Five years ago I read On Writing Well by William Zinsser — I wish I hadn’t waited this long to read it for the second time.

I grabbed it from the bookshelf earlier this month. What I thought would be a quick refresher turned into underlining, dog-earing and writing in margins.

Here is Zinsser answering the question “Who am I writing for?” The answer is yourself. He says about the audience, “You are who you are, he is who he is, and either you’ll get along or you won’t”.

Since I read a lot of books, I am inspired by lots of authors. I’ve been collecting advice for a number of years. What surprised me is to find most of that advice summarized in one, neat 300 page book.

For example, Scott Carrier advises Najib in Prisoner of Zion about writing what you say, writing conversationally, naturally. Zinsser says “Never say anything in writing that you wouldn’t comfortably say in conversation”

Another example: Ursula Leguin talks at length about the rhythm of writing in Conversations on Writing. Zinsser highlights the same point on Thomas Paine’s “These are the times that try men’s souls”. There is no other way to rephrase Paine’s words that bring this much delight:

Times like these try men’s souls.

How trying it is to live in these times!

These are trying times for men’s souls.

Soulwise, these are trying times.

I must read this book every year!