Why Choosing Quantity Over Quality Might Be the Game-Changer You Never Expected
Ever caught yourself tangled in the eternal tug-of-war between writing like confetti—spraying words wildly, fast and free—and hoarding every syllable like precious toilet paper in a pandemic? It’s tempting to pick a side, right? But here’s the kicker: both approaches have their charm, their purpose, and their audience. From Shakespeare’s timeless sonnets to viral clickbait, writing exists on a sprawling spectrum where “perfect” is as slippery as a greased pig. So, how do you find your sweet spot when quality isn’t a clear-cut victory but a shifting terrain shaped by what you actually want to accomplish? Spoiler alert—it all boils down to matching your writing’s polish to its purpose, no more, no less. After all, your grocery list doesn’t need a Pulitzer, just the correct number of avocados! Curious to explore this balancing act and put your writing where it really counts?
Oh So Clear
Both bad and brilliant writing works
Sir Write-a-lot: “Words should be like confetti — cheap, colorful, and everywhere!”
Lord Perfect: “Nonsense! Words should be like toilet paper during the pandemic — rare, precious, and fought over!”
Lady Compromissa: “Gentlemen, please, there is no cause for dispute. Paper is paper.”
Lady Compromissa is right. The quantity versus quality debate is pointless. From Shakespeare to clickbait — it’s all working for someone. Some readers are happy as long as the words are in roughly the right order; others aren’t happy — ever. They’ll scrutinize every sentence with a magnifying glass and frown regardless of how much effort you put into your writing.
So quality isn’t binary. It’s a spectrum, from “I sat on my keyboard and then farted on the submit button” all the way to “It could be engraved in stone tablets and no one would question it.” And in between these two extremes, there’s a lot of writing that gets the job done.
And what is that job? Well, it depends, duh.
Finding your place on the quality spectrum
Regardless of which side you stand on in the quality versus quantity debate, congratulations — you’re right. There are excellent reasons to embrace quantity. There are equally compelling reasons to champion quality. And there are also perfectly valid reasons to live happily in the murky middle.
The key? It depends on what you want.
The secret that professional writers know is this: match your quality level to your purpose. Don’t spend four hours agonizing over the punctuation in a casual tweet. Similarly, don’t write your PhD thesis in the tone of a BuzzFeed listicle that you dash off in a caffeine-fueled all-nighter.
Your writing needs to be as good as its purpose demands — no more, no less.
Consider the humble grocery list. Does it need flawless grammar? Oxford commas? Foreshadowing? A satisfying character arc? Of course not. It needs to get you in and out of the store with the correct number of avocados. That’s it.
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