How to write what you mean
I was workshopping an essay with a group of writers and someone asked, “Where are you going with this?”
I started to explain, but I was stumbling over my words, which made me self-conscious that I wasn’t making any sense. I took a deep breath, summarized all the thoughts in my head, and explained clearly and succinctly the message I was hoping to deliver with the essay.
When I’m alone, silently typing on my computer, my writing tends to run down rabbit holes. But when I’m talking to someone, I want to be respectful of their time (and I also want to seem sharp and clear-headed), so I tend to get to the point.
Realizing this, I tried a little exercise with my writing this morning. I typed out and bolded these words: “What I’m really trying to say is ...” Then I double-tapped the return key and started typing as if I were talking to someone, trying to summarize my essay for them.
I wrote about 100 words and that was really all I needed to get my point across. This is after I’d already written 2,700 words on this particular topic, most of which was extraneous.
The lesson here is to start with your main point and then fill in details, rather than trying to compile details to lead up to your main point. If you have trouble doing this just by writing in a room alone, call up a friend and try to explain to them what you’re trying to say.