Thanks to the wonders of Amazon, I received two books today that I hope will help me become a stronger writer.
The first is “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer.” Its author is Roy Peter Clark, a vice president and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute. Poynter provides a number of invaluable tools for writers and, perhaps more importantly, journalists. I highly recommend their NewsUniversity classes, most of which are offered online.
Anyhoo, Roy’s tips were featured on the Poynter site, before he compiled them into books form. He still manages a Writing Tools blog, which I frequent regularly.
In addition, I grabbed a copy of “Making Important News Interesting,” by Perry Parks. Too often journalists fall into the same old traps when reporting about government and policy, to the detriment to their readers. I’ve done it myself, but I hope to make my stories on local government more engaging for our readers.
If you click those links to purchase the books, a small donation will be made to Poynter itself. You’ll be helping make journalism and reporting in America better for everybody if you do.
Perry Parks
Avelino,
I’m glad to see you’ve ordered my book, “Making Important News Interesting,” and that you’re so committed to improving your journalism skills on the job. I hope you find the book useful and discover that, while there’s plenty of advice on how to make your writing more accessible and conversational, the book also offers a complete approach to covering public affairs that centers on the power of people to play a role in our representative democracy. I’d love to hear what you think when you get a chance to read it, and if you think these issues are worth discussing, please visit my blog.
Perry Parks