Lately, I’ve been getting overwhelming feedback on my latest manuscript, I Think I Swallowed An Elephant (Kindle pre order is available). But the comments that stick with me most aren’t about what I wrote.
They’re about what I didn’t.
It’s what I chose to bury.
Like an iceberg, the real weight of a story lives below the surface. The part you don’t spell out. The part the reader feels in their gut before their brain catches up.
And here’s what’s wild…
Different readers walk away with different truths. One sees a journey of self-forgiveness. Another sees a blueprint for transformation. A third sees a mirror. Same words. Different stories.
Not because I told them everything. But because I trusted them to bring something of their own.
Back in 1961, a young copywriter named Shirley Polykoff rewired an entire industry with just five words.
“Does she… or doesn’t she?”
It was about hair color. But it wasn’t really about hair color. It was about autonomy. Privacy. Power.
Those five words didn’t shout. They winked. They whispered a possibility and let the reader answer it for themselves.
The best writing does that. It respects the audience enough to leave space. It knows that persuasion isn’t about pressure. It’s about resonance.
And that’s the mistake so many make today.
They write like they’re afraid of silence. They fill every gap. Explain every point. Spell out what the reader should think, feel, believe.
But the truth is, people don’t want a conclusion handed to them.
They want to arrive there on their own.
The right words don’t close the story. They open it.
So here’s my challenge to you: Say less. Trust more. Create space for your audience to step inside your message and find themselves there.
That’s where change happens. That’s where connection lives.
And yes… she absolutely did.
