"On Writing Well" by William Zinsser
To properly review this book, I should write about my experience while reading it. One thing I learned is that if you're not a professional reviewer or critic, you may not have the expertise to draw on to express how "good" or "bad" a book may be. I'm not an expert writer, nor a professional reviewer, but my feelings are my own.
I can't remember when I first learned of the book. It was probably form one of many blogs in my feed reader, but when the book became available from the library I was hesitant to check it out. If I couldn't remember why I placed the hold, was the book still relevant?
After brief research I borrowed the book and found it was exactly the right book for me. I raced through each chapter, recording multiple passages in my notes. If I owned the book, I would have used a highlighter.
As I read the book I became more inspired to write and to start a project - any project. The most prominent among them is my ongoing desire to write a book about my experiences with Epilepsy.
The immediate effect was that I started reviewing and revising everything I wrote. Not even work correspondences are immune to revision; in fact this was where I found the advice most useful. I was already careful to write clear and concise emails, but the advice in the book helped further distill my writing.
I'm trying my best to practice reviewing and rewriting my blog posts too, but it's difficult to resist the temptation to click "publish" right away. I'm too excited to share my work, but I now realize by holding myself to higher standards I can produce better work that people will enjoy reading. I can only write as well as I'm able, but now I know I'm capable of more.
Self-doubt is something that any writer faces, and despite early chapters addressing this, it surfaced again as I continued reading. Zinsser uses examples from wonderful sources, showing what is possible with hard work and practice.
The effect this had on me was to hold myself to an impossible standard. It felt like Zinsser wanted the reader to mimic the style of the writers he cited.
Thankfully I realized that wasn't the case. The book is meticulously planned, like he was setting those expectations, only to bring them down to Earth and reassure the writer to trust their own style. The sources cited serve to show what is possible when you put effort into your craft - not that all non-fiction should be written in a certain tone, or rely on a sophisticated vocabulary.
Perhaps the greatest takeaway is this: write about what interests you, and refine it. If you present it in a way that makes it easy to read and hook the reader, they'll follow you anywhere.
A great example of this is Zinsser's article about a trip to Timbuktu. He used it to break down the decisions that went into crafting the article, but I would have enjoyed it even without the annotations. I would never have chosen to read a travel article, but I found his account a joy to read.
This brings me to a recent blog post written by Véronique. She gave examples of what you can put in a zine: anything and everything..
- diary entries
- interviews
- lists
- manifestos
- memories
- personal news/observations
- quotes
- recipes
- reviews of your fav books, movies, shows, zines you've been reading
- playlists
- cut-outs of your phone notes
The point is - make it interesting to you, and make it engaging. People will enjoy it if they can relate to you through your writing.
Write a blog post, or book, or zine. Let it breathe, and then see what you can change to make it better. Maybe it's as little as tweaking a few words, or fixing a paragraph that has a clunky rhythm.
That is what I got from this book, and it will forever hold a place at my desk. It is an invaluable resource that no star rating can properly define.
(For the record, my star rating is ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.)