The Gospel Of Hard Work

The lead

On the table in front of me lies William Zinsser’s On writing well. 30th-anniversary edition. Every book that survived 30 editions and 44 years deserves attention. Especially since it is nonfiction.

In 1976 you could name your book about how to write On writing well. Today you apparently can not. Look at the bookshelf. The writer’s Odyssey. The True Secret of Writing. 250 Things You Should Know About Writing. On writing well can get lost among these loud names and bright covers. And that would be a shame.

Word freak Zinsser

Before writing this piece I decided to refresh my memory and leaf through the book. Magical three hours. You can open it on any page and find a shiny gem like this.

E. B. White makes the case cogently in The Elements of Style, a book every writer should read once a year, when he suggests trying to rearrange any phrase that has survived for a century or two, such as Thomas Paine’s “These are the times that try men’s souls”:

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.

Paine’s phrase is like poetry and the other four are like oatmeal — which is the divine mystery of the creative process.

Reading through countless articles, newsletters, copy, and books I crave word freaks like Zinsser and White. I’m scared to see hoards of novices rushing to make a quick buck as freelance writers, having no respect for the written word, having read nothing or close to nothing. I’m tearful to hear people brag about finishing a 700-word article in 2 hours as if it was a race and a quantity game. I fear the flood of empty gibberish this army will produce. Words need time, the text needs an edit. And pumping tolerable intellectual fast food one 700-word package at a time will only further deplete the quality of writing.

I miss perfectionists like Charlie Chaplin because sometimes you need 200 takes to get it right. And who if not writers, directors, artists should have the time and audacity to try for 200 times to make something that millions would experience? Do not settle on mediocre, do not encourage mass production of words, do not feed the public stale cliches and instant thoughts. Respect your audience and respect yourself. That is the most cherished message from Zinsser.

Mr. Zinsser

A good book has actionable advice, knowledge, or inspiration. Great book on top of that has the piece of the author’s heart, a chance to look at the world through his eyes. It sounds simple, but it’s not. It is a rare and beautiful gift that only a handful of people can offer.

On writing well is full of light and warm energy of Mr. Zinsser’s smile. He doesn’t dictate or command, he shares. He let us in his life, in his study, in his process and we can experience how it feels to be a writer like William Zinsser.

Some books inspire respect for the author, his talent, his personality, his authority, and his merit. They leave behind the harrowing aftertaste of unattainable ideal and my own inadequacy in the face of it. This book inspires respect for the craft, for long hours, spent alone by those who tame words. For the fearless editing, and labor pains in the birth of the clear phrase. It also inspires respect for myself. The potential that is promises me. The gospel of hard work that moved me and offered a new prospect. The word of caution about the path that pacified the burn in the soul. I felt relieved and focused.

From clues scattered throughout the book, you can piece together a coherent image of a professional writer as Mr. Zinsser sees it. The book is full of behind-the-scene accounts of the craft, glimpses of the process, reasoning about the approach and methods. All that can help you understand what this profession is about. And that is valuable in our age of endless opportunities and scarce time. The book offers you the chance to peek into the future. To see what to expect should you decide to write professionally. Such a chance should not be missed.

Bites of Wisdom

The purpose of a bad review is to discourage you from wasting your time. Or at least to warn you to be alarmed and watchful. This is a good review and I want you to read the book. So I will give you these little appetizers. Quotes from On writing well that I copied in my notebook while reading. Better let the writer speak for himself. Enjoy.

“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.”

“Beware, then, of the long word that’s no better than the short word: “assistance” (help), “numerous” (many), “facilitate” (ease), “individual” (man or woman), “remainder” (rest), “initial” (first), “implement” (do), “sufficient” (enough), “attempt” (try), “referred to as” (called) and hundreds more. <…> Don’t dialogue with someone you can talk to.”

“Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.”

“Good writers are visible just behind their words.”

“Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.”

…“Who am I writing for?”. It’s a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You are writing for yourself.

“Study good nonfiction writers to see how they do it. You’ll find that almost all of them think in paragraph units, not in sentence units.”

Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it’s where the game is won or lost.

I don’t like to write; I like to have written. But I love to rewrite. <…> With every small refinement I feel that I’m coming nearer to where I would like to arrive, and when I finally get there I know it was the rewriting, not the writing, that won the game.

And you must be willing to defend what you’ve written against the various middlemen—editors, agents and publishers—whose sights may be different from yours, whose standards not as high. Too many writers are browbeaten into settling for less than their best.

Writing well means believing in your writing and believing in yourself, taking risks, daring to be different, pushing yourself to excel. You will write only as well as you make yourself write.

The ending

When I can not find the work in me I open Zinsser and a couple of pages later I’m writing. He does that by honesty. He does that by example. He reveals that any clear sentence that I admire so much took him three tries and five edits to conquer. He says that the sweet and merry word that gives light to the whole paragraph is the result of his 15-minute dance with a thesaurus. That gives me hope and makes me less angry at myself and my phrases. That gives me a way out of despair and concrete path to follow when my words drop far from my vision. That is what I call “the gospel of hard work”.

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