www.garbl.com

Thank you for visiting Garbl's Writing Center, my free portal to these writing tools:

• an annotated directory of writing resources on the Web
• an editorial style manual
• a plain-English writing guide
• several guides to concise writing
• a bookshelf of writing references I recommend.

Read more below about each writing tool here.

Garbl'd Thoughts 

Check out Garbl'd Thoughts, a blog of my life's focus: creating quality communication. From writing and editing in plain English to making music and taking photographs. From promoting citizen action to promoting nonprofit services. From traveling in other cultures to advocating progressive ideals in my own. From bonding with family to connecting with friends. From sharing with you and learning from you.

I hope you find my writing website useful, bookmark your favorite pages in your Web browser, link to it from your website, and tell your family, friends, colleagues, students and fellow writers about it. Please consider supporting this free service by visiting Garbl's Writing Bookshelf--Gary B. Larson, Seattle, Washington, United States.

"Politics and the English Language": "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink"--George Orwell, Horizon, April 1946.

If you don't like the limited political content here, please look elsewhere for free writing advice.

Garbl's Writing Resources Online

Online since Nov. 1, 1997

Use this free annotated directory to find information and advice on the writing topics below. One of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers," Writer's Digest, 2001 and 2000.

Warning: Several Writing Resources pages are not working properly in Internet Explorer and Opera; they're working fine in Firefox. I apologize for this mess and am trying to correct it. Other Writing Resources and Writing Center pages are not affected.

• English Grammar -- includes Punctuation
• Fat-Free Writing
• Writing Process -- includes Overcoming Writer's Block
• Style and Usage -- includes Style Manuals and Guides and Avoiding Bias
• Wordplay
• Plain Language
• Action Writing -- includes Writing for the Web
• Words -- includes Spelling and Vocabulary
• Creativity
• Reference Sources

Garbl's Editorial Style Manual

This free style guide gives writing and editing advice about abbreviations, addresses, capitalization, English grammar, numbers, organization terminology, plurals, possessives, punctuation, spelling, word usage, and the World Wide Web.

A | B | C | D | E | F G | H | I J | K L | M | N O | P | Q R | S | T U | V W X Y Z

• abbreviations and acronyms
• addresses
• capitalization
• myths of writing
• numbers
• plurals
• possessives
• punctuation
• spelling
• World Wide Web

Garbl's Plain English Writing Guide

A seven-step approach to writing clearly and concisely to meet the needs of your readers. Plain English, often called plain langage, matches the needs of your readers with your needs as a writer, leading to effective, efficient communication.

• Your Reader and Purpose
• Organization
• Clear, Effective Paragraphs
• Clear, Simple Sentences
• Suitable Words
• Enticing Design
• Testing for Clarity
• Other Resources

Search Garbl's Writing Center

Enter terms below to begin your search:

Garbl's Concise Writing Guide

This free writing guide gives alternatives to overstated, pompous words; wordy, bureaucratic phrases; and verbose, sometimes amusing, redundant phrases.

• Shorter, simpler words
• Redundant phrase replacements
• Wordy phrase replacements

Words can and do break bones: personal commentary on the misuse of language, April 24, 1999; updated Sept. 17, 2001.

Garbl's Writing Bookshelf

Reference books make great gifts. They're used again and again.

An annotated list of books on writing and editing that I use and recommend--all available online through my association with Amazon.com. Book categories: grammar and punctuation, concise writing and plain language/plain English, style, usage, dictionaries and thesauruses, writing and editing, business and technical writing, creativity, quotations, and Amazon.com's best-selling writing references.

Some of my favorites:

Also available are contemporary novels by some of my Favorite Fiction Writers.

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Copyright 2012. Garbl's Writing Center created and maintained by Gary B. Larson of Seattle, Washington, garbltoo@gmail.com. Please understand that if I respond to your questions about writing, I may not respond quickly enough to meet your deadline.(If you're wondering, I've never been a cartoonist.)

This page updated April 10, 2012. Whatever their acclaim and position, all writers need editors. I don't have one for Garbl's Writing Center, so if you spot a typo, unclear message or possible error, please let me know. Also, I've gotten way behind in trying to make sure all the hyperlinks in my website are up-to-date, so if you find a broken link, please tell me.

Other websites are welcome to link to Garbl's Writing Center at www.garbl.com--or to any of its pages. Please let me know if you do. Thanks!

Except for selected books on the Writing Bookshelf and Favorite Writers pages, website listings do not signify endorsements of fee-based services, products or programs. Besides expressions of appreciation by site visitors, my only compensation for maintaining this labor of love is infrequent commissions paid by Amazon.com for items bought through this Web site.

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