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1. leephi+(OP)[view] [source] 2021-12-30 18:42:01
I don’t know of your habits, so this advice may not apply to you. But we are living through a slow-motion crisis in language, in the English-speaking world. It is caused by mostly everyone reading, routinely, constantly, and nearly exclusively, garbage prose. This description applies to nearly all journalism, technical discussion, essays of opinion, and any writing related to politics, computers, society, or technology. And we imitate what we read, even if not consciously. Eventually, we lose the ability to express ourselves well.

Spend some time every day reading Shakespeare, Joyce, or Nabokov. Maybe some PG Wodehouse or Oscar Wilde. After a year or so, it will start to seep in. You will notice your own writing becoming more beautiful, and more precise (which is largely the same thing.) I can guarantee this, because you care, and that’s 90% of what’s required.

replies(2): >>quercu+bl >>HeckFe+er7
2. quercu+bl[view] [source] 2021-12-30 20:34:17
>>leephi+(OP)
That's good advice. The apparently effortless prose of a Wodehouse or McPhee is only achieved through a lot of work.
3. HeckFe+er7[view] [source] 2022-01-02 13:06:38
>>leephi+(OP)
Comments like these are what keep my attention here. Thanks very kindly for your encouragement. To learn from the greats, we ask from whom did they learn? It's an apt question. And you're right, I have had the desire this long, it is a cruelty to deny myself any longer.

Wishing you a very literate 2022!

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