“Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.” - Zinsser
Recentlly a lengthy poster justified his style as follows:
As far as the length of my posts are concerned, I choose what I am going to post; the length of them do not much matter to me. You may not be familiar with my posts, but look me up, and you will discover that it's not unusual for me to post a two-, a three-, or a five-pager (or even more!) all at once, or I might just post a paragraph or two at my discretion, depending upon the number of posters to whom I wish to direct my post. It is unfortunate though that you don't get to know whether or not I'm a "regular elder" (whatever that means!) or just someone still in high school with very strong opinions about this particular subject with an amazing, almost uncanny knowledge of the Bible since being anonymous here allows me the freedom to give advice without the attendant responsibility attendant to a local elder. Anonymity also permits me to say what I believe needs to be said without my having to be concerned about the fallout that comes from hurting someone's feelings, because I am typically frank and never shy about calling a spade a spade. (djeggnogg)
This got me to reminiscing to how I came about my own writing style. I strive for brevity. OK, maybe sometimes I throw in a fancy word just because I can. Above all, though, I want my words to have value. One of my life-changing books is On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
“Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.” - Zinsser
He coaches writers to rework their words until they are distilled to what they really mean. When I followed his instructions, the results were shocking. I would ask myself, "Do I really mean this?" and if I did, I posted it. As a consequence, I gained confidence. I stood behind my word. My writing was clearer, and my thinking was clearer, too. Changing my writing style changed me.
“Writing and learning and thinking are the same process” - Zinsser
Condensing my greatest thoughts in to their essence is a lot of work, but the results are worth it.
"A member of the cabinet congratulated [Woodrow] Wilson on introducing the vogue of short speeches and asked him about the time it took him to prepare his speeches. He [Wilson] said: "It depends. If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.""~Josephus Daniels, The Wilson Era; Years of War and After, 1917-1923, p. 624 (1946).
Thank God our greatest thinkers distilled the most complex thoughts to their simplist forms:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
Duke Ai asked, What should I do to win the people? Confucius answered, Lift up the straight, put away the crooked; and the people will be won. Lift up the crooked, put away the straight; and the people will not be won. (The Sayings of Confucius, Book II, 18)
The same goes for the supposed anonymity of the internet. Behind it's veil, some posters misrepresent their real selves. This is a mistake, I believe, because the greatest treasure of internet sharing is to come to a meeting of mind and heart. Fake that out, and both the faker and the reader loses out. When words are husbanded carefully and managed by a person of integrity, they have great power. I'll make a precept of my own:
Post real, for reality is appealing. Post as if you are presenting to an arena of a thousand strangers, because your words echo forever.(me)
I want my words to count, to have influence. To do that, I must be clear, and stand behind my word. I must be real.