Style...

The art of clear, effective and readable writing. The rhythm that makes a sentence sound right to the mental ear. The ruthless cutting out of phrases that only clutter and impede this special music. And always, always, the patient, painstaking search for the perfect combination of words and phrases that will create this mental music and express what is to be said in the most moving and effective way.

--Writing Articles from the Heart, Marjorie Holmes, p. 132

Tricia’s Thoughts:
One of my first writing teachers taught me to “write big.” He suggested in the first writing draft to let the words flow from your fingertips, as to not break the creative flow. His next suggestion was to then “cut 20%.” Whether book or article, he believed that 20% of your manuscript consisted of unnecessary words. It’s a system that’s worked well for me. In novel writing, that 20% may be scenes that don’t progress the story or flowery description. In article writing, it may be clichés, repeated key words, or sentences that perhaps say the same thing twice. Following these steps always makes my writing tighter . . . and puts a smile on my editor’s face.