Even if you think your prose is as tight as Scrooge, take a first draft you have written and try the 25 percent challenge. Count the words in the original version (or let your software do it for you) and then pare away until you come in under quota. And, while you are at it, turn abstract nouns and strung-out verbs into livelier expressions and eliminate long windups and boring chains of prepositional phrases. When you are done, read the revised version aloud — and then revise one more time.