Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

I came into writing imagining I'd be churning five thousand word essays all the time. But honestly, writing is getting shorter and shorter every day.

Now, with the advent of Twitter--the mini-blog site where people keep track of the minute details of their lives--writers have to learn how to tell a story in a couple sentences--flash journalism, if you will.

Over at Smith Magazine, Larry Smith mused about a suicide letter posted on Twitter--helping me think about "microjournalism" and the art of short short writing. Today I found this essay by new media reporter Steven Clemons and this New York Times article think about the ways you can write shorter and better.

Check it out and write something short:

"Microjournalism is the latest step in the evolution of John Dickerson, who worked for years at Time magazine, and has moved from print to online articles to blog entries to text messages no longer than 140 characters, or about two sentences. 'One of the things we are supposed to do as journalists is take people where they can't go," he said in an interview. "It is much more authentic, because it really is from inside the room.'"