All GRM staff needs to read the June issue of Car & Driver

I don't read the car mags like I used to. Hemmings Sports and Exotic and GRM are it anymore. I needed more reading material for a trip to the west coast so I picked up the June issue of C/D.
I want the GRM staff to read the issue very carefully. Pay attention to the way they string words together, the word pictures they paint. Just take it all in.
Then DO NOT do that in GRM. Some of the writers seem to fall into the 'I'm the smartest guy in the room so I'm going to use big words' camp.
Now, I think I'm a pretty smart guy, in fact I write for a living. But I had to read more than a few paragraphs repeatedly to figure out what the writer was trying to say with the convoluted string of words he/she chose. Your writing is top-notch, witty and hip without being trite and annoying. Keep it up guys and girls, apparently not everyone can do it.

DrBoost wrote: Now, I think I'm a pretty smart guy, in fact I write for a living.

Ive been telling you for years that fortune cookies dont count.

As an architect, who works with numerous "talkitects" - I get what you mean.

GRM 1 - 0 C&D

logdog wrote:

DrBoost wrote: Now, I think I'm a pretty smart guy, in fact I write for a living.

Ive been telling you for years that fortune cookies dont count.

Of course they don't, they're cookies. Most cookies are bad at math.

dculberson wrote:

logdog wrote:

DrBoost wrote: Now, I think I'm a pretty smart guy, in fact I write for a living.

Ive been telling you for years that fortune cookies dont count.

Of course they don't, they're cookies. Most cookies are bad at math.

All they have is 1s and 0s anyhow....

Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, we have a heck of a crew.

David E Davis used to be awful about that. His articles would be 3 pages of weird unrelated ramblings and then he'd squeeze in a review of the car in the last paragraph. Used to skip pretty much anything I saw he had written.

I was equally not a fan of Daryl White, who used to write for Popular Hot Rodding right before they closed up. He would get going with this "them" for each article and it was irritating. For example, he wrote an article about a guy's '64 Chevelle 300 and had to include a simile or metaphor involving the Cold War in every sentence. Stop being cutesy and just tell me about the damn car.

I was wondering where the OP was going, because I quit reading C&D in the early 80s.

OHSCrifle wrote: As an architect, who works with numerous "talkitects" - I get what you mean. GRM 1 - 0 C&D

I hear ya, spud. I basically do ALL the marketing copy in our office, because nobody else can.

DrBoost wrote: Now, I think I'm a pretty smart guy, in fact I write for a living. But I had to read more than a few paragraphs repeatedly to figure out what the writer was trying to say with the convoluted string of words he/she chose.

If you can't explain or describe something simply and succinctly, you don't really understand it.

David S. Wallens wrote: Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, we have a heck of a crew.

Not trying to suck up (too much at least), but David, you are a pretty key part of it.

All should know that GRM takes articles from us. I submitted one, which I thought was pretty good- having been published in other magazines. David is the editor for GRM, and I gotta say- he's REALLY good at it. He re-wrote quite a bit of my article, but it took me a few attempts to figure it out- as the style was still all me- but it just read about 200% better than what I wrote.

IMHO, it's a real editor gift to fix a lot of hard to read stuff AND still keep the writing style- I have no idea how you do that.

Now that I think about it- do you have time to help my wife? She's getting into writing.

Anyway- David is one of THE biggest reasons why GRM and CM are so easy to read. Thank you Margie and Tim for finding him!!!

Amen, Alfa. David is a rare bird: A managing editor who will also copy edit. Why? He's good at it, and you are right, it's a rare gift. There are three of us on staff who do this work: David, Sarah, and me. We'd like to find another copy editor and free David up more, but it's difficult to find anyone who can write, period.

It's sad--many a would-be writer has honed their skills in this position, but nowadays most are too ignorant (and too proud) to property train for their craft.

Margie

I have words. I use the best words, ok.

C&D certainly isn't what it used to be, but it's not that bad. You want bad? I recently bought a 3-year subscription to Motor Trend for like $5 on some online deal. I figured, for that price, why not? Well, I found out. Let's just say it's a good thing I keep it next to the toilet....

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Thats a good deal for all those Harbor Freight coupons.

The magazine market has become tough. It is tough to find good people due to market conditions and pay, except in these cool niche magazines with rabid fan bases and very educated writers.

My sister and her husband are/were magazine writers. Her husband was laid off when blender magazine went in the toilet and he went through a freelance jobs, good paying but piece work and resume building. The freelance jobs are tough, one day you may be writing for slate.com or the NYT and the next your dimming up a scrap to write. He now has a great job as a contributing editor to rolling stone, it pays wells but it's not a regular gig. He has to produce so many articles per time period and gets sometimes big features, but many days he just rides his bike around. My sister left writing all together, which she is sad because she loves it, and is a recruiter for a big tech firm in Silicon Valley. She hates the hours and commute but the pay is double her last writing job at Martha Stewart.

Look, so here's the point. It's hard out there for a pimp and what grm has done is create a group of writers that really resonate with their target audience. They are all relatable guys/girls and that's tough to find in the corporatized print market. A great deal of the passionate people have moved on to do their own thing only where the tyrannical editors can sod off.

Car & Driver magazine once was a fun deal, sort of what GRM is today.

Remember when they sponsored the show room stock races at Lime Rock ?

Or how an air dam will improve your gas mileage.

Keep up the good work, GRM.

Also: What happened to Larry Webster?

As engineer, I math better than english. Sorry for dragging this forum down with my missspelings and grammitcal.

Woody wrote: Keep up the good work, GRM. Also: What happened to Larry Webster?

He was on Matt Farah's podcast just last week. He's working for Hagerty Insurance now.

Woody wrote: Keep up the good work, GRM. Also: What happened to Larry Webster?

Larry is now in charge of content production at Hagerty Insurance.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Look, so here's the point. It's hard out there for a pimp and what grm has done is create a group of writers that really resonate with their target audience.

That credit is all David's. He works to maintain those relationships, and has a real talent for spotting people who may not be writers, yet have something to say and an ability to put it in writing. As a result we may end up doing more copy editing than other car magazines are willing to do, but it's nice to know that these efforts are appreciated. Really nice.

Margie

Also, GRM: thanks for not playing games with the subscription price. It's $20/yr, period, and you get what you pay for, as opposed to the variable pricing schemes of the other guys.

And automatic renewal of GRM is optional, as opposed to the roofies-in-your-drink, hope-you-don't-notice-we-renewed-you marketing approach of Hearst & co.

Thanks for respecting our meager intelligence.

Well, it's $20 a year, unless you count the $16.99/year promotion going on right now (https://ssl.palmcoastd.com/29701/apps/GENERIC?ikey=I%2A%2AP05) or the $10/year promotion during Shopping Season, or the $100/10 year price...

I kid, GRM definitely doesn't play the same games as other magazines.

GRM has a very distinctive writing style, you can spot a GRM article pretty easily. And it's not just because of the references to David's favorite music

I think Sam Smith over at R&T is worth watching. He's more descriptive and R&T gives him the room to work - but good lord is it fun to read. I want to get him behind the wheel of one of our V8 Miatas just so I can read the article.

I agree that the staff of GRM does a fine job of producing a magazine that towers above their competition. Heck, it's the only car magazine to which I subscribe, and that surely is the most sincere flattery.

The number of people in this world that can string words together in a coherent fashion is dwindling rapidly, and I am grateful that GRM has seen fit to employ so many. If I have a criticism of the writing it is that the prose veers to the vernacular perhaps a tad too frequently. Better that it resemble proper 19th Century English literature, but I recognize that I am likely in the minority in that regard.