Library Life--American Style: A Journalist's Field Report

Plotnik, Arthur

Arthur Plotnik is a versatile author with a distinguished background in editing and publishing. Two of his works have been featured as Book-of-the-Month Club selections: "The Elements of Editing," a standard reference through some 20 printings, and "The Elements of Expression: Putting Thoughts into Words." Reviewers have consistently praised Plotnik's writing for its accuracy, style, and wit, often ranking it with "The Elements of Style" (Strunk & White) in practicality. However, his popular "Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style" (Random House) challenges some of Strunk & White's inhibiting dictates as it guides the writer to more risk-taking, more adventurous, more publishable prose.
    His latest book, published in spring 2011 by Viva Editions, is titled: "Better than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives." It offers 6,000 alternatives to "great," "awesome," "amazing" and other shopworn terms of praise and acclamation.
    A native of White Plains, N.Y., Plotnik studied under Philip Roth and Vance Bourjaily in the graduate Iowa Writers Workshop. He worked as a journalist and editor in Albany (NY), Washington, New York, and Chicago, where he lives now with his wife, the artist Mary Phelan.