Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a short story in 6 words. The result was: "For sale: baby shoes, never used."
Wow, just six words and Hemingway can create a drama and invoke our emotions! Not bad!
One of my favorite professors in college was completely obsessed with the "KISS" model of writing, which stood for "Keep It Simple Stupid!" He was ruthless with the red pen and course papers, eliminating half the text on any written assignment we turned in.
At first we balked! As a class we cried out that he was "pruning" our pages with abandon, taking out our unique "voice" ...leaving our writing barren! What about our creative style?
As the semester continued we had to concede that tightening our sentences did result in a better end product. But it was always painful to delete, edit, and scratch out phrases that were near and dear to our hearts!
Well, my college days were a long time ago and I haven't adhered to the KISS approach in my writing as I should. But, my professor might have created a monster because I find myself editing the writing of others. Which is sometimes okay, but the other day I caught myself editing an Apostle and realized I might be getting a little carried away! It's not really my place to impose brevity on messages from our church leaders! Even if I did think it was a little long winded! I stand corrected!
