Don’t start your writing journey with “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. That no good, very bad book will guilt-trip you into a state of permanent writer’s block. So what should you read? Over the years, I’ve come across a lot of questionable writing advice, which is why I’ve decided … Read more
“Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition,” Jack Kerouac wrote in his 30 rules of writing. Following this advice, I usually proofread my articles after hitting the publish button — a counterintuitive approach that I use to overcome perfectionism and fear of judgment. Any wordsmith knows that a text needs some time to breathe so that … Read more
We already know why the Socratic method is important in the age of AI. But the book of the same name claims that Socrates himself means little to many readers. They mostly associate him, its author notes, with the saying that the unexamined life is not worth living. And they know that his rational inquiries … Read more
“A writer must always tell the truth, unless he is a journalist,” Gore Vidal is said to have said. This rather pessimistic sentiment prompted me to read “The Elements of Journalism” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel, whose purpose in writing the book was “to identify common principles shared by people who called themselves … Read more