Sticks or jars

Some people have complimented me on my writing, so I thought it would be nice to mention a book that helped me immensely.  It's called The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves -- the same Robert Graves who wrote I, Claudius and Goodbye to All That.

The central idea is this:  after you've written something, go back and read it.  Anything that sticks or jars is a problem that you need to fix.  By "sticks or jars" I mean "interrupts the flow of reading."  You can imagine that someone is looking over your shoulder and asking, "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" The book has a series of examples and explanations to help ease you into this process.

Also, I look up the words I don't know how to spell.  At Google, you can type "define: seperate" and it will ask you, "Did you mean separate?"  Mispellings are the sure sign of an amateur work.

So, if you want to be a writer, I'd suggest you take a look at the book.  And use your spell-checker.