Lessons from a Sunday Obituary
An obituary got me thinking. The obituary announced the death of renowned Arkansas poet Miller Williams, who was celebrated for using everyday language in his verse. The short poem cited in the piece – titled “Compassion” – moved me, as it did Miller’s daughter, the country singer Lucinda Williams, who used her father’s spare lines […]
I REALLY Want You to Read This VERY Important Post THAT Will Improve Your Writing
Mark Twain is supposed to have said, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” The words “very” or “really” are supposed to increase the impact of a word but you’re not adding anything descriptive or insightful for the […]
Frank Bruni Asks a Good Question
I’ve been thinking about writing a column on this subject for a long time. Then I saw that Frank Bruni of the Times beat me to it, and did so beautifully. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I won’t try. “What Happened to Who?” by Frank Bruni “I first noticed it during the […]
Getting your team to be better writers. It’s essential.
tem: A brilliant process engineer at a major chemical company is trying to tell representatives from a personal care products giant about the cost-savings and performance benefits of a new hair-care ingredient. But she’s getting tangled up in minutiae and arcane data; she’s lost them before she even gets to the good stuff. Item: The fundraising team […]