Tag: clutter

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Clarity is the Key to Great Writing

Craft Essentials

“You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: what does the reader need to know next?”

William Zinsser, On Writing Well

As a reader, how long are you willing to struggle to make sense of an article or book that doesn’t seem to make sense? It may lack sufficient description or information – which deprives the reader of clarity. When that happens, I often believe the story existed in the writer’s mind but missed the transfer to the page. The reader is lost and often the work is abandoned. While this is a challenge for some, putting additional words on the page to clarify and connect the dots is easier than discarding those with whom you’ve already fallen in love.

The greater challenge – the opposite scenario – is also true. Have you experienced a highly anticipated book with a great premise but discover the author’s style features sentences the length of the Gettysburg Address? By the time you reach the end of the paragraph, the topic is muddled, and the reader is lost. The story line has taken a detour and the reader flips back several pages in an attempt to solve the riddle. The results are similar to those above. Frustration, and the book is abandoned. You may leave it on the nightstand to protect the wood from the water ring. But you’ve left it behind.

My favorite writing guru, Professor William Zinsser addressed the issue often with his students. “Clutter is the disease of American writing.”

As a writing coach, I’m often asked to review books for potential publication. Writers are hesitant to submit the work without a professional assessment. I provide this level of support and insight when working with an aspiring author. But when a writing hopeful has worked without coaching, mentoring, or input from a critique partner or group, anxiety about this next step toward publication is common.

Even in what I consider high-potential work, there’s often vital improvement that must be done before it’s submission ready. Routinely I find one of the two issues described in the opening paragraphs.

The “story” never made it to the page – at least not enough for the reader to be swept in.

  • Transitions are missing or insufficient.
  • Descriptions are sparse if they exist at all.

Far more often the problem is the in-depth description that sends the reader on a scavenger hunt for the plotline.

  • The elaborately detailed scene or section would have been improved had it been done in 1/3 of the time.
  • The reader is worn out and confused by the non-essential information which found its’ way to the page.

We do fall in love with the words we’ve written.

At times the words flow onto the page with little effort, plucked from the heavenlies, inspired by the moment or the muse. These are magical but elusive experiences.

More often we struggle and the word fairy mocks us. When the right words appear, we celebrate, energized to press on. The suggestion to remove even a few is akin to plucking out one’s eye.

But it’s not about us. It’s always about the reader.

“Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.”

William Zinsser

Which of these scenarios – too little or too much – are challenging you?

Deb DeArmond

Deborah DeArmond is a recognized leader in the fields of performance development, facilitation. She is a certified writing coach as well as an executive business coach. She is also an award-winning author.

Deb’s the author of Related by Chance, Family by Choice, I Choose You Today, and Don’t Go to Bed Angry. Stay Up and Fight! All three books focus on relationship dynamics, communication, and conflict resolution. Her humorous devotional entitled Bumper Sticker Be-Attitudes was published in late 2019. Her newest release, We May Be Done But We’re Not Finished: Making the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life was released in July. She has published more than 200 articles in print and online, including a monthly column, now in her 7th year for Lifeway Magazine with an international circulation of 300,000.

Deb helps clients achieve success in becoming the coach others desire to work through through her engaging inquiry, humor, and straightforward approach. Her clients have described Deb as “candid but kind” and skilled at asking the questions that help “guide others to discover their answers and solutions to success.”

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The Intentional Writer

Declutter Your Writing Life

The intentional writer

In my blog about living intentionally I often talk about decluttering—not just in our homes but in all areas of life. My definition of clutter is as follows:

Clutter: any thing, activity, expectation, or task that is non-essential and gets in the way of doing what matters most. Clutter is everything that is not meaningful, useful, or beautiful. 

So then, decluttering is the removal of all that is non-essential so that we can focus on what matters most—in our case, writing and promoting our books and our message.   


Areas where you might need to remove some clutter

  1. Your workspace. Does your workspace encourage productive work or does it contain objects that distract you? Are the tools and information you need readily available, or is your workspace filled with other stuff that doesn’t help your writing but happens to “live” in that space? Can those non-essentials be moved elsewhere?
  2.  Virtual clutter. When you sit down to write, are there virtual things that distract you? Perhaps you need to turn off social media notifications, close internet tabs, or even disconnect with the internet altogether while you write. Perhaps you need to leave your phone in another room. Or perhaps the weight of unprocessed emails has gotten so heavy it hinders your focus. Would an hour spent sorting your inbox and dealing with simple tasks declutter part of your brain and give you more bandwidth to create well?
  3. Unfinished projects. Do you have unfinished writing projects lurking in the back corners of your mind that make you feel guilty? Perhaps you need to declutter them from your to-do list. Life happens and your priorities change. It’s OK to change your mind about a project and decide something else is a better use of your time, but when you do, put the old projects completely away—physically and mentally. They do not need to be fed or watered. You can ignore them completely, and they will still be there if you ever want to revisit them.
  4. Too many spinning plates. Are you trying to keep up with all the big social media platforms, blog weekly, promote your new book while working on two others, and fill up every weekend with speaking engagements? Perhaps you need to declutter your schedule. Return to your Why and your career goals for this season. Identify which writing activities are essential and which are not-so-essential. Thinning out your schedule will help you become more productive and do your best work on what is left.
  5. Other people’s methods. No two writers are the same. Therefore, no two writers follow the same writing process or find the same promotion techniques helpful. I know many writers who have tried Mr. Expert’s method for writing only to give themselves a major angst-filled case of writer’s block. By all means, try any method that sounds like it might work, but also know when to discard that expert advice and do what works best for your unique brain. If your process is working, declutter any guilt you might feel for not following the experts. If your process is not working, perhaps you need to jettison a method that doesn’t suit your creative style.
  6.  Expectations. This is a huge area for all of us (and not just in regard to writing). Unhelpful (or unsolicited) expectations can sabotage our self-confidence, creativity, and willingness to share our words with others. What expectations do you need to declutter from your writing life? Comparing your writing to a best-selling author? Listening to friends who think you should have several books published by now? Beating yourself up for once again failing to hit your five-thousand-words-per-day goal? Your success is based on who you are as God’s child, not on what you write, how much you write, or how well it sells.
  7. False Aspirations. Every now and then I go through my bookshelves (both the real ones and the virtual ones) looking for titles of books I aspire-to-have-read but I don’t particularly want to actually read. Sometimes we face a similar issue in our writing. We may aspire to write literary fiction (because it proves how masterful and intellectual our writing is) or crime thrillers (because they sell well) while what our heart and God are actually calling us to is a different genre. Perhaps you need to declutter some unhelpful aspirations and come to terms with what you are best suited to write (in this season of your life, anyway), even if it’s not as glamorous, as spiritual, or as saleable as you think writing ought to be.

I hope these decluttering suggestions will help you write with better focus, more contentment, and greater creativity.

What other kind of writing clutter have you discovered in your life? Let me know in the comments.

Award-winning writer Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a unique story to tell the world. She loves inspiring fellow writers to be more intentional about developing their craft and courageous in sharing their words. Lisa shares her words through speaking, leading Bible studies, writing historical mysteries, and blogging about living intentionally.

You can find her on Facebook  LisaEBetzWriter Twitter @LisaEBetz and Pinterest Lisa E Betz Intentional Living.

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A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life

Just Another Post

lighter look at a writer's life

Clutter: (verb) to crowd something untidily.

I have a confession to make: I am a clutter person. I once read an essay in which a lady told a friend she had her “pilots’ license.” She further explained it was actually “pile-lots,” because she liked to pile her magazines, newspapers, and other things around her home and her office.

Well, hello.

One day at the end of summer break, I decided to do some cleaning in the bedroom. I threw away many things and felt good about it, but I know I need to do more. My wife is currently working on our kitchen cabinets in the same way.

All this cleaning made me think about my writing and how it, too, can become cluttered. We all have our “pet words,” and one of my favorites is “just.”

I just feel a need to tell you about this. I just got back to work from summer break, and I just need a nap. I just need a cool drink, and maybe I’ll just run to the vending machine for a snack.

Refer back to the definition at the beginning of this piece: to crowd something untidily. Not only does that reflect my personal spaces at times, it also reflects my writing. I use other pet words as well, and it is always a revelation when I use the “search” feature and find that I have used a particular word NUMEROUS times in a piece.

I have learned the art of decluttering my prose through writing assignments with specific word counts. Several years ago I was tasked with writing a magazine profile piece with a 750-word limit. I worked on the first draft, and I hit 1,000 words before the subject, who had accomplished great things in adulthood, had even left school. I did two things: (1) requested an additional 250 from the editor (which he obliged) and (2) began cutting the clutter.

I have since worked on several devotional projects, some with a word count as low as 250 words counting a Bible verse and a prayer. With these assignments, words like “just” and “that” were on my decluttering radar.

In the end, decluttering your writing is a way to give your readers a smoother experience. They can only work their way through so many unnecessary words before they choose to turn away. We want them to keep reading and coming back, don’t we?

I just want to make my readers happy.

Carlton Hughes wears many hats—some serious, some goofy.

During weekdays, he sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher (wah-wah wah-wah-wah) as a community college professor of communication and journalism. On Sundays and Wednesdays, you’ll find him playing games, performing songs with motions, and doing object lessons in his role as a children’s pastor. He and his wife also attempt to keep up with their two college-age boys.

In his “spare” time, Carlton is a freelance writer who has been published in numerous books, including several recent releases from Worthy Publishing: The Wonders of Nature, So God Made a Dog, Just Breathe, Let the Earth Rejoice, and the forthcoming Everyday Grace for Men. He has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul and other publications and is represented by Cyle Young of the Hartline Agency. He contributes regularly to two writing blogs, almostanauthor.com and inspiredprompt.com. He specializes in humorous observations of everyday life, connecting those experiences with spiritual application.

Carlton loves watching classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy, eating way too much chocolate, and rooting for his favorite college and high school basketball teams. He is on the planning committee for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and a year-round volunteer for Operation Christmas Child.