There is beauty all around, throughout the world, and all around us we see people ignoring that beauty and looking elsewhere the as if what we’ve been given is not enough.
To test this, look around you right now. Identify 10 things you consider beautiful.
We writers go through that process while we’re editing novels. We delete all extraneous parts of the story, or shall I say the non-story parts of what was written, and leave only the parts that are intrinsic to the telling of the tale.
Thus, all is removed except the essential information a writer wishes to impart to his reader.
We are left with only the beauty.
Of course, in real life it isn’t that easy. Eliminating unattractive clutter from our lives isn’t a simple process, yet if one values simplicity and beauty, it is achievable.
Why is simplicity beautiful?
Imagine a wall to which is affixed 75 different items – a decorative plate here, a hat over there, a coffee cup, a broom, an electric cord, and so forth. Now imagine that wall filled with all of one type of item perhaps 75 coffee cups. Now, that is a collection!
The human brain likes to focus on just one thing, or one type of thing. Having too many different options breeds confusion. We like to know that this is a wall about coffee cups or, this is a wall to which is affixed 75 electric cords; wouldn’t that be odd! It would become a focal point, a conversation starter.
At least if you are looking at that wall, you would know what you are looking at… Whereas if you are looking at the wall with 75 different things your mind would be befuddled, and it wouldn’t look like a collection of anything except junk.
Most human minds are incapable of comprehending 75 things at one time. Most are incapable of comprehending 10 things at a time.
I remember my grandmother telling me, “One thing at a time, Linda.” I think she was referring to the number of items from my plate that I wanted to stuff into my mouth. She was a great cook!
The truth is, I accomplish more when I focus on only one thing.
When I have several tasks set before me, I start to make excuses about why don’t want to do task number one or task number two. I think maybe task number three might be achievable. But then I look at task number four and think, “Oh, not that again!”
I often end up doing nothing at all from my task list, and waste my time focusing on other aspects of my never-ending work. Well, that might not be entirely wasting my time… But it sure isn’t getting things done… not the things I wanted to get done that I felt were important enough to put on my list!
I’m trying something new is this year… I’m putting only one thing on my writing task list.
Right now that one thing for me, is the revision of The Seagull Rebellion.
This is the second book in the Antediluvian Adventures series. The first book, The Scribe of Irohila, will be published soon. I’ve set up a website for this series, which at the present time, consists of four novels. If these sell well, I might want to write more.
Since I can’t focus on my revisions when I have too many other things to do, I’m setting all other things aside until that one thing, that very important one thing, is completed.
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