Writing as a Performing Art

WRITING AS A PERFORMING ART is written to encourage, motivate and inspire non-fiction writers of all ages. It celebrates why we write, why we must write, and reviews the strategies veteran writers employ. One of its aims is to cultivate the Inner Editor--to remind writers of the importance of editing, rewriting and polishing their work.

Author Tom Cronin earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University and has been an award- winning teacher at several universities. He is President Emeritus of Whitman College and McHugh Professor of American Institutions and Leadership Emeritus and former Interim President at Colorado College. He is the author of several prize-winning books, including the best-selling Government By The People and books on leadership, elections, state politics, the presidency and political novels. He is a regular columnist for Colorado newspapers and has written hundreds of public affairs articles for journals, magazines and newspapers ranging from TV Guide to Science and The New York Times Magazine.

Earlier in his career Cronin worked as an aide in the U.S. Congress, as a White House Fellow on the White House West Wing staff and as a consultant to cabinet members and governors. He was a researcher at the Brookings Institution, the Aspen Institute and the Hoover Institution.

The primary goal of WRITING AS A PERFORMING ART is to prepare writers to write compelling and convincing stories. Stories are what makes us human, and writers help us navigate the complexities of life. Writers help reveal our common human bonds. They let us know we not alone, and help us search for better possibilities.

Cronin's WRITING AS A PERFORMING ART is both a pep-talk and a rigorous guide for how writers can more effectively connect with their readers. It reviews standard practices yet encourages writers to write bravely, to bend the rules to make their points, and to provide the evidence to convince.

Writing matters. And what matters even more is the power of ideas. Just as leaders define, defend and promote important mutually shared values, writers help define and clarify critical choices--and what is true. Writing, Cronin emphasizes, is a grand opportunity to tell your story and our story--to tell the truth, advocate improvements, share creative ideas, and celebrate our capacity for compassion, gallantry, humanity and love. And to "take it to the house."