Worth Reading: Steve Lovelady on writing and editing

I really, really am behind in some areas and just have gotten to some back reading of Roy Peter Clark's writing column for Poynter.

In the course, I came across his tribute to Steve Lovelady, a tribute that includes a reprint of Lovelady's speech about writing and editing (or teaching), and how they interact (or at least should, for as he points out, we too often fall short in that) -- and the niceties of grammar, language, etc.

It's worth bookmarking and coming back to from time to time. I'll give you just a taste to, I hope, entice you to follow the link:

My belief has always been, and remains, that good writing cannot be taught, but it can be nurtured and cultivated and encouraged. I’ve become convinced that there are a fair number of people who are, by all accounts, intelligent and pleasant folks who can never learn to write. 

There is a gift of some kind. One must kiss the Blarney Stone or some such. But by “nurtured,” I mean that a writer can be in an environment where good writing is given praise, like the right newspaper where there are people whose praise can serve to inspire and offer help.