Clarity Beats Polish
“Don’t polish until you do this first.”
Autumn, with all its pumpkin spice goodness, is here, whether you were ready or not. I’m writing this to you from a place of “somewhat” ready. I’m a big fall fan, but I’m still mourning the end of summer. Nobody on the road, Nobody on the beach.
Let’s talk today about clarity and its arch-nemesis, polish.
Ever read a beautifully written passage—smooth sentences, clever wordplay, gorgeous descriptions—only to finish and think, But what was that actually about?
We’ve never had more ways to polish our words. Yet too often, the message gets buried under the shine.
Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull once put it this way: “Story is King… we would let nothing—not the technology, not the merchandising possibilities—get in the way of our story.”
In other words, clarity comes first. Everything else—style, rhythm, even beauty—must serve the core message. Too often, writers reverse the order. We try to sound good before we know if what we’re saying is good.
Here’s one thing you can do today:
Before your next writing session, ask yourself:
What do I want the reader to understand, feel, or do after reading this?
Write the answer in one clear sentence.
Then let everything else in your draft support that.
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Keep writing,
