Getting to the Point, Concisely

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Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.

• John Ruskin

One of my main struggles when I write is trying to keep my writing concise.

Concise (adj.) - giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive.

When I was originally writing my Introduction on my Blogger Profile, I had no idea that I was limited to 1,200 characters. Just when I thought I was done piecing together my thoughts in a semi-coherent matter and hitting the SUBMIT button, I was in for my first BLOGGER truth:

Determined, I began chiseling away from both ends; SUBMIT, again!

And again, and again, and again…

Ultimately it would take a total of 8 more times before I was able to neuter it to fit within my limit. I have a niche for rambling; for going on, and on, and on, and, well…

I just have too much to say! I know what I want to write, but then I overcompensate because I feel as if I'm leaving out important details. It's a challenge, for me, to convince myself that I can use less words and still get my point across effectively. Substance is the key! According to the aforementioned John Ruskin quote:

MORE REPEATING + MORE EXPLAINING ≠ MORE UNDERSTANDING!

Unfortunately, this is a scenario that has seemed to play itself out over and over again and has been since I started writing over a decade ago. In fact, I have dozens of posts started for blogging purposes, chalk full of quotes, thoughts, ideas, life stories, etc. that I haven't been able to tweak in just the right way while keeping it concise!

So, I'm setting a beginning GOAL:

700 words! 4.5 pages 3,500 characters with spaces (Includes graphics, text boxes, etc.)

By putting a limit on my writing, I can, both consciously and subconsciously, implement the concept of being concise, challenging me to pack a lot of punch in as few words as possible.

Albert Einstein once said, "If you can't explain it to a six-year old, you don't understand it yourself." These words are a challenge to me to learn and to grow in understanding before I take to the keyboard with psychobabble.

If I cannot be concise (clear, comprehensive, and brief) while explaining a topic, then perhaps I should go back and learn it again.


Aslongasitstranslatedcorrectly,

~ SoACTing,