Revise and Rewrite

"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." —Elmore Leonard, Newsweek, 1985

Great Writers on the Art of Revision

Famous Writers' Daily Writing Routines

From the Atlantic: "Also, the Drink Helps"

 

On Writing: Brain Pickings

Posts on Writing

How to write: Colson Whitehead

The author of the novel "Zone One" shares his 11 rules for writing:

1. Show and tell
2. Let your subject come to you
3. Write what you know
4. Be concise
5. Keep a dream diary
6. What isn’t said is as important as what is said.
7. Writer's block is a tool--use it
8. is secret
9. Have adventures (a la Hemingway) 
10. Revise, revise, revise 
11. There are no rules

Proper grammar?

BREAKING NEWS: The AP Stylebook has changed its stance on the usage of "hopefully".

Strunk and White must be rolling over...

Famous Pen Names

The Atlantic: The strange stories behind famous writers' pen names

Dr Seuss to O. Henry

The Year of Reading More and Writing Better

Brain Pickings is a new blog (new to me) that I have been following. The site has named 2012 the Year of Reading More and Writing Better. Now this is a cause I can get behind--mainly because I attach that label to every year.
The site already has a lot of good stuff on writing and reading. The tips and vignettes are a great compliment to our other posts on writing. This could be the year.

Mythbuster on Science and Reason

Adam Savage’s Impassioned Speech on Reason

Effective Email

There is an interesting post over at Freakonomics titled "Surviving the Tyranny of Email". It reminded me of an article that a boss once gave me. So I did a quick search and quickly realized there is so much email advice out there that I probably wouldn't find the original article.
So why does it seem like everyone is still ignoring the usually good advice?
A few good links:

MindTools.com: effective email  

Forbes.com: effective email

On Writing: Descriptive Writing

From The American Scholar:

Flunking Description

How To: become a columnist

VanityFair.com

From Inc.com: How to Land a Great Columnist Gig

on Writing: Warlord's Writing Tips

Life Magazine

My English 300 class junior year was the first time I ever found any interest in writing. I can't remember the professor's name but I can see him and I can hear him scolding us for our lack of basic skills.
Since that class I have read a lot about writing--everything from Elements of Style and William Zinsser, to Stephen King and Elmore Leonard, and of course the master.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find this list over at SWJ. It is great to see people in the military concerned about the state of written communication but more importantly, it is an excellent summary of most of the tips I have found along the way.

on Writing: a well crafted proposal

Although this article is intended for researchers it is a good reference for writing any argument.