What, in Ten Words or Less, Is All This Nonsense About? Good question! Veteran writer John Keats doesn’t limit his answer to ten words. But he does go to the heart of the nonsense -the writing life-and provide keen wisdom based on a lifetime of craft.

Keats (1920-2000) was a best-selling author of thirteen books and hundreds of magazine articles who left an acclaimed twenty-four-year writing career in 1974 to teach magazine writing in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Everyone who attended Keats’s classes will treasure this collection of essays, letters and unpublished stories, assembled by former student Doug Brunk. Everyone else will wish they had met the legendary writer and teacher in person. Keats’s General Rules for Writing Nonfiction includes:

• Where Writing Begins

• How to Evoke Feelings

• Adding Style to Form

• Avoiding the Formulas

• Finding Your Writer’s Voice

Keats was a legend who transformed the lives of a generation of students (including me). For anyone who cares about writing, this book is an entertaining and useful guide. It conveys those simple, powerful rules and that unique brand of wisdom that defined the writing, teaching, and life of John Keats.

Nelson Pena
Editorial Director
Rodale Custom Publishing
Rodale, Inc.

This is a great treat for the many people who knew and loved John Keats as a teacher and friend. Reading it was like listening to Keats talk about writing, which I always loved.

William A. Glavin, Jr.

Professor of Magazine Journalism
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University