Tuesday’s writing tip for authors

The impending (October 1) release of the Essential Don Murray: Lessons From America’s Greatest Writing Teacher is good news for all authors and writers interested in cultivating their written communication skills. Available now for pre-order, this new book promises to be a valuable resource for any author, reader, student, or word-lover.

Don Murray was a Pulizer prize winning author, Boston Globe columnist, writing teacher, and friend. He was also the first member of Published & Profitable’s Editorial Board.

Like Jack Hart, who mentions Don in his A Writing Coach, Don introduced generations of students and professional journalists to writing with confidence. The founder of the University of New Hampshire writing program, and a lifelong member of the campusDon stressed the importance of a disciplined writing process which pre-writing and self-editing. One of Don’s most popular books is The Craft of Revision.

Don Murray wrote to discover–and he never held anything back. Don’s books and Boston Sunday Globe columns touched millions of New Englanders with his unflinching sharing of the details of aging, the loss of a child, his World War Two experiences, or the ups and downs of the final years of his beloved Minnie Mae’s life. No detail, pleasure, pain, or insecurity was too personal to be shared with his readers.

His columns are masters of revelation, whether the topic be his enthusiasm for summer ice cream cones at Dover Delight or the pain of visiting his wife at the nursing home and returning home alone.

In what turned out to be his last Boston Globe column, after decades of writing and teaching writing, he begins by describing the unique combination of insecurities as he began to write–decades and thousands of columns after he wrote his first column.

Don was truly a writer’s writer, a man of infinite knowledge combined with infinite empathy for other writers. He was always interested in what other writers were working on, and always had an entertaining, but helpful, perspective to share. Few who read him, met him, or heard him speak, forgot him.

The Essential Don Murray: Lessons From America’s Greatest Writing Teacher is destined to be one of the most important writing books to appear this year. If you love writing, and want to find out why so many writers considered him a friend and mentor, you’ll find out when this book appears. Order it now, and be pleasantly surprised when it shows up.