Book excerpt: Using a step-by-step approach to writing, this book reminds its readers (and writers) that every professional person is a professional writer. It motivates them to learn about writing, challenges them to find something interesting to write about, and offers guidance while developing ideas into paragraphs and essays. Collaborative activities, extensive coverage of the writing process, a thorough usage review, and in-depth, practical instruction in rhetorical, are just some of the effective teaching tools in this guide to producing better writing. It also features quotations and anecdotes about writing from such experts and successful authors as Ernest Hemingway, Susan Sontag, Ellen Goodman, Ken Macrorie, and more. Other reading selections include diverse topics and works by Maya Angelou, Anne Frank, Colin Powell, Alex Haley, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Gwendolyn Brooks. For preparation in the professional world of writing -- letters, reports, proposals, evaluations, presentations, and speeches.