HOW many words?

I recently wrapped three projects in which my written pieces could only be 250 words max, including a Bible verse and prayer. What were these editors thinking? I’m a writer, a teacher, and a public speaker—I normally can’t say “Hello” in 250 words.

At first I grumbled and complained (to myself, of course). I would write what I thought was the perfect essay and then look at the word count. One totaled 262. Many clocked in at 270 or more. One night I exclaimed, “Oh, man!” My wife wanted to know what was wrong.

“I have too many words,” I replied. We’ve been married 22 years, so I think she already knew that.

There were nights (Yes, I write at night—you wouldn’t want to read what I would write in the morning) when I wanted to give up. How could I create with such restrictive guidelines?

I soon realized God was stretching me and teaching me to “write tight.” I became more aware of extraneous words and phrases and tried to eliminate them as I developed pieces. I honed my self-editing skills. Can I word that phrase shorter but just as meaningful? Do I need all of that background information? Is there a shorter Bible verse? There was a point I considered using “Jesus wept,” but it didn’t fit the devotional theme.

I’m happy to say I met every deadline, with every piece at 250 words or less. By the end my drafts were well below that number. I like to think God will use this “less is more” training in the next step of my writing journey.

May I say I was very, very, very, very, very pleased to complete these projects?

Ah, that felt good.