Composition is a discipline; it forces us to think.
If you want to ‘get in touch with your feelings,’ fine — talk to yourself; we all do.
But, if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts.
Put them in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.
The secret way to do this is to write it down and then cut out the confusing parts.
~ William Safire
That's one of the best quotes about the craft of writing that I’ve ever read, particularly that deceptively simple final line. But then, it’s always the simple stuff that trips us up when we think we’ve got it covered.
Why is cutting out the crap in our writing so difficult?
More importantly, how do we do it? Let's take a look …
Writing is a mind meld
You already know you should be writing to just one person, right?
If you're, say, the Pope, feel free to pontificate (the verb was named for you, after all) and address the masses with all the eloquent turns of phrase you can manage.
Assuming you're not a major religious figure, just write to me, your one, single reader. Even if you have a massive audience, your work is being read by one person at a time.
It’s nice to think that crowds are huddled around a computer screen raising a toast to our just-published post, but that doesn't happen. Not even to Brian Clark.
In order to communicate with this single reader, you've got to organize your thoughts before you send them on the journey from your mind to your reader's mind.
The act of writing forces you to do this.
Determining your message, ordering its presentation, and refining it until it's crystal clear all help to facilitate the trip.
Aim your pen
Aim your writing pen at the goal you're trying to...
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