DO THE WORK | 2004-08-18
I complain about people forwarding me articles about the Latest Thing in politics. But I am delighted when people send me ideas or disagreements about my writing that:
1) THEY wrote;
2) They WORKED on it.
I don't even mind getting a forward if someone writes me an explanation of what they think I should see in it. Nobody likes to plow through a thousand words wondering what the hell this is about.
But much of my best thinking comes from e-mails from people who really thought something over that I wrote about and WORKED on a reply.
Once again, I don't want to plow through a thousand words of whatever is on your mind at the moment in your train-of-thought mode.
Write it, rewrite it, and make it short and make it clear. That's what I do for you. That's what I expect you to do for me.