The Lively Art of Writing Mass Market Paperback – March 1, 1969

There tend to be two levels of achievement in everything we do: the functional level, and the superb level. In school, we are taught the functional level; in life, we admire the superb level. Drivers education will not make you a race car driver, and your english class will not make you a good writer.In this book, however, are the skills and techniques necessary to take your writing and expression beyond the current level. Since I've read the words in that book, the words in my papers have suddenly been lining up for me and saying things in clever ways.The book talks about specific ways, and gives specific examples, of how good writers write. There is no bull in this book. If you read it, apply it, and write a lot - you will improve your writing.It used to take me about eighteen hours to write a single page paper because my mind would go off in so many directions trying to get my idea on paper. It now takes me about twenty minutes, because I am able to think through an entire paper before I write it.It sounds rather fanciful, but in reality it isn't. The book helps select what literary methods to use. It is your caddy. In your bag are many tricks which you use to drive ideas home or push thoughts along. Each trick, like a golf club, is useful in certain situations. The caddy helps you pick them.Most other books give you the clubs but not the caddy. This book is different because it tells you how and when to use them - and it knows. This is not your pimple-faced 12 year old caddy... Oh no, this is the real deal. This is the caddy that will get you off of the torn up local greens and onto your neighbors TV screen... Leave the functional and join the superb. This book will help you get there.

Super guide to writing improvement. Very inexpensive and easy to carry while totally invaluable and even funny at times.

The media could not be loaded. This is still a standard for teaching the foundations of writing.

We read this in high school in the 70s. The examples she gives are dated, but the advice on essay structure, shaping the argument inside the essay, ordering one's persuasive points, is timeless. Some of the lessons carry over into speech construction, but with speech one has the ability to make eye contact, gesture, speak with emotion, move about and seize the audience's attention. With speech, one is limited in time, but with the essay, one must do without the advantages of visual presence and accomplish one's persuasion strictly through words -- well-planned, crafted essay paragraphs. And, unlike extemporaneous speech, one can edit, rewrite, revise and perfect one's words.I can't help wondering what Mrs. Payne would have made of our search engine world -- how much easier our high school essay assignments would have been with the cornucopia of sources available at our fingertips today. But the richness of our content is for naught if we do not shape our essays properly and do what we can to craft instruments of persuasion. For facts are useless if one cannot present them in a lively way that convinces the reader that your argument is worth reading to the end.

I heard of this book as a homeschooler. I thought it might be useful for teaching a high school English credit to my oldest (age 15) son. I have decided to use parts of this book rather than use it completely.One of the things that is a bit of a turn off is that it is dated. You can see this in some of the language used and in some of the examples. The fact that it's dated is not a bad thing, but for a fifteen year old son the information is overlooked for this very fact.One of the things that I liked about this book is that it had some very good examples for common mistakes students make when writing. For example, the word very. This author provides a basic example of using the word very and then essentially has you reread the same sentence substituting some better words into the sentence. This is a very concrete way of teaching and it is helpful. I think it will help my son understand what I am saying when I talk about the word Then.... which is another common mistake.Overall, if you are trying to improve your writing prior to taking a class or a test, this would be an excellent review book. If you are trying to educate yourself and you are an adult and willing to be a little bit bored at time, this is a great book with lots of concrete examples that is sure to be helpful.Well worth the money. Enjoy.

Good!

I bought this book from the Amazon store and I'm very happy. It's great and worth the money, so that's a plus!Read books to have a second brain !!!

This book gets me so excited about writing. What a blessing to all of us who love words and the use of them. Bravo!