Gilson: Read your writing aloud, and if you don't wince, you've done it

I always exhort writers to read aloud what they have written, beseech writers to read, read, read what others have written, and implore writers to entertain readers, instead of writing in the dry style of an instruction manual.

If you feel I lapse into goading, let me call for support from these all-star writers:

George V. Higgins, the former journalist, prosecutor and author of blistering crime novels, also wrote a book called "On Writing."

Stephen King, who admits he's no Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner or Eudora Welty, but contends (who can deny it?) that he's a great storyteller. He, too, wrote a book called "On Writing."

William Zinsser, the journalist, college teacher and author of 17 books on a wide range of subjects, wrote the one book that many writers revere most, called "On Writing Well."

Writing well helps everyone do well. Outstanding public-relations professionals I know — all of them excellent writers — lament poor writing that comes out of corporations and nonprofits, even public relations firms.

Higgins notes that many people whose jobs require them to write have no feel for the rhythm of language. He encourages them to read widely, and to read aloud from excellent works, such as E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web," and to "see, by hearing, how much the choice and arrangement of the words contribute to the impact" of the writing. And, he says, "If you can read your own writing aloud without wincing, you probably have gotten it right."

Zinsser urges writers to give readers an enjoyable surprise: "humor, anecdote, an unexpected quotation, an outlandish detail, an elegant arrangement of words ... these seeming amusements in fact become your 'style.' "

Send me a sentence, from any source, including your own writing, that delights you.

Here's an example:

Andrew Cuomo's personal tragedy: He proved himself electable, but not delectable.