Third Fourth Time's the Charm

If you don't know where to start, maybe the idea is too big. Consider breaking it up into two or three posts. If they have to go together, post 'em on the same day, an hour apart or something. I'm gonna go try breaking it up.

Secrets of a master

I've said it before: People don't just like Paul Krugman or dislike him. They love the guy or hate him. His writing evokes strong responses, because his writing is so effective.

I try to write that well, of course.

Krugman offers a few thoughts on his writing style in yesterday's But, And, Why.

1. informality.

2. "One thing that helps, I’ve found, is to give the writing a bit of a forward rush, with a kind of sprung or syncopated rhythm, which often involves sentences that are deliberately off center." (I don't know what that means.)

3. "as conversational a tone as I can manage."

"My bible in all this," he writes, "is George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language."

Okay.