When Ben Franklin wanted to learn to write well, there weren’t a lot of options. There weren’t any writing courses and even if there were, Ben was working long hours as an apprentice printer. So he did the logical thing. Franklin identified excellent writers and analyzed what they did. He chose the writing of » Read More
Tag: Good Writing
Writing Tip: Starting Over
The article just wouldn’t work. After the first draft, I tweaked it and twisted it and edited it over and over, but it still didn’t work. I called my mother. My mother was a writer, so calling her about a writing problem made sense. I’d get some of that Mom Wisdom and emotional support, plus good writing » Read More
Writing Tip: The Horn and Hardart Rule
Doug Shaw had a great post on HR Examiner back in November 2013. In, “Where is the Soul?” he contrasts a sample of gobbledygook in a marketing email with a note he got from his father. Then he says this: “What a sharply gentle, wonderful contrast to the hyper convoluted management mumbo jumbo that had so » Read More
Writing a book: Why Greg’s book is pretty awful
Greg’s a nice guy and I liked him, but his book is simply dreadful. A mutual friend convinced me to talk to Greg because his mystery novel wasn’t selling. Greg was sure that all he needed was “some marketing tricks” to change all that. Before we chatted, I took a look at a copy he had sent me. The » Read More
Let it rest
William Wordsworth said that the best poetry comes from “Emotion recollected in tranquility.” That’s almost poetic. Ernest Hemingway is often quoted as saying that you should, “Write drunk, edit sober.” He probably didn’t say that, but it sounds romantic and Hemingway-esque. Whichever » Read More