Good Writing

Originally posted on 2/24/2010

This post has nothing to do with Israel, per se, but is motivated by the book I brought with me.

Like all authors, or at least all authors that desire to become proficient at their craft, I read. More specifically, I read books about writing. For this trip the book is Buckley: The Write Word. The subtitle reads The complete book of the uses and abuses of the English language by the contemporary master of vocabulary.

While there is much worthy of comment in this text, I couldn't help but post the following excerpt. Good writing, really good writing, writing that paints a picture, writing that combines words in a way you wouldn't expect, writing that leaves you with a sense of beauty and contentment is exceptionally rare. Here is an example of such writing.

Buckley quotes from a book whose name, alas, escapes me seeing as I don't have the book in front of me. Nevertheless, I wanted to share this excellent example of what writers should aspire to with you.  

[This is a spring that]…tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like a grandchild at the door peeping in, ducking out of sight, giggling in the hallway. "Heather!" I want to cry, "I know you're out there. Come in!" And April slips into our arms. The maples do not come forth in green; they are flowering red, soft as slippers, in tassels like a jester's scepter. The flowering almond is pink, absurdly pink, litle-girl pink, as pink as peppermint and cream. The apples display their milliner's scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up--primrose, baby iris, candytuft, blue phlox, the Scotch heather that had seemed dead beyond resurrection. The earth warms--you can smell it, feel it, crumble April in your hands.