New Year's Resolution #5

Hemingway

People admire Hemingway for his concise style, but the real strength in his writing is that he's also precise: the first facilitates the second.  (You've also got to admire Woody Allen for writing the best impersonation of Hemingway around in Midnight in Paris.)

Precision isn't easy.  Forming one truly complete thought -- let alone all the thoughts that go into one complete piece of writing -- isn't easy.  That's why most of us have trouble being concise.  If we can't nail down an idea with one word (or phrase, or sentence), we try to do it with three, hoping they'll circumscribe the point we want to make.

I resolve -- and I hope you will, too -- to cut out the redundant words and sentences.  Like in that Talking Heads song, "Say something once, why say it again?" Just be sure to say it well the first time around.