Legal Writing

In the early nineteenth century, British author C. C. Colton wrote, "That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge, and takes from him the least time."

Most of us know that in theory. We know that we should make our writing as economical as possible. But we may be paying attention to conciseness too soon, while we're drafting.

This week, don't interrupt the flow of a draft to worry about whether you're using too many words. Just write the words as they come, even if you know you're going to cut some out later. When you revise, you'll find that cutting words is easier than adding new ones.