Rewrite Right! : Your Guide to Perfectly Polished Prose: 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Jan Venolia (Author), Ellen Sasaki (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1580082394 | ISBN-13: 978-1580082396 | Publication Date: September 1, 2000 | Edition: Revised

Everyone knows that writing can be improved by the simple process of reviewing, editing, and rewriting, but many struggle with how to go about critiquing their own work—be it a letter to a friend, an important business document, or an academic essay. Fortunately, help is at hand in REWRITE RIGHT!, the definitive guide to polishing your prose. According to writing authority Jan Venolia, the skills needed to revise your work are surprisingly easy to learn and a cinch to incorporate into everyday writing routines. This practical guide describes in clear, direct language how to effectively rewrite a report, letter, essay, or article, so that writers of all levels can improve the quality of their work and harness the power of language.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Good, clear writing appears effortless. But chances are, the more effective the communication, the more work that went into making it so. Rare is the individual whose professional or personal life doesn't call for some written communication. Jan Venolia's Rewrite Right! is small enough to slip into a laptop carrying case, yet it offers, as the author says, "a solid foundation in the principles of revising." Venolia recommends editing on two levels--first to improve the writing, then to correct the language--and lays out her lesson plan with a four-page editing checklist. Most professional writers (though, believe me, certainly not all) understand the importance of writing to an audience, avoiding jargon and hackneyed expressions, and getting the words right. But anyone else who writes could benefit from a no-nonsense guide such as this. Venolia peppers her text with lists (e.g., of stuffy words, biased language, clichés), humor, and examples from the likes of Mark Twain and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Entertaining quotations strewn throughout are fresh and to the point. ("Writing a first paragraph," quips Lynn Z. Bloom, "is like raising a first child. It's better if you start out on the second.") "Good writing gets things done," says Venolia. Her Rewrite Right! offers valuable tips on "how to tug on words and adjust them until they say what you want them to say." --Jane Steinberg

Review

Brimming with useful information and "a good cover-to-cover read, as well as a resource to which writers will often turn."— Writer Magazine"A friendlier alternative to the "small but stern classic" Elements of Style. 151;Inc. Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Revised edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580082394
• ISBN-13: 978-1580082396
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,223,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fits nicely on th writing desk, March 30, 2005

By 

Naweko San-Joyz "Noixia-ist" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rewrite Right! : Your Guide to Perfectly Polished Prose: 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Jan Venolia covers the editing process in essentially five stages: Content, style, punctuation, grammar and mechanical style. Rewrite Right functions better as a grammatical reference book than as a guide for how to edit an article or book. This is because her discussion of style, punctuation and mechanical style all inherently involve understanding grammar.

Vernolia's approach is to writing is technical, not theoretical. So, if your thinking and writing is nebulous, and you need help refining your ideas into a coherent message, Rewrite Right is not the book for you. However, if you are pleased with the orderliness of your work, Rewrite Right will assuredly help you isolate grammatical errors and inconsistencies in your writing style. Venolia also points out the grammatical subtleties that separates amateur scribblers from professional writers.

Rewrite Right is more functional than other grammar books I've purchased because it is small, 6 X 7, and contains just 189 well-used pages. Her use of images and short sentences from famous authors, particularly Mark Twain, also make this a fun read and quick learning tool. Her Index saves time.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good functional little book, June 13, 2002

By 

Kevin Brianton (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rewrite Right! : Your Guide to Perfectly Polished Prose: 2nd Edition (Paperback)

This is a simple and functional book that will assist any editor or writer. It contains some very useful advice about the craft of rewriting which is 80 per cent of writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You write, you say?, April 30, 2008

By 

Mary Lynn Archibald "Wine Country Writer" (Healdsburg, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rewrite Right! : Your Guide to Perfectly Polished Prose: 2nd Edition (Paperback)

If your answer is yes, you should own this book. In one version or another, it's been on my desk forever. Venolia dots all the "i"s and crosses all the "t"s. (Did I say that right?)