On Writing Well by William Zinsser

     The greatest writing book of all time, hands-down, is the Elements of Style by Professor Strunk and E.B. White. The simple articulation, the quaint but powerful phrases, and the rules that seem too short to be correct, has given writers of every generation the simple paths to greatness. But the long standing complaint against the school of brevity is briefness. Their questions and dilemmas bounce short of answers as the reader is left with text that abruptly turns to white space. So where do the readers go? They don't go anywhere. With rule after rule stacking on one another, readers stop looking and the book becomes frustrating. This idea is what inspired the book On Writing Well by Willaim Zinsser. This book expands specifically on the issues, questions, and rules of the brief legend; splicing and cutting more text across that terrifying white space we call doom. If you have the Elements of Style, this book would be an addition worthy of its binding, but if are looking for a book to dive right into with full explanations of simple rules look no further.

A. Delete Clutter

The new age of information is all about adding clutter. You never hear about a missile crashing but prematurely hitting the ground, you never hear about a business losing money but that a business is running at a negative cash-flow position, and further, you never hear about a country declaring war but offering all possible routes of diplomatic negotiations that unfortunately lead to a undesired conflict of opposing interests. You hate it, I hate it, and so does everyone else. The single most despised thing in the world is clutter. You start with a good plan, something perfect. The plan goes through a process of explanations and feather puffing, and before you know it, your plan is wearing several tons more information and piles of goodness that shrouds your perfect idea. Clutter, Clutter, Clutter, in the eyes of a writer is like saying More, More, More, and more is always bad. Don't bet that someone will understand you, hopefully. Hopefully you will spend that time and just state your perfect plan. Don't be a politician, cut out ALL clutter.

B. Be Simplified

Be simplified, don't be simple. There is a difference. Being simplified is about knowing that maple syrup and pinto beans are a bad idea, or that people who sell cow brain tacos to the masses should be arrested and forgotten among the conversations of great dietary achievements. Writing is about knowing what to write and when to stop. No one cares if a man walked to a store because it's bland, says nothing, and, above all, is simple. But someone may be interested if Mother Geronimo had tea with Peter Gilmore in a Hindu Temple. The idea is to be direct in what you are saying and where you are going. Be simplified, NOT simple.

C. An audience of One

Imagine the front cover of a New York Times Best Seller. Imagine the numbers of sold copies printed across the top with golden font and silver trim. Imagine the the literary praise and seeing your book placed along side the shrines of your childhood dream-authors. Now take that idea firmly by the horns and go throw it in the trash – that is not writing. Writers always write for themselves without thinking what the audience wants to hear. Writers are famous not by writing what audiences want to hear, but being able to explain their own ideas so that readers can understand.

D. Cadence

Most people don't believe me when I say there is rhythm in writing. Yes, I am speaking about writing, not poetry. But good poetry is worth reading if you want good cadence. Read poetry, watch for cadence, and your writing will start flowing.

E. Use direct/proper/useful words

“Lord, please help me with the hard things in my life and guide me to make the right choices from day to day,” as you continue in piety, “And please help my friends get their things done and help them over come their problems... and.... and.” Lord have mercy on your soul if you pray like that. There are no grades for a well spoken prayer, but you may succeed at saying nothing. Writing, like speaking, is about nouns and verbs. If you have poor nouns you have poor subjects. If you have poor verbs you have poor actions. And if you attempt to dribble by with auxiliaries alone may God miracle your way to heaven because, He knows, the road to hell is paved with adverbs and adjectives. Don't expect the reader to understand you, use word that mean what you mean, remember to be direct.

F. Unity, Place, Person, Nouns, Verbs, Moods, Tenses, reduces subjects to single sentences

Everyone hates planning, doesn't matter who you are. If you enjoy the face-splitting drudgery it is because you enjoy the end result, and that is why you must remember this rule. When you are writing keep everything matching. Plural nouns stay plural, people and person stay in different sentences, scenes don't jumble out of order and run together, people who are doing something are doing it now, and sad characters don't walk through doors and become happy – unless this is a Norseman bursting through the gates of Valhalla. Plan ahead and keep unity.

G. Introductions and Conclusions

Intro's should be entertaining, closers should be surprising. There is nothing worse for a writer to experience than labouring hours in detailing a thousand facts that would twirl the reader's mind into a high-sky adventure but never see the sun light because a reader isn't willing to endure the first paragraph - or first several pages. Introductions must capture the reader. Use an interesting fact, an odd observation, or perhaps a series of unanswerable incidents, anything that makes the reader say, “Wow, I didn't know that,” or, “What is happening or what will happen next?” the longer you can hold the reader the more willing he will be in enduring your thousand facts – even if they are boring. But there is one last tie: the conclusion. If you force a reader to endure an entire essay, then you better be thinking how you can sweep the reader off of his feet. If not, he will be sweeping your essay to the trash. Hook readers with a shocking fact or good story and end with a surprise that no one saw coming.

H. Practice detailing landscape...

I was once told that the only people who enjoy every moment of a traveler's tale are the travelers. They are the only ones who find wonder in ever step and a piece of God's goodness behind every rock, but people like you and me, when we ask, “Tell me everything about your experience,” only want to know everything that would interest us – be honest. When writing we have to keep this in mind and not bore our readers out of their wits. There is only one way to become better at detailing landscapes; Practice. But there's advice that may help you in the right direction: write the first three things that come to mind. If the mountain range is accented with black ice, a frozen lake, and a misplaced lightening rod, then speak about those things; as I have also been told, a picture is worth a thousand words, but people care less. So don't rabbit trail and attempt to speak about the wonder of every step or God's goodness behind every rock, just speak about the wonderful three steps or the greatest trio of God's beauties.

I. Humour is Serious Business

Humour is about practical truth. The best moments in life are often found around a thanksgiving turkey or a cold night out in the Christmas snow with friends and family reminiscing about times scarcely remembered. You cry together, laugh at each other, fight for trifling matters, but they are always good memories. They are memories of perfect origin, and nothing in life would be enough to barter for something else. Some people call it the simple things in life, and that is what I believe they are. Simple, and almost forgotten... almost. And that is what humour is, simple things almost forgotten, so next time you want to exaggerate a truth to make it “sound funny” remember that life is funny as it is and there is no need to dress it up in some clown outfit – that's just downright wrong and scary.

J. Intention and Quest....

Stories and legends are magical things: Enrapturing readers with failing plots and paper-thin characters, dazzling readers with hackneyed remarks as old as time, and villains that love being …. yes, we haven't got that far. Articulating intentions and quests are as difficult as articulating people – because that is what you are doing. A villain never loves villainy as much as he loves to conquer and pillage and burn in the name of a lost love, no hero has ever brought a tear to the reader who didn't face his deepest tremblings, and nothing was so magical as the hug of a child or nothing so propelling as the death of a friend. The thing to remember is, “The difference between a person and a hero is one more second of hope.” That's all, that's the magic: the undying, the unquestioning, the unrelenting fight that lasted one more second beyond all hope and the one second just before all despair. This is the moonlit realm that quest and intention run rampant, and your job is to find their flag and conquer it.

Kantology: Addressing Kant and the Ontological Argument

"You can learn the easy way or you can learn the hard way, but taking the easy way will become hard and taking the hard way will become easy... Is this Ontological?"

The problem with Kant's assertion is that he never affirms the negative. His argument follows as this: "If I say a triangle exists and I also believe in exactly three connecting angles, I am saying the same thing – a triangle and its property." If I deny one concept I am in contradiction of the other (ie. I can't say I believe in a triangle while not believing in three connecting angles). But, if you deny the triangle in its totality then you can deny both without contradiction. If a triangle does not exist, then the properties of triangles (three connecting angles) do not exist either. Thus denying the existence of God in its totality will have no outside contradictions. So what is the problem? Kant cannot say, "God does not exist."

Kant states that the problem with Anselm's argument is that the affirmation of a deity and then proposing that this deity must exist is similar to the argument of the triangle. If you assume the existence of a triangle it is only logical to assume the existence of three connecting angles. So if God exists, then the rational conclusion is that He must be the greatest imaginable being. That is fallible. But before we travel any further, what does Kant offer to deny Anslem's argument? What idea does he have that does not externally or internally contradict Anslem's presupposition? Nothing. If, for a moment, Kant assumes that God does not exist, and then says "there is no outside argument to contradict that statement." We must say "Of course!" It is only logical to say, "If a triangle does not exist, then there are not three angles." So if God does not exist it only makes sense that He cannot be the greatest imaginable being. Again, the assumption is fallible and you are left with the same paradox... An issue of assumptions.

So why does the Ontological Argument still exists as both an exotic and rare argument if it suffers an apparent paradox? The paradoxes of both Kant and Anslem stand upon different corners - one paradox is not accepted and the other is. Kant's paradox rests upon an attempt to unglue Anslem by a straight-out denial of God (which assumes the non-existence of God - a paradoxical argument, which, of course, Kant understands and thus refuses to use such terms), whereas Anslem begins his paradox with the assumption of the existence of the human intellect (an excepted paradox of the Mind/Body Dichotomy - "the 'I' must exist to deny itself" with no further evidence needed to support the argument). Thus the only arguement Kant may successfully achieve is one of possiblity, "God possibly does not exist."

In response to Kant's refutation, Dr. Alvin Plantinga contends that the Ontolotical Arguement has never been sucessfully refuted because the possibility argument is a way of saying nothing on the topic. If this is true, then why is it that most people shy away from debating it? It's because the greatest threat is itself. The Ontological Argument holds an extremely abstract paradigm. If you are not dealing with a well-informed individual, you will be pointlessly assaulted with the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Pink Unicorn; Stupid and irrelevant at best, but nonetheless, your opponent will still miss the entire point: That God exists.... So that's why I enjoy it. If you understand it, use it. You'll have fun.

Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury's Rules to Writing

"Always Know Your Writing Mechanics.... Always.... No excuses.... No reasons.... Always, Always, Always, Know Your Writing Mechanics" - Ray Bradbury

Most authors know how to tell a soon-to-be-writer what he wants: smooth mechanics, solid vocabulary, clutter control, and clear thoughts. There are many books out there that describe, in simplicity, the stratagems of good writing and the wisdom discovered in error. But there is a scarcity of authors who explain the playground problems that every soon-to-be-writer needs constant reminders of – encouragement.

Though Ray Bradbury takes a small step to explain the foundations of writing, in his book Zen in the Art of Writing, he dedicates the rest in speaking to the reader on what writers need to over come; why criticism should be sought and not avoided, why dreams are always controversial, and, in his offensive rhetoric, why to keep on pushing. Time and again Bradbury determinedly goes out of his way to offend the largest groups of people only to demonstrate that writing is not about everyone else, but continuing to write despite everyone else. This is a book to help a soon-to-be-writer learn that good writers express what they believe.

For those who haven't had a chance to read his book, go and read Zen in the Art of Writing. For the less fortunate, below is a compilation of my study notes:

A. Write with Gusto and Zest

People often lack Gusto and Zest when they write. They write more automatically than a machine, and people realize it. Write words that describe what you are saying and don't be afraid to put zest and gusto into your word choice.

B. Write a lot, a lot, and a lot

You only get better by writing more often. Sit down and get comfy, because you need to write a lot, not only to gain confidence, but understand why writing is hard. Try writing a story per week at least 1000 words. From M-F write Rough Drafts 1-5. Then, on Saturday, hurl you r mess into a final copy for a friend to read.

C. Inspiration, The Muse, Poetry, Novels, Wants, Dislikes, Learn

Learn to gain inspiration from all sorts of literature and life experiences. Constantly read Novels for story and writing styles, poetry for cadences, similes and beauteous expressions. Read what you enjoy, so that you can improve, and read what you do not enjoy, so that you can expand your tastes and knowledge.

D. Write without Embarrassment

Don't write with embarrassment because then you admit to writing what others enjoy. It isn't their story, it isn't their life. If you want to write about pink elephants jumping over pancakes then do it. If you want to write about unicorns killing dandelions or birds killing people then do it. But whatever you do, don't write about what other people want to hear. Remember, if they want to hear themselves, they can write their own books.

E. Passion

Any story without passion is devoid of a honest reader. You may write a sci-fi book, but if you do not have passion about sci-fi, then don't write about it. If a story isn't inspired by a writer, by a person, then why would a person want to read it?

F. Not True does not mean Not Real

As Ray Bradbury stated, “The difference between science fiction and science fact is that one is a problem and the other a solution.” Writing about a problem doesn't mean it isn't true. Writing about a problem provides a way for a solution.

G. Search the Past for Today and write completely for tomorrow.

Inspiration is as plentiful as our past. Search your past and you will find the scarce moments you didn't believe existed. Memories that kept you walking at night and kept you sleeping during the day. Also, write completely. If you want to write about love, then give the audience something to love. If you write something sorrowful, then give the audience a reason to cry. If you write a mystery, then give the audience something to wonder for. If you write a book give someone a reason to read it. If you can't give a reason, then you don't have a reason to write it. Books are your dreams written down, and dreams have something to say.

H. Be a good Self-Editor, but don't drain your Character

Friends may give good ideas, but they aren't good editors - They don't know what you are trying to say. Read over your paper and edit it four or five times through by condensing your thoughts. Remove all unnecessary words, keep one or two thoughts per sentence, and one subject per paragraph. The process will help pull all the annoying cotton balls out of your paper and will straighten your tangled mess. Keep condensing until you have done the impossible, then have your friends give their good ideas on how to improve and expand your work. Start by making your point clear, start by editing well.

Delusional

“The mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a belief without accepting it” - Aristotle

My earliest memories were always about pitting my thoughts against someone else. It doesn't matter who it was, I was like Sam-I-Am: I was persistent and loved doing it. I could speak to a Mormon out in the cold or an Atheist in the warmth of my house. My audacity even ran afoul with my parents too. But I kept at it because I enjoyed ever bit of it. I enjoyed the chess-like imagination of two ideas engaging and re-engaging. A fight to mental death or immaterial mercy. It was a realm like that of the Roman Colosseum, with two warriors and the silent clashing of thoughts, of shields and swords. When I wasn't debating, I was preparing. And as I went on, I felt the need to peer over that forbidden curtain and see what my opponents were doing. What consumed all his time? Where did his training come about? Since the publication of The God Delusion, I wanted to read its contents and see for myself what books my opponents were reading, what training manuals filled their libraries and, if I were wrong, what books I would follow myself.

Two days ago, after coming home from work, I sat down, read the preface, and thumbed through the contents: A Deeply Religious Non-Believer; The God Hypothesis; Arguments for Gods Existence – this caught my attention; Why there almost certainly is no God; The Roots of Religion; What's wrong with Religion? Why be so Hostile?; Childhood, Abuse, and the escape from Religion. So far? My first impression hopefully will not be my last. I expect to see a book of words without thoughts. Chapters filled with rhetoric used to call out the atheists from the shadows of society and proclaim the superficial doubt of religious intellectualism. As Dr. Plantinga has previous stated, I would thus far agree, “I am not afraid of the New Atheists. The only thing I can say is that the older Atheists had better arguments.” But my purpose isn't to weigh value, it is to find answers.

As I read through The God Delusion, I will be discoursing on each chapter. My contending points, fallacious quotations, or any imperative information will be complied after finishing each chapter. The final compilation should resemble something of a personal nature – a war of ideas.

So, what do I expect out of this book? I expect to find answers: I expect to see the God argument from the other side; To read, research, counter, or believe whatever may be found. If this book fulfills my first impression, then let the goal of this book be to become a compilation of resources to counter those who find the necessity of reverberating Dr. Dawkin's claims. Until then, we must wait and hope.

"180" Movie - A Living Waters Ministry Production

"Where was the World? Where was everyone?"

There will be a time when a book's appalling words and chilling facts describe a world too ready to be embraced. A time when individuals will stand alone calling out, "Where is the world? Where is everyone?" As a lonely star in a cold winter's night their voices will find no warmth. The silence will bring no comfort. Until the world has changed and time begin again, they will only find despair. But those times are not our times and those words are not our words.

Today is the time where men and women are fighting against the appalling words and chilling facts too ready to be embraced. Every day they are standing against the American Holocaust and fighting against the deaths of over 53 million of America's children. Will you let them stand alone? Will you let your hopes become regrets? Will you be left calling out, "Where was I?"

If you have a moment please take the time to watch this video.

A Midnight Caller

My first full length poem. I hope you enjoy.

A Midnight Caller

I walk every night to the street-lit corner

hoping and dreaming the return of my lover

My hand turned out, my face turned queer

I skip and dance because I have found her here

But tonight the stars are not glowing and yellow

The night is cold and brisk and quite mellow

A man, A man approaches in the midnight hour

Death is known as the midnight caller

In the night as I wait

I can watch every step he take

Alone in the street-lit corner

I know, here comes my lover

He greets me with a smile and extends out his hand

I know it is time, I know what he wants – tonight we see a far-away land

We ride in a carriage down a cobblestone way

Death sits and he stares as God told me to stay.

The street-lit corner has passed and gone

For now death and I have left for yester's dawn

The carriage has stopped, and death has not spoken

He extends out his hand and delivers a token

Outside the carriage I see my friends at play - warm with glee

But death's carriage door will not open, I am forced to watch those who are free.

I see myself outside at play

I see my friends, my mother, my father, my family in the day

My youthful memories begins to glide and vapor

The door of my heart begins to taper

I shake and fight, I know what is next

Death smiles and laughs he knows it's my turned to be vexed.

The carriage carried us into the darkness beyond

I shake and quiver, knowing we will go on

The night is still dark save for a street-lit corner

The carriage stops for a moment near a murmur

This was the house of me and my lover

The moment has come that I wished to cover

I began to cry and weep for all the regrets I lived to keep

Then Death, glaring and smiling, held out his hand and began to speak

At first he spoke low and piercing

Then his voice rose and split my soul, he was cursing

Death enchanted,

“You were brought a wife

Gleaming and glow

To love and cherish

over the moonlit snow

Every night she waited til the stars struck hours

Sleeping before her Charming was in her towers

Always alone to the end

Always dreaming for an amend”

I never stopped crying until he finished his last word

I wanted it to stop, I tried any way, I wanted something but what I heard.

He pulled me out of the carriage with hands as old as iron

He brought me into my lovers bedroom to see my wife's heart burn

I tried to hold her and I tried to speak

But time had run out, and death for us all, for now I couldn't be meek.

Death seized me by my skull

He called and brooded into me a lull

“You ask your crime?

T'is Ignorance

And the wish for time”

Then he threw back my head and let it fall

The darkness became darker and I felt the death of all

The carriage began again, traveling down the cobblestone way

I would not have known, but because Death told me a place we were to stay.

Again we stopped, but I didn't look out the iron of the door

I knew whatever it was, I wasn't prepared for what was in store

I layed and I waited hoping death wouldn't seize me again

but I awoke to the dawn, the sun over the horizon, a day to begin

I stepped out of the carriage whose door was open wide

I was happy to see everything, the sky, the earth, it was an overwhelming tide

Looking around I knew where I was – it was all over

My life was no more, but so was my hoping and dreaming and street-lit corner

My wife was there with tears no more

I seized her and felt as if I would let go nevermore

She smiled and asked if I had received a token

Wondering if Death was near me and had spoken

I had forgotten death and the carriage

I felt for the token and pulled it out with all my courage

I read it once and have always felt rotton

For those who are yet alive, I write the words so they won't be forgotten

“Imagine if you would have spent a little time

Imagine eternity with reminisce of joyous chime”

Focus, Focus, Green

Focus, Focus, Green

“What are you doing?!?! You forgot?” I vividly remember my football coach yelling at us in his picture enhancing words, “You don't forget what's important... Do you forget to wipe after using the restroom? Walk around stinky?,” he paused to point, “No, you do what's important. Make your football job important.”* Life is the same way. You can't do or remember everything. You have to prioritize, choose which cards to hold and which to discard. The quicker you do it the better because your competing against time - he hasn't lost yet.

In my accelerated college course the first thing I took was a course on memory. It was an audio course taught by a man whose name I have misplaced, but I do know he had a funny voice that was feinted – like speaking with your nose plugged – and achieved a few awards for his ability. One of his lessons showed that the mind remembers the objects you focus on. The lesson went something like this:

Look around the room. Find everything that is the color green. Keep looking, find all of them, every single one of them. Look at your clothing, look at the ceiling, look everywhere. Now close your eyes. Your mind should be black and void. Now slowly visualize all of those items. Do you see them now? Keeping visualizing them one by one. Are they all in your head? Do you see them all? Keep your eyes closed and tell me how many red objects are in the room. Sound unfair? Can't remember any red objects? It isn't unfair – you only remembered what you focused on.

The course continued on explaining and teaching me how the mind more willingly remembers pictures over text. Need to remember a license plate? Assign a picture for each character. Say the license plate is 4QRW421H. That might be long for remembering a sequence of random numbers and letters, but there is a way to make it easier, less random. Picture (Four) (Q)ueens (R)unning (W)ildly (for) (twenty-one) (h)ours. Maybe they are getting tired and slowing down, or drank too much coffee and still going strong – why would they be running for twenty-one hours? Make it into a story. Conversely, to make another example, you could say Four Quilts are Ripping William into four-hundred and twenty-one pieces of human-burgers - the more dastardly the easier to remember. But the entire idea of the course was to find the things worth remembering, focusing on those things, and sticking them into your memory – a license plate is important to remember if you are at the DMV.

As Christians we are fortunate to have the Bible with commandments and histories that converges on God's will. So why aren't Christians perfect? We have God's will spelled out for us – literally in most cases. Sweeping aside sin and its intrusion, by far and wide the single reason is focusing on the wrong things - I did not say bad things.

Most confusing is that there is a difference between wrong things and bad things. There are many good things in our lives and many bad ideas, but focusing on good things in the wrong place should be equally avoided. Working hard is almost proverbial, it is the quote of every failed husband. Working diligently is proverbial. Working without sacrificing your family. Loving your family without sacrificing God. Everything is balanced on a slim edge of time and eternity.

Time sits unnervingly. He hasn't moved and never sleeps, tapping away on the table he is counting your remaining life. Breaking down under the glare of time, I get lost in the frantics of deadlines, wants, places to go, remembering, forgetting, while everything around me seems to be falling apart. Sometimes I fix that by working extra hard to complete my “To-Do” list. I feel better at night to have a list of accomplishments thanking me. But Time is still the victor. I focus on “To-Do” lists for the wrong reasons. I become economical and extricate all the “fluff.” Instead of posing for my little sister so she can draw a picture of me, I am in my room, door closed, trying to finish up a job. Instead of coaching my little brother's football team, I am trying to catch up on my reading. I focus on the wrong things because I have the wrong reasons.

To defeat time you must focus on the one who can break it: God, who was before and will be after. God provided Ten commandments, but, in comical fashion, Christ understood we couldn't remember that – He stated two: Love our neighbors as our self and love our God with all of our hearts, with all of our soul, and with all of our mind. Our family is our closest neighbor, not the job to make us feel better. Working hard was never something God commanded us to do, He commanded us to work hard for Him. When we focus on God, we focus on the right things in the right place. Time can only claim victory when we focus on things constrained by time. But when focused on God and family we grab Time by the neck and place it in the right place – not tapping away our life, but collecting moments that will last forever.

I started off college learning how to learn. When we live our life we must begin by learning how to live. We need to focus on what is important and remember. Don't be looking for green when you know we are asking for red. If you don't know what color to look for, look for which color to look for. Spend time focusing on what is right. So next time, when you use the restroom take your Bible with you.... As I said, the more dastardly the easier to remember.

*No, that is not a word-for-word quote of my high school football coach. You wouldn't know it, but he was an English teacher. On the football field he religiously held a few choice words that I omitted or replaced.