I love the research of learning about a new article. So I spent a lot more time on research than I do on the actual writing and rewriting. Probably too much time for my own good.
I write what I know, which is the most basic advice to writers – from my first magazine article to my forthcoming book. “Mountain Fighters” in the March 1958 issue of War Story was about the exploits of the 10th Mountain Division in World War II. I wrote that article in my spare time when I served as historian of the 10th Division during my Army tour in Wuerzburg, Germany.
My next book builds on my weight loss while taking Byetta. The publisher says he will call it Losing Weight with Your Diabetes Medication: How Byetta and Other Drugs Can Help You Lose More Weight than You Ever Thought Possible.
In my website and my “Diabetes Update” newsletter I apply both the principles of simplicity of style and simplicity of design. The design of a website isn’t as important as its content. But crowded and confusing design can render good content almost invisible.
No one taught me more about web design than Jakob Nielsen. His book is Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity .
I’m no computer programmer, but I design and code all of my Web pages. I taught myself HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) entirely from a couple of books and a lot of websites.
I learned CSS because I wanted my site to have more white space than HTML could give me. It’s given me a lot more than that, specifically the ability to make one change that will automatically effect all 800 of my web pages.
Finally, my friend John Dodson suggested this piece. I based my article, “When Byetta Fails,” on his experience. I’m happy to report that he is still losing weight on Byetta.
Recently, he visited me in Boulder. When I mentioned some of my principles of style, he suggested that I write about it here. Thanks John!
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