Member-only story
“Easy Reading is Damn Hard Writing.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne makes a point
“I love to ramble,” said my friend Jace.
“Well, cut it out!” I cried.
“But I thought you liked walking too?”
“Oh. That kind of rambling.”
The other kind is when a writer, much like a walker taking a long trek, goes on and on and on and on. You get the picture. Only the writer loses brevity while the walker actually gets somewhere.
Another friend once wrote a rambling rant to a magazine. Before sending it, he asked me to scrutinize it and tell him what I thought.
Oh, rats. There’s nothing worse than a bad writer asking a writer pal to check their work. What the bad writer wants is praise. They want their pal to agree with their sentiments and say they’ve done a fabulous job.
My inner editor set to work. She plucked unnecessary words and run-on sentences and corrected grammar. Satisfied after polishing the rant, I threw my version in the trash. It wasn’t wanted and would fall on deaf ears.
“Thanks for letting me read your letter.”
“You’re welcome. It will sock it to them,” said my bad writer friend. “Hit them right between the eyes like they deserve!”
