Writing
Peralihan Kuasa… Lu Cakap Apa Ni?
Sebelum orang menuduh saya sebagai seorang kakitangan awam yang menulis blog dengan tajuk yang seolah-olah mempersenda pelan peralihan kuasa dalam kepimpinan negara, biarlah saya jelaskan awal-awal lagi bahawa ini bukan satu tulisan yang berbau — atau berwangi mahupun bersalutkan gula-gula — politik.
Tulisan ini sekadar mahu melahirkan rasa musykil mengenai cara penulisan sesetengah artikel, analisis atau [...]
To Quote Or Not To Quote… That Is No Longer The Question
The question now is, how to quote nicely. Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of a news writing style that starts a story with a quote, especially if the quote holds no special meaning other than to put a sentence in between two quotation marks. Take for instance the story, below:
KUALA LUMPUR: “I’m grateful that [...]
So, Anwar Will Sent Letter To Agong…
One of the things I dread most is making glaring grammatical error, like the one in the title above, and not realising it until after the article is “live” for already several hours online, and would have been read — and laughed at — by people around the world.
What makes the error painful is the [...]
Burning The Midnight Oil
I arrived home an hour before midnight tonight after a hard 2pm-10pm shift at the office. I left my desk, as usual, an hour after the end of my shift because I just need to clear one last copy before I hit the road.
I wouldn’t mind working the extra hours or minutes, especially during the [...]
Ohio University Libraries
Gee… I didn’t know Ohio University Libraries were interested in a pair of shoes and Japanese slippers. Below are among the books they acquired in January 2008.
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I Don’t Think I Can Lay To My Parents
Roy Peter Clark of Poynter Institute, recently wrote:
As a writer I may want to stretch the language to the snapping point for effect, but as a reader I demand attention to standard English, not just for clarity but also to avoid distractions that would make the act of reading less fluent.
On the other hand, [...]
Writing Is Therapy
“Writing Is Therapy” is the new motto for this blog, replacing the old one, “Treading The Middle Path Between Two Dynamics — Blogging And Journalism.”
I’m still treading, but no longer on that middle path. It’s a different path now; it’s just writing for now.
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Effective Use of Quotations
Why do we need long-winding quotations when short, sharp ones are enough to make the point? Following is a New York Times article that demonstrates the effective use of quotations that you’d be left wondering if the ability to quote effectively is not an art in its own right. Let’s not even say anything about [...]
If I Am Writing An Article
This is the way I want to write:
Alcides Moreno plunged 47 stories that morning last month, clinging to his 3-foot-wide window washer’s platform as it shot down the dark glass face of an Upper East Side apartment building. His brother Edgar, who had been working with him on the platform, was killed.
Somehow, Alcides Moreno survived.
He [...]
Murder Your Darling
Roy Peter Clark of Poynter Institute has cautioned writers not to fall into what he called “seduction by creativity”. You can read his full piece here, but in the meantime let me just quote some of his pointers, below:
When Words Betray Us: Stop Showing Off
Never mind the story. Sometimes a headline alone is enough to [...]
Of Shoes, Japanese Slippers and BookFinder.com
THE GOOGLE EQUIVALENT of the book world, BookFinder.com allows you to search into its database of over 125 million books worldwide whether new, used or rare. In its own words, BookFinder.com said:
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Kill The Phrase “Grim Task”
ROY PETER CLARK of Poynter Institute wants the phrase “grim task” to be killed. He said in a recent article:
There it was — the phrase “grim task.” Let’s kill it along with its first cousin “grisly task.” I’ve heard it and read it for more than 30 years now, and it is more tired [...]
