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Lee Bacon's avatar

Great advice. When a lot of writers (myself included) start out, they have the impulse to spill everything onto the page, to dazzle the reader with their prose, maybe throw in a good metaphor or two. But as you gain more experience, you realize that good writing is often about compression. Or to quote The Elements Of Style: "Omit needless words."

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Gil Rief's avatar

Absolutely! Every word should add value. Sometimes the best way to improve your writing is to hit delete.

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Jeff Matlow's avatar

Btw, I’m going to feature this article in an upcoming issue of This Week In Leadership (13k subs). I will of course lead it back to you.

Great stuff.

Oh, here: www.TheBestLesdershipNewsletter.com

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Gil Rief's avatar

Wow, that's awesome! Much appreciated

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Jeff Matlow's avatar

“As much as creativity craves freedom, it thrives on constraint”

What a great insight and so true.

Creativity hates the blank page - it needs lines and borders.

So did you actually write about monkeys? Do you remember what you said?

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Gil Rief's avatar

Thanks Jeff! Yes, I am positive I wrote about monkeys, but don't remember exactly what I said over those 10 pages. I remember that same semester I took anthropology and was reading a great book called "Chimp Politics," so I think I weaved that in there.

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