Week 3, Promt A

I read my short essay to my room mate, Justin. Like when we read our essays out loud in last class, I noticed for the first time when my sentences were too lengthy and hard to understand. It made me realize that I need to cut down on my wordiness. Instead of using modifiers, I should find the best word that fits what I'm trying to say. I learned that succinctness is much better than lengthiness for the reader. What the author may feel is great writing (long sentences, confusing pronouns, etc) may not be for the reader. You always get a new look on your writing when you read it out loud to someone for the first time.
I also learned that different people can interpret things differently then you. In my essay, Justin understood something in my essay to be different then what I was trying to get across. This furthers my desire to make my writing more clear and to the point, instead of awkward, wordy, and obscure. A big change, well big to me, was I changed "Other than having a cool sounding name and an easy symbol for kindergarteners to draw, what good does it do the hard working people who have to deal with this nuisance of a letter?" into "Other than having a cool name and an ever cooler picture, what good does it really do to people having to put up with this everyday." Although it is still lengthy, I didn't want to get rid of the tone that came with the original, hence the extra wording.
Everyone can learn something by having their works read out loud to someone. They will see for the first time what is confusing to other people and what doesn't flow well. They'll be able to dramatically cut down on the fluff in their writing and make it a more enjoyable read for their audience.
60 minutes.