- 09 Dec, 2025 *
One of my goals this year was to write more concisely.
I’m not sure if I succeeded or not. It’s something I think about often. And it’s something I want to cultivate more here on my blog.
I’ve never been a "writer’s writer." As a reader, I’ve always been drawn more to precise, clear, transparent writing than verbose flourishes, drawn out ledes or complicated sentence structures.
I think that’s become more true as I’ve gotten older.
I have a great appreciation for writers who are economical in their …
- 09 Dec, 2025 *
One of my goals this year was to write more concisely.
I’m not sure if I succeeded or not. It’s something I think about often. And it’s something I want to cultivate more here on my blog.
I’ve never been a "writer’s writer." As a reader, I’ve always been drawn more to precise, clear, transparent writing than verbose flourishes, drawn out ledes or complicated sentence structures.
I think that’s become more true as I’ve gotten older.
I have a great appreciation for writers who are economical in their words and yet effective in telling a story or landing an argument.
It’s not intuitive, but I believe it’s far easier to write long than it is to write short. This is why writing for print is always more of a pain than writing for the web—those damn word counts.
One of my favorite quotes about writing is this one from Blaise Pascal:
"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time."
Value you the time of the reader. Don’t use many words when you can use fewer. Trash the adverbs. Cut the word "very." Kill your darlings, etc.
Write shorter.