"I m a professional writer, but I ve worked as an employee and

consultant in large corporations for six of the last dozen years.

I ve been a consultant, trainer, technical writer, and supervisor,

responsible for budgets from $100,000 to $1,000,000. In the

process, I ve taught about a thousand people how to write re-

ports, seven hundred to prepare r6sum6s, a few hundred tech-

nical writers to create computer manuals, and dozens of top

executives to write memos that produce action. This book is a

summary of the ideas I used to help these people improve their

writing.

"Throughout the years, one idea kept emerging as the most

important: to write better you must develop your taste for truth.

You have to pay more attention to what you really think, feel, see,

and want.

"You ll need the courage to discard various false fronts you

acquired in school and on the job. When you say what you really

mean and report what you ve actually done, you ll find you write

faster because you re not flim-flamming, fancy-talking, or fog-

ging. In short, to clear up your prose, avoid lying.

"It sounds simple, but it takes years to learn: say what you

really think. You ll get more done."