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How to focus your writing: find the one idea your draft is really about, then cut every line that doesn’t serve it. One idea wins.
Transcript
Many drafts sprawl because the writer is trying to say everything at once.
Here’s the fix. Ask yourself one question before you write another word: what’s the one thing I’m really trying to say?
Not five things. Not the clever tangent you’re fond of. One.
When I ask writers this, they hand me a whole paragraph. Then I ask again. Buried in that paragraph, there’s always a single sentence carrying the real weight.
Find that sentence. Write it on a sticky note where you’ll see it while you draft.
Now every line has a job. It serves your one thing, or it goes.
This is how a messy draft becomes a clear one. Not by adding. By choosing.
One idea, said well, will always outwork 10 ideas competing for the same page.
What’s the one thing your current piece is trying to say?
