Has it really been two weeks since I was last here?
It's now 6 in the morning and I am still up writing. I seem to do that a lot these days, but I like working late at night. It's quiet. It's dark. I become completely consumed by putting words to paper. Actually, it's really more like putting electrons to silicon, or something like that. But that's neither here nor there.
Of course, now I get to start my work day. I walked back to the lab at about 4:30 this morning, because the dear wife was sleeping in the other room, which reminded me that I wasn't. I now have a full day of writing, meetings, more writing, and more meetings. And then I go home for a few hours' sleep, so that I can start my next 30 or 40-hour workday. Surprisingly, it's really not as bad as it sounds. I am excited about my work, and I never knew I had so much to say. This thing'll easily be 100 pages by the time I'm done.
And to think in high school I would lose sleep over having to write 5 pages on William Faulkner.
Ah yes, the reason I am here:
I was just looking through my copy of The Elements of Style, because I couldn't remember if you are supposed to hyphenate those odd adverbs-with-modifiers-used-as-adjectives mutants of verbage. As in, "My stress-addled brain makes me forget that I am supposed to wear similarly-colored socks when I leave the house."
Anyway, I logged on for a reason, and that is to convey to the world that The Elements of Style is one of the most incredible books ever published in the English language. Ever. Need proof? This is how Strunk and White address a common pitfall in writing:
8. Avoid the use of qualifiers.
Rather, very, little, pretty--these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the word little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.
See what I mean? Best. Book. Ever.
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