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Spending time at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Educational Center in Piggott, Arkansas is magical bordering on spiritual. Ernest Hemingway, who won a Pultizer Prize in Literature for Old Man and the Sea, wrote a portion of A Farewell to Arms in the barn which he claimed as his writing studio. For a writer, this corner of Northeast Arkansas is sacred.
Hemingway wrote each morning before the day grew hot and sticky. I imagine he gazed out the window looking to the trees for inspiration. He strolled the grounds leaving behind the sweet aroma of his finest Cuban. He felt the ground vibrate as the train rumbled through downtown Piggott…
In my efforts to channel Hemingway, I’ve compiled a list of blogging tips based on his writing style and famous quotes.
1. Write short sentences. Write straight to the point.
2. Establish a writing routine, and write consistently.
3. Be sure to Make every word count. Use strong action verbs.
4. Don’t spoonfeed the reader. Write so your reader feels what you feel.
5. Write on the principle of the iceberg. For every visible part, seven-eighths is hidden underwater.
6. Edit. Edit. EDIT. Write 800 words. Eliminate 400 words.
7. Live life. Observe life.
8. Edit again.
9. Eliminate exclamation points! F. Scott Fitzgerald said exclamation points are like laughing at your own joke. Hemingway rarely used them.
10. End your daily writing while you still have something to say.
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Write the truest sentence that you know. -Ernest Hemingway
You nailed it.
Thanks Jane!
Those are great. I think I shall share them with my writers group. We are currently having offshoot meeting about blogging and how to go about it. I’ve actually used you as an example several times. 🙂
Thank you Gary. I’m honored to be an example:)
Wow, thank you for compiling this list. I am going to practice your tips. (notice there are no exclamation points?) Love the typewriter.
Thanks Kelly Jo. The typewriter is in Hemingway’s barn:)
Excellent! Good reminders of what him great and what can help us be better writers.
Thanks Dorothy. Looking forward to our next trip to HP.
Outstanding! Like Hemingway’s writing too!
Thank you sir!
I used these basic points when teaching writing. I must confess that I am addicted to exclamation marks! Xoxo
I use them in my comments all the time! Thanks Debbie.
Hemingway is not my favorite author, but he has some good points. I’m an over-exclamation point user on social media because I want to show a friendly/happy tone but I completely agree regarding fiction/creative writing. 🙂
Me too. I use them on FB all the time. Thanks for taking the time to comment! Yep, I used another one:)
Great points, love it. (I am bad about using !!) I’ll try to stop.
I use them all the time in comments and social media, just not in my blog posts or creative writing:) I do this a lot too :)))
Terrific post, Talya. I, too, over-use !!!. I try to go back and eliminate most of them, but a few sneak through. I also had to laugh at #3. I slip into passive language often, and grrrrowl at myself when I have to fix it.
I have the passive language problem but I’m working on it…
Good job. (Ordinarily I would use an exclamation point.)
Me too.
Awesome. I will be bookmarking this for later reference. Learned a lot from this informative piece! Thank you!! ♥
Thanks Kathy:)) I don’t know if I’ve ever been bookmarked:)
I love these tips. I’ll definitely try to use them in my writing. (Already am… had to remove exclamation points twice from this comment)
Tatteredtotaylored.blogspot.com
Ha! I find that I still use lots of exclamation points in my social media comments. See!
Hi! I just found my way here, from Texas Women Bloggers. Good tips! I’m kind of addicted to exclamation points…Hmmm…