– STUFFING SENTENCES TO CARRYING CAPACITY.
– Never starting a blog post (or sermon) with “I.”
– Punctuality.
– Creative segues.
– Repeating verbatim whatever someone wants said to another.
– That only what I actually heard appears inside quotation marks.
– One-sentence ledes.
– Snappy ledes. (“If you can do that, you’ll never be out of a job,” quoth a mentor.)
– Keeping an open mind, especially when it’s difficult.
– Never speaking in absolutes. (Present list excluded.)
– Crediting my sources.
– Communicating as accurately as I can. (Challenging, but aspirational.)
– Pushing through my shyness. (Also aspirationally challenging.)
– Being kind to cashiers, sales clerks, waiters, and tradesfolk.
– Saying “Take your time” whenever necessary.
– Waving at passing cars.
– Not speculating.
– “Killing my darlings” (per Wm. Faulkner, via Stephen King).
– Making an effort to pet stray cats.
– Greeting passersby with (at least) a smile.
– Concisifying.
(And yours?)
– tame those wily pronouns
– destroy hidden repetition: if you show it don’t tell it and vice versa
– The art of good writing for a sensitive and intelligent person is not in knowing what to write, but in knowing what not to write. -Tolstoy
– don’t mix your metaphors, please, ‘cuz if this thing starts snowballing, it could really catch fire.
– In writing suspense: “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, but make ‘em wait” -Tamim Ansary
– In writing dialog, consider: “When two characters talk, they aren’t quite having the same conversation. They interrupt each other, they don’t say things that the other already knows” -Stephanie Moore (dec)
Once again, you have taught me important things. I love you.