The One-Page Article: a Summer 2021 Experiment

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Artwork: Revitalize, by Justin and Alexis Hernandez

The One-Page Article: a Summer 2021 Experiment

In his discussion of silence and the ideal of minimizing speech, the Rambam (Hilchos Deios 2:4) writes:

Likewise, in matters of Torah and matters of wisdom, the words of a chacham (wise man) should be few, but their ideational content abundant. This is what the Sages commanded, saying: a person should always teach his student in a concise manner. But if the words are many and the ideational content is sparse, this is foolishness. Regarding this it is stated: "for a dream comes in an abundance of concern, and the voice of a fool in an abundance of words" (Koheles 5:2).

This summer I intend to conduct an experiment in short-form writing. Specifically, I am going to see what happens if I limit each article to a single page. There are four reasons for this experiment:

(1) Mental Health: Those who have followed me on social media are aware that last year was fulfilling but stressful. Although my usual practice has been to publish one blog post every weekday during the summer, I no longer think this is a realistic plan. I need to scale back my prolificacy during the summer so that I can return to my demanding teaching job rejuvenated and healthy in the fall. At the same time, I do want to write. One of the reasons why I stuck to the “one article each day” format in previous summers was because it prompted me to produce but also set up a cut-off mechanism. No matter what happened, I knew I had to finish a blog post by day’s end. My theory is that the one-page format will set up a similar cut-off. I will be impelled to produce a daily page of Torah, but without the pressure generated by the potential for “infinite” writing.

(2) Sustainability: This past year I taught an average of 30 shiurim each week. This left zero time for writing. This coming year my teaching schedule has been reduced by a third. Theoretically, this will give me time to write (unless I need to use that time for tutoring to pay the bills – a factor which remains to be seen). If I can afford to write this year, the one-page format is likely to be far more sustainable than the “write as long of an article as necessary until it’s perfect” format.

(3) To See What Happens: Mark Rosewater, the head designer of Magic: the Gathering, is fond of saying: “Restrictions breed creativity!” Believe it or not, I’ve rejected many ideas for blog posts in past years because I feel like they’re too minimal to warrant an entire article. This experiment will reverse the trend, forcing me to write about ideas which would NOT fill an entire article.

(4) To Practice Brevity: The last and least important reason is what the Rambam wrote above. I’ve honed my writing craft mostly through practice, but occasionally I’ll try to consciously work on a specific quality, and in this case, it’s brevity. I’ve been told that my writing is clear. The question is: Can I achieve the same level of clarity, but in fewer words? It’s time to attempt to practice what Bruce Lee taught: “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential!”

To those who fear that my “feature-length” articles will become a thing of the past – fear not! I do intend to allow myself to write my normal-length articles when the content or the mood dictates, and when time allows, but I’d like to make these short-form articles the bread and butter of my blog for the summer. I’ve already written a few of these, just to see how it went, and I loved how they turned out! I’m excited to see where this summer's writing leads. Here’s to the adventure of experimentation!

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