I found these writing tips while I was cleaning up some files on my Laptop. These were written by the Roman poet Marcus Flavius Quintilianus in 65 AD.

1. Write quickly, and you will never write well; Write well, and you will soon write quickly.

2. Clearness is the first essential, then brevity, beauty, and vigor.

3. Correct repeatedly and stoically.

4. Erasure is as important as writing.

5. Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute.

6. The best method of correction is to put aside for a time what you have written, so that when we come to it again it may have an aspect of novelty, as of being another man's work; in this way, we may preserve ourselves from regarding our writings with the affection we lavish upon a newborn child.

Current Mood: sick