Wouldn’t any of us who write for a living like to believe we’ve always been as good as we think we are?

Unfortunately, excepting the occasional The Queen’s Gambit-like child prodigy, being a decent word wrangler is not a skill you’re born with. You get better only as you slowly learn from experience what constitutes good writing versus bad writing.

In my development as a writer, I had a secret weapon: Mom.

Betty Wilke Cox (1928-2006) was a professional writer and editor. In addition to her real-world writing experience, she had a bachelor’s in English and for a time taught high school English. Later she earned a master’s in library science and became a professional librarian. A lifelong reader, she was an uppercase W word person.

Mom edited many of my school papers, edited my first freelance magazine article along with numerous others, and later edited many of my nonfiction book manuscripts.

Recently looking back at some of her edits and accompanying instructive comments reminded me how much she contributed to my development as a writer. She often did so with a sense of humor, though some of my repeated bad practices clearly exasperated her.

For example, for years she tried to get me to properly use parenthesis, hyphens and dashes—particularly the em dash. See Mom? I just correctly used one.

“Parens are enclosing,” she wrote in one of her edits. “Using parens is a little like putting the words into a magician’s black hat: You know the words are there but you don’t really see them. The purpose of M dashes is to open the page—visually—for the reader. If I were to leave my house (on a planned excursion, that is) I’d hide the family silver in parens.”

Elsewhere she wrote:

“Remember: em dashes single out words for attention. Parens tuck words away.”

And:

“The rule is that the sentence should be a complete thought even without the set-apart phrase or clause.”

Grouped by category, the writing insight offered below comes from Mom’s chapter-by-chapter edits of my book Texas Ranger Tales II, published in 1999.

One more thing: In one of her edits, Mom noted: “When I say I would do something, I mean that literally. I would. That doesn’t mean you must make the same choices.”

That still applies in this distillation. You don’t have to follow any of this advice, but doing so will improve your writing.

Sentences

“What thought do you want to leave with your reader? Start your sentences with strong, important details. End your sentences with strong, important details. The beginning and end of sentences—the beginning and the end of paragraphs—are your “load bearing” supports. Don’t waste them.”
[Chap. 1, 2/15/99.]

After reading a too-long sentence I wrote:

“Only a 39-word sentence. Not your personal best, which I seem to remember is 64. The reader takes in the first few words and the last few words of a sentence. When you hear someone say: ‘It was so good I couldn’t put it down!’ check the sentences. Short sentences are easy to read and generate their own visual pull. By challenging yourself to write longer and longer sentences, you are throwing away much of the dramatic impact of your stories.”
[Chap. 7, 2/18/99.]

“Remember, when the going gets tough SHORTEN YOUR SENTENCES!
[Chap. 9, 2/17/99.]

“Don’t fall into the habit of trying to include 3 or 4 or more bits of information in a single quote. The result is a large number of phrases and clauses the read must navigate. Clarity is lost.
[Chap. 10, 3/26/99.]

“Subject verb subject verb subject verb.”
[Chap. 1, 2/15/99.]

“The beginning of a sentence and the end of the sentence are what the reader will see, understand, and remember. That’s the reason I believe that short sentences un-albratrossed with numerous phrases and clauses, are so much more effective. Unless the date is an historic one, bury it somewhere inside the sentence—and in the paragraph.”
[Chap. 9, 2/17/99.]

“When a sentence begins with a pronoun, it must refer to last noun in the preceding sentence.”
[Chap. 20, 2/24/99.]

“When the suspense gets hot, the sentences get short.”
[Chap. 18, 2/25/99.]

Restated:
“Don’t be afraid of short sentences—especially in dramatic scenes. Look what short sentences did for Hemingway.”
[Chap. 15, 2/17/99.]

Despite an earlier warning for me to be careful in my use of introductory phrases and clauses, she pointed out that I’d mis-written again:

“As a youngster of 12, his father was shot to death….” I suppose it is theoretically possible that the lad was a father by the age of 12. [But…]
[Chap. 11, 2/26/99.]

Importance of short descriptions

“[Y]ou might very briefly describe some of the features of the Coastal plain and contract with the thick, almost impenetrable brush county of South Texas and the dry sand and stark rock formations of West Texas. Or you could comment on a coastal distinction. Over many decades, prevailing coastal winds forced oak trees to grow slanted [or leaning] away from the water’s edge. One well-crafted sentence should do the trick. Remember, not everyone has been there, done that.”
[Chap. 1, 2/15/99.]

Verb Tense

“Does it occur to you when you use was, had been, and would be, your reader never has an opportunity to enjoy the action in real time?”
[Chap. 10, 2/26/99.]

“To had or to had not—that is the question. Once the reader figures out that 1836 occurred 133 years ago, simple past tense is all you need. You do not—in most cases—need past participles.”
[Chap. 1, 2/15/99.]

Reacting to my sentence, “He was buried in the…family plot…”
“Changing “was” to “is” and asking, ‘Is he still buried?’”
[Chap. 3, 2/28/99.]

“Mike, one of the great things about your writing is that it is like a personal conversation with your readers. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons that I hear people say: ‘I just love Mike’s column!’ I certainly don’t suggest that you change your style. But reasons of clarity and forcefulness suggest that ‘it was not reported’ may be a better choice than ‘it did not get reported.’”
[Chap. 9, 2/17/99.]

“Mike: along with was and had, you might want to discontinue any conjugation of the verb to get.”
[Chap. 18, 2/25/99.]

“Mike: ‘Had’ can connote causation. We had the roof fixed. We had the car serviced. When you call to tell me: “We had a trooper shot last night,” I wonder why you had him shot. Did he do something bad?”
[Chap. 12, 3/3/99.]

Dates
“Don’t start a paragraph with a date unless the date is crucial—nay, vital to your story. Aside from Mom’s Maxim #2.”
[Chap. 21, 2/18/99.]

“Dates are important, even necessary. But don’t [lead] w/a date unless that’s your strongest open.”
[Chap. 7, 2/18/99.]

“When you use dates, try to keep them unobtrusive and chronological.”
[Chap. 21, 2/18/99.]

Word usage

“Remember connotation as well as definition. ‘Hide’ can be a children’s game or instructions to guests at a surprise party.”
[Chap. 1, 2/15/99.]

Reacting to a sentence reading, “Some men in the county opposed the change,” Mom wrote:
“Mike: Please look up the ‘some’ words in the dictionary—they are defined as indefinite. …Better that some: many men, a few men, most of the men, very few of the men, all but one of the men…”
[Chap. 14, 3/2/99.]

“The distinction isn’t as great as it used to be, but lie is for people and lay is for animals and inanimate objects.”
[Chap. 3, 2/28/99.]

“Yes, Mike, I know your spell check recognizes boom town as two words. Spell check is worthless for compounds. Boomtown is correct.’
[Chap. 9, 2/17/99.]

Injecting Opinion

“It may amuse you to step outside the story and make comments such as “sanguinary retaliation.” Just remember that each time you [do]…, you bring your reader with you. You are saying” Hey! Quit reading and look at me!” If you want to make objective, analytical or reflective statements, select a moment between scenes of danger, suspense or high drama.”
[Chap. 3, 2/28/99.]

“Be very careful in choosing synonyms for said. Speech is a physical and neurological act. Slurred or smiled or gritted or laughed or groaned describe the words, not the act of speaking. You can smile a cheerful greeting but you can’t smile ‘Good morning.’”
[Chap. 3, 2/28/99.]

“Don’t use ‘fondly’ except in sense of love or affection.” [She suggested “tended to look back with satisfaction,” “with pleasure,” or “with pleasant memories.”]
[Chap. 19, 2/24/99.]

“If you use Spanish (or German or any other language), please try to be accurate. Too many readers can recognize errors. I once threw a book across the room when I read “hombres and hombresses for men and women.”
[Chap. 19, 2/24/99.]

“I’m not suggesting that you use big words—only that you can use one word in place of a string of prepositional phrases.”
[Chap. 18, 2/25/99.]

“‘Believed’ is stronger than ‘thought.’ Many people have thoughts which do not result in action. By the way, have you heard from Larry lately?”
[Chap. 15. 2/17/99.]

The writing style I grew up using as a newspaper reporter frowned on referring to women as anything other than women. The old saying used to be, “How do you know she’s a lady?” Similarly, a man is not always a gentleman. But in Texas Ranger Tales II manuscript, for whatever reason, I used “lady” or “ladies” a lot.

“Why have you suddenly adopted “lady” and “ladies?” Have you lost your immunity? Maybe you need to drop into a newspaper office and ask for a booster shot of printer’s ink.”
[Chap. 15, 2/17/99.]

“So-called is used to describe an incorrect or implausible condition or event. If only one person had flu, you can describe that as a so-called epidemic. If two drunk teenage drivers play chicken, you can say the result is a so-called accident. If you discover that you are losing more in deductions and taking less money home, that’s a so-called pay raise.”
[Chap. 10, 2/26/99.]

This insight came after I called the Roaring Twenties the “so-called Roaring Twenties.” When in another part of my manuscript, I referred to the “so-called Lincoln County War,” Mom commented:
“So-called’ only weakens your sentence. You’d find Lincoln County War in the index of any book covering the time and location.”
[Chap. 12, 3/3/99.]

In my original manuscript, in discussing the Republic of Texas I used the term “cash-poor young Republic.” Mother saw that as a misusage:

“When we say ‘land-poor,’ that means all the money is tied up in land, leaving nothing else. I’ve heard ‘I’m car-poor and not a one of ‘em runs.’ In your case, you are book-poor.”

Commas

Mike: I noticed that you are using commas as breath pauses. (No, I didn’t invent the term.) You write a number of words then a comma. My standard rule: use commas where they are needed for clarity…. Remember Mom’s Maxim #1: Commas are speed bumps for the eyes.”
[Chap. 7, 2/18/99.]

Reiterated:

“Use commas for clarity. Otherwise they are about as useful as tinsel on a discarded Christmas tree.”
[Chap. 10, 2/26/99.]

Initials

“I’d be tickled if you began spacing initials. No-space looks okay in a narrow newspaper column. On a book page, no-spaced initials look out of place.”
[Chap. 9, 2/17/99.]

Transitions

“You are using ‘Once’, ‘One time’, ‘On another occasion’ too often and unnecessarily. Same goes for ‘But’. The stories are strong enough in themselves that you do not need a verbal excuse to introduce each one. Just tell the story.”
[Chap.19, 2/24/99.]

Grammar

“Mike: Don’t struggle to use textbook grammar. Use logic.”
[Chap. 12, 3/3/99.]