Sharing with readers of this column some of your favorite lines has, to my mind, helped shape a community of reading and writing enthusiasts.
Which is why, a couple of weeks ago, I got so excited when I read this headline among the obituaries in the New York Times:
"Ronald Blythe, Scribe of the English Countryside, Dies at 100."
My mind flashed back to the joy of reading — and rereading — Evelyn Waugh's book "Scoop," which contains one of my all-time favorite lines.
More about that in a moment.
The only books I have recommended to you in the past few years have been guides to writing clearly: William Zinsser's "On Writing Well"; Stephen Wilbers' "Keys to Great Writing"; Stephen King's "On Writing."
Embrace the wisdom of those books and become a better writer.
I've been reading about the wonders of new artificial-intelligence software that can produce a decent essay on command. But it's hard to imagine the language soaring; it's likely to be pedestrian.
Waugh's writing — sculpted and soaring — produces joy. "Scoop," a satire on ferocious competition between the British newspapers the Beast and the Brute, makes journalists howl. I believe any reader will.
The book's premise: British military forces are fighting to preserve power in several African colonies. Editors of the Beast, overcommitted to covering the wars, need another reporter to dispatch overseas. They are stumped, until the publisher orders them to hire a reporter named Boot.
They mistakenly seize upon the wrong Boot — William Boot, a meek bachelor living a genteel life in the English countryside, who contributes wispy essays on nature to the paper. Two editors, who have never read his columns, wonder, "Can he write?"
One picks up a Boot column and reads aloud, "Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole."
That's my favorite, and good enough for those desperate editors to anoint Boot a war correspondent. Innocent that he is, he embarks upon misadventure after misadventure of utter hilarity.
How can you make your writing soar? As the outstanding journalist, novelist, screenwriter and editor Pete Hamill, said ...
"Read."
Gary Gilson conducts writing workshops online. He can be reached through www.writebetterwithgary.com.
