Blink Book Review: Terry Szuplat’s “Say It Well”

By Reba Hull Campbell

I like to mix fiction with “good for you” nonfiction on my summer reading list.

My first nonfiction pick is Say It Well by Terry Szuplat, a former speechwriter for President Obama. I first heard about the book during a podcast interview hosted by my old friend Mike Fernandez on “The Crux.” 

This book is several things at once offering concrete tips for writers and speakers, White House insider stories, and insights from the author’s own journey from speechwriter to speech giver.

Running through it all is the importance of connecting to the human heart and human experience – the authenticity that Terry said President Obama always sought in his speeches.

I found the book to be a helpful how-to for writers and speakers in general, not just speechwriters or leaders who face large audiences on a stage. The book is also easy to navigate. Each chapter has clear headings and ends with a short “Download” section summarizing the key takeaways.

I’m always collecting helpful examples to illustrate the importance of using fewer words and less complex words to make a connection. Why say “a paradigm shift” when “a change” is much clearer. Why choose the overused “synergize” when “collaborate” works just fine.

These and others appear on Terry’s list of “The BBQ Rule: Use Everyday Words” on page 70. I recently borrowed the BBQ Rule in a leadership workshop (with attribution, of course:), and it got lots of nods and smiles.

On the other hand, Terry also encourages writers and speakers that a “touch of elegance every so often can be nice, too.” As President Obama once told Terry,” There’s poetry to great speaking.” (p 184)

Terry encourages writers and speakers to swap out the monotonous with the mellifluous (that list is on page 185). This could include replacing “it was a beautiful day” with “it was a glorious day.” Or maybe “he loves being by himself” becomes “he loves solitude.”

Say It Well has earned a place on my recommended reading list for writing and public speaking, alongside Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, Reid Buckley’s Speaking in Public, Jessica Doyle-Meekes’ I’m Speaking, and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

Disclaimer: Normally I love sharing my copy of a beloved book with friends. But this is not a book I will lend out freely. I use it almost weekly as a reference point, and it’s so marked up and dog-eared that no one would enjoy reading my copy.

In 2022, Reba Campbell set out to get off the screens and back to books for the summer.  Her accountability was writing short Blink Book Reviews (so short you can read them in a blink). Now it’s an annual summer thing. Join Reba’s Blink Book Review Facebook group to follow along. Reba is president of Columbia, SC-based The Medway Group and can be reached at [email protected].