title: Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing
author:  Helene Cixous 
description: "Hilhne Cixous is today, in my view, the greatest writer in what I will call my language, the French language if you like. And I am weighing my words as I say that. For a great writer must be a poet-thinker, very much a poet and a very thinking poet." -- Jacques Derrida
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  > > THE MISTLETOE MISTAKE OF MISS GRAYSON
  
  > > SCHOOL OF CHARM: CHRISTMAS NOVELLA
  
  > MAGGIE DALLEN
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  > CONTENTS
  
  > [Chapter 1](index_split_002.html#filepos2058)
  
  > [Chapter 2](index_split_003.html#filepos22878)
  
  > [Chapter 3](index_split_004.html#filepos47868)
  
  > [Chapter 4](index_split_005.html#filepos69146)
  
  > [Chapter 5](index_split_006.html#filepos97393)
  
  > [Chapter 6](index_split_007.html#filepos118212)
  
  > [Chapter 7](index_split_008.html#filepos133401)
  
  > [Chapter 8](index_split_009.html#filepos147831)
  
  > [About the Author](index_split_010.html#filepos160395)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  >
  
  
  > 1
  
  
   M iss Madeline Grayson ran her fingers over the letter on her lap, the
  crinkling of the paper the only other noise in this carriage aside from the
  clattering of hooves on the snow-covered dirt road.
  
  
  
   The silence was pleasant, she decided. Far better than having a companion.
  She looked out the small window beside her at the snowy landscape rather than
  the empty space around her, t