lit-lorn-strait
Dear Lit-Lorn Readers,
Last week as I sorted some of my older books on writing and publishing, I found a little section in one book, titled “The Complex Writing Demands of the Digital Era.” Yes, this one goes back a bit. But take a look at what's there:
- Writers use a variety of writing technologies.
- Writers do many kinds of writing: letters, reports, memos, websites and more.
- Writers have multiple audiences and purposes.
- Writers know how to find and present information to their audiences.
- Writers know what to emphasize.
- Writers recognize that an active and personal style free from errors is most effective.
What a great little list! These are principles of good writing that make room for all sorts of writing and individual styles, yet never go out of date.
I flipped back to the copyright page of the book to see just how timeless the list was, and found that the copyright date was 1947—the year before I was born. That's a long time for a set of writing principles to hold up, and it reminds us that some things never change.
—Mary Schendlinger, with Geist
