pH Balance

I’m a big fan of Scott Adams’s essay “The Day You Became A Better Writer”. It helped make my writing clearer. I think most people, at least those who write in English, would benefit from reading it. In all my years of peer-editing, I recognize that most people could improve their essay-writing skills considerably if they read and internalized the principles outlined in this essay.

There’s one area where this essay won’t help you, and that’s hooking the reader in and keeping their attention. People, especially young people, have short attention spans. The Adams piece discusses clear presentation of information. After you learn that, the next step in becoming a better writer is evoking a feeling from the reader. This is done by incorporating elements of fiction writing—sensory detail, suspense, emotion—into nonfiction writing. This applies less to academic papers and work reports, of course, and more to articles, persuasive essays, and other pieces where you’re not writing for school or your job.

As Adams suggests, you want to be aware of every word you write, every sentence you form, and every punctuation that marks your writing. This all affects the way your voice comes across to the reader. There’s no universal rules at this stage—it’s more about making sure that you know how to convey what’s in your head to your reader using the imperfect medium of words, dots, and dashes. This often entails consulting a thesaurus, “killing your darlings”, and understanding how punctuation guides the reader like traffic signs.

Most people could stand to benefit from reading their writing out loud. It improves the writers’ equivalent of “perfect pitch”. You’ll gain a better intuition of what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes, I’ll even start my writing verbally and do a speech-to-text. This frees me from the mechanics of writing and allows me to focus on ideas. Reading others’ writing critically will also go far in developing your editorial skills.

Writing—like anything—takes practice. The more you practice findings the right words to match your feelings, the better you will become in both written and verbal communication. Though you won’t always have the right words for a given situation (because some experiences are beyond words), you’ll gain the humility to acknowledge that you can’t describe everything in words. And that’s okay—it’s better than attempting to and doing a poor job. Even the great writers have trouble doing so. They’re somewhat better at verbalizing feelings, thoughts, and impressions where words elude the rest of us. However, there’s a reason we often hear the same story over and over again, packaged in different forms: words are an imperfect medium, and never a substitute for the real thing.

This Week’s Top 3

• The Scream franchise 👺 — so far we’ve only watched 1 & 2, but they’re a good mix of mystery, comedy, and a dash of horror. Nothing too gratuitous.
• Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers 💿 — new Kendrick Lamar album. Highlights include “N95” and “We Cry Together“
• Stairmaster 🤸🏾‍♀️ — No hills in Florida, so the only way to get some elevation in the swamp. What a great workout!