As someone who loves to write, I am constantly looking for tips and ideas to improve my writing skills. I recently came across Todd Rutherford’s Ask the Publishing Guru Blog and only wish I had found it sooner! Although the name seems like a bit of a misnomer, the tagline gives a better idea of the kind of helpful content you will find: A place for things I believe will be useful for authors seeking to realize their publishing dreams. Mr. Rutherford does a great job mining informative and useful posts from across the Internet that are beneficial for writers. Here are a few gems from recent posts.
In Mark Twain on Strengthening Your Writing, the importance of using nouns and verbs, rather than adjectives, as “paintbrushes creating visual and visceral images” is discussed and illustrated. The author states, “Adding more adjectives weakens writing. Strong writing comes from strong verbs and nouns.” The contrasting examples illustrating this principle are an excellent help for those looking to make their writing more captivating.
Simple Tips for Beautiful Writing had me cracking a few smiles and uttering a hearty, “Amen!” on several occasions. (It also had me shaking my head when I noticed a simple typo in the fourth paragraph. Guess no one is immune to writing errors!) Especially as I’ve plunged deeper into the publishing world with the publication of Pajama School, I’ve been surprised at how often error-strewn articles and even books make it into publication. The steps outlined at the beginning of the post require more of a time investment up-front, but I whole-heartedly agree that they may be a critical component in keeping a reader/customer – me for one. 🙂