There is much to learn about good writing. And by learning one could improve greatly. But whatever you do – you’ll never even come close to people who have talent. Talant can be recognized from a mile away. Scott Adams of the Dilbert fame has talant. And, although, he is mostly popular for his comics cartoonist talant, I have to say that I enjoy his writing equally or even more.
Here are a couple of examples for you to enjoy.
In his Thanksgiving post he mentions how he felt after an recent operation:
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that last week was about as pleasant for me as (pick one):
a. using a rabid porcupine to loofah.
b. having a head that looks exactly like a soccer ball and living in Brazil.
c. being Darth Vader about an hour before he gets the helmet.
In another post he talks about how difficult it was, until recently, to find a good sitting place in Mongolia:
In the old days, this restlessness probably caused the Mongols to invade neighboring countries looking for a warm, dry spot to relax and put their feet up. It’s a little known fact that the name Ghengis Khan means “I’m serious man, I need a chair.†But these days, thanks to IKEA, the Mongolians no longer need to stun a yak to find a seat that won’t move.
And his post on interrogation techniques is just brilliant:
It occurred to me recently after having surgery for my deviated septum that lots of Al Qaeda members must need that same procedure. When Amnesty International finds out that we gave free medical care to prisoners, that won’t sound so bad. And yet I can tell you from my own experience that by the second day I would have given up the missile launch codes to make the pain stop. And if I didn’t know the codes I would be willing to torture someone who did until I got them.
Go read his blog. It’s one of the best on the web. Seriously!