It looks a little like Cindy Lou Who’s house around here tonight.
Intentionally.
The Husband of Awesome™ and I gave up our couch and loveseat a few weeks ago and have been sitting on lawn furniture ever since. Not the most comfortable arrangement.
But it had to be done.
I knew that if we didn’t get rid of the couches, it would be months — perhaps a year or more — before we actually shopped for replacements. Furniture shopping: not one of my favorite things.
By getting rid of the couches, we forced our own hands, so to speak. We had to go shopping immediately, or be resigned to sittting on lawn furniture for eternity.
But before there was lawn furniture, there was emptiness, and that space allowed us to consider all kinds of possibilities to fill it.
Inevitably, this got me to thinking about writing. (What doesn’t get me to think about writing?)
Is your writing stalled? Is there something just not working in your story?
What if you examine your work in progress for scenes which aren’t doing the best job they could be doing? Are your scenes advancing the story? Are they growing the tension? Even if they’re adding to the tale, are they written in such a way that they’re not killing the pace?
What would happen if you excised that scene entirely?
What could you fill the space with? Consider your options. If you remove a scene — or even an entire plot line — what kind of possibilities does that open up?
It’s so hard to let go sometimes, but so worth it. I found that out when I began to clean out our junk room to make office space. The more I let go of the clutter the more free I felt. Writing is like that. Once you let go of the clutter, your writing soars. It’s just getting up the courage to slash up your work.
Hi Mellissa! I’m sitting here slashing up the opening to a short story…that should tighten it right up. (I find virtual junk very easy to clean up…it’s the stuff you have to bag up and cart away which is so hard!) Thanks for dropping by…