THE CUT-LIST CHECKLIST
Run every draft through this before it ships. If any line comes back NO, you are not done cutting. Go back to the top and run it again.


FOUR RULES TO DRAFT BY
Set these before you write. Get them right up front and the cutting gets
short later.

[ ] One problem per piece.
    Name the single problem this piece solves. If you can't name it in a
    breath, you're writing two pieces in one trench coat. Split them.

[ ] One solution.
    Pick the thing that actually worked. Explain it like you're leaning in
    at a bar, not reading from slides.

[ ] One action.
    End with something the reader can do today. A verb with dirt under its
    fingernails, not a mood with a marketing budget.

[ ] Kill everything else.
    Every sentence that doesn't carry the point forward is a door the
    reader walks out of. Your favorite line included.


THE SIX-POINT CUT-LIST
Run this after the draft exists. Six checks, in order.

[ ] 1. ONE SENTENCE.
       Summarize the whole piece in one sentence. Can't? The focus isn't
       there yet. Cut until one sentence holds it.

[ ] 2. CUT WHAT DOESN'T SERVE THE CORE.
       Not "trim where convenient." Cut it, no matter how attached you are.

[ ] 3. NICKEL WORDS.
       Swap complex words for simple ones wherever the simple word does the
       same job. Never spend a quarter when a nickel gets there faster.

[ ] 4. READ IT AS A BUSY STRANGER.
       Phone in hand, six tabs open, a group chat going off two rooms over.
       Would that person finish it? Be honest. That person is most of your
       readers.

[ ] 5. ONE CLEAR TAKEAWAY.
       Not a theme. Not a vibe. One thing the reader could repeat to
       somebody else an hour later.

[ ] 6. WOULD YOU TEXT IT?
       Not post it where friends might scroll past. Text it, straight to
       one friend. That's the stricter bar, and it's the right one. You
       don't text people filler.


THE DRILL (when you want to train the muscle)

  TIGHTEN UP: Write 200-word posts daily for a month. The limit kills the
  filler before you can type it. Everything you write afterward, short or
  long, comes out sharper.

  UNBLOAT: Take your next 1,500-word piece. Find the three to five real
  points buried in the scaffolding. Rewrite each as its own 300-word piece.
  Publish them across a week.


THE LINE TO TAPE TO YOUR MONITOR

  Never use a word worth a quarter when one worth a nickel will do.