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Journalism

How a Yellow Pen Can Prevent a Common Writing Mistake

A mere two days after my post on factual errors appeared, in my day job I made an error of a different kind. I used a simple catchall phrase to describe a Washington-based interest group. In fact, the organization had a slightly more elevated function, which made my error akin to describing the Supreme Court as a body of federal judges.  Read more

How to Interview a Senator or Congressman

Interviewing high-level government officials is a skill that can be cultivated like shooting a basketball or grilling a hamburger. It doesn’t require being a suck-up, an insider, or a seducer. If a former paperboy like me can learn, most people can.  Read more

How to Avoid Twitter

For years, writers have pledged to avoid Twitter, the addictive micro-blogging service du jour. If only more of them had succeeded. Better if they learn a lesson the ancient Greeks and Romans taught and I have followed. To get rid of a habit, you should add a new one. Read more

The Art of Effective Writing, Part III: Aim for Sincere Rhetoric

The word “rhetoric” has a messed-up etymology. It represents the opposite of its original meaning. Aristotle defined the word as “effective writing or speaking”; think Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Yet rhetoric connotes sophistry or “empty” and “phony” words. How can our words reflect true rhetoric rather than sophistry? In a word, sincerity. Read more

How the Elements of Style is Wrong for Pro Writers

For professional writers who read William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s “The Elements of Style,” there is a sad, unsettling reality. The popular writing guide omits the most important writing principle, the superstar principle, the principle that wins you readers and paychecks alike.  Read more