CORRECTION ... that shows how my mind doesn't always work.
I wrote, " I'll never be another Mencken or Gatsby," when I, of course, meant F. Scott Fitzgerald, the man who wrote The Great Gatsby.
I make mistakes like this all the time. Every writer needs a competent editor. At larger newspapers, you'd have several layers of editors to catch these errors. At Substack, I have our dog Annie. She tries her best but she didn't go to the best schools and she doesn't have a great deal of editing experience.
P.S. F. Scott Fitzgerald met his wife, Zelda, in Montgomery, Alabama where I lived for 10 years. I drove by the Fitzgerald House all the time. It's now a museum.
Zelda was a legend in Montgomery even before she met her famous husband.
"What chiefly distinguishes the daily press of the United States from the press of all other countries pretending to culture is not its lack of truthfulness or even its lack of dignity and honor. . . . "
"The first prerequisite for becoming a competent writer is to be an avid reader."
-----------
For me, the biggest surprise in becoming a 'pro writer' (lol) is how much reading it takes. I'll sit and read about something for hours before even starting to write about it. Then it's a couple more hours of just jotting down stream-of-consciousness thoughts that will eventually be expanded into sentences or paragraphs. Then maybe an hour or two of collecting videos and other links to reinforce the story.
THEN comes the actual writing.
But if there's one piece of advice I would give to answer the question "How do I get better at writing?", it's this -- practice writing. It sounds dumb but it's true. At some point you just have to sit down and allow the words to start flowing out. Before you know it, the article is 2500 words and WAY too long.......
You do get better the more you do it. But some writers, like athletes or musicians, seem to peak in their early careers. I think some get burned out or lose their passion (or "Mojo" as my son calls it).
I can find old clip files or bound newspaper volumes at the library of articles I wrote in 1992. Some really hold up. But I bet I could improve every one of them today. Back then, as a working journalist who often wrote five to seven stories a day, I didn't have time to polish my text.
The Internet is an endless distraction machine. In a way it's worse than TV, because you can find yourself spending an hour reading about, say, wars in Argentina in the 1800s, and tell yourself you're learning something.
I get sidetracked all the time. I start off wanting to research Topic A and find some interesting piece on Topic B and then C. But if they are well-written or good stories that you can ultimately write about or inform your thinking on "the big picture," these excursions might not have been a complete waste of time.
George Orwell wrote about writing in a totalitarian age he saw rise in Germany and the USSR and warned was already descending on the UK and US just a year after defeating Hitler's totalitarian regime. How totalitarianism cripples creative writing. How "journalists" even under purportedly "free" governments are and have always been little more the scribes for the state. "Bought minds" and all:
And here's a fascinating presentation of Yellow Journalism. It's about environmentalism, but provides historical context. How the California Gold Rush, the origins of the Hearst news publishing empire and US foreign policy, national ambitions were all interwined:
The biggest journalism lie of all is that the news media is a 'Fourth Estate' holding the government accountable by exposing truth. They serve the powerful and government, are positioned where the two meet. If they ever bite one of the hands that feeds them it is because the other hand is feeding them more.
AP? Try science and medical writers! Much of this was imparted in a technical writing class in college. Most of these "writers" must have blown it off. (Is that course still offered?)
I never learned to diagram sentences; always struck me as hieroglyphics, and I didn't learn English grammar until I learned German, and applied it back to English. Why do almost no writers use Subjunctive I (present conditional)? Online grammar checkers always tell me it be incorrect, and suggest using indicative tense.
As a non-lawyer reading and writing law (legislation) for nearly two decades it was an easy transition to learn to read science and medical writing. Both lean into Latin, specialized jargon, and have lots of references and citations that require further reading to ensure the information being presented fits what's being said. Backward looking and forward facing scrutiny.
I also homeschooled both of our children from birth through high school AND they are excellent writers PLUS they actually would rather READ than watch tv! ❤️
I had a whole semester in high school diagramming sentences. I suppose it helped, but I didn't get it at the time---I found it tedious. Maybe I do it without realizing it. Maybe the tedium is a sign that it was working. (But "working" not like the suffering and death of the pseudovaccines were signs that they were working.)
Journalism can be an okay minor. As for "Communications," everyone should know that among more traditional humanities and social science academics, no major is more despised for the lightness of its profs and offerings.
I don't know what number bib he had so I didn't know which one was Costes but he may be in the pack. He was really small: https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78267
That was very nice of you. I bet I can find Nick. I didn't get to know him until I had started my weekly newspaper. He wanted to write a column every week. We became good friends.
I remember those Olympics were in Melbourne (in November, Australia's summer). I bet they were outstanding. I enjoyed the photos.
There is a lot of footage of the 1956 opening ceremony and it looks wonderful. Imagine if we had this sort of program to elevate the spirit. Just goes to show what is happening now is deliberate to demoralise.
Thanks again for your writing (which also elevates the spirit).
Awhile back I used Microsoft Word with the passive vs active feature turned on. As I wrote a lot of marketing material, it was soon hammered into my head to use active.
My late father, who worked in the oil business most of his life, was an avid history buff and, later in life, wrote two excellent history books about our town. I edited his first chapter and told Dad every paragraph was using the passive tense. I re-wrote many pages for him. He got it and changed the rest of the book. I re-paid Dad for the 100,000 tips he passed along to me!
"Reading has always been a passion of mine. As a kid, sitting down for breakfast with half-open eyes, spooning cereal while reading the ingredients on the cereal box—oh, the good old days. Now it's hours spent on the iPad, falling into the rabbit holes of Substack. I'm lousy at putting my thoughts on paper; verbs, nouns, or prepositions—I do not comprehend, but eventually, I figure them out before posting 😉. Certain Substack writers I look forward to reading their essays. Bill Rice Jr., Jeff Childs, Jenna McCarthy—I love their writing and could learn a lot, but I'd rather be the student than the teacher. For now, I look forward to reading my favorite essayists on Substack."
I was slow learning how to read. I remember in first grade how embarrassed I was because I was in the third-level (lowest) reading group. But I was very interested in sports and specifically Alabama football. My father would read the sports page at breakfast and I was always peppering him with questions about Alabama and my favorite player, Johnny Musso.
Mom told me, "Bill, if you learn to read you can read the Sports Page yourself."
She later told me that she could see the light go off in my head. I was soon in the first-level!
P.S. My first newspaper job was as the Sports Editor of our local newspaper.
My portal really opened in 1st-2nd grade, too. I developed a fascination for all things to do with World War II. A popular subject of the time in documentaries and war films. Prodded by an elder in my temple who admonished me to, "never forget what they did to us" as she showed me the number tattooed on her arm and pinched my little cheek...hard.
I proceeded to check out and read every single book in my local library young reader's section about WWII. Moved backwards a bit into WWI, before running out of books that interested me in that section. So I went to the older reader stacks. And picked out some books to check out. The librarian didn't want to check them out to me, too advanced for a six or seven year old. Didn't think I'd be able to read and understand them. They had disturbing pictures of war in them, she thought I was just wanting to see them, inappropriate. Made me get my mom to approve checking them out to me.
I got her, went back to the librarian, they had me open the book and begin reading, asked me questions to see if I actually understood. I did. And then proceeded to check out every WWII book I could that wasn't toooo technical and full of big words. I had become an advanced reader, but not university level advanced...yet.
I placed at 7th-8th grade reading on the standardized tests at the end of 2nd grade. [Note: The average reading level in the US today is 7th-8th grade] Because WWII fascinated me, opened the reading portal for me. Little did I know that my elementary school reading obsession was going to become relevant for current events a half-century later. It was meant to be. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
You're like the title character in the book and excellent movie "Matilda."
I have no doubt my parents, who graduated from high school in 1958, had, by 8th grade, received an education that was far superior to most students who are attending our local college today.
Not sure how this would fit in that plot, but...that background made for an interesting 3rd grade experience. We had the SRA readers as a major part of that year. I was bored. Didn't even bother doing most of the assignments. Got to about halfway through the fall semester when my parents met my teacher at a PTA parent-teacher night at the school. The teacher told them how far behind I was in the class. She had a poster with all of our names going down, the SRA reader progression going across, with little sticky colored stars that indicated score. I was at the bottom of the poster, one or two students below me, the rest of the class above me.
After the "talking to" by my parents I was nudged into my pride zone. I knew I was a more advanced reader than anyone else in the class. So I turned it on. Jumped a half dozen names one week. The next week jumped another half dozen. Several weeks of turning it on later I was neck-and-neck with the top two classmate names at the top. They had pride, too. And it was game on. I jumped #2, then the #1 and I put some distance between the #3. Came down to the wire, but I ended up finishing the semester's SRA program in the top spot. A virtual worst to first in a reading competition after spotting the entire class half the race.
It was never that I couldn't do the work, I just wasn't interested. Until I was. Which was actually kind of a bad lesson to learn, taught me I could procrastinate and still achieve high success. Which becomes a handicap when meeting stiffer competition that doesn't procrastinate. The struggle is real.
I learned the same (bad) lesson procrastination. I could do a semester-long term paper/research project in about 1 or two days (with one or two all-nighters). I did the same thing with big newspaper special editions when I was a publisher.
You can do it if you have to, but it will almost kill you and take you weeks to recover.
Same thing in college calculus for me. Did no homework. Until midterm. Studied, practiced the first half of the textbook the weekend before the test. Scored in the high 90's. Blew the curve for the class. Exhausting. Swore I'd stay on top of homework for the rest of the semester. Sure. Finals week came quickly. Had done no homework. Had to go back and relearn the first half of the textbook, then learn the second half of it the weekend before. Aced the final again, blew the curve for the class, lots of mean-mugs and mutterings from classmates. But...homework counted for 10% of the final grade, and I hadn't turned in any. My 99% combined midterm+final score, less 10% = 89% for the class...a "B." The price of procrastination was my GPA.
And I did the exact same thing in my second college calculus class! Right down to the 89% ending grade for the class, "B." The struggle is real!
Third-level meant be quiet and don't bother the Dick-and-Jane rote memorizers in the rest of the class. Blankety-blank publik skool never taught me to read. I changed to an experimental school for second grade where a real teacher taught me phonics.
I saw that. Thank you very much, Erin. If every story I wrote produced just two new paid subscribers, it wouldn't take long for me to reach my Substack goal of 1,000 paid subscribers.
Social media and the management of such just happens to be one of my specialties 😎😎 That’s why I’m keeping my Public Page on FB as I know how to use the demographics, etc. I’ve helped with two political campaigns, helped several of my friends in LA, helped a few ppl on Twitter (still have that, too) plus IG.
YES!!! This is what I’ve used for YEARS!! I AM a writer, editor, grammar warrior (I WAS going to say Grammar Nazi and am sure glad that I didn’t say that 😂). In undergrad I majored in Psychology ONLY because I was told by the (not an) expert in the Admissions Office that if I majored in English Lit (I was already collecting Minors in Biology, French and Premed courses) that I would NOT be able to find a teaching job upon graduation. So I switched to Psychology. Four years later and all of my “Teaching” friends got jobs immediately (while obtaining the necessary M. Ed. in order to teach). So much for career resource counselors in College!! Anyway, I’ve been using the APA vs the MLM.
When I went back to school get my joint law and MBA after being out of college for 10 years, I had a business professor that had us read and apply a wonderful short book "The Elements of Style (also called Strunk and White). It was first published in 1918 and continues to apply today!
American wit Dorothy Parker said, regarding the book:
If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy.
My high school composition teacher would be shocked to learn that I became a writer. My college philosophy professor (if he were still alive) would ask me, "What took you so long?"
Having the right teacher at the right time made all the difference.
CORRECTION ... that shows how my mind doesn't always work.
I wrote, " I'll never be another Mencken or Gatsby," when I, of course, meant F. Scott Fitzgerald, the man who wrote The Great Gatsby.
I make mistakes like this all the time. Every writer needs a competent editor. At larger newspapers, you'd have several layers of editors to catch these errors. At Substack, I have our dog Annie. She tries her best but she didn't go to the best schools and she doesn't have a great deal of editing experience.
P.S. F. Scott Fitzgerald met his wife, Zelda, in Montgomery, Alabama where I lived for 10 years. I drove by the Fitzgerald House all the time. It's now a museum.
Zelda was a legend in Montgomery even before she met her famous husband.
Self-promotion alert here, but Bill, I think you'd enjoy this excerpt from Mencken that I put up a couple years ago: https://arnec.substack.com/p/hl-mencken-on-newspapers-and-the
"What chiefly distinguishes the daily press of the United States from the press of all other countries pretending to culture is not its lack of truthfulness or even its lack of dignity and honor. . . . "
Thanks, Arne. I love Mencken. We don't have anyone like that today - and he worked at a mainstream newspaper.
"The first prerequisite for becoming a competent writer is to be an avid reader."
-----------
For me, the biggest surprise in becoming a 'pro writer' (lol) is how much reading it takes. I'll sit and read about something for hours before even starting to write about it. Then it's a couple more hours of just jotting down stream-of-consciousness thoughts that will eventually be expanded into sentences or paragraphs. Then maybe an hour or two of collecting videos and other links to reinforce the story.
THEN comes the actual writing.
But if there's one piece of advice I would give to answer the question "How do I get better at writing?", it's this -- practice writing. It sounds dumb but it's true. At some point you just have to sit down and allow the words to start flowing out. Before you know it, the article is 2500 words and WAY too long.......
You do get better the more you do it. But some writers, like athletes or musicians, seem to peak in their early careers. I think some get burned out or lose their passion (or "Mojo" as my son calls it).
I can find old clip files or bound newspaper volumes at the library of articles I wrote in 1992. Some really hold up. But I bet I could improve every one of them today. Back then, as a working journalist who often wrote five to seven stories a day, I didn't have time to polish my text.
The lack of deadlines on Substack is refreshing but also a little terrifying because deadlines keep you 'on-task'.
The Internet is an endless distraction machine. In a way it's worse than TV, because you can find yourself spending an hour reading about, say, wars in Argentina in the 1800s, and tell yourself you're learning something.
I get sidetracked all the time. I start off wanting to research Topic A and find some interesting piece on Topic B and then C. But if they are well-written or good stories that you can ultimately write about or inform your thinking on "the big picture," these excursions might not have been a complete waste of time.
Mark Twain once said, "I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." (Blaise Pascal?)
That's definitely true.
George Orwell wrote about writing in a totalitarian age he saw rise in Germany and the USSR and warned was already descending on the UK and US just a year after defeating Hitler's totalitarian regime. How totalitarianism cripples creative writing. How "journalists" even under purportedly "free" governments are and have always been little more the scribes for the state. "Bought minds" and all:
The Prevention of Literature
Polemic, 1946
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-prevention-of-literature/
And here's a fascinating presentation of Yellow Journalism. It's about environmentalism, but provides historical context. How the California Gold Rush, the origins of the Hearst news publishing empire and US foreign policy, national ambitions were all interwined:
The Gold Rush: Behind the Hype
https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Gold_Rush:_Behind_the_Hype
The biggest journalism lie of all is that the news media is a 'Fourth Estate' holding the government accountable by exposing truth. They serve the powerful and government, are positioned where the two meet. If they ever bite one of the hands that feeds them it is because the other hand is feeding them more.
Well said, FF. The Fourth Estate could or should be the most important institution in the world.
Thanks for the Orwell essay. I suddenly understand why my writing ability packed up and left in 2020.
AP? Try science and medical writers! Much of this was imparted in a technical writing class in college. Most of these "writers" must have blown it off. (Is that course still offered?)
I never learned to diagram sentences; always struck me as hieroglyphics, and I didn't learn English grammar until I learned German, and applied it back to English. Why do almost no writers use Subjunctive I (present conditional)? Online grammar checkers always tell me it be incorrect, and suggest using indicative tense.
As a non-lawyer reading and writing law (legislation) for nearly two decades it was an easy transition to learn to read science and medical writing. Both lean into Latin, specialized jargon, and have lots of references and citations that require further reading to ensure the information being presented fits what's being said. Backward looking and forward facing scrutiny.
To quote another writer I enjoy:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
I also homeschooled both of our children from birth through high school AND they are excellent writers PLUS they actually would rather READ than watch tv! ❤️
Loved this article. Everything you said about ‘diagramming sentences’ ring true to my experience.
I had a whole semester in high school diagramming sentences. I suppose it helped, but I didn't get it at the time---I found it tedious. Maybe I do it without realizing it. Maybe the tedium is a sign that it was working. (But "working" not like the suffering and death of the pseudovaccines were signs that they were working.)
Journalism can be an okay minor. As for "Communications," everyone should know that among more traditional humanities and social science academics, no major is more despised for the lightness of its profs and offerings.
Hi Bill,
The 1956 Olympic games were in Melbourne, Australia. Here is a video of all the runners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPjBbyOkY6g
I went to the State Library Archives of Victoria and found photos of the marathon. https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE838385&mode=overview
There are also some Alamy images: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/1956-olympics-marathon.html?sortBy=relevant
I don't know what number bib he had so I didn't know which one was Costes but he may be in the pack. He was really small: https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78267
Look at the opening ceremony from 1956: military marching bands, chorus, Royal family. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/from-the-archives-1956-melbourne-s-olympic-triumph-20211118-p59a0g.html
Professor Costes sounds absolutely top-notch. Thanks for 'introducing' him to me.
That was very nice of you. I bet I can find Nick. I didn't get to know him until I had started my weekly newspaper. He wanted to write a column every week. We became good friends.
I remember those Olympics were in Melbourne (in November, Australia's summer). I bet they were outstanding. I enjoyed the photos.
There is a lot of footage of the 1956 opening ceremony and it looks wonderful. Imagine if we had this sort of program to elevate the spirit. Just goes to show what is happening now is deliberate to demoralise.
Thanks again for your writing (which also elevates the spirit).
Back at you, Mate.
Awhile back I used Microsoft Word with the passive vs active feature turned on. As I wrote a lot of marketing material, it was soon hammered into my head to use active.
My late father, who worked in the oil business most of his life, was an avid history buff and, later in life, wrote two excellent history books about our town. I edited his first chapter and told Dad every paragraph was using the passive tense. I re-wrote many pages for him. He got it and changed the rest of the book. I re-paid Dad for the 100,000 tips he passed along to me!
"Reading has always been a passion of mine. As a kid, sitting down for breakfast with half-open eyes, spooning cereal while reading the ingredients on the cereal box—oh, the good old days. Now it's hours spent on the iPad, falling into the rabbit holes of Substack. I'm lousy at putting my thoughts on paper; verbs, nouns, or prepositions—I do not comprehend, but eventually, I figure them out before posting 😉. Certain Substack writers I look forward to reading their essays. Bill Rice Jr., Jeff Childs, Jenna McCarthy—I love their writing and could learn a lot, but I'd rather be the student than the teacher. For now, I look forward to reading my favorite essayists on Substack."
I was slow learning how to read. I remember in first grade how embarrassed I was because I was in the third-level (lowest) reading group. But I was very interested in sports and specifically Alabama football. My father would read the sports page at breakfast and I was always peppering him with questions about Alabama and my favorite player, Johnny Musso.
Mom told me, "Bill, if you learn to read you can read the Sports Page yourself."
She later told me that she could see the light go off in my head. I was soon in the first-level!
P.S. My first newspaper job was as the Sports Editor of our local newspaper.
Just took an interesting portal to open!
My portal really opened in 1st-2nd grade, too. I developed a fascination for all things to do with World War II. A popular subject of the time in documentaries and war films. Prodded by an elder in my temple who admonished me to, "never forget what they did to us" as she showed me the number tattooed on her arm and pinched my little cheek...hard.
I proceeded to check out and read every single book in my local library young reader's section about WWII. Moved backwards a bit into WWI, before running out of books that interested me in that section. So I went to the older reader stacks. And picked out some books to check out. The librarian didn't want to check them out to me, too advanced for a six or seven year old. Didn't think I'd be able to read and understand them. They had disturbing pictures of war in them, she thought I was just wanting to see them, inappropriate. Made me get my mom to approve checking them out to me.
I got her, went back to the librarian, they had me open the book and begin reading, asked me questions to see if I actually understood. I did. And then proceeded to check out every WWII book I could that wasn't toooo technical and full of big words. I had become an advanced reader, but not university level advanced...yet.
I placed at 7th-8th grade reading on the standardized tests at the end of 2nd grade. [Note: The average reading level in the US today is 7th-8th grade] Because WWII fascinated me, opened the reading portal for me. Little did I know that my elementary school reading obsession was going to become relevant for current events a half-century later. It was meant to be. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
You're like the title character in the book and excellent movie "Matilda."
I have no doubt my parents, who graduated from high school in 1958, had, by 8th grade, received an education that was far superior to most students who are attending our local college today.
Not sure how this would fit in that plot, but...that background made for an interesting 3rd grade experience. We had the SRA readers as a major part of that year. I was bored. Didn't even bother doing most of the assignments. Got to about halfway through the fall semester when my parents met my teacher at a PTA parent-teacher night at the school. The teacher told them how far behind I was in the class. She had a poster with all of our names going down, the SRA reader progression going across, with little sticky colored stars that indicated score. I was at the bottom of the poster, one or two students below me, the rest of the class above me.
After the "talking to" by my parents I was nudged into my pride zone. I knew I was a more advanced reader than anyone else in the class. So I turned it on. Jumped a half dozen names one week. The next week jumped another half dozen. Several weeks of turning it on later I was neck-and-neck with the top two classmate names at the top. They had pride, too. And it was game on. I jumped #2, then the #1 and I put some distance between the #3. Came down to the wire, but I ended up finishing the semester's SRA program in the top spot. A virtual worst to first in a reading competition after spotting the entire class half the race.
It was never that I couldn't do the work, I just wasn't interested. Until I was. Which was actually kind of a bad lesson to learn, taught me I could procrastinate and still achieve high success. Which becomes a handicap when meeting stiffer competition that doesn't procrastinate. The struggle is real.
I learned the same (bad) lesson procrastination. I could do a semester-long term paper/research project in about 1 or two days (with one or two all-nighters). I did the same thing with big newspaper special editions when I was a publisher.
You can do it if you have to, but it will almost kill you and take you weeks to recover.
Same thing in college calculus for me. Did no homework. Until midterm. Studied, practiced the first half of the textbook the weekend before the test. Scored in the high 90's. Blew the curve for the class. Exhausting. Swore I'd stay on top of homework for the rest of the semester. Sure. Finals week came quickly. Had done no homework. Had to go back and relearn the first half of the textbook, then learn the second half of it the weekend before. Aced the final again, blew the curve for the class, lots of mean-mugs and mutterings from classmates. But...homework counted for 10% of the final grade, and I hadn't turned in any. My 99% combined midterm+final score, less 10% = 89% for the class...a "B." The price of procrastination was my GPA.
And I did the exact same thing in my second college calculus class! Right down to the 89% ending grade for the class, "B." The struggle is real!
Third-level meant be quiet and don't bother the Dick-and-Jane rote memorizers in the rest of the class. Blankety-blank publik skool never taught me to read. I changed to an experimental school for second grade where a real teacher taught me phonics.
Just upgraded to “Paid” 😊
I saw that. Thank you very much, Erin. If every story I wrote produced just two new paid subscribers, it wouldn't take long for me to reach my Substack goal of 1,000 paid subscribers.
Social media and the management of such just happens to be one of my specialties 😎😎 That’s why I’m keeping my Public Page on FB as I know how to use the demographics, etc. I’ve helped with two political campaigns, helped several of my friends in LA, helped a few ppl on Twitter (still have that, too) plus IG.
I need to put you on retainer!
😂😂😂 That’s why I was a pretty good Licensed Talent Agent for California for several years. My client list is anon, too 😎
YES!!! This is what I’ve used for YEARS!! I AM a writer, editor, grammar warrior (I WAS going to say Grammar Nazi and am sure glad that I didn’t say that 😂). In undergrad I majored in Psychology ONLY because I was told by the (not an) expert in the Admissions Office that if I majored in English Lit (I was already collecting Minors in Biology, French and Premed courses) that I would NOT be able to find a teaching job upon graduation. So I switched to Psychology. Four years later and all of my “Teaching” friends got jobs immediately (while obtaining the necessary M. Ed. in order to teach). So much for career resource counselors in College!! Anyway, I’ve been using the APA vs the MLM.
Okay, I found you. That wasn’t hard! Thanks for educating me and re-stacking these articles … and the paid subscription! - Bill
When I went back to school get my joint law and MBA after being out of college for 10 years, I had a business professor that had us read and apply a wonderful short book "The Elements of Style (also called Strunk and White). It was first published in 1918 and continues to apply today!
It is fantastic and still relevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
Have you heard of it?
American wit Dorothy Parker said, regarding the book:
If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy.
My high school composition teacher would be shocked to learn that I became a writer. My college philosophy professor (if he were still alive) would ask me, "What took you so long?"
Having the right teacher at the right time made all the difference.
At least you did not ask your now deceased professor in reply, "Why took YOU so long?" I take it, he was a good professor.
Oh my gosh, why a typo! "WHAT took you so long?"