---
title: "Florida Competition Winner Explains Principle of Success: Brevity"
date: 2007-03-20
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canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/03/20/florida-competition-winner-explains-principle-of-successful-manual-brevity/
---
# Florida Competition Winner Explains Principle of Success: Brevity
I was also looking at [Copyblogger's posts](http://copyblogger.com) — all nicely chunked material, with short paragraphs, subheads, and lists, just as any tech writer would organize help. And I looked at Nielsen's [heatmap results from an eye-tracking survey](http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/). Readers scan the first three paragraphs and then wander elsewhere.

But it was Amy Weiss's acceptance remarks for winning Best of Show that cemented the principle of brevity for me. Her Motorola quick guide, a manual you can fit in your pocket, delivered exactly what users want: a short, easy-to-consume guide. Weiss explained that selecting the topics required intense deliberation and thought. Which leads to another irony: shorter is harder. But this time I'm taking the advice to heart. My posts are too long. I'm going to be more brief.

If I have to write more, I'll use subheads. I think long blog posts are symptomatic of unclear thoughts. But that is one reason we write: to figure out what we think.