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| Hades doesn't have eternity to create internal business letters |
Did you ever receive an assignment to write a 5-page paper in grade school, and then have a small meltdown at the prospect of forming enough sentences to fill the space? I sometimes experience the same emotion in college, but with one twist: nowadays the writing block comes when a professor states that the length of a paper is limited to 2 pages. Funny how times change.
Short messages are convenient. They allow us to save time and be efficient with our words. However, they are often ineffective. Writers who try to preform branch surgery may find they have actually loped off the trunk of their message.
I appreciated the chapter we read for class this week about different brainstorming techniques. I often find myself with dozens of related details with no clear main idea. In the future, I will definitely use the bottom-up approach to drafting.
First I love your Hercules reference so much! I also agree with a lot of your thoughts. I heard a quote recently that really applies; it actually might have been in MCOM. "I apologize for the longevity of this letter, I didn't have time to write a short one." It's so true! Sometimes its much easier to write long pieces than short because with less words you have to work much harder to find the right phrasing so you don't loose pieces of your message like you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWriting a short paper is probably one of the most difficult things I have done in college! I always think my thoughts are not enough but the second I start typing I have to hold myself back. But, short messages are so important and they are the ones that really get the attention of others.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! The most frustrating writing assignment I have ever had so far was the 300 word essays assigned in American Heritage. At first it took me HOURS to say everything I was required to say in only 300 words – but after a while it only took me about an hour and a half to say what I needed to say. Maybe MCOM would have helped me 😀
ReplyDeleteI'm totally on the same boat! Simplifying is very difficult. I'm majoring in animation and we have to learn the technique of simplifying which makes it challenging. It funny how much we have to train our brains to break things down and makes things clear.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I think I have become so used to trying to hit my page requirements that I I use a lot of fluff. With limited length papers you definitely have to be much more precise in what you want to say. I have not tried the bottom up approach yet in my writing. I tend to lean more to the mind map. I will have to try the bottom up approach and see which one I like better and is more effective.
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