annotated On Writing Well

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+%must be run from root directory
+\input mla8.tex
+
+%%Annotations should include:
+% - Unknown Vocabulary
+% - Themes and Support Quotations
+% - Strong language/passages
+% - Shifts in POV or tone
+% - Author's tone and author's purpose
+% - Short personal reflections grouped by chapter
+% - Anything else that resonates with me
+
+\countdef\partnum=2
+\def\part#1{\advance\partnum by 1{\twelvebf Part \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral\the\partnum}: #1\/}}
+
+\countdef\chapnum=1
+\def\chapter#1{\advance\chapnum by 1{\twelvebf Chapter \the\chapnum: #1\/}}
+
+\def\word#1#2{{\twelveit #1:\/} #2}
+
+\def\reflection#1{#1}
+
+\def\note#1{Note: #1}
+
+\def\ifquoted{\expandafter\iftrue \def\ifquoted{\iffalse}}
+\def\quote#1#2{``#1'' \cite{\ifquoted \newcite \nameinline \fi
+  \name{Zinnser}{Zinnser, William}%
+  \contain{On Writing Well}%
+  \publish{Harper Perennial}%
+  \pubdate{2006}%
+  \pagenum{#2}%
+}.}
+
+%%actual document
+\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer}
+\prof{Jones}
+\header
+\title{Running annotation of William Zinnser's {\fourteenit On Writing Well}}
+
+\part{Principles,} \chapter{The Transaction}
+
+\word{Bohemian}{(adj) socially unconventional in an artistic way}
+\word{Walden Pond}{a lake in Concord, Massachusetts}
+
+\quote{I was asked if I would come and talk about writing as a vocation $\ldots$ He was going to talk about writing as an avocation}{3} \quote{Writing is a craft, not an art}{4} \quote{There isn't any `right' way to do such personal work}{5}
+
+\reflection{This chapter is an explanation of why teaching good writing is difficult. The first concern is easily summed up: writing styles differ significantly from person to person, as told through the story of Dr. Brock, the avocational writer and the author's panel. Zinnser boils it down to a few relevant essentials in the end: writing is a vulnerable and thus tense act (explain), writers have to compel the reader to continue reading exclusively with good writing, and good nonfiction writing consists of a writer showing their own humanity, warmth, and enthusiasm with clear and strong prose.}
+
+\chapter{Simplicity}
+
+\quote{Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important $\ldots$ But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components}{6} \quote{Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one cannot exist without the other}{8} \quote{Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Surprisingly often they don't know}{9} \quote{If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard.}{9}
+
+\word{Mollify}{(verb) appease the anger or anxiety of someone} \word{Bearded}{boldly confronted or challenged}
+
+\reflection{This chapter describes, instructionally, the mechanical act of writing. I find this very helpful, in contrast to the majority of wishy-washy writing advice commonly provided by other writers of the ``write your passion'' sort. While writing, of course, isn't a purely mechanical process, it isn't ethereal, so it can be broken down into the simple process of 1) determining ideas, 2) writing those ideas, and 3) rewriting those ideas to sound clearer to the easily-distracted reader.}
+
+\chapter{Clutter}
+
+\word{Laborious}{(of speech or writing style) showing obvious signs of effort and lacking in fluency}. \word{Ponderous}{dull, laborious, or excessively solemn}
+
+\quote{\thinspace`In the unlikely possibility that the aircraft should experience such an eventuality,' she begins---a phrase so oxygen-depriving in itself that we are prepared for any disaster}{13} 
+
+\note{Zinnser says \quote{Simplify, simplify}{16} Instead, he could have used the more traditional ``simplify, simplify, simplify,'' but this leaves a very lasting impression of the admonition to remove useless words even if they sound beautiful.}
+
+\reflection{This chapter repeats the last chapter's major messages from a different angle, motivations. It explains that clutter obscures and inflates, so it makes truth cloudier, less meaningful, and falsely important. It, slightly satirically, provides ?tons? of evidence for clutter's inefficiency and inefficacy.}
+
+\chapter{Style}
+
+\word{Finials}{an ornament at the top, end, or corner of an object} \word{August}{}
+
+\quote{Trying to add style is like adding a toupee. At first glance the foremerly bald man looks young and even handsome. But at second glance---and with a toupee there's always a second glance---he doesn't look quite right}{18}
+
+\quote{Writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and it will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity.}{20}
+
+\reflection{Zinnser recognizes that writers fail to express their own style because they are too ``tense.'' This explains a lot of flow and writer's block problems as he mentions near the end, and it gives me a useful lens into my cognition: I often can't write effectively, so instead I fill up a page with useless blather. Instead, I could have actually said something and presented a much more compelling sense of ``warmth and humanity,'' as is explicitly sought out by this book (5).}
+
+\biblio
+\bye