I Don’t Count Words
5000 words don’t make a story.
I know that many writers try to write a bunch of words per day or per article. I respect this but don’t totally understand it.
In a mass production economy, the more things that are produced equals the greater the income. A number of acceptable products put out as quickly as possible creates a bigger paycheck I guess. It works for many. I mean, if I’ve spent twenty minutes getting to the end of an article that tells me the best habits to make me productive, how can I not clap?
I don’t want to write those kinds of pieces. I don’t often feel that my longer pieces have value. Even if I have spent hours or days putting them together, I reread them and they bore me. They sit for a while and usually get deleted. After all, if someone wants to deep-dive into an idea, why should they get the information second, third, or fourth hand from me?
Maybe I’m a ‘word-snob’. I want to pack information and feeling into as small a package as possible.
A few lines with the right words, maybe a pertinent quote, and a picture/image that fits and adds to the total meaning. That is how I like to communicate.
I write from an emotional interest level ideally. The heart, the Muse, whatever governs emotional content, is vital to my writing. It doesn’t count the words, only the ‘meaning’.
I may never make the ‘Big Bucks’ of the word-counters, but I can live with that and know that I ‘did it my way’. I show up in the world as only I can and accept the treasures both small and large.
Dana Sanford
2019
P.S.
(can you do a postscript to a blog post?)
I am essentially a poet.
Ideas, distilled to their meaning
are similar to vitamin pills
condensed to only that
which is vital to life
and meaning.
I would place my thoughts
before you
to be taken in
to swim with your being.
Take then as needed
with a glass of water.
Thank You
D.S.
