So I'm getting all official and learning (re?) how to clearly reduce my wordage and amp up the accuracy of my punctuation so that I'm not an embarrassment to the publications who ask me to contribute. I'm not a complete lout, but it's time to bone up, refresh, and renew my flagging focus on all the little things that I always overlook in my writing that make sentences feel long, cumbersome and wholly inappropriate. Sort of like the sentence I just typed. Much like an artist fears that going to the therapist will damage their art, I fear that adhering closely to the AP writing guides will damage my rambling nature and make a short, succinct writer out of me. What can be bad about that you ask? I don't know but I find I'm resisting it. Strongly.
More on this later as the effects of my "proper journalism" class will surely take root in mysterious ways on this blog. I worry about it. Rambling posts is sort of my thing, no? Yet perhaps you, my dear readers, are silently sending thank you's to Buddha. He heard you all along. He heard your pained cries about my non-salient points and has gently guided me to a class that will rid me of my meandering ways. We'll see.
It's not all bad though, as the Foreword in the AP Guide to News Writing has offered up this quite lovely point, making me feel the AP can't be all bad: "The story must be written well if it is to be read well." No bad, eh?
