Why Hemingway should've taught fifth grade writing

Ernesto espoused writing "one true sentence." He railed against those he called frauds because they wrote on subjects of which they had no genuine knowledge. Hem's lifelong aim was to write simply about complex ideas.

Many of the same issues that Hemingway struggled with throughout his career are now being wrestled with by the fifth graders that I teach each day. Many a planning period has found me referring to Papa's simple rules for inspiration so that I may more simply teach them. The kids already know about his "Garbage Draft Rule" -- When writing a first draft, understand that it will always be garbage. Don't worry about getting it right, just get it down.

A distillation of Hemingstein's writing guidelines is available here.