RIP, James J. Kilpatrick -- the Jack of the Writer's Trade

James J. Kilpatrick is gone, but his legacy will be found anywhere you encounter good writing.

"In the end," he advised other writers, "the test of how well we do our job is not in how well we cover the news, or review the movies, or chide a president, or criticize and actor, but in how well we write.... The chief difference between good writing and better writing may be measured by the number of imperceptible hesitations the reader experiences as he goes along."

That summed up the philosophy of James Jackson Kilpatrick, reporter, editor, columnist and author. He died August 15 at the age of 89. Along with his family, he left thousands of better writers who relished his professional advice in columns. They will continue to be influenced by his books "The Writer's Art" and "Fine Print: Reflections on the Writing Art."

While Kilpatrick is rightly remembered for his wrongheaded defense of racial segregation years ago, he also should be lauded for fashioning "The Writer's Art," a classic how-to that has mentored many an aspiring journalist, including me. If I had to select the best contemporary book on writing, this is it.

"The writer's art, of course, lies not in merely collecting words or in distinguishing among them," he observed. "The art lies in stringing the right words together artfully. Newspaper reporters may begin by covering a luncheon speech at the Rotary Club, but if they are good reporters - reporters who write con amore - they will aspire to something higher."

As a fellow who started newspapering as an obituary writer, I urge you to heed Kilpo's advice. If you have little passion for the work, get out now. Otherwise, your efforts will expose you.

But if your love for the craft is great, get a copy of "The Writer's Art" and borrow all of Kilpatrick's tips on wooing the muse. Maybe start with his thoughts on cadence - advice that exists in no other writing book. Follow that lesson with Kilpatrick's prescription regarding the "music of words," which is showcased in "Fine Print":

"We must listen for it, for we read not only with out eyes, but also with our ears. It is therefore desireable that our sentences both read well and sound right. A writer - a serious writer - must cultivate an awareness of life's rhythms. They are all around us, in the sounds of waves, in the chaging of the traffic light, in the phases of the moon."

As a syndicated columnist expounding on good writing, he was the Jack of our trade, composing a paean to the period or leading the hunt for the two-toned gerund. Good stuff filled with wit.

I've said it more than once. As a journalist, I've met many interesting people, some of them famous and others accomplished in the most unusual of ways. I'm sorry I never crossed paths with James J. Kilpatrick in person.

He was my mentor at arm's length, the distance from desk to bookshelf. So he'll remain.

RIP, Kilpo.