The game is won or lost on hundreds of small details.

I try to make what I have written tighter, stronger and more precise, eliminating every element that's not doing useful work. Then I go over it once more, reading it aloud, and am always amazed at how much clutter can still be cut.

Writing is not a special language that belongs to a few sensitive souls who have a 'gift for words'. Writing is the logical arrangement of thought. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly---about any subject at all.

My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.

Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes.

But nothing has replaced the writer. He or she is still stuck with the same old job of saying something that other people will want to read.

Writers are the custodians of memory, and that's what this chapter is about: how to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into.