Just write until you're bored (or the reader's bored)

I think Simmons is way too long; 10,000 words is way too long. We've worked hard at my place to get away from mega-notebooks and have very few of them left. We encourage people to do "notes as they go" in blogs.

Saying, "well, it's broken up into a lot of small sections, so that makes it better" doesn't work for me, TSP...on the other hand, my 21-year-old son loves Simmons. So while I think short is better on the web, apparently others make the time to consume the long-form notebooks or whatever...

 

Don't confuse me with someone who's lazy; I'm someone who doesn't care.

10,000 words from Simmons or Easterbrook is about 5,000 words worth of reasonably interesting stuff and 5,000 words of self-indulgent, look-at-me-I'm-a-writer crap. Good for them, they get to write as much and as long as they want. In newspaper terms, they're wasting space. But I know that doesn't matter anymore.

And if the young kids wanna read 10,000 words on their laptop or Blackberry, god bless 'em. Executives, publishers, consultants have told all us old newspaper wretches that nobody takes the time to read anymore.

 

Yes. I'm lazy. Plus, I don't care enough about what he's apparently writing for me to sit through 10,000 words.

You are correct.

 

He basically has 10-12 rational points on how football coaches should manage games more logically to improve their statistical odds of winning -- and he repeats them every week. Yeah, I get it, Gregg. They should go for it on fourth down more often.

Moreover, while I agree with the majority of his maxims, he berates coaches when they make a move he doesn't like and it fails. He never congratulates them when they make the move and it works. It's intellectually dishonest.

Also: The stuff about babes is just gross and demeaning. Almost all the shtick -- Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons, Flaming Thumbtacks, Jersey B, etc. -- is amusing the first few times and quickly grows stale.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

 

So is it 10,000 words each week, or was this week just longer than usual? I've written some long in-depth investigative stories before, but I don't believe I've ever written close to 10,000 words for one story. And this guy does it every week? I don't think I could write that long about anything before putting myself to sleep.
If he's able to knock out a 10,000 word story each week, more power to him. He can do something I can't do, not to mention something I don't ever want to do.

 

This nails on the head why I really don't read it anymore.

 

I still read it, but, well, it's mostly skimming. He repeats himself from week to week a ton.

 

Most of the big-ass broadsheets back in the day printed eight columns. So the six columns of today works out to about the same column width. Of course, in this day of shrinking webs, your mileage may vary.

 

The column is way more than 10% of the same old stuff. Every week it's the same old jokes, the same old point that when you're on the 40 you're better off going for it than punting, and the usual fill-in Cheerleader bio, Boss Button, and tangents on politics and science.

Everytime you see someone punt facing a fourth and six from their opponent's 45, you know it's showing up on Tuesday.

The jokes were original in 2003. It's time for something new.

 

Then go find something new.

The original point was that the column is boring because it is 10,000 words, and dammit, 10,000 words is just too many!, not because the same stuff is in there week after week (which is only partially true -- it's a mix of new and old week after week.)

 

Gee, it didn't read like 3,100 words [/cross-threading]