On Her Shelf

Because the page is worth turning.

On Writing

Below is an excerpt from this week’s Atlanta edition of Bearings, with advice from Jessica Haberkern, former editorial assistant at The Oxford American and co-founder of Wink, geared more towards men but applicable to all, I would think.

I love words. I love when they form intelligent and complete thoughts, when they’re used in new and surprising ways. Unfortunately, our culture is increasing its use of “Brittle speech-turds” as professor William Bowers wrote in The Oxford American referring to sentences whittled into aimless sound bites. The future is full of them, he warns.

While some blame technology for the slow-melting icecap of intelligible language, I still know plenty of perfectly sophisticated sentences that fit into 140 characters. Do you know what I blame for the growing use of speech-turds? Imagination. Rather, a lack thereof. It doesn’t require imagination to fasten together a few loose words, vague and with uncertain meaning. 

So men, what moves you? Are you a woodsman, a cyclist, a photographer, a chef? Great writers draw upon what they know and use their imagination to fill in the rest. Writing is a personal experience, requiring you to dig into the heart of your thought and articulate it. 

It’s not an effortless process. Many writers painstakingly pick through their words until they get them just so. Take Hemingway, for example. A purveyor of concise sentences, he prided himself on writing with the most imagination and clarity articulated in the fewest words. He edited his writing until the sentences were whittled to perfection. 

And why should you aspire to be an effective writer while so many others are sloppily texting, posting and tweeting their way to the ordinary? Because it’s impressive and distinguishing when a man is able to communicate his thoughts clearly and with style. Employers notice resumes, friends appreciate notes and women cherish letters. 

But don’t sweat any former transgressions, here is a list of 10 techniques to help you turn your writing from vague and flat to smart and sophisticated:

1.    Consider your audience—should my tone be formal or informal?
2.    Clarity—is there a less ambiguous way to share my thought?    
3.    Word choice—does my writing use the best words to state what I mean?
4.    Description—did I use meaningful words instead of bland choices like nice, cool, and great?
5.    Style—did I express what I think and feel in my own unique voice?
6.    Details—did I illustrate my point with examples and personal experiences?
7.    Confidence—did I avoid indecisive phrases like sort of, kind of and seems to?
8.    Consistency—do words that require special formatting appear the same throughout?
9.    Punctuation—did I properly use semicolons, commas, etc. to separate my ideas?         (Also guys, go easy on the exclamation points and never use emoticons.)10.  Proofread—did I read over my writing for obvious mistakes?

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