Thursday, July 23, 2009

Do you write like an artist or an intellectual?

An intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing in a simple way.
~Charles Bukowski

A good rule of writing is don't use 'fifty cent' words to impress the reader. Keep it simple. If you can convey your idea in six words, don't use twelve. Toni Morrison, one of my favorite authors, does this. She writes with brevity. Each key stroke is like a painter's brush stroke and each of her words holds power.

I have been doing some exercises in cutting. Today, I ressurected one of my old essays, way too wordy, descriptive and flowery. I chopped, tightened, and sent it out, weighing less, but the words were weighted. I like it and I hope the editor does too.

A Cup of Comfort is looking for stories for their Golf anthology and also Relationship Anthology.

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