3 stars (Tone is wearing) - In "Bird by Bird," author Anne Lamott offers a reasonable amount of advice on the craft and reality of writing. Many of her suggestions are intriguing and creative: writing to a one-inch frame, comparing writing to a Polaroid photo, writing as a letter or a present. The best and most compelling sections of this book are those in which she writes extensively about her own experiences. Several sections are genuinely moving. Unfortunately, Lamott has a rambling, obsessive, stream-of-consciousness style of writing which reminds me of the Cathy comic strip. Here's an example from the book: "You may begin showing signs of schizophrenia--like you'll stare at the word schizophrenia so long that it will start to look wrong and you won't be able to find it in the dictionary and you'll start to think you made it up, and then you'll notice a tiny mouth sore, one of those tiny canker sores that your tongue can't keep away from, that feels like a wound the size of a marble, but when you go to study it in the mirror, you see that it is a white spot roughly as big as a pinhead. Still, the next thing you know--because you're spending too much time alone--you are convinced that you have mouth cancer, just like good old Sigmund, and you know instantly that doctors will have to cut away half your jaw, trying to save your miserable obsessive-compulsive head from being cannibalized by the cancer, and you'll have to go around wearing a hood over your entire face, and no one will ever want to kiss you again, not that they ever really did." Some readers may find that style of writing delightfully funny. I found it wearing and annoying. To be fair, in this excerpt, Lamott was illustrating how the mind wanders when one is trying to write. But this was not the first excerpt in the book that dealt with mouth sores, and this writing style pervades the entire book. It should also be noted that Lamott uses frequent profanity. I would not be comfortable recommending ... Anchor :: Reference & Writing Skills :: Writing Skills :: Reference :: Language Arts & Disciplines :: Language :: Journalism :: Handbooks :: manuals :: etc :: Composition & Creat :: Bird by Bird - Some Instructions on Writing and Life
5 stars (Comprehensive resource) - I am currently using my Chicago Manual of Style for law journal editing. It's a great comprehensive resource for style, grammar and usage. I don't know what I would do without it! 5 stars (Solid) - There are a number of style manuals out there. This one is no-nonsense, authoritative, and well-respected. If you want to learn to sharpen your writing and language skills, it would serve you well to study this text and keep it handy for reference. 5 stars (usefulness without end) - Keeping a copy of the 15th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style nearby is like having a friend to consult over matters of writing style. Whether or not one intends to abide by "the rules", it is certainly useful to have ready access to them. ... University Of Chicago Press :: Reference & Writing Skills :: Writing Skills :: Style manuals :: Reference :: Printing :: Language Arts & Linguistics & Literacy :: Handbooks :: manuals :: etc :: Gener :: The Chicago Manual of Style
4 stars (Excellent) - This is an excellent and important book of its genre, but I will never forget Frank McCourt's repeated advice to us after studying creative writing with him in High School -- write what you know. If you just stick to that little kernel, the worst grammer, the worst punctuation, the worst spelling -- none of it will matter. When you know your subject, the writing is effortless... and amazing. 5 stars (RE: Synaptic Mogul's Puzzling Review) - I too read Bill Zinsser--years ago. It puzzles me that Synaptic mogul could review Shadow Divers--a poorly written book--with the benefit of having just read On Writing Well--an excellent book--and discover no writing errors whatsoever. (See my review of Shadow Divers.) I wonder what Bill Zinsser himself would say about Shadow Divers? On Writing Well was the best book of it's time. Now there are other books that are as good as Zinsser's, or better,"Words Fail Me," for instance. 5 stars (How To Improve Your Book Reviews on Amazon) - Zinsser asserts that writing well can be learned. This is good news. I thought I wrote well until I compared my reviews to those of some of the consistent top reviewers on Amazon. How do they do that? According to Zinsser (and affirmed by Tom Clancy on a TV interview), good writers follow rules, editing each sentence and paragraph multiple times. They write against deadlines whether or not they're feeling inspired. When done properly, the finished product can look deceptively simple to write. Following is my liberally abridged summary of Zinsser's rules: 1. Do - prune out every word that does not perform a necessary function. Strip each sentence to its cleanest components. A clear sentence is no accident. 2. Do - use the thesaurus liberally. Learn the small gradations between word that seem to be synonyms. 3. Do - try to improve the rhythm by reversing the order of a sentence, substituting a word that has freshness or oddity and by varying the lengths of sentences.... Collins :: Reference & Writing Skills :: Writing Skills :: Rhetoric :: Report writing :: Reference :: Language Arts & Disciplines :: Language :: Exposition (Rhetoric) :: English :: On Writing Well- 25th Anniversary - The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well)
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