Write With Purpose

Misery Loves An Audience is my best performing post and my personal favorite. I keep wondering why that is.

Then today, Paul Graham tweeted this:

Bad writers don't get to the point. But getting to the point is not as easy as its name implies. It usually requires that one clarify one's ideas, and that takes effort. "The point" is more of a summit.

And I think that's it. Misery had a point. It had a purpose. The reason for that post was clear, it was educational, and there was something the reader can take away. It wasn't preachy but dense and concise.

So moving forward, I'm going to make it a goal of mine to write with purpose—to make sure you, the reader, can take something away from every post.

That doesn't mean posts will get longer, in fact I'll try to do the opposite: say the most in the fewest amount of words. It's going to be hard. And if you don't believe me, here's a quote from Mark Twain:

I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.

So what's today's point? Join me in trying to be intentional with your words. Speak and write with purpose. Make your words matter. Every character counts.