Write of Passage Weekly

Hey writers,

Welcome back to Write of Passage Weekly, where you learn to excavate specific and surprising ideas and share them with the world.

Last week, you learned about the ease and simplicity that’s on the other side of surrender. Today, you’ll learn why compression is the secret to memorable writing. 

The Shiny Dime Challenge

First, an announcement: We’ve created a free, start-of-year challenge to help you build influence online in 2024. It’s a ten-week email course designed to teach you a core Write of Passage lesson: the Shiny Dime.

You can learn more and register for The Shiny Dime Challenge here. (Or, sign up with one click through the button below.)

P.S. At the end of March, we are awarding one participant a free seat to our upcoming Write of Passage Bootcamp and $1000 cash. Register before February 18 to be eligible for the prize.

Bring Out The Flavor

“You can rule the world” is how Anthony Bourdain described the power of a good demi-glace. Such a potent sauce can be made with meat stock, red wine, shallots, and herbs, slowly simmered until it is reduced to a liquid so viscous it coats the back of a spoon. Reduction: That’s the key. The flavor of a life-changing, world-ruling sauce is created not by adding but by evaporating.

Like too much liquid in a sauce, you can dilute your writing with too many words. More is not always better. In fact, more can be harmful. Too many words, without enough entertainment or insights, makes a reader lethargic and makes them less likely to think that reading your work was worth their time. Worst of all, “too much” dilutes the flavor of your writing, and that flavor is what your reader will take away — the aftertaste of your article/essay/story/book. The flavor is what we remember from what we read.

This is why compression is a vital skill in the age of the Internet. It’s an art, even. You need to distill the essence down, into a small vessel of words. Reduce. Evaporate. Concentrate.

Attention is a scarce and delicate commodity — hard to obtain, easy to lose. By homing in on compact storytelling and insight-dense prose, you not only respect your reader's time but also elevate their reading experience. The economy of your writing and the concentration of your ideas are what leaves readers satiated and satisfied. Compression is the essential process that turns your watery broth into liquid gold  —rich, potent, and free-of-clutter.

Morgan Housel, the bestselling author of Psychology of Money, says, 

“Writing is an efficiency game. Whoever says the most stuff in the fewest words wins…. Leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” 

Concision is not about shortness but density; concentration invites a closer engagement with each word. Ask yourself, “Does this sentence serve a purpose in supporting the thesis of this article?” “Is this page worth cutting down a tree?” “Will the reader notice that this paragraph is missing if I rip it out of the story?” Concision is a clarion call to focus on substance over superfluity, to cultivate an appreciation for the vital over the verbose. 

How do you bring out the flavor? Commit to rigorous editing and question every word. Aim for sentences that pack a punch, paragraphs that propel you forward, and sections that guarantee understanding and spark curiosity. Concentrate. Reduce. Evaporate the excess and bring out the flavor of what you’re really trying to say.

How I Write Podcast

8 Lessons From 2023 - Tim Ferriss, Marc Andreessen, Tyler Cowen & Many More

It’s the start of 2024. And to celebrate, David ran through some of the best lessons he’s picked up over the last 12 months. These include insights from some of his favorite conversations both inside and outside of the podcast.

Expect to learn how Tim Ferriss sets an extremely high/low quality bar, why Marc Andreessen uses a barbell approach to consume information, Kevin Kelly’s reason to be the only (not the best), how Riva Tez paints with words, why The Cultural Tutor won’t read anything from the past 50 years, how Tyler Cowen brings joy to his work, David’s thoughts on artificial intelligence, and much more.

It’s the fist solo episode!

Listen Now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple

Thank you for reading Write of Passage Weekly. This week, write something loose and unfiltered, then reduce it to its essence.

Happy writing,

The Write of Passage Team