How the Great Masters of Writing Viewed Their Own Work

Roger Angell says that E. B. White rarely seemed satisfied after writing his piece

If you are not satisfied with your writing, you are not the only one. Even the masters of the craft wished they could write better.

Roger Angell — who is 100 years old at this time — is an essayist noted for writing about sports, especially baseball. He is also the stepson of legendary essayist E. B. White.

In William Strunk’s book, Elements of Style, Roger wrote in the foreword, ‘Each Tuesday morning, E. B. White would close his study door and sit down to write the “Notes and Comment” page for The New Yorker. The task was familiar to him — he was required to file a few hundred words of editorial or personal commentary on some topic in or out of the news that week — but the sounds of his typewriter from his room came in hesitant bursts, with long silences in between. Hours went by. Summoned at last for lunch, he was silent and preoccupied, and soon excused himself to get back to the job. When the copy went off at last, in the afternoon RFD pouch — we were in Maine, a day’s mail away from New York — he rarely seemed satisfied. “It isn’t good enough,” he said sometimes. “I wish it were better.”

When you are struggling to write well, think before you write a sentence. Think about the words that can best deliver the meaning. You have to remove words or parts of sentences that are not serving any purpose.

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time. Or the third. Keep thinking and rewriting until you say what you want to say. ~ William Zinsser

In an essay about simplicity in writing, William Zinsser wrote, “The writer must therefore constantly ask himself: What am I trying to say? Surprisingly often, he doesn’t know. Then he must look at what he has written and ask: Have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it’s not, it is because some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is a person clear-headed enough to see this stuff for what it is: fuzz.”

Writing is essentially thinking on paper. Capturing floating thoughts in your head on a piece of paper is not easy. The mind of the writer has to be clear about the meanings she wishes to transfer to the reader. William Zinsser goes on to say, “Thinking clearly is a conscious act that the writer must force upon himself, just as if he were embarking on any other project that requires logic: adding up a laundry list or doing an algebra problem. Good writing doesn’t come naturally, though most people think it does. The professional writer is forever being bearded by strangers who say that they’d like to “try a little writing sometime” when they retire from their real profession. Good writing takes self-discipline and, very often, self-knowledge.”

I often worry excessively about not meeting my targets of quality and quantity of writing. I wonder what’s wrong with me. Why can’t I get it right the first time?

When I am writing the first draft, it is often a sketch of what I wish to say. My paragraphs are not connected properly for a person who is reading my article and doesn’t know much about the topic.

Just like the hesitant bursts of E. B. White’s typewriter, when my thoughts transform themselves into words, I write them on the digital paper. Often I am dissatisfied when the piece is ready. I reread it and tell myself that good enough is OK.

Sometimes, we make our lives difficult by choosing a longer route to express our meanings. A little change in our perspective can help us see the right choice of words.

Conclusion

In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinsser narrates an anecdote about Franklin D. Roosevelt when he wanted to convert his government’s memos into English. Read this blackout order of 1942:

“Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination.”

The above paragraph is a typical example of how the choice of words and sentences can make our lives difficult. Roosevelt looked up, paused, and said:

“Tell them that in buildings where they have to keep the work going to put something across the windows.”

You don’t buy every book when you go to a book store. You read the book reviews for guidance. The curation is a review of your written piece — by Medium. What Medium wants and what you can do about it — an explanation of the requirements for successful curation.