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CUT and POLISH
Thursday July 4, 2019
Making notes to myself recently in a fluid document, ebbing/flowing with my notes, additions, deletions ~ where I keep my Monday Morning Minute columns in progress.
Each Monday: 100 words (mine) + a quote (someone else’s) offering inspiration to 24,400 +/- getting it every week.
I was tweaking some upcoming pieces, a note by each indicating which ones have been published, which ones are raw and need more work, which ones are nearly done and which ones need polishing. As I was making some edits on one which is way too long (127 words) I made this notation: ‘cut and polish’ so I’ll remember to do that …
I got thinking, how that phrase fits so many things – what gem folk do with precious stones and diamonds – they cut and polish.
Writers too. We self-edit, then cut and polish. Editors too. I wonder if that’s a good self-motto for those of us bent on improving ourselves – we need to continuously ‘cut and polish’.
An adaption for that as we right-size our carbon footprint, do spring cleaning and simplify to hone our focus – cull, cull, cull and polish – could become a mantra of sorts …
Cut. Polish. Cut some more. Polish some more. Seems I am never done.
Because, writing is re-writing.
Imagine a farmer breaking hard prairie turf that had never been broken – the plow biting into the earth and turning over. Plowing again. Plowing again next year, and the year after that – in time, producing loose earth suitable for growing. Soft, pliable and rich with nutrients.
The first draft is the first cut of the plow. Second draft cuts deeper, still rough, but breaking it down.
Third time yield’s tidier rows and seeds start to grow. Fourth drafts and beyond produce something smoother and appropriate as foundation for harvesting a crop of engaged readers …
P.S.: happy 4th to our American friends – we don’t always feel your joy, but the last couple of years we’ve certainly been feeling your pain …
Reader feedback:
Good day :) feeling a void it seems a familiar place jet it doesn't get any easier to deal with the feeling, there are no magic pills or recipies just the fortitude of self preservation. |I wish you find beauty and comfort in your day, AG, Cancun, Mex.
With the loss of a friend, human or otherwise, I don’t believe that there is any one remedy for the sadness we feel that they are no longer part of our lives. I have found personally that time has helped me somewhat. Life never quits giving me new challenges to deal with and these events supersede grieving as my life has gone on. More importantly, to me, is that I try not to think of the friends that I have lost as gone but just not with me. I keep them with me in my memories and I keep their friendships alive with me. I don’t expect that everyone can deal with loss the same way and I don’t think it is my place to tell you how you should feel or how to deal with your own feelings, so please don’t take this as advice, just as something that works for me. My condolences on your losses, SM, Caroline, AB
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