'A Few Good Sentences'

Much of my working life was spent among writers indifferent to the precision, clarity and stylishness of what they wrote. They flung words on the page (or screen) the way a bored child throws mud at the wall to see what sticks. They were abetted by editors concerned only with meeting deadlines and avoiding libel. These practices permitted a sort of reverse snobbery to thrive in the newsroom. A concern with writing good prose – not fancy, not “poetic,” just clear, accurate and cliché-free -- was judged effete. I haven’t worked fulltime as a journalist in more than twenty years, but all of this came back to me when I found this sentence on the Eric Hoffer Book Award site: “If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences.” No source is given but it sounds like Hoffer (1902-83). I credit him with inspiring me to become a newspaper reporter and learn to write clearly. His “Reflections” column was syndicated in U.S.…