The Saturday Writing Quote — Margery Allingham

“I write every paragraph four times — once to get my meaning down, once to put in anything I have left out, once to take out anything that seems unnecessary, and once to make the whole thing sound as if I had only just thought of it.”

— Margery Allingham (as quoted in Paul R. Reynolds, The Writing and Selling of Non-Fiction 31 (1963)). (Spotted in Bryan Garner’s daily email on usage.)

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