Hey, Cut It Out
When I am unsure of what to say, I ramble. Sometimes, I find it difficult for me to form a complete thought into words, I will write entirely around what I am trying to say. Since this is the case, I often never get to the statement or point I am trying to get across. This repetition and lack of specificity makes my writing unclear and very wordy. The pieces of advice that I chose are things that I have heard often, from both my teachers and peer editors. They have told me that I need to cut out the unnecessary words in my writing and connect my thoughts better. I remember multiple occasions in school, getting back drafts of my papers, and seeing red lines through sentence after sentence, from teachers trying to get me to cut out the extra.
Even though I agree that my writing can sometimes be cut down, I also believe that cutting can take away details or further explanations. On occasion, the repeated sentences in my writing can explain my point a little bit further, so cutting them out also cuts out important information. Sometimes it is difficult to pick out which statements are necessary and which complicate my writing. I may believe that the process of finding the excess is difficult because my writing often seems to have clear, thought out, and planned sentences. However, I have learned that this is not often the case for other people.
One of the best ways that I have found to help fix this issue is to have a friend peer edit my work with me. That way, when they get lost, I can talk it out with them and figure out a more concise way to explain myself. This process also usually involves realizing that I basically repeated myself two sentences in a row and cutting a lot of the extra words out. Hearing my words out loud and having another set of eyes read the writing with me, helps me catch the things that need to go. Sometimes, it seems like I allow myself to brush over and accept parts of my writing that are extra or not needed.
Instead of picking one piece of advice, I picked two that compliment each other in regards to my bad writing habits. I have found that these two pieces of advice, cutting out and to connect my thoughts better, become the most necessary when I am writing on a subject that I struggle to find an interest in. When a topic, like music, is fascinating to me, I am more capable of connecting my thoughts into clear, concise and readable words. A research paper about the music industry I wrote in High School, with a minimum length requirement of five pages, was much more enjoyable to write than a lot of my shorter length homework assignments that year. Music, specifically the music industry, is one of my main interests in life. Writing, and even just talking about it, is something that I do not get tired of or struggle with. This paper, that could have been five pages of the same sentence repeated over and over, was actually the paper I am most proud of so far. Instead of fighting myself to reach the word limit, I wrote with ease and confidence, something that has rarely happened in my writing history.
Entertainment, defined as leisure, relaxation, or recreation, and arts, defined as an outlet of human expression, can also be called extra or unnecessary. While society does not technically need these outlets, they are still a huge part of everyone’s lives. As something that I have chosen to focus my future on, specifically my passion for music, has become essential to my life. Cutting out music would not make life clear or even uncomplicated. When applying this advice to my writing, I find it to be necessary and helpful, as it makes it easier for the reader to understand. However, if the same advice is applied to my life, and many other peoples lives, it becomes unnecessary itself. Without the extras, life would be dull.
Cutting out unnecessary and extra words is essential to making my writing better. While it is difficult to always catch myself repeating statements, there are ways to fix it. As my peers have commented, reading my work out loud will help me catch what is redundant and therefore unnecessary. Even though my writing can benefit from cutting away, there are times in life when the extras do not need to be cut. Sometimes, the extras are what makes life interesting and enjoyable. I think the the most important piece to take away from the advice, “cut it out”, is it to know what exactly to cut. If you take away the wrong things, such as examples in writing, or even the arts in life, it will lessen the quality of the experience. Passion for the arts or even for entertainment brings people together. Without life’s little moments of bonding over shared interests, there would be less experiences of human connection. Some of my favorite memories are from live shows were I not only got to connect with not only my friends but also the people around me. Moments when the entire audience sings along to a song or jumps in unison are moments I will never get sick of. They are experiences that come from the “non-essential” world of art and entertainment but are essential to me and so many others.
