Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depre…

William Zinsser
52 citations
Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.
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People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.
I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.
Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. ✨ William Zinsser (2012). On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfict … ▶
Finding a voice that your readers will enjoy is largely a matter of taste. Saying that isn't much help-taste is a quality so intangible that it can't even be defined. But we know it when we meet it.
Good writing is lean and confident. ✨ William Knowlton Zinsser (1980). On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction, HarperCollins Publishers

Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.

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