William Zinsser: On Writing Well

This is my first time reading a book on the craft of writing. It was written by legendary Yale writing professor William Zinsser on the craft of nonfiction writing. I've never felt insecure about my writing, but I've also never taken much energy to develop it the way I have other disciplines.

I found it interesting to consider a writer's love of words, and it provided a fascinating look at the process that writers take to hone the rhythm and voice in a finished piece. As he says, "the essence of writing is rewriting." A highlight in the book was when he shared a chapter and then showed the specific edits he made far into the writing process. These edits completely transformed the piece, and I was surprised to find out that it happened in the 4th or 5th revision.

I don't think I could ever have the patience to work through five distinct drafts of any given piece. But I am more motivated than ever to really think about editing as a distinct phase before I share any piece of writing.

Simplify, simplify, simplify

A mark of clear, accessible writing is to communicate as simply as the material will allow. When writing nonfiction, most amateurs write to sound smart more than they write to share their ideas. Writing to impress is the fastest way to turn your audience away.

I remember collaborating on a public presentation with a coworker. I allowed him to write our introduction (which was a huge favor to me!), but the script came out so robotic it sounded nothing like a real human. I still cringe at using words like "bifurcate" when I could have just as easily said that the resources come in "two parts." "Whatever your job, whatever your level, be yourself when you write."

Discovering yourself

"My commodity as a writer, whatever I'm writing about, is me. And your commodity is you." William Zinsser will convince you that writing is for everyone. Writing is good for you in the way that lifting weights is good for you. It can be hard, often unenjoyable, but at the end of it you've been made better and you will reap rewards long after the task has ended.

This is my real fear in the age of generative AI: that most people will forget that our only true product is our own minds. I could similarly use tools to lift much heavier weights much more efficiently than I can with my bare hands. But there is no value in that efficiency. The real value is in the difficulty and the work. If you delegate your thinking to a machine, the only real loser is yourself.