Advice from the Masters: William Zinsser II

Oct 22, 2014 | Better Writing

William Zinsser is the person most writing coaches want to grow up to be. At least he’s who I’d like to grow up to be. He’s already in this Masters series with advice on writing for the ear. Here’s a bit of his sage advice on re-writing.

“Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it’s where the game is won or lost. That idea is hard to accept. We all have an emotional equity in our first draft; we can’t believe that it wasn’t born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn’t.”

If you want more of Williams Zinsser’s advice, check out his classic book, On Writing Well. My favorite of his books, is Writing to Learn, which inspires me every time I open it.

Want more? Check out the complete list of Advice from the Masters posts.