Prompts · Writing & memos
Cut this in half without losing the point
Shorter, and a list of everything that went, so you can put back what mattered.
Fill in the blanks
Already filled with an exampleYour prompt
Updates as you typeCut this down to half as long: Hi both, I hope you're well and that the move went smoothly. I wanted to circle back on the conversation we had a little while ago about the reporting pack, which as you know has grown quite a lot over the past year or so. I think there's probably a real opportunity here for us to take a step back and think about whether everything in it is still earning its place, especially given that the finance team have told us they only look at the first two pages. We spend roughly three days a month producing it. I'd love to get some time in the diary to talk this through if that works for you both, no rush at all. Must survive: the specific number, and the ask at the end Cut it properly. Whole sentences, not just adjectives. Wherever the same point is made twice, keep the better one and drop the other. Keep my voice. Don't replace my words with smoother ones, and don't add anything I didn't write. Then give me a list of what you removed, short phrases, one per line. If you cut something that was doing real work and it just wouldn't fit, say so and tell me what it costs.
What you get: The short version, plus a list of every cut so nothing important vanishes quietly.
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Show the cuts
Editing down is the one job where you can't tell what went wrong by reading the result. It reads beautifully, and the caveat that protected you legally is gone. The list of removals turns an invisible edit into something you can check in twenty seconds.
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