Quality of execution is everything. In graphic design, this is so easy to see. I always consider a piece, big or small, done when there is nothing left to take away. You've eliminated the non-essential and the superfluous. All you have is what you need exactly for that piece.
There's a precision and a beauty to that. There's also respect for your audience. You respect their intelligence and their abilities. You don't waste their time. You get to the core.
When I was a student in Prague many years ago, we worked in both studio and live sets. The whole reason I went to school there was to film on location and learn in a hands-on environment. It's really the only way to learn anything production-oriented. You got to dive in and get your feet wet.
We learned about lighting in the classroom and then in a brightly lit studio setting. I lingered after class one day when we met in the production studio and got to know the lighting director, Miroslav. He was terrific to work with and learn from. He was also very kind to me, answering all my questions thoughtfully. I started meeting with him regularly. Over the course of the next three months during my stay in Prague, he taught me an insane amount about gels and lighting. We had a lot of fun with it, experimenting.
One of the things I suggested the first time we hung out was to start out in complete darkness on set and add one lighting element at a time. Miroslav laughed and said that was a great idea. He understood immediately what I wanted to achieve. For me, it was terrific because I could really learn how lighting affected a set and a scene. In a way, it's the exact same concept that we have in design - keeping just the essential - applied in a different way.
When it comes to books, I find it also helpful to strip away the non-essential. I've grown up reading voluminous classics like Victor Hugo's Les Misérables where longer descriptions are necessary.
However, I also know the value in a succinct line. In fact, it takes thoughtfulness and great care to craft sentences that convey your intended meaning in the fewest words possible. It's more powerful and compelling that way. That's part of my approach to editing itself. I read a while ago that Nicholas Sparks, the author of The Notebook, did exactly that, trimming his first manuscript down to 30,000 words before submission. It inspires me today. : D