December 2, 2019
What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?
It’s a deceptively simple question, really. I only have to change one little thing. Except I’m the kind of person who worries about the domino effect. If I change this one little thing, what else breaks? For example, the day I got out early and got sideswiped on the way home. That wouldn’t have happened if I left work at my normal time, right?
Or how about the time I got stuck in a long line at the grocery store? Sure, I was saying bad words and pushing the speed limit on the way home. Until I saw a guy in a motorized wheelchair barely moving. I pulled over to see if there was something wrong. Turns out his battery had run down, but help was already on the way. I stayed and talked to him until his family got there. Nothing earth-shaking about the incident, but if the timing hadn’t been perfect the encounter wouldn’t have happened.
So, maybe it’s all part of the butterfly effect. You know, if a butterfly flaps
Image by Игорь Левченко from Pixabay
it’s wings in the Amazon a tornado happens in Texas. It’s part of the chaos theory. One simple, small change can have a much bigger consequence.
As a result, the initial question—one thing I would give up to become a better writer—makes me nervous. What would the unintended side effect be? If I spent less time cleaning house and more time reading, would war break out in Canada? (I know, that’s extreme. It was supposed to be!)
I can’t give up watching TV. because I did that years ago. Giving up reading would have the opposite effect- I firmly believe that as a writer you should also be a reader. I suppose I could spend less time on the biggest time waster of all, the internet, but I never know when something I stumble across may be the spark for a new story.
But there is one thing I’d be willing to spend last time on—playing games on the computer. Sure, I do it mostly while I’m searching for the right words to use, but it’s easy to play two games instead of one. And I can’t imagine which part of the chaos theory that would trigger. I think it’s a safe solution. Fingers crossed.
I hope all of you out there are still safe. No tornadoes, right? I can’t help the winter storms—they started before I made the change. Now, as is my habit, no change there, I’m off to find out what the other authors would change.
P.S. But you could make one little change for me…I’d love it if you would leave a comment.
December 2, 2019
What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?
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I think the same, there’s nothing much I’d like to change, who know’s what it might do to the balance of my life. On another subject, I’ve sent you an email.
Ah,yes, the major time suck that is amusing ourselves. My pastor, who is a bit of a word nerd, told the congregation a while ago that amusing is “a” (no) + “musing” (thinking) = not thinking. I’ve definitely been catching myself since then as I navigate over to an online backgammon site I like. I do have better things to do with myself.
On the other hand, doing those “mindless” things can give our brain a chance to work over the “mindful” things in the background, like it does when we are sleeping.
That’s the balance-doing the mindless stuff enough to help, but not so much that you end up filling an imaginary mansion full of imaginary objects and realize that you’ve been wasting time building the wrong world. 😀
Is it the wrong world or just the wrong book? Maybe it’s for your next story! 🙂
Exactly.
I agree, we all need to work with the cards we are dealt in life. The thing we all have to give up in order to write is time. It takes a certain amount of time to get a book ready to publish, you can do it faster or slower, but the input is the same.