Comments on: Writing Less Is Better (And Harder) Than Writing More

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:44:06 +0000

Wow…that’s dedication, and I don’t doubt you’re right. I usually don’t have the time for that but I’m sure my posts would be better if I did.

There was a guy I went to school with who did that. He’d get A’s on every paper and I found out how one time. For a 10 page paper he’d write 20 pages and then cut stuff out until it was down to 10. Thanks!

By: BillinDetroit

BillinDetroit — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:06:53 +0000

My best posts start out in the 3,000 to 5,000 word range. Then I go through and pitch roughly half. I re-write whats left so that it makes sense and once again pitch half.

One, perhaps two, more re-writes and it’s about as good as I can make it.

Then I let it rest a few days, cut another 1/3 to 1/4 and it’s good to go.

I probably pare 5,000 words to get down to 1,500 … but they are a -good- 1,500.

By: Meeting With Self-made Millionaire Erica Douglass

Meeting With Self-made Millionaire Erica Douglass — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:50:33 +0000

[...] are willing to put in the time and effort to become great. This is similar to a great book I read a little while back, Seth Godin’s The Dip, which I also highly [...]

By: Creer un site

Creer un site — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:37:45 +0000

unfortunatly, for the blogs, search engines prefer quantity over quality, and at the beginning, reaching good positions in the SERPs would be a nightmare with 3 lines post

By: Matt Thomas

Matt Thomas — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:24:28 +0000

I completely agree with you. Unfortunately I tend to write longer pieces at times and I find that those that I edit down, the message is a lot clearer and is more easily delivered to the reader. It may be harder to edit down, but it is well worth it.

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:21:27 +0000

Good point, it could have been ever shorter…I know that quitting certain projects has been very hard for me so it was a message I needed to hear.

By: Creer un site

Creer un site — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:06:41 +0000

I did not like ‘the dip’ so much, I thought the concept can be so much concise. perhaps 5 pages, that’s all

it’s over and over the same concept, with a lot of examples which are not really necessary…

By: Dan Z.

Dan Z. — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:38:43 +0000

If you are serious about whittling down your words to their essence, definitely take a look at William Zinsser’s “On Writing Well.” It’s almost as enjoyable to read as it is helpful — something that can’t be said of most writing/grammar books.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:36:29 +0000

I agree it can be difficult to concentrate your writing so that it has more impact and less filler. One method I use is to re-read and either cut out sentences or combine several sentences into one.