Becoming a Good Writer

latichever
Sun, 14 Jun 2015 14:14:11 +0000

Sitzfleisch (not sufficient but necessary)

I think that any literate person can become a competent writer, that is, able to put understandable thoughts on paper, although not everyone can become an interesting writer. There is something to be said for talent, whatever that means.

Two books:

“The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers,” by Betsy Lerner

“Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published,” by Susan Rabiner

Advice: revise and revise and revise yet again. And then revise again. I had a professor in college who said the key was to write a draft, throw it away, and then wrote it again. After 10 times, you might have something decent.