Thanks, Lon — I think it was Mark Twain that said “sorry this was so long, if I’d had more time, I’d have made it shorter.”

You’re right — tight writing is hard. I’ve been reading here a long time and most 7 minute pieces should be 4, tops.

I joined a publication called “A Few Words” because the only criteria is the piece has to be 500 words or less. Those are the ones I have to edit the most. This was one of them. It’s a good exercise in writing concisely.

Course, humans being human, some of the 500 word essays should probably be 250. Haha. Sometimes I’m a jerk. lol.