Today's #acwri task is to not write. Or more accurately, to get rid of writing, and a fair bit of it. If writing is hard, trying not to write too much, or to reduce what you've already writte, can be even harder. The journal article that had fitted nicely within Journal A's word limit, is now oversized for Journal B by a massive 900 words. 900 words! How on earth do you cut that from 5900?
In getting this paper under Journal B's word limit I've learnt (or probably re-learnt) three things. First, it can be done, even if it's difficult. Second, yesterday's final version (which I did not feel could be improved on) can today be revised and strengthened. And third, it is amazing how many words you can lose when you try, without affecting the core arguments of your paper. There are always challenges, especially if using excerpts from qualitative interviews. But sometimes more is less. Editing helps you to make choices about what's really important in your paper, where the repetition is. And sometimes less words make a stronger argument, because you have to be direct and explicit. As Henry James once said, "In art economy is always beauty."
In getting this paper under Journal B's word limit I've learnt (or probably re-learnt) three things. First, it can be done, even if it's difficult. Second, yesterday's final version (which I did not feel could be improved on) can today be revised and strengthened. And third, it is amazing how many words you can lose when you try, without affecting the core arguments of your paper. There are always challenges, especially if using excerpts from qualitative interviews. But sometimes more is less. Editing helps you to make choices about what's really important in your paper, where the repetition is. And sometimes less words make a stronger argument, because you have to be direct and explicit. As Henry James once said, "In art economy is always beauty."