Copy something

That’s the title of a chapter from Gary Provost’s oft cited book 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing. (The same book that many people quote online about the impact of sentence length…”This sentence has five words.”…)

On page 19, Provost writes:

“Yes, copy. From time to time take a few paragraphs from something that you enjoyed reading and sit down at the computer or with a notebook and copy them word for word. You will find yourself suddenly aware of the choices the writer made. You will look at the work from the writer’s point of view. In time you will feel like an insider, and you will say, ‘I know why he chose this word; I know why he made two short sentences here instead of one long one.’ You will become more intimate with the writer’s words and with words in general, and your own writing will be better for it.”