Reading your prose aloud

Having trouble with a sentence or paragraph? Read it aloud. I have read--and can't find the source right now--that every professional writer does this. And are not lawyers  professional writers? If your prose feels clunky or awkward, your ear will tell you and often suggest a fix as well. Our most famous Illinois lawyer did this as a matter of course. Lincoln loved to read aloud as soon as he learned how to read. “I can always tell more about a thing after I’ve heard it read aloud, and know how it sounds.” (The Eloquent President, by Ronald C. White, Jr.) Writer Jonathan Franzen was profiled in piece in the August 23rd issue of Time. Lev Grossman noted that Franzen is "often hoarse by the end of the day because he performs his dialogue out loud as he writes it. (This may account for its strikingly naturalistic quality.)" I got an old copy of Barbara Tuchman's Practicing History Selected Essays off the shelf to take to the used book sale bin at Lincoln Library. As I was flipping through the pages, I noted that I had highlighted these sentences by Tuchman years ago: "After seven years' apprenticeship in journalism, I discovered than an essential element for good writing is a good ear. One must listen to the sound of one's own prose. This, I think, is one of the failings of much American writing. Too many writers do not listen to the sound of their own words." (Page 16) I can't say that I read everything aloud, but if it is important or I'm having trouble with a chunk of text, I do. And it works. Try it.