Rtfm: Practical Advice for Smart Writers - Paperback

by Steven Greffenius (Author)

No one would ever have tagged me as a future writer while I was still in school. I heartily disliked it, about as much as I disliked new math. Curriculum designers seem to be especially good at transforming something that should be fun into a chore. Some writing activities are in fact a chore, like washing dishes. You can't let stuff pile up in the sink. For the most part, writing is a great creative act. If you come out of school thinking otherwise, it's not your fault. I gradually came to see the possibilities in writing when I arrived at my senior year in high school. Over the next decade and a half, I had the outstanding good fortune to work with writing teachers who understood the craft, and to know one person in particular who appreciates great writing. The hard work that goes into great writing began to seem less mysterious. I began to see how to build high quality written products, and came to appreciate their intrinsic value.

Author Biography

Steven Greffenius graduated from Reed College with a degree in history, and later from the University of Iowa with a Ph.D. in political science. In between he served as electronics material officer aboard USS KIRK (FF-1087) in the Western Pacific. Currently, Steve lives with his family in Westwood, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. He founded Puzzle Mountain Digital, http: //puzzlemtn.com/, in 2015 to publish technical as well as non-technical work. RTFM: Practical Advice for Smart Writers is his eleventh book as author or editor.