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17-Aug-98
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The latest news
- I recently wrote Doing Business Online with Maximizer, a booklet about electronic commerce on the Web which is included free with Maximizer 5.0, a product from my day-job employer, Multiactive Software Inc.
- Gibson's Landing, by Michael Thoma, is a novel I edited which is
published by Terra Bella
Publishing.
- "Relief Map",
the article I wrote for the December issue of
Vancouver magazine, is now available online.
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 ords are my passion.
I make my living as a wordsmith of English, which is probably the
world's most versatile (and infuriating) language.
This Web site introduces you to my skills and
experience, refers you to some of my current and past
clients, and -- to entice you back -- includes an
occasionally-updated feature that you can only find
here, and which will help you write better, no charge.
The next few paragraphs describe my approach to working
with the language, and why I think it's a good one. If you find this site so
thrilling that you just can't get enough, you can read
more of my blather elsewhere.
Bottom of Page
Good writing is important.
Written language might be our greatest achievement. Without it we would have no
Shakespeare, of course, but also no Great Wall of China, no theory of natural
selection, no quantum mechanics, no constitutional democracy, no television, no
antibiotics, and no footprints on the moon. No Internet either.
I think a tool that powerful should be used properly. William Strunk, in his
classic book The
Elements of Style, wrote that:
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary
words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a
drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary
parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or
that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that
every word tell."
I agree with him. In fact, good writing is most often invisible. The best
written words, whether on paper or on a screen, are a direct link to another
mind, like telepathy.
Really.
Read Chaucer or Dante, Austen or Dickens, Toni Morrison or E. Annie Proulx --
their stories come from inside their heads right into yours. Read the Talmud or
the New Testament or the Quran, and some would say you read the mind of God.
It's not all so highbrow, though. Read the memo management just sent around.
You may wonder why they'd bother wasting paper reminding you that coffee stir
sticks can clog the sink, for instance. But if they wrote that memo well, you
know they've noticed the problem (the clogged sink) and would like people to do
something about it (not drop stir sticks down the drain).
Good writing isn't easy. Even though a billion people may speak English, only
some of them can write. Of those, most do not write well.
Whatever your business -- publishing a magazine, creating computer software,
or building cabinets -- you need good writing. Better writing can attract more
customers, make you more efficient, and solve problems.
I am a wordsmith for hire, and I write well. Explore this site and see
if I can do good for your business.
© 1997 by Derek K. Miller
Top of Page
Since words are what count, I don't care which Web browser you use at this
site. Here are some of the most popular options. Have fun.
Cyberdog
(MacOS) |
Spyglass Device Mosaic
(Embedded OSs/NCs)
IBrowse
(Amiga) |
Netscape Navigator
(Mac/Windows/UNIX)
NCSA Mosaic
(MacOS/Windows/UNIX) |
Internet Explorer
(Mac/Win)
AllPen NetHopper
(Newton/PDAs) |
Opera
(Windows - from Norway!)
Arena
(UNIX/Linux) |
EmacsW3/GNUscape
(UNIX) |
Spry Mosaic (Win)
Pocket Internet Explorer
(Windows CE) |
Lynx
(UNIX/DOS)
Page BBEdited on 17-Aug-98
HTML by Derek K. Miller
www.pobox.com/~dkmiller
dkmiller@pobox.com
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