Following on your convo with Don, up until recently, my posts have been longer. But most of those are also intended to be chapters in my spiritual memoir. So longer makes sense. (And I've never been a verbose person. "Clear and Concise" has described me since high-school English class.)
But two weeks ago, I started a more newsy newsletter (Fractal Fridays). This will be where my shorter content goes. Although I may publish it as a note if it's not Friday and I have something I need to say. 😉
Interestingly, there is a corollary to this variability in length in my ministerial life. When I write a sermon, it's long form. Six pages of notes, 15 to 20 minutes of delivery. But when I'm only sharing a testimony, it's short form. Half a page of notes, 3 minutes of delivery.
In fact, I'm planning to use this past Sunday's testimony as the basis for this week's Fractal Fridays newsletter. Thus demonstrating another important writing principle: whenever possible, re-purpose the same content to serve multiple purposes.
I'm really happy that Don and I's conversation got seen by other readers as well. I wanted to respond to him because I think there was an important message to send to people--and that is that this advice isn't applicable to absolutely everyone. There's nuance to it. Your plan sounds great Sharon. I hope to see you in our training on Friday! :)
I've said this before. Tom is a master at teaching writers how to simplify, and edit. In a private session with him once, he walked me through how to edit 280 words of a post down to an 80 word Note. I'll never forget that lesson. It has become a core tenet of my Notes writing now.
Ooh. 280 word post down to an 80!word note. Love that, Teri! Reading Tom and all the comments to here, I'm inspired. I'm thrilled my launch post nearing 3k words and got wonderful feedback, especially from you!
I started my 3rd post today and toyed with keeping it crisp and tidy until I found myself detouring.
So I shall pull out the virtual white-out 😂, and have fun!
'It’s not about perfection. It’s not about what people are going to think. It’s about art, man.'
I've been struggling for a long time with the 'right depth and length' of my articles and too concerned about what readers may think.
But lately, I'm writing based solely on what I'm feeling, instead of worrying about high quality, depth, and readers' opinions. I'm gonna incorporate more of this 300-word approach to my writing.
Really like this Tom. I noticed the last couple weeks my writing was creeping up to 3000 word articles and taking the entire week to write. Concise. Let's do it.
Yo Landon thank you man. Also, saw recently that a certain someone on Substack was attacking you or something on here recently for trying to be helpful to other creators. Don't worry about them. Keep helping.
Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom. I like you, you seem like a great guy, and that’s why I feel the need to push back a little bit.
It is true that people, including me, appreciate shorter posts. I generally write in the 1500-word range. AND, I am always aware of the need to be succinct, to “get to the point,” and to respect my readers’ time. So, you do have some good advice here. My issue is that you are associating longer posts with rambling posts. There is no evidence of this association. While it is true that writers who ramble tend to do so for a long time, it does not in any way mean that writers of longform are rambling. They are two separate entities.
Also, by making hard statements like “write shorter posts” or “you should post every day,” I feel you are alienating and/or feeding into the insecurities of those who are more comfortable with a different approach. The advice to write succinctly applies to both short form and long form. And, there is nothing wrong with consistently posting once a week, or twice a month.
Take Chloe Hope and her Death and Birds blog, for example. Her weekly newsletter is doing phenomenally well, and I rarely see her on Notes. Her quality of writing and relevance of subject are gaining readers’ interest, and those readers are talking about her and sharing her work. I think that’s the best kind of marketing. And I think she writes with honesty, integrity, and yes, with an eye toward perfection. And her word count is whatever it needs to be to say what she wants to say.
Hope this comment is okay, Tom. It’s sent with love 🙏💚
It's fine, Don. I know it's sent with love. I will say a common thing I see among writing students is that most of the time, half of the words in their drafts need to be deleted. This is something I've seen over and over again with hundreds of students since 2017. I know that longer writing doesn't automatically mean a writer is rambling, but when most of my students should delete half the words they write, I find it's more of a rule than an exception. I think only very strong writers can write a post that's 1,500-2,000 words long and make it dense enough to justify the length--which is something you do very well! In terms of the hard statement to write every day or write shorter, I didn't intend to make it seem like that's the only way to go or that writers should only write shorter, so I apologize for that. This is just one of many different approaches to improving our writing online, and whether we want to run with this or try a different technique is up to the individual creator. Thanks Don, I appreciate the comment. I don't want to be super provocative and rigid in what I suggest to people, and I want everyone to find the process that makes sense for them.
Now that, I definitely believe! About the need to trim down and delete. I see it as well when people ask me to look at their essays. Maybe you could write about that! :-)
I think I’m a little sensitive about this issue because when I first started my Substack, I was looking for a lot of advice, and others were saying the same thing. Basically that nobody’s going to read your long form post and you should write shorter. That advice made me feel very insecure and confused and it took me a while to come off of that and feel confident with my 1200 to 1500 word essays.
I do try to fit in an occasional 800-word essay. In fact, I am even aware that those are the ones that get more likes! But I believe that in general, I am a longform writer, and I am not going to compromise that for likes.
I just don’t want to see new writers not reach their best writing potential because they are trying to accommodate formulaic advice that doesn’t really feel right for them.
Thanks for being understanding about my feedback,Tom. I really do admire your work ethic and your positive attitude. Your presence here is appreciated!
I understand Don. Maybe I need to write an article reiterating to people that all this writing advice they see online is just noise to a certain extent. None of these techniques or ideas are 100% correct for absolutely everybody. We need to think about what makes sense for us, and what feels right to us, too. Because forcing it with a writing routine that makes us feel burned out or weird is just going to turn us away from the joy of writing, which is something you and I both value so much. Thank you, Don. I understand where you're coming from and I appreciate your work SO MUCH, too.
Long-winded-ness is a SERIOUS problem I have. My curiosity just keeps me going deeper and deeper on anything I’m writing about. I think it comes at the expense of the attention of my readers. Something I certainly need to work on
I try my best William to just read it from the perspective of my reader. Just detach from what I wrote and act as if I'm reading it for the first time. Any place my eyes glaze over is a spot in the article where I try to workshop things.
Really helpful Tom thank you! I love the idea of writing Notes as your posts - I'm over here smacking my head because it didn't cross my mind. I've heard of these short blogs being called Atomic Essays - will definitely give it a try!
Donna, just saw you joined me for the cohort this November. It's going to be awesome. Trust me. I'm getting my slide presentations ready as we speak and they're DENSE and should give everybody plenty of direction in their blog.
Thanks, this a great reminder of how to connect and the more touch points the better. Permission to write and not be perfect is also freeing. The only other thing is to have a list of topics to choose from so every day no time is wasted on deciding what to write.
It’s very true. Writing succinctly helps you in your daily living too. Doing things once. Being clear headed with purpose. These habits, though a challenge help me in my daily living and hopefully spill over to other’s. Good write.
The annoying thing, Tom, is that you’re right!! Do you have any tips for a doctor working 12 hour shifts and preparing for an exam on how to squeeze in any more writing? I really want to get better and publish more regularly!
I'm psyched. Thanks, coach!
Following on your convo with Don, up until recently, my posts have been longer. But most of those are also intended to be chapters in my spiritual memoir. So longer makes sense. (And I've never been a verbose person. "Clear and Concise" has described me since high-school English class.)
But two weeks ago, I started a more newsy newsletter (Fractal Fridays). This will be where my shorter content goes. Although I may publish it as a note if it's not Friday and I have something I need to say. 😉
Interestingly, there is a corollary to this variability in length in my ministerial life. When I write a sermon, it's long form. Six pages of notes, 15 to 20 minutes of delivery. But when I'm only sharing a testimony, it's short form. Half a page of notes, 3 minutes of delivery.
In fact, I'm planning to use this past Sunday's testimony as the basis for this week's Fractal Fridays newsletter. Thus demonstrating another important writing principle: whenever possible, re-purpose the same content to serve multiple purposes.
I'm really happy that Don and I's conversation got seen by other readers as well. I wanted to respond to him because I think there was an important message to send to people--and that is that this advice isn't applicable to absolutely everyone. There's nuance to it. Your plan sounds great Sharon. I hope to see you in our training on Friday! :)
I've said this before. Tom is a master at teaching writers how to simplify, and edit. In a private session with him once, he walked me through how to edit 280 words of a post down to an 80 word Note. I'll never forget that lesson. It has become a core tenet of my Notes writing now.
Thanks Teri ☺️. I also ruthlessly edit my stuff, too, if anybody is reading this. I'm brutal with myself. 😆
Ooh. 280 word post down to an 80!word note. Love that, Teri! Reading Tom and all the comments to here, I'm inspired. I'm thrilled my launch post nearing 3k words and got wonderful feedback, especially from you!
I started my 3rd post today and toyed with keeping it crisp and tidy until I found myself detouring.
So I shall pull out the virtual white-out 😂, and have fun!
'It’s not about perfection. It’s not about what people are going to think. It’s about art, man.'
I've been struggling for a long time with the 'right depth and length' of my articles and too concerned about what readers may think.
But lately, I'm writing based solely on what I'm feeling, instead of worrying about high quality, depth, and readers' opinions. I'm gonna incorporate more of this 300-word approach to my writing.
Thanks, Tom.
Hey Raveen! This sounds great. Good luck with it. Use this short form trick/strategy whenever you want to use it. :)
Really like this Tom. I noticed the last couple weeks my writing was creeping up to 3000 word articles and taking the entire week to write. Concise. Let's do it.
Yo Landon thank you man. Also, saw recently that a certain someone on Substack was attacking you or something on here recently for trying to be helpful to other creators. Don't worry about them. Keep helping.
Hey Tom, I truly appreciate the kind words. I will keep doing my thing.
Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom. I like you, you seem like a great guy, and that’s why I feel the need to push back a little bit.
It is true that people, including me, appreciate shorter posts. I generally write in the 1500-word range. AND, I am always aware of the need to be succinct, to “get to the point,” and to respect my readers’ time. So, you do have some good advice here. My issue is that you are associating longer posts with rambling posts. There is no evidence of this association. While it is true that writers who ramble tend to do so for a long time, it does not in any way mean that writers of longform are rambling. They are two separate entities.
Also, by making hard statements like “write shorter posts” or “you should post every day,” I feel you are alienating and/or feeding into the insecurities of those who are more comfortable with a different approach. The advice to write succinctly applies to both short form and long form. And, there is nothing wrong with consistently posting once a week, or twice a month.
Take Chloe Hope and her Death and Birds blog, for example. Her weekly newsletter is doing phenomenally well, and I rarely see her on Notes. Her quality of writing and relevance of subject are gaining readers’ interest, and those readers are talking about her and sharing her work. I think that’s the best kind of marketing. And I think she writes with honesty, integrity, and yes, with an eye toward perfection. And her word count is whatever it needs to be to say what she wants to say.
Hope this comment is okay, Tom. It’s sent with love 🙏💚
It's fine, Don. I know it's sent with love. I will say a common thing I see among writing students is that most of the time, half of the words in their drafts need to be deleted. This is something I've seen over and over again with hundreds of students since 2017. I know that longer writing doesn't automatically mean a writer is rambling, but when most of my students should delete half the words they write, I find it's more of a rule than an exception. I think only very strong writers can write a post that's 1,500-2,000 words long and make it dense enough to justify the length--which is something you do very well! In terms of the hard statement to write every day or write shorter, I didn't intend to make it seem like that's the only way to go or that writers should only write shorter, so I apologize for that. This is just one of many different approaches to improving our writing online, and whether we want to run with this or try a different technique is up to the individual creator. Thanks Don, I appreciate the comment. I don't want to be super provocative and rigid in what I suggest to people, and I want everyone to find the process that makes sense for them.
Now that, I definitely believe! About the need to trim down and delete. I see it as well when people ask me to look at their essays. Maybe you could write about that! :-)
I think I’m a little sensitive about this issue because when I first started my Substack, I was looking for a lot of advice, and others were saying the same thing. Basically that nobody’s going to read your long form post and you should write shorter. That advice made me feel very insecure and confused and it took me a while to come off of that and feel confident with my 1200 to 1500 word essays.
I do try to fit in an occasional 800-word essay. In fact, I am even aware that those are the ones that get more likes! But I believe that in general, I am a longform writer, and I am not going to compromise that for likes.
I just don’t want to see new writers not reach their best writing potential because they are trying to accommodate formulaic advice that doesn’t really feel right for them.
Thanks for being understanding about my feedback,Tom. I really do admire your work ethic and your positive attitude. Your presence here is appreciated!
I understand Don. Maybe I need to write an article reiterating to people that all this writing advice they see online is just noise to a certain extent. None of these techniques or ideas are 100% correct for absolutely everybody. We need to think about what makes sense for us, and what feels right to us, too. Because forcing it with a writing routine that makes us feel burned out or weird is just going to turn us away from the joy of writing, which is something you and I both value so much. Thank you, Don. I understand where you're coming from and I appreciate your work SO MUCH, too.
Thank YOU, Tom. 🙏💚
Long-winded-ness is a SERIOUS problem I have. My curiosity just keeps me going deeper and deeper on anything I’m writing about. I think it comes at the expense of the attention of my readers. Something I certainly need to work on
I try my best William to just read it from the perspective of my reader. Just detach from what I wrote and act as if I'm reading it for the first time. Any place my eyes glaze over is a spot in the article where I try to workshop things.
Really helpful Tom thank you! I love the idea of writing Notes as your posts - I'm over here smacking my head because it didn't cross my mind. I've heard of these short blogs being called Atomic Essays - will definitely give it a try!
The exercise will work 100%. Start small, develop the habit, increase speed and go longer.
As a reader, I rarely open a 9-minute article. But I also don't enjoy very short articles.
Around 1000 to the point words seem to be the sweet spot for me.
You are a terrific role model, Tom! I'm looking forward to learning more about refining notes in your Friday's session.
I'm drafting my 3rd post in my first week of publishing my newsletter, so it's time to product a snappy, to the point post!
I shall comply 🫶
Donna, just saw you joined me for the cohort this November. It's going to be awesome. Trust me. I'm getting my slide presentations ready as we speak and they're DENSE and should give everybody plenty of direction in their blog.
Great advice! Thanks, Tom.
This is good! I will give it a try asap!
Thanks, this a great reminder of how to connect and the more touch points the better. Permission to write and not be perfect is also freeing. The only other thing is to have a list of topics to choose from so every day no time is wasted on deciding what to write.
It’s very true. Writing succinctly helps you in your daily living too. Doing things once. Being clear headed with purpose. These habits, though a challenge help me in my daily living and hopefully spill over to other’s. Good write.
The annoying thing, Tom, is that you’re right!! Do you have any tips for a doctor working 12 hour shifts and preparing for an exam on how to squeeze in any more writing? I really want to get better and publish more regularly!
Keep it short. Thank you!
I love this post. It is so validating to me as someone who likes to write brief posts. I also prefer to read brief posts.