Measured by Measure

The Rap Sheet has announced a winner of its Elmore Leonard Limerick Contest. He’s Robert Holland of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and he will receive one free, signed copy of the new non-fiction book Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, which was finally released today under the William Morrow and Company imprint.

Holland’s winning submission, titled “Less Is Elmore,” nicely sums up this novelist’s modus operandi:

At his best, he is not even there.
No descriptions obscure our true care.
All his characters speak
In a voice so unique
That their innermost selves are laid bare.

Two additional limerick entries, plus comments from contest participants, can be found in The Rap Sheet.

In addition, Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce today presents a short interview with Leonard on the subject of his “rules.”