Hey, you.
Thanks for being here.
It’s 3:15 A.M. I find myself wide awake and with a fresh sense of clarity about my writing. I’ve let my writing style become bloated and cluttered for months without realizing it.
I must declutter.
For the past few months, I’ve been writing nearly non-stop. With my work-from-home setup, I have the luxury of a dedicated workspace upstairs where I can brainstorm and write without distractions. It’s been great for my productivity, but I’ve realized all this writing is a mess.
I’ve found myself slipping into bad habits without even noticing. My articles have become bloated with filler words and unnecessary jargon. Sentences that could say something clearly in 10 words instead of rambling on for 30. Paragraphs full of froufrou language and adjectives that don’t add any meaning or value. It doesn’t add any wow factor. It’s gotten to the point where rereading my work feels tedious.
So it’s time for a change. I’ve decided to launch a campaign to declutter my writing – to strip it down to its essential core. I want my writing to be neat, clean, and direct. Sentences should be conveyed without embellishment. Transitional phrases are replaced with a period. Wordy paragraphs condensed into lean, muscular ones.
It won’t be easy. Decluttering requires throwing out many things that felt necessary at the time but clutter up the space. I may have to cut whole concepts or examples that don’t directly serve the central message. Rewriting will be a longer, more iterative process as I pare things back layer by layer. There will likely be tears as favorite turns of phrase hit the cutting room floor.
But I know it will result in a much stronger final product. Readers don’t have time for filler. They want information presented clearly and straightforwardly without wading through excess baggage. Decluttering benefits both the writer and the reader.
To start, I plan to go back and rework some of my older articles posted on my blog. Passages will be condensed. Redundant words and sentences were eliminated. Transitions tightened up. Facts reorganized for maximum impact. I expect the process to significantly shorten many pieces. Don’t be surprised if you notice articles being edited multiple times or even deleted as I refine my new minimalist approach.
In the future, I’ll also apply these decluttering principles to all new writing. Outlines and drafts will undergo rigorous pruning before anything gets published. More time will be spent editing and polishing to cut out crutches. The goal is to get each piece as lean as possible without compromising quality or clarity.
It won’t be a quick fix, either. Developing an intuitive sense of what’s truly essential will take practice. Old habits will try creeping back in. But staying disciplined about decluttering is important for continually improving my craft. Writing takes focus and refinement, which I’m committed to long-term.
So, you may notice some fluctuation as I work through this process on my blog. Please be patient – it’s growing pains as I learn. In the end, I hope that decluttering will result in work that’s cleaner, clearer, and easier for readers to engage with. Sometimes, less truly is more.
Let me know what you think of the changes along the way.