Writing Well

I think I write well and others have echoed that sentiment. I always got high marks in composition because I considered writing a craft. That trait came from my Mother who wrote two novels. In high school and college, writing was tedious because how we had to type/retype our work. Computers and word processing made writing much easier. Drafts and revisions became a cake walk and I take advantage of them. The day of my last bike/car collision I had revised a paper for the umpteenth time and still decided to go for a ride before looking at it one more time. I ended up submitting it from the Grady Hospital ICU but that's another story.

Graduate school introduced a level of writing that reduced me to a rookie; academic and research writing is a new experience. Over the last year I had to improve those composition skills. I have relied on several books to improve my writing. The recent go to book has been The Craft of Research It was written in 1995 by three professors; it's in its 4th edition with two more editors. If you need to write a research paper this book is a must read.

There are three other books that I have relied on over time.


The Elements of Style, Strunk and White: First edition 1959 (Strunk originally published a version 1920). This was my first English composition book. My current copy is the 4th edition. Still use it today although not as much as my first time in college.


On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to writing Nonfiction, Zinsser: First edition 1976. Covers writing about everything from people, places even yourself, just to name a few.



On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephan King, First edition 2000. Mainly about writing fiction from one of America's most popular fiction writers. The title says it all. King recommends every aspiring writer start with The Elements of Style.


I am not suggesting these are the only good books on writing; they just happen to be ones I like.