How’s that for a happy ending? After fifteen weeks of teaching these kids — guiding them from total obliviousness through all the major topics, techniques, and types of technical writing — I got to their most important class (grade-wise), and my final, lasting impression, and let them fall flat on their faces.

How often have you made the same mistake, in your writing? You figured you’d explained the issue well enough in your introduction, you’d provided all of the relevant information in your body paragraphs. Your readers could figure it out, right? They’re all smart people. So what’s the point of laboring over a conclusion that’s probably not even necessary?

About a year ago my wife informed me we were going to have a second child. It was something we’d been talking about for a little while, but then in an instant it became real. Immediately my heart was flooded with one, overwhelming emotion. I looked my wife in the eyes and said tenderly, “Well, [...]