I read somewhere that people on average are reading less than 19 minutes a day. (The article, I lament, took me a little longer than 19 minutes to get through, so I couldn’t quite tell what that says about my relationship to the status quo. Am I above average, or just a slow reader?) This […]
Is There a Secret to Being Creative?
Is There a Secret to Being Creative? When someone says nothing is original, they don’t mean that everybody is stealing. A lot of people are stealing–that is true. Bastards. But what is normally meant by this, is we are all drawing from a pool of unconscious influences that has been slowly accumulating over a lifetime: The […]
Writing Assignments
After last week’s column I got a couple of emails on writing assignments, requesting that I hand a few of them out. Sure, I’ll give you a writing assignment. And it’s a fairly easy one, too. But if you can get it done, you will be a much more polished and perfected writer in a […]
Writing Is Not About Impressing Your Peers
I talk a lot about writing because I feel of any of my skills this is the one that most quickly enabled me to success. Writing is not about being fancy with words; it’s about being clear with them, useful with them, and understanding of them. Your ability to communicate is critical and essential to […]
The Best Style of Writing
The best style to write in is the simple style, the one that sounds almost like an 8th grader was behind it. The kind where you don’t say any more than you need and use words that are easy for people. It is much easier to write up than it is down, having so many […]