22 Comments
Jan 2, 2023Liked by 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞

I always like returning to Elmore's 10 rules every so often, as they are so practical. I almost always have to edit out extra unnecessary words from my early drafts (actually, kinda, sort of, and the like). I had hoped to train my brain to stop using them but if my old dog can't learn new tricks on a first draft, I'm happy to catch 'em on later drafts.

Expand full comment
Jan 2, 2023Liked by 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞

Paul......I enjoyed Leonard's "10 Rules for Writing," despite feeling as if he wrote them only after reading two of my articles. Raging self-consciousness (and, my icing-drizzled cruller) aside, I might offer one more: Never use a colon except for only the most necessary gastro-intestinal purposes. And, only use a semi-colon if you've had half of it removed. Parenthetically yours, (Brad)

Expand full comment
Jan 2, 2023Liked by 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞

This saved my ass this AM. I’d woken up wondering if the book I’m writing needed detailed physical descriptions of my characters. Or more in-depth pictures of locations and landscapes. Leonard’s rules answered my questions! Thank you. (Oops. I just used an exclamation mark here).

Expand full comment
Feb 15, 2023Liked by 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞

I really don't want to sound like a snooty, stuffy academic, but I would suggest that your writing may get a shot in the arm by reading good writers. To me, English and American writiing was at its very best at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Those guys exuded so much elegancve, wealth, beauty and charm that one feels as if the books one is reading are but a literary equivalent to the 10 course dinner served to 1st class travelers on the Titanic on the day it sunk. Man, what made me suddently segue from fine literature to the titanic. That may be ominous.

Expand full comment
Jan 9, 2023Liked by 🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞

For a chuckle about the evolution of words, you might enjoy this Shakespearean take on The Three Little Pigs. https://biggeekdad.com/2011/11/the-three-little-pigs/

I know writing can be a serious subject, but sometimes.....

Expand full comment

STOP! My sides are hurting. It's bad enough that I've got ANY and Tragedy as a double ear worm when I'm trying to sleep!

Expand full comment

I like all of these rules. However, a few years ago the department for education in England had the audacity to issue a decree against using exclamation marks except in particular ways. I say"audacity " because even a cursory look at the leaden, corporate, unreadable twaddle that continually emanates from these moronic pen pushers would be enough to convince anybody that they really haven't earnt the right to pontificate about such matters. I was so outraged that I wrote a macro in Word that converted every full stop to an exclamation mark. I tried it on the DfE's edict. Needless to say, it improved it no end.

Expand full comment