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Writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.

William Zinsser

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William Zinsser
Age: 92 †
Born: 1922
Born: October 7
Died: 2015
Died: May 12
Journalist
Literary Critic
Writer
New York City
New York
William Knowlton Zinsser
Hard
Writing
Flowed
Seldom
Lonely
Fun
Wasn
Words
Easy

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Writers must constantly ask: what I am trying to say? Surprisingly often, they don't know.
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The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.
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Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.
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Be wary of security as a goal. It may often look like life's best prize. Usually it's not.
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Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with but. If that's what you learned, unlearn it - there's no stronger word at the start. It announces a total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is thereby primed for the change.
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Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow.
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Today the outlandish becomes routine overnight. The humorist is trying to say that it's still outlandish.
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One of the saddest sentences I know is I wish I had asked my mother about that. Or my father. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. As every parent knows, our children are not as fascinated by our fascinating lives as we are.
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Motivation clears the head faster than a nasal spray.
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The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
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If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for.
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The sound of the bat is the music of spring training.
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Writing is no respecter of blueprints.
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You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: what does the reader need to know next?
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Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away.
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Noise is the typographical error and the poorly designed page...Ambiguity is noise. Redundancy is noise. Misuse of words is noise. Vagueness is noise. Jargon is noise.
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Nobody told all the new e-mail writers that the essence of writing is rewriting. Just because they are writing with ease and enjoyment doesn't mean they are writing well.
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Much of my writing has taken the form of a pilgrimage: to sacred places that represent the best of America, to musicians and other artists who represent the best of their art.
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All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.
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Good writers are visible just behind their words.
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