When I sat down at my desk this morning, I realized I had forgotten to add a link to yesterday’s post on the 365-days page, and when I went to do that, it took me a minute to come up with the one true thing about that post. That’s how I knew I had not written enough.
A friend and I used to hike the Pine Mountain Trail every year–all twenty-three miles in one day. It was tricky. We had to start at sun-up to have enough hours to complete the trail during daylight. One year, there had been a hurricane, and a lot of trees were down. There was too much space between blazes. Over and over again we got lost, and it was dark before we finished.
I believe that the reader is smart and that the reader likes to think, likes to participate. So I try not to write every little thing. I want to give the reader enough space to find her own path but not so much space that she loses the trail and gets frustrated.
Sometimes, in an effort not to overwrite a piece (a weakness of mine), I go too far and don’t give the reader enough blue blazes. I believe that happened yesterday. So a few minutes ago I added a bit more to that post.
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365 true things about me
why this daily practice
Excellent analogy, Cynthia 🙂 And I can’t help but wonder if the two of you were afraid that time you got lost and it was dark. I know I would’ve been! And wow—23 miles in ONE day?
Yes, we were afraid, Donna. Our flashlights were small and only illuminated a narrow path in front of us. And as you probably know, the big scary dark woods are all around you, not just on the path in front of you.
Better to have too few than too many, I think. I have plenty of tolerance for ambiguity. And the nice thing about too few blue blazes in your work is that the consequences are so small. No one is going to stumble into a ravine or get eaten by a bear b/c you missed a transition or included a confusing parenthetical. Anyway, here’s to blazing only as much as you want.
Excellent point. I tend to err on the side of too many, but I’m working on it.