Once we've drafted a piece of writing, we've invested quite a bit of time and effort in it. Thus, as Rabbi Israel Salanter has said, "Writing is one of the easiest things; erasing is one of the hardest." We're reluctant to admit, even to ourselves, that something we've drafted might benefit from being changed.
This week, erase (on paper or on computer screen) at least three words from everything you write. When you see the improvement, I bet you'll erase more.
Some writing is like rowing a boat downstream, with the current of your reader's attitude. Some is like rowing upstream, against the current.
This week, before you draft each piece of writing, ask yourself, "How is my reader going to feel about getting this message?" Having an answer to that question will almost guarantee more effective writing.
Famed sports agent Mark H. McCormack, who has been credited for inspiring the film Jerry McGuire, once wrote, "A lot of memos would be more persuasive if their first and last paragraphs were switched."
This week, when you've finished drafting each piece of writing, ask yourself whether you could make it more effective by taking McCormack's advice. Even if you decide not to literally switch the beginning and ending paragraphs, just asking the question may alert you to ways to improve how your message ends and begins.
The Online Colleges site has published a terrific list of "100 Little Ways You Can Dramatically Improve Your Writing."
This week, scan the list, pick one, follow its link, and try it.
The point: in a complex system, tiny causes can have huge effects.
Remember that as you revise your drafts. A small difference in how your readers respond to your first sentence can make a somewhat bigger difference in how they respond to your second sentence. And so on. So make sure your first sentence is absolutely clear, economical, and compelling.
Outlining can be much easier than that. When you're planning a piece of writing, just jot down--in any order--the ideas you want to include. Then take a minute, or less, to put them in the best order for your reader.
If your ideas are on a computer screen, just drag them around. If they're on scratch paper, just number them:
"Let's see, I'll put this in paragraph 2, this in paragraph 4, this I'll leave out, this in paragraph 1, this also in paragraph 2, and this and this I'll also leave out."
Bingo. You have an outline. And you'll have a more effective message.
In the early nineteenth century, British author C. C. Colton wrote, "That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge, and takes from him the least time."
Most of us know that in theory. We know that we should make our writing as economical as possible. But we may be paying attention to conciseness too soon, while we're drafting.
This week, don't interrupt the flow of a draft to worry about whether you're using too many words. Just write the words as they come, even if you know you're going to cut some out later. When you revise, you'll find that cutting words is easier than adding new ones.
According to a story I once heard, when the United States and the USSR were planning their first joint space mession, planners thought hard about how the language barrier would be crossed, especially in the perilous situations that could occur in space flight. Naturally, the American astronauts were taught Russian, and the Soviet cosmonauts were taught English. But which language should be used when, and by whom?
The answer may surprise you. After extensive study, NASA announced that the U.S. crew would always speak Russian, and the Soviet crew would always speak English. Why? Because the speaker, who knew what he wanted to say, could more easily do the work of mental translation. With lives at stake, the listener should not have to both mentally translate and absorb new information.
This principle applies to everything we write, even to speakers of our own language. We know what we want to say, so we bear the burden of making our message as easy as possible for our reader to understand.
This week, as you revise, pretend that your reader speaks a langauge different from yours. Write as clearly as you can, so your reader cannot misunderstand.