So, what's your project all about? Who are you? You could take a few paragraphs to answer those questions. Then again, maybe you should pretend someone asked you, accusingly, "What the (flip) is your project about? Who the (frack) are you?"
Image via trochim.
Note: I've semi-sanitized all the F-bombs in our quotes and references—not because the point of the post shouldn't be made, but to help those with nanny filters at work. The URL linked here does, inescapably, preserve the original wording of the self-reflective question.
We all tend to fall back on vagaries, adjectives, and maybe even buzzwords when describing what we do, who we are, or why somebody should care about something. That's when you're typing at a desk, or talking nervously. But what if someone walked up to you at your favorite hang-out spot, put a finger in your face, and asked you—loudly, directly—just what the (funk) your project was. And other similarly curse-honed questions:
Who are you?" -> "Who the (fudge) are you?
What do you do?" -> "What the (frick) do you do?
Add the menace. The challenge. The nasty consequence of getting it wrong.
You'll be surprised at how much clearer the question becomes. And how much shorter and convincing your answer.
It works for general writing, too, along the same lines as the newspaper truism that if you can't write your headline, you probably haven't honed your story. Is your mental answer to WTF questions better than your standard response?
The "…the (flip)…" exercise. [intangible.ca (headline modified) via @azaaza]