...so some variation on muddy paw prints, wet leaves, and freshly cut grass are tracked in EVERY SINGLE DAY. And because I'm not a big fan of cleaning house day after day, it tends to get ahead of me. Fur balls lurk under the furniture and in the corners. Kibble is strewn across the kitchen floor. The sofa and chairs are spattered with drool...until I can't ignore the mess any longer.
Sooner or later it's time to get to work. Time to clean things up. Time to decide what's worth keeping and what to throw out...which makes it a lot like writing.
The day arrives when you suddenly realize you've got a mess on your hands. You've lost the story arc...or the plot falls flat. Your dialogue wanders. Passive verbs show up in all the wrong places and the page is strewn with unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. Entire paragraphs need to be deleted.
It's time to clean things up. But unlike the housework that makes you ugly, I like to think that writing makes you beautiful...like this, for example:
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| www.blog.sofeminine.co.uk |
And this:
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| Pema Chodron www.spiritualityandpractice.com |
And this:
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| www.mother-theresa.blogspot.com |
Get my point?
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"Cleanliness is next to Godliness."
--My Mother--
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
--My Mother--
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In my next post I plan to my thoughts about a serious problem in our educational system.
jan
Posts
Once upon a time, I cleaned house every day. Yep, every doggone day. Not any more. With just my hubby and the cats here, we've become a lot more relaxed. (i.e. less anal retentive) It just doesn't matter if I don't vacuum and scrub as often. I mean, who wants to eat off the floor, anyway? And ya know what? In spite of what I used to think, I've even discovered that nothing catastrophic happens if I don't make the bed. (My grandmother would've been horrified!)
ReplyDeleteSusan--I think I'm your clone. (I still make the bed every day...)
ReplyDeleteLove the way you tied the housework to the writing. Here's another one - Cleaning the kitchen or reading to my wife at bedtime from my novel - both seem to be great ways to make her happy! :o)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post.