Caring About Every Word
Several weeks ago, I heard Washington Post journalist and funnyman Gene Weingarten on the radio* talking about journalism, comic strips, and other things. At one point, speaking about writing, Weingarten said something like this: “If you care enough to agonize over every word, you will be a good writer.”
I think that’s true. Over the years, I’ve certainly read enough slapdash work in various contexts to know that the opposite is true: If you don’t care about every word, you will not be a good writer.
Good writing doesn’t magically appear from nothing. Even very talented writers can end up writing nothing but goop if they don’t do the work of getting their words right. That fact reminds me of something a college literature instructor once told our class. More than twenty years later, I can still hear her velvet-smooth Kentucky voice as she said slowly and very seriously, emphasizing every word: “Writing. Is. Hard. Work.”
Yes, it is. But it’s worthwhile work.
*I think this was on The Kojo Nnamdi Show, but I wouldn’t swear to it. Also, I believe Weingarten was paraphrasing something someone had once said to him, but I wouldn’t swear to that either.
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