by Catherine L. Tully

Which kind of writer are you?

Most of us fall into one of two camps–people like me who can’t seem to add length to a piece to save their lives and…

People like my co-editor, Joe, who have to trim and cut to fit a word count.

Everything I write comes out short. I dread assignments where they want 1,500 words and think to myself, “Do sidebars count?” every time I get one. I have to go into the assignment thinking about how I’m going to stretch it. Now I can do it, but it takes some doing. It’s simply not my natural style.

Other writers (like Joe) are the opposite, penning a lengthy piece and then having to decide what they can leave out in order to fit the word count. I think they have it easier. I’d prefer to cut rather than add…it just seems to flow better.

Funny thing is…traditionally my style of writing works better for the web, and I have written mostly for print in my career. Joe’s style works better for print, and – you guessed it – he’s done more web writing. Funny isn’t it?

Which do you prefer?

(Note: I thought about adding to this post, but it’s really just as long as it needs to be. Right?)