🍴Wilting spinach & a writing lesson

Run your copy through the toddler test.

Author

Maria Marchewka
January 08, 2025

The chair finally stopped dragging across the kitchen floor. 

"Got it." 

My daughter said as she climbed up next to my husband at the stove. 

"What's happening?"

"The spinach is wilting."

"What's wilting?"

"It's shrinking."

"What's shrinking?"

"It's getting smaller."

"Oh."

That little exchange at the stove was like a mini masterclass on the power of simple messaging. 

We tend to overcomplicate our writing because we’ve been led to believe complexity equals intelligence.

So, we create poetic prose.

And in doing so, we lose sight of what's important - the reader's understanding.

Our job is to strip away the fluff and jargon and create the clearest version of our message.

And, guess what? That version is usually the strongest.

Next time you're stuck, pretend you're explaining it to a toddler.

Try this ✍️

Find a recent post or email and cut every sentence down and swap big words for simple ones. Does the message still land? It usually does.

Remember, if a toddler understands, so will your audience.

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