One of the hardest things to see is changes in
yourself. So that’s why it took a
comment from my girlfriend to know my writing was getting better. She happened to come to the computer
and find a post of mine and asked me, “did you write this?” After years of reading over my resumes,
cover letters, and various other writings, she was shocked to find my wordiness
had begun to disappear. Now all
she’s hoping for is if I can somehow translate that brevity into my
speech.
It all started to click for
me as I began reading William Zinsser.
I had no expectation that reading a book titled “On Writing Well” would
in any way be interesting or helpful. And yet as I began reading, it suddenly
clicked. Everything he was saying
just seemed obvious, even if I hadn’t been following any of his rules
before. And week after week, I
started to focus more on getting it done right, instead of just getting it
done.
It wasn’t easy and I
definitely shouted many an expletive and slammed my hand on many a desk. But after the anger subsided and the
words flowed, the reward of a solid completed product was incredibly
satisfying.
So
everyday I’ll continue to stare at the “verbosity is the enemy” sign I’ve hung
over my computer – see I’m still struggling with that. It would have much simpler to just have
the word verbose with an X through it
- and keep trying to get better.
And maybe if I work at it long enough, eventually it might seep into my
speech as well.
- Otto
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