Writing that matters, that lasts, has a signature distinctively its own. For Rhodes good writing can manifest itself in a wide variety of genres, including rhymes churned out for Hallmark greeting cards as copy for a company's daily employee newspaper. Its primary function is communication. The best way to learn is by doing - and thinking about what you're doing while you're doing it. You wouldn't expect to make superior pottery the first time you sat down at a wheel.
People often assume they know how to write because they know how to speak.
There are deep and important connections between spoken and written language, but they're not the same thing. If you think they are, tape a conversation and transcribe it verbatim and see how it reads. Better to imagine that you'll be writing in a foreign language of which, at the outset, you know only a few words and only the rudiments of syntax. Rhodes is a great believer in looking up the definitions and histories of the words he uses, and much of his advice to the beginning writer is designed to make him or her feel the same deep respect for the subtle nuances of language. The rub comes with Rhodes's catholic taste and egalitarian tolerance.