Truly, less is more!
I have always been aware of my addiction
I have a problem with words.
I write waaaaaaaaaaay too many of them, which makes it so difficult to trim back into an interesting, readable format for my books.
This was pointed out to me just recently, yet again, and now is the time to launch a major attack and trim extensively – with the expert assistance of my editor, that is!
Away with you, you beasts … may these plentiful, abundant, bountiful, profuse, copious, luxuriant, rich, lush, proliferative, fertile, fruitful, fecund, rife, rank, plenteous, bounteous, proliferous words diminish, to allow my stories to breathe!
In the words of an editor I respect: “(edit to) tighten the excessively wordy text and delete all the extraneous matter that adds nothing to the narrative ā hampers it rather than moving it forward.”
My kids always tell me I even write my emails as War and Peace š
My writing needs to undergo change – a great change in fact. I must minimalise my words and allow my story to break free!
He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t.
This is an inexorable, indisputable law.ā
(Pablo Ruiz Picasso : 25 October 1881 ā 8 April 1973)
less is more!
Minimalism – what does it entail?
In the words of Joshua Becker, on Becoming Minimalist:
“It is marked by clarity, purpose, and intentionality. At its core, being a minimalist means intentionally promoting the things we most value and removing everything that distracts us from it. It is a life that forces intentionality upon us. As a result, it forces improvements in almost all aspects of your life.”
Pablo Picasso, the Spanish painter who spent most of his adult life in France, went through a period doing minimalist works of art. Picasso’s Line Drawings were pencil sketches that offer the eye a glimpse of the raw, naked talents of this genius. His genius brought about so much in his drawings, with often just a single, well thought-out line in pencil or chalk. The simplicity was astounding and helped others to realise the talents that lied in abstraction.
Back in the 1980s I had a favoured print of one of Picasso’s line drawings, titled “Woman“. being an artist myself, I was always in awe of the incredible simplicity. To think that a mere 4 lines could create an impacting image made a marked impression on me. I kept this print for a great many years, but shifting house too many times, and keeping items in storage for extended periods, saw the demise of this piece, which greatly saddened me. I still have it, but it can no longer be hung in its tattered and mouldy state.
My plan
Having an extremely intense background of life seems to have brought forth a great many words that I need to usher into the light. The fierceness of these events created an impassioned build-up of words and they flow from me far too swiftly; in fact, they become a raging waterfall on too many occasions!
But, this can be rectified – and will be very soon. I am in the process of commencing work with an editor. As this is a large project (my book has many words!) I need an editor capable of committing full focus on my work, to provide me with the professional, impartial advice and editing experience I need.
I know and trust this will all fall into place in the very near future, and I look forward to the next stages with huge excitement!
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.ā
(Pablo Ruiz Picasso : 25 October 1881 ā 8 April 1973)
AND SO, away with you, extraneous words!!
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