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Monday, October 22, 2007

Book of the Week

Tiffany and I've been brainstorming about this blog. We think it will look something like this:
Monday: Books
Tuesday: Writing Tips
Wednesday: Blogs
Thursday: Authors
Fridays: Quotes

We're keeping things pretty flexible at first. We plan to offer views on favorite books, fiction and nonfiction. Dispense some writing advice--things we've learned along the writing road. Highlighting writing blogs and interview authors, maybe give away some books. And, since Tiffany and I are wordsmiths, we love quotes, so on Fridays we'll have fun sharing some of our favorite ones.

If it's Monday, that means we're talking books. And if you're a writer, you should have a copy of William Zinsser's On Writing Well on your bookshelves. I'm on my second copy of Zinsser's book--the 30th anniversary edition. Topics covered include simplicity, audience, leads and endings, different types of articles, and a writer's voice. Zinsser is a writer, editor and teacher--and he just knows his stuff when it comes to writing.

Here's one of my favorite Zinsser quotes:

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful
for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on
paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more
economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on
to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?
Simplify,
simplify.

Think how your writing would sing if you rose to this one challenge and simplified your writing.



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