A great exercise in being concise

The key to good writing is to be clear, concise and complete. What is it that we want to say in our writing? What's the point? In what way do we want the reader to be fulfilled - for that is the ultimate goal. We should be able to write our main thought on the back of a business card. If we can't, we probably need to narrow our scope. Here is an exercise that forces us to organize our thoughts and yet be creative and have some fun. We're going to pick a subject and write a Haiku poem about it. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that is three lines long. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven syllables and the third has five. Don't worry about rhyming. Reach out and grab an idea. Then condense, condense, condense. Here is one I wrote on a simple topic: How I feel today.

My mind is alive.
It tells me to get moving.
My body just laughs.

Now you try it. Pick a subject, any subject - the weather, your favorite color, Uncle Charlie...and write a Haiku.