the book bum

     My non-fiction writing idol, William Zinsser, died last Tuesday at the age of 92.  I didn't know him but I spoke to him once on the phone, to interview him for this blog.        It's a strange thing when someone you adored from a distance dies.  I'm not grieving, although I feel for his family and friends, who must be.  I just wish he was still out in the world, advocating simplicity and advising writers.  I knew that he was old, but I didn't think about the implications of his age.  I had hoped that if I ever wrote a memoir, he might want to see it.  An improbable fantasy - but now it's impossible .        It's also strange that Zinsser's death should come in the same week as the anniversary of another, more personal death.  I don't know.  It is sad that these people aren't here anymore.  I feel Zinsser's absence like I would feel the loss of a molar.        T...

     I don't know if anybody remembers this, but months ago I reviewed a book called On Writing Well by William Zinsser.  Well, life must be even weirder than I thought, because a family friend who reads this blog is connected to Mr. Zinsser, and she sent him my review.  Last Sunday I was in bed (at 10 o'clock, because I take and treasure every chance I get to sleep) when my mom came in with the phone.  It played back a voice mail from WILLIAM ZINSSER, saying how much he liked my review.  He even gave me his number so I could call him back.       Do any of you have remember that scene from  The Fault in Our Stars  when Hazel gets a letter from her favorite author, inviting her to visit?  My joy at getting this call, and the invitation to return it, was equal if not greater.  I had to pace and gibber for a while before I could go back to bed.  I spent the rest of the week plotting my response, and decided...

    My personal kind of beat-up copy      I read this book for the first time a few years ago in middle school, when I got it as a birthday present from  an adult who had heard I liked to write stories.  At that time I was in this phase where I believed that the more adjectives and the bigger words I used, the more authoritative I sounded.  So when William Zinsser popped out and started telling me to Simplify, simplify, simply,  my first impulse was to slam the book shut. But soon I saw the value of his advice, and that is how On Writing Well  changed my life and my perspective on writing.      What really convinced me to listen to him was how well he wrote.  Zinsser has this awe-inspiringly simple voice when he writes.  Reading his book was like sitting in an English class.  It was like listening to a soft-spoken but amicable relative talk.  True to his own teachings, there was not a single unnec...