wonderfulwriting

Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few. – Pythagoras

My dad’s favorite phrase is, “Keep it short and sweet.” Pythagoras seems to agree.

When you sit to write a letter or send a note, do you feel like it has to be pages upon pages of thoughts and reflections? While I myself love to read a novel of a letter, someone having so much to say that they can’t get their thoughts down on paper fast enough, I also know it can feel like homework to someone else to read it. So perhaps that’s what Pythagoras was trying to express: say those important things, but say them concisely. Get straight to the point. Don’t flower it up. Be brief. Make whatever it is you are trying to get across known. And make sure, most importantly, that whomever you are writing to knows it.

I want you to know I love you.

You are on my mind.

Where are you? I miss you.

I saw a butterfly today and it reminded me of you.

I need one of your hugs.

My prayers today are for you.

Did you know your smile brightens my day?

You get the point. Pun intended.

As I tease the man in my life about going on and on, monologues are meant to be spoken and heard as the definition is a “long speech monopolizing conversation”. Reading it probably won’t have the same effect. With the hustle and bustle of today, we seem to want our information in the shortest forms possible: 140 characters in a Tweet, a status update on Facebook, even just reading the headlines of cnn.com (since so few pick up the newspaper these days…a marvelous journalistic institution that can’t fall by wayside!). If we are able to manage to find time to even jot down a handwritten note to a friend or lover, save the long-windedness for that road trip across the country when all you have is time.

Send someone a one-liner. They’ll thank you for the attention, no matter the length. Guaranteed.