Read Again

How would an interviewer know what questions to ask if he doesn't know anything about the interviewee or what his interviewee has done?

Research. Research. Research.

Read. Read. Read.

Then you'll have not only a successful interview but also a meaningful conversation.

Michael Silverblatt said he's first and foremost a reader and a conversationalist. He also asks questions that will lead to answers his interviewee has never said before to any other interviews. That way, people gain something new.

Coturnix is a scientist who writes for Scienceblogs.com. He really writes well. I liked his idea of a scientist as also a journalist and a responsible one. He applies the same principles journalists adhere to.

Truth-telling. Transparency. Credibility. Readers' trust.

To know the truth, he keeps reading and researching. This is to make sure that what he puts on his blog is something readers can verify as true.

Metin Basoglu's You Can't Fight Violence with Violence is a good read. It doesn't simply state the effects of violence to one's social being; it calls for action.

I agree with what William Zinsser said about clutter and simplicity. Most of the time, as writers, we try to please our readers. We do this by using words we think are pleasing to hear or words in which readers may think, "Wow, this writer has a wide vocabulary."

What we don't know is that by not trying to please them, that's actually the time we are able to please them. That's the time we becone who we are, not just as writers, but as individuals. Just like everyone else.

I believe most writers are aware of the rule on not putting too much unnecessary words. We often comment this when we critique other writers' works. Still, many of us keep doing it. We don't often see that we're just doing the same thing. We just realize that when others start to comment on our work.

We don't usually take time to read our own works. That's the problem.

It takes time to read and comment, and to write and revise. But that's how people learn. That's the way writers learn how to write well. Even if it takes too much time.

At least we learn.

And sometimes, we just have to relearn what we already know.