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Writing Skills & Requirements<br />
By: Jonny Bird / Here’s Jonny<br />
always wanted to be a writer. I loved books as<br />
I a little kid, and was a voracious reader, a word<br />
I learned with my Webster’s dictionary always by<br />
my side.<br />
I had my Superhero comics, my Great Grandfather Jones’ Charles<br />
Dickens full set of hardcovers, and all of the Hardy Boys books in blue.<br />
Every writer had a style and every book had a mini lesson on telling<br />
a story, painting a picture, or setting a scene. I had a pop-up digital<br />
Cosmo lamp (pretty cool at the time) that I would put at the head of<br />
my bed, crawl under the covers on my belly, and pull the covers over my<br />
head and lamp to read through the night.<br />
In hindsight, I’m lucky I didn’t start my bed on fire!<br />
14<br />
December 2023<br />
I distinctly remember the first paper I wrote entitled “I Want To Be A<br />
Lawer.” No, that’s not a typo, I spelled “lawyer” wrong, and I still have<br />
that paper.<br />
It didn’t deter me though, because from that point on, I knew I was<br />
headed for law school. Of course, I didn’t anticipate that I’d later drop<br />
my law classes for a microphone and start an entertainment company<br />
in Minnesota, but that’s what happened, nonetheless.<br />
Back in college, I did a lot of writing and had “minimum word<br />
counts” to contend with. I’d phrase and re-phrase to add bulk until<br />
I finally learned to stop counting and start actually writing what I<br />
wanted to say. After that, I always had more than enough to stop<br />
counting altogether.<br />
I laugh now as I proofread my kids’ papers with those same<br />
minimums, with plenty of “really’s,” “very’s,” and other fluff words to<br />
hit their targeted word count. I am usually pretty gentle as I cross out<br />
the fluff and guide them to better ways of writing.<br />
Here at The Vegas Voice, I get a maximum of 350 words, so I must<br />
be careful not to go over, or Publisher Dan will bring out the ruler for<br />
my knuckles, or so I’ve been warned.<br />
So now I count. Every word. Really!<br />
Jonny Bird is the entertainment host of all Vegas Voice shows. Have<br />
an idea or suggestion? Contact Jonny via email:birdlandmusic@<br />
hotmail.com
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