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Length vs Effort in Writing

July 30th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips

Contrary to popular belief, length and effort in writing are inversely—not directly—proportional.

In writing, length and effort are inversely proportional. Writing short, brief, to-the-point pieces require more effort than writing long, wandering pieces.Of course we know this, but often forget it.

I once worked on a career description at work. I worked and worked and worked on the description until I had reduced it to fill only one side of one piece of paper. The person to whom I submitted the description was furious. He had given me the chance to put “some thought” into the description and really do a good job.
He felt that length and effort were directly proportional. He was quite disappointed in me.
Someone who has thought of something for 30 years can state it in 5 to 7 words. The rest of us, we have to meander for pages and pages.

Tags: Writing

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