Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a
paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should
have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not
that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and
treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with
the beginning.
Fortunately, the act of composition, or creation, disciplines the mind; writing
is one way to go about thinking, and the practice and habit of writing not only
drain the mind but supply it, too.
A careful and honest writer does not need to worry about style. As you become
proficient in the use of language, your style will emerge, because you yourself
will emerge, and when this happens you will find it increasingly easy to
breakthrough the barriers that separate you from other minds, other hearts -
which is, of course, the purpose of writing, as well as its principal reward.
Your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself, and the true
writer always plays to an audience of one.
