms. Allende's writing style offer to the reader?
(a) Nourishment of the imagination and wonder.
(b) Sharp turns and suspenseful drama.
(c) A sense of being understood.
(d) A headache.

11. What is the best thing to do when you have a decision to make and do not know what to do?
(a) Something, anything; making a mistake is better than doing nothing.
(b) Sit in a corner with your arms around your knees, and just start rocking back and forth.
(c) Flip a coin.
(d) Call your mother for advice.

12. What ultimately helped Anne overcome her jealousy?
(a) Meditation.
(b) Feeling it and then writing about it.
(c) Talking to a friend.
(d) Going to visit family.

13. What did Anne and her friend Carpenter do for each other on the day they both had books out?
(a) Unknowingly went to the same bookstore for a signing.
(b) Unknowingly sent flowers to each other.
(c) Consoled each other with boxes of chocolates and martinis.
(d) Called each other to say congratulations.

14. Besides calling around, what is another way to escape the isolation of writing?
(a) Joining a meditation group.
(b) Taking a dancing class.
(c) Joining a writing class.
(d) Employing a good therapist.

15. How does Anne wish she could write all the time?
(a) Carefully and soulfully.
(b) Truthfully and soulfully.
(c) Fastly and accurately.
(d) Passionately and accurately.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Anne suggest you do when your mind starts to wander again and again?

2. Of Anne's former students, the four that formed a writing group, how many of them had been published?

3. What does Anne say the single greatest obstacle is to listening to your broccoli?

4. What does Anne state is the most degrading occupational hazard of being a writer?

5. Every writer needs discipline, but what is one way Anne suggests to give yourself a break and still be productive?

(see the answer keys)

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