“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
―
This is one of my favorite writing quotes. It means that it is harder to write a concise letter or blog post than a longer one. Editing and rewriting for quality and brevity take a lot of time. Lately, many of my posts have crept into “too long” territory. (No, duh, you might say!)
A few months back, I gave Twitter a try as part of the marketing strategy for a fitness blog I started. Originally, Twitter limited its tweets (posts) to 140 characters. By the time I started using it, they had doubled the length to 280. However, I still struggled to meet that mark sometimes but did enjoy the challenge. 140 must have been tough.
In the interest of keeping today’s post short, primarily because I’m still sick and out of steam, I’m going to recommend a book to help you with writing shorter. I borrow it from the library from time to time, but I’m going to buy it soon, so I can study it at will.
It is:
How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times by Roy Peter Clark.
Most of us write many emails and social media posts. If you’re looking to improve your writing skills in these areas, check it out.
Thanks for reading,
PS. My software tells me the post is 251 words. Should I venture into Twitter again? (uh, no). Here’s the Amazon link to the book: https://amzn.to/2DkQkL8
