Finally got around to parsing my notes from this solid book on writing. Here are the 11 points that I made sure to write down, reshaped and summarized for your reading pleasure.

1. Write short (and prune without mercy)

Bernoff’s “write short” advice stings, because I’m allergic to brevity. Still, pruning works; like trimming a hedge, it sharpens shape and focus. Editing everything has become one of my best habits; my work is cleaner now than it’s ever been.

2. Front-load the good stuff

I often start without a thesis when I’m writing, which makes it easy to wander before getting to the point. Bernoff’s reminder to put the most important parts up front means I must learn to be more deliberate from sentence one.

3. Word counts are for editing, not writing

Deadlines with strict word limits freeze me up, which is why eventually I gave up freelancing altogether. I do better writing first, then trimming or splitting pieces afterward. That way, I keep the flow without strangling it.

4. Beware the “missing actor” (Passive Voice)

Passive voice hides the doer. Bernoff’s “Zombie Test” nails it: if you can tack “by zombies” onto the sentence and it still makes sense, it’s passive. (“Mistakes were made… by zombies.”)

5. Kill bad jargon, but keep what works

Replace jargon when it obscures rather than clarifies. I admit I understand business-speak far too well for someone who’s never been to business school, which means I too have to watch for insider bias.

6. Eliminate weasel words (when they don’t serve you)

I’ve been cutting words like very, generally, and somewhat more often since reading this book. Such words can soften a point when needed, but too many of them make writing flabby.

7. Be direct—and picture your reader

Using “you” forces you to visualize your audience. I tend to do this already, but it’s worth being conscious about it.

8. Get over the fear of “I”

No more “royal we” or “this author” for me! That’s a freelancing holdover, and for my own personal work it’s quite unnecessary; it just creates a fake distance for no good reason.

9. School taught me to write badly

From elementary school through college, we’re trained to hedge, pad, and stay passive. In the real world, clarity wins. What sounds informal is often just direct and human.

10. Show your structure

Headings, bullets, and quotes are useful tools to make a piece digestible. I already use them, but sometimes I could break things up even more than I already do.

11. Finding focus is the modern uphill battle

Fortunately, we don’t (yet) live in Vonnegut’s handicapped dystopia of “Harrison Bergeron,” but distraction is the new brain chain. Writing well is hard if you can’t focus for more than twenty seconds, and that’s a fight worth picking.