Out of the books I read in 2018, my book of the year comes from the reading I did for my particular vocation* as a writer. But since all of us write something occasionally (for our jobs or in our relationships), and since all of us could use help discerning good writing from poor writing, I recommend it without hesitation.
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, 6th ed. by William Zinsser (1st ed. 1976) 294 pages
Zinsser writes insightfully about the writing process; your respect for good writers will grow! He identifies the characteristics that make good writing good, a campaign that begs visiting and revisiting. Best of all, he is an encouraging teacher for the writer in all of us – even if the bulk of our writing is in emails to our co-workers and birthday cards to our intimates.
Plus – get this – it’s really well written. 😉
Happy reading (and writing),
Jocelyn
* Do you read/listen much for your vocation? I mean: Have you found a few communicators who are the kind of humans you’d like to be when you grow up? Have you found anyone who is ahead of you as a Christ-ian, a parent, a child, a whatever-your-job-title-is-currently, and a whatever-you-hope-your-job-title-will-be-eventually and can offer some empathy and leadership through life?
If you haven’t found such people, I’d encourage you to keep looking. They’ve been an essential part of the salvation of God in my life. The search itself is often discouraging, but once you find them you can cling on for a little while like a suckerfish on a whale.