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WHAT IS FIRST? SOLID THINKING OR SOLID WRITING

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

My daughter posed the question in the headline to me on our recent trip to Hawaii.

Of course, there is more to do in Hawaii that ponder this question, but nonetheless it is a good one.

When I was in a position to hire employees in state government or in the lobbying and public relations company where I worked for nearly 25 years, I always focused on assessing a candidate’s ability to write.

To me, the ability to write clearly and solidly indicated an ability to think clearly and solidly.  But, my daughter properly said, it could be the other way around.

Either way, both thinking and writing are important, no matter what kind of job you aspire to or hold.

As I have focused on the ability to write during my career, I have come up with some “good writing” hints:

  • Think of an ANGLE for what you write, something you believe will entice readers to continue to read.  If you don’t like the word “angle,” use proposition or main point.
  • Incorporate ACTIVE VERBS.
  • Follow this general rule – BEST FACT FIRST.
  • Use SPRING TRANSITIONS.  Let the last sentence of a paragraph SPRING to the next, something like, which I am making up as I go:  Governor Brown won plaudits for her effort to find middle ground on various issues at the Capitol.  Call it an attempt at bi-partisanship.  Then, on to the next paragraph:  Bi-partisan efforts also marked the work of Senator Mark Hass as he tried to forge a compromise on tax policy in the Senate Revenue Committee.
  • Include the 5 WS AND THE H — who, what, when, where, why and how.  
  • Use the INVERTED PYRAMID style – best fact first, then other facts and perspectives that may be of lesser importance.
  • Don’t hesitate to describe to YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE in what you write because doing so will have the potential to bring your ideas alive. 

Consider these to be guidelines.  Not hard and fast rules.  For, writing is an art, not a science. 

Let your personality show through what you write.

So, think clearly and write clearly.  Or write clearly as a reflection of thinking clearly.  Either way works.

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