Coyote Crossing

This is wonderful. Thank you.

This is amazing advice!! I’ve done the first sentence of 9, but realized that doing 1 through 5 is so much more important, it will be years before I get to the rest of 9 :-)

Outstanding. You included all the points I would’ve, plus at least as many more that I wouldn’t have thought of—including two or three lessons that I have yet to learn. Thanks for posting this.

Great advice, much of it new to me.

I’ll add one more: go to a law school that has a good writing program (or take a legal writing class at a community college).

I especially appreciated point 13.  I don’t know how often I did that with student papers, when I was a teacher—crossed out the first paragraph, or the last paragraph, or both.  They all seemed to have been taught:  “write a boring ridiculously general paragraph, then write some interesting stuff, and then write a boring ridiculously general paragraph to wind it up.” Who teaches them this stuff?

A terrific compilation.  My own writing energies are largely directed toward poetry, but I teach comp - and I love how this advice is equally relevant for both kinds of writing.  Thank you.

I have never read a cereal box.  That must be what’s wrong!

Bill

Chris, it feels like the advice you give here comes from taking your own advice: paying attention to what you’re doing as both a reader and a writer over a period of years. Nobody would say that a woodworker or a plumber or mechanic who’ve been at their craft for several decades don’t know their tools intimately, as well as all the different situations where they’re put into use. Words and language are our tools, but how seldom we talk about using them with this kind of attention and awareness. Thanks. May I reprint on Phoenicia?

“Take a class in editing at your local community college if you have to…”

If you have to?

That should of course have read “if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity.”

It was supposed to imply “if you need to brush up on your skills.”

I certainly meant nothing derogatory about the venue! I learned more of lasting value at Oakland’s Merritt College than I did at the State University of New York.

Ah.  Good.

Where’s the part where you get PAID?

AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

I was at SXSW Interactive today (I got to go for free because I write for the Austin Chronicle) and I went to this panel about How To Make a Living Blogging, and I have to say, it was rather depressing. ALl this businessspeak about “Moneytizing your Brand” when what they really meant was “sell your soul”. Sigh.

Thanks for the writing tips. You are a good teacher, especially through your own writing on this blog. I like the mix of topics that you write about. That also seems important in keeping reader’s interest and your own. I just ordered Walking with Zeke, for several reasons. You are a good marketer for your own writing and I am sure this is a good story. Also, we have a 12 and 1/2 year old Shepherd and we still take daily walks with her. She is the sweetest dog that we’ve ever had. May she have many more happy days ahead. I look forward to “meeting” Zeke. Great writing and great blog.

LOVE this, especially since I’m just getting back to writing after burning out on a difficult book. Thanks very much!

Especially liked your suggestions to edit for newsletters in the community and to make a list of reading materials that one dislikes reading.

That editing one is close to my heart.

What an excellent compilation! I have so much to work on now. Thank you for writing this.