Tue 15 Sep 2009
photo: foxtongue
Whenever I am writing something – email, blog post, proposal, tweet, love letter – I almost always do three drafts.
In the first draft, I try to make it logical.
The second draft I try to make it interesting.
The third draft I try to make it short.
Note: even in my longer writing pieces, I always use the third draft to make each individual thought as short as possible.
Hope this helps.
5 Responses to “ 3 drafts ”
Trackbacks & Pingbacks:
-
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Justice Marshall. Justice Marshall said: Good writing advice. short. RT @lisahickey: A teeny-tiny blog post. "3 drafts" ~ http://bit.ly/3LuGHe [...]
You’ve done well with step three for this post! (Couldn’t resist.) I love this three draft approach. Tell my students.
Mark Twain: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” (That third step is crucial.)
http://www.inet.ba/~admahmut/quotes/Mark-Twain-Stories/
~Lisa - great post and a great method for writing! This is great way to frame the process, especially on those days when the word just won’t flow!
Thanks!
I’d swap 1 and 2 around, personally. But yeah.
Love this post, Lisa!
As the adage says “I wrote you a long response because I didn’t have time to write you a short one”.
Cheers!
@knealemann