ABSTRACT
What I present here is applicable to writing generally. I have never taught in a “professional writing” curriculum per se, and I am pleased to have had the opportunity to learn from my co-authors who have. We can import much of their teaching and findings into the traditional classroom and need to, for the majority of those who become writers in the workplace receive, at most, standard English/writing instruction at the school and college level. As people change jobs and directions more often, we who provide instruction in writing, which undergirds every career, must help. I believe that we should teach writing, overall, as a highly adapting human art that meets and surpasses circumstances. Bruno Maddox, in his review of Nicola Beauman's E. M. Forster: A Biography, voices one of my tenets: “The bottom line with both Forster and Ms. Beauman—what makes them such a great couple—seems to be a belief in the effective use of the English language as the most reliable safety net life has to offer” (italics added).
