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In Writing, Less is More · The Daily Writer

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Writer, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for writing success.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most vital questions that we can ask in our writing is this What can I cut out?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great habit to adopt because cutting makes your writing sharper, crisper, and cleaner.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you write something, go back through it and take out all the unnecessary adverbs, filler, and padding.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Longer does not necessarily mean better.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Longer usually means the piece is more diluted.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And trust me on this because I was a college professor for 17 years, and trust me, in that time I saw a lot of padded writing.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can make your paragraphs and sentences shorter without sacrificing the meaning, it will make your piece stronger.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is tough if you've been used to padding reports for school or for work or for whatever else, but I promise you, whenever you cut out all the unnecessary stuff in your writing, it makes it a lot stronger.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a more potent piece, the writing becomes cleaner and crisper, and everybody's happier.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes for better writing and better results all around.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So remember that in writing, less is usually more.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or as Thomas Jefferson once said, the most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So take that to heart and cut out all the unnecessary stuff.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Here's your daily question.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find this idea of cutting unnecessary words to be intimidating or liberating?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been listening to this show for any length of time, you know that one of the four practices of a great writer is creativity.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to stay creative, you've got to have great input.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where writing prompts come in.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: A writing prompt is a sentence or two that helps you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Writing prompts are an awesome creative tool for journaling, storytelling, creative writing, stress relief, social media posts, and so much more.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the great news is that you don't have to create these yourself.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've put together an amazing package of 365 daily writing prompts.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So every day for the next year, you can have a shot of inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out at dailywriterlife.com/slash writing prompts.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.