Aaron Armstrong passes on some writing tips from Doug Wilson, author of many books including Evangellyfish, which we linked to earlier. It’s good stuff, but I need some help on the fourth one. What does this mean: “4. Stretch before your routines. If you want to write Italian sonnets, try to write some short stories. If you want to write a few essays, write a novel, or maybe a novella if you are pressed for time. If you want to write haiku, then limber up with opinion pieces for The Washington Post.”
It sounds like he means that writing something tight requires a warmed up mind compared to writing something rambling.
He’s being snotty about fiction (well, if you want to include opinion pieces in the category of fiction).
His right to make the joke, if he likes – he’s a good enough writer himself to get away with it – but it’s a bit apples and oranges, I think.