Sublime

though there was no compelling need to do so.

Good writers of prose must be part poet, always listening to what they write. E. B. White is one of my favorite stylists because I’m conscious of being with a man who cares about the cadences and sonorities of the language. I relish (in my ear) the pattern his words make as they fall into a sentence. I try to surmise how in rewriting the sentence

It usually follows an independent clause and should not separate a verb from its complement or a preposition from its object.

I finally had to stop reading his book. I can’t handle an A-plus mind expressing itself in C-minus sentences. I believe too strongly that mind and language are inseparable. If we violate our language we violate ourselves.

6. You are free to write the worst junk in America.

Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author’s voice.

But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.