As you might have noticed from the previous posts, I used to pursue acting professionally. In fact, this very blog used to be called "Acting in Traffic". Well, no more. I'm on the rocky road of career change, a very good time for some re-branding. I devote this blog to writing about whatever I darn well feel like writing about.
For example, I came across this by William Safire (who is sorely missed, even by those who read his work periodically):
Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"
I have vivid memories of my Dad reading Safire articles at the kitchen table on Sunday mornings (how very Norman Rockwell of us). As a kid and then a teenager, I rarely grasped all the concepts and most of his grammatical somersaults were lost on me, but I understood that I was hearing brilliance, a voice from the pinnacle of writing. Much to be learned from him-- although some basic grammar lessons might be a better place to start.
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It's gibberish until I remember what it was I was actually trying to say.
