A Guide to Writing Well

On Lifehack.org, Kyle Pott points us to a wonderful writer’s resource put together by Joshua Sowin of Fire & Knowledge. Introducing his resource, Sowin explains,

“This guide was mainly distilled from On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White … My memory being stubborn and lazy, I compiled this so I could easily refresh myself on writing well.”

A Guide for Writing Well, at Fire & Knowledge

Well, there is nothing lazy about what Joshua Sowin has done for us with his compilation; this is a must for your del.icio.us tagging with writing how-to. As Kyle put it,

The article traverses industries, so whether you’re a novelist or a business analyst, there is some quality information to be gained from the article. The content is very detailed and provides many tips to help you improve your writing.

Kyle’s commentary on Lifehack.org

A bonus: When you click through Sowin’s presentation, you will also be experiencing great use of the blogging platform in his skilled application and use of it. Be sure to navigate back to the home page of Fire & Knowledge to see how he has set this up as one of his “Latest Essays” and to look at the overall layout and his skillful use of quotes as epigraphs to his essays.

Back to his A Guide for Writing Well, this section could be used as daily affirmative reading every morning by every blogger: How do I get better at writing?

August 2007 Update: Joanna Young has written a new article for JJL that brings this discussion back to mind, called, Unlearn the rules to write with confidence.

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Post Author; Rosa Say of Managing with Aloha Coaching.

I love to write, and I would dearly love to do it more, adding hours to my days for the practice I know I need in better learning both the skill and art of it. With writing, more practice is divine, and not work at all.

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Excellent resource to point out Rosa. This will provide some good refreshers along the way! Thanks for sharing. Reading good writing and practice are the two constants I keep hearing about.

[Josh S.]

Thank you, Rosa, for the kind words! I'm glad to hear you found it helpful.

[Rosa Say]

We hear it with good reason Steve; I mentioned the practice part above, with my post signature, and personally I do find that reading what great authors have written will help me to more readily “see” what I have to edit in my own writing when I proof it - sorta like having this subliminal coaching.

What Josh suggests in that last “How do I get better?” link I offered is then like icing on the cake (he says, “Ask friends to read and critique your writing. Be sure to tell them you want the truth.”) in that you aren't wasting their time asking them to read your unedited junk!

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Josh, welcome to Joyful Jubilant Learning! I hope you will visit us more often, for I sense we have much more to learn from you.

Mahalo (thank you) to you, for your generosity in sharing your compilation with the rest of us. I was thrilled to find both your article AND your blog! I have often referred to both the texts you drew from in putting together your writing guide, and you have provided a great service to the rest of us with the electronic resource you created. With The Elements of Style in particular, plowing through it can be somewhat intimidating!