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The Sunday Salon


Another Sunday come and gone! I’ve not had much time to read or write, apart from what I’ve been reading and writing for school. For my editing class, we’ve been reading Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, which I can’t believe I haven’t read until now (I was an English major in college, WHY didn't they have us read it).

Because writing is a form of communication, a hallmark of it is to be succinct, and there’s an overwhelming emphasis on the importance of clear, concise writing. There’s an interesting bit in there on how all writers reveal something of their personalities and beliefs through their writing. It’s important for the writer to place himself in the background so that he can achieve a sense of style by having none to start with. It’s a short little book but extremely thought provoking, and it’s really helped me to reconsider my writing—a lot of what appears on my computer screen tends to be superfluous.

It’s always around this time of year that I start hankering after summer. What I do is I crank up the air conditioning in my apartment and try on all my summer clothes—I did that this morning, even though the temperature outside was slightly warmer than freezing. I’ve been battling a cold for the past few days, so I’ve been a little low on energy, but I still managed to get out and have brunch with my dad this morning. So that’s about it!

Comments

Judy Krueger said…
For some reason I loved this post! Yes, it was because you are talking about learning to write and learning about yourself as a writer. Elements of Style went out of style for some time; a bad idea because I agree with you, it has some excellent points. Good luck with all you are doing.

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