Making them up as I go (2)

1. Tell the truth.
2. Entice, or fail.
3. To emphasize, summarize.
4. If it ain't short, it don't work.
5. Be clear.


And so I don't forget:
Don't explain. Just tell a story.
Don't argue. Just say things that make sense.
Expect people to be bored by the writing, and shorten it.
Make the wording easy to take.

Remove Loose Ends -- the interesting one-liners that go nowhere.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Mix 'em up

Recently finished a three-part series of posts, the "How Debt Works" posts. I'm happy with'em, they're short and clear and strong. But they took a week or more to write.

This morning I read 2½ paragraphs of the Billy Blog, and had to write a spontaneous post (even though I'd planned to leave the "How Debt Works" posts near the top of the landing page for a while).

The "Billy Today" post came out fast and good, and I think it has a "spontaneous" feel to it, which the others lack.

I could be makin' that up.

Anyway, I think it's good to mix'em up. Follow a long post with 2 or 3 short ones. Follow a methodically-worked-out post with a spontaneous one. I think that's good.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Symmetry in Words

Given:
Having achieved greater size, the economy demands an increased quantity of money.

Better:
Having achieved greater size, the economy demands a greater quantity of money.