Pursuing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
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To pass along these remarkable memes, right click on the images and copy/save – and then share widely. To regularly receive these bons mots, follow By George on Facebook and Twitter. Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.
Right click on these images and copy/save – and share widely. Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.
Each nightly vision swirls about my head, as I sleepwalk through my days, mumbling through greetings and conversations, looking for some spark to ignite and energize, to slap me awake from this weariness that seems to bewilder me so. Yet, I’m hopeless to express in so many words my quest for an original idea…
All good books have one thing in common – they are truer than if they had really happened, and after you’ve read one of them you will find that all that happened, happened to you and then it belongs to you forever: the happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, ecstasy and sorrow, the food, wine,…
Work on one thing at a time until finished. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.” Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time! When you can’t create you can work….
Take a pencil to write with on airplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils. If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type. Take…
I struggled in the beginning. I said I was going to write the truth, so help me God. And I thought I was. I found I couldn’t. Nobody can write the absolute truth. – Henry Miller A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind. – Isaac Bashevis…
Easy reading is damn hard writing. — Nathaniel Hawthorne Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite. – Edward Albee The sovereign rule: don’t say it, write it. — James Michener I think all writing is a…
“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” – Anne Lamott “Bad things don’t happen to writers; it’s all material.” – Garrison Keillor “You can fix anything but a blank page.” – Nora Roberts “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go…
Just do it – write. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down. And, if it’s not the right word, put it down anyways (you can always edit later). Put your writing away for a night, a whole day, a week (whatever it takes) and then re-read it like you are reading…
Creative thinking is work. You must have passion and the determination to immerse yourself in the process of creating new and different ideas. Then you must have patience to persevere against all adversity. All creative geniuses work passionately hard and produce incredible numbers of ideas, most of which are bad. In fact, more bad…
Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone…
As we dig into our post-Labour Day realities, the scribes at CG&A COMM thought it best to review some advice from Benjamin Franklin – a very productive and prolific man. Here is this American genius on how to improve your own thinking and writing skills. Benjamin Franklin writes in his autobiography how he used news…
I’ve put my genius into my life; I’ve only put my talent into my works. A book or poem which has no pity in it had better not be written. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. Good artists exist simply in what…
Whether you need your brand promoted, an issue positioned, key messages polished, or interests advanced, we will provide you with “the write stuff.” We offer an experienced and insightful writing service that produces effective copy to profile, raise awareness and build engagement for businesses, organizations, interest groups and individuals. Chris George leads a team…
I couldn’t refer to authors’ rules on effective writing without mentioning my favourite writer and his perspective on what makes great writing. Ernest Hemingway wrote a lot about writing. Here’s a few rules from the Master on what it takes to write well. Use short sentences and short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English – passion,…
Here’s a fabulous American writer – Kurt Vonnegut – on his art form of writing. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. Every character should want…
In a letter to D. W. Bowser, in 1880, Mark Twain described what he saw as quality writing: I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English – it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let…
Recently I was asked about the skill set required for writing and what makes for an exceptional writer. In the engrossing discussion that ensued a distinction was made between “writers” and “wordsmiths.” For the purposes of dissecting this subject matter, the distinction could best be characterized as the line between writing for oneself as a…