Give anyone pen and paper, ask them to write two hundred words on any subject under the sun, and if they do, you'll get back a piece of writing brand-new in the history of literature and a glimpse into that writer's unique and personal vision.  Continue reading...

Clear and concise, concise and clear: these are two universal watchwords of good writing. Rightly so, for we writers slave at our desks hoping that readers will get what we’re trying to say with as little fuss or fog as possible. Writing is a window; it can only help us to keep it sparkling clean.  Continue reading...

Noted music writer Michael Lydon explains how to apply the rule "Let the little come out of the big" to the art of writing.

Several years ago I wrote a short book about guitar playing, Let the Little Come Out of the Big, my approach to the ancient and beautiful instrument.  Continue reading...

The essence of writing's value to humanity is this: the art can convey thought from one human to another. As in gift giving, in writing it's the thought that counts.  Continue reading...

Last fall, Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer wrote here and in his New York Times column about writers who use a we voice when truly they are I's writing personal opinions. In a few cases, Zimmer wrote, he'd accept using the plural pronoun for the singular, officially called nosism, from nos, we in Latin, but in general he deplored the practice. Using we for I opens writers up to "charges of gutlessness and self-importance," Zimmer wrote; "the we disease...continues to infect many written genres."  Continue reading...

To open a writing class at a recent conference of New York City high school newspaper kids, I wrote this sentence on the board:

The woman stood on the hillside and looked down at the valley below.

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Writing offers many advantages as a medium for thought. Writing can be accurate: true in detail to fact and nuance; versatile: no subject is beyond its grasp; imperishable: first editions return in time to dust, but texts can be reprinted; economical: a slim volume can hold a treasury of ideas.  Continue reading...