Championship Writing: 50 Ways to Improve Your Writing Book

	Introduction	9
	Short and simple: Fuzzy writers force readers to do their work	11
	On the purpose of ink: Octopus writing sinks readers in a sea of words	15
	People will little note nor long remember a cluttered sentence: Lincoln's restraint made words at Gettysburg timeless	18
	Wordiness: Never so bethump'd with words!	22
	The writing path can be bumpy or smooth The building blocks of sentences pave the way	27
	Short words: Simple phrasing protects clarity	31
	In a surprise move: Do journalists speak as they write? If they did, here's how it would sound	35
	Fadspeak: Gag me to the max fer sure	38
	Overwriting: Literature's Elvis on velvet	41
	Make stories speak to readers: If your copy doesn't talk the talk, your audience might not hear	44
	To catch an eye: Write strong and attractive captions	47
	Rethinking headlines: Good heads open a door into the story	51
	Language myths hinder graceful writing: Wordsmiths split hairs on infinitives, verbs	60
	Grammatically speaking: Writers should avoid polluting the language environment	63
	Pet peeves: Go ahead, ax me about irregardless	67
	Spell-checkers: Don't jump to conclusions when playing with checkers	70
	Notes on usage: Accepted and traditional definitions are the safest	74
	Solving the Ambrose Bierce mystery: Why do people want to put a straitjacket on the language?	85
	Speech is communication, too: Updating you on the rain event and trackage	88
	Popular expressions: Misunderstanding is just a hair's breadth away	92
	Zimmerman leads can put flesh on bare-bones facts: But dull is dull, despite device	94
	Clause and effect: Backing in can wreck a lead	100
	Avoiding the predictable: When the drop-dead lead is just a dead lead	104
	The light approach: In writing, humor is serious business	108
	Fresh approaches: The right detail can make you want more	112
	Allusions: Food for the mind, nourishment for the soul	116
	Important imports: Some common foreign expressions have no English equivalent	120
	Making the difficult easy: Analogies can help readers understand	124
	Literary tricks: Don't be afraid to write stories that read like fiction	129
	Sound and sense: If not overdone, poetic devices can enrich your writing	132
	Composition: Short and choppy can damage sequence, meaning	136
	Attribution, she said: Overuse and tense problems get in the story's way	140
	Quotations: The spice of write: Paraphrasing is the lost art of pruning quotes	144
	Language skill and credibility: Mistakes make readers doubt	153
	Avoiding pronoun pitfalls: When in doubt about who or whom, try a substitution	157
	Comma sense: Common comma causes uncommon problems	160
	Editing the wire I: Formula writing can be habit-forming	164
	Editing the wire II: Wire editors shouldn't assume perfect readiness of wire copy	168
	Taking risks: Why should you? Good writing is safe writing	171
	Missed opportunity: Creativity seeks stories, not reports	175
	Me, myself and I: Modesty covers a multitude of sins in first-person writing	179
	Loaded language I: Avoiding the slant	182
	Loaded language II: Readers have a right to fair and objective reporting	186
	Pretty lies: Precision and accuracy strip away the mask of euphemism	190
	Sexism in print: The excesses of political correctness have hushed legitimate complaint	194
	Politispeak: Pols often disfigure figures of speech	198
	Tips for coaching writers: Creating the right climate promotes teamwork	201
	Index	205