The world is full of great writing. So I have decided I will highlight some examples whenever I stumble on them.
Here’s one I came across today from a blog post by Max Lucado…
Christmas is our annual reminder of why Santa takes the sleigh rather than the interstate and how the mall got its name.
Max is writing about how the stress of Christmas causes people to feel hurried, scattered and broke. The reason this is great writing is not because Max is offering any breaking news. We all know about holiday traffic and the craziness of malls.
What makes it great writing is the imagery he conjures up with his words.
An average writer would have said something like, “We know it is nearly Christmas when the freeways and malls are packed.” A good writer would have said something along the lines of, “This time of year I spend more time in traffic and trying to survive the mall than I do on my fantasy football team.”
Max topped both of those by painting a picture of Santa choosing a sleigh simply because it is a way to avoid rush hour. Not only do we get the point, but our brains light up when thinking about what it would look like to see St. Nick stuck in traffic.
That is some great writing!
