Scanning my bookshelf a few days ago, I came across "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. I bought the book several years ago. I read and enjoyed it at the time.
I'm reading it again, and I strongly recommend it to bloggers.
Here's why. Internet addict that I am, I follow many interesting blogs, mainly on construction, architecture, and spec writing. Many are well written and interesting. Others are interesting but not so well written. I have to work harder to understand the writer's point. Sometimes I lose patience before finishing a poorly written item, and navigate to something else on the Internet.
We bloggers want to persuade or to inform, or we wouldn't be going to the effort of blogging. This book will help us to write good blog posts. I had several essay/posts in progress when I started reading "On Writing Well", and the lessons I learned in the book have triggered a serious rewrite of all of them. Who knows when I'll finish them, but I know that they will be clearer and more persuasive as a result.
"On Writing Well" isn't some dry collection of rules about writing. It's an interesting and amusing book about the craft of writing. How to be clear, how to keep the reader's interest by putting yourself in her shoes. How to build ideas the way a good lawyer builds his case.
It takes a master wordsmith to write an interesting book about writing and Mr. Zinsser has done it.
Put "On Writing Well" in your library. Here's one place to get it.
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