Lionel Foster - If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter

Humans are natural talkers. It’s an acquired skill, which we pick up very early, and the circuitry to do so seems to be hardwired into our brains. But writing seems to be slightly trickier as evidenced by the constant and almost universal complaint, “Writing is hard!” Why is this? Why do so many people freeze up at the idea of writing a letter, typing that important email to the boss, or finally getting started on that short story, novel, or memoir they’ve been wanting to pen for years? What’s so difficult about moving from the spoken to the written word?

I think that, by picking apart some of the similarities and differences between writing and speaking with fun examples, people can begin to overcome many of the things that stand between them and fluid prose. I might call the presentation “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” It’s a joke from renowned poet T.S. Eliot–see, even he had trouble–that gets at how difficult it can be to write clearly and succinctly.
Lionel is a Staff Writer at Urbanite magazine.

View Lionel's slides here

What would you say?