Day 11 of 15

http://goinswriter.com/declutter-writing/

(Better late than never, right?)

On his blog today, Jeff Goins quotes something I just saw last week--in the movie Midnight in Paris. I laughed and laughed, as would anyone who had to study Ernest Hemingway in high school, college, AND grad school (such is the burden we American lit lovers face....).

No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.
—Fake Ernest Hemingway (via Midnight in Paris)

It's funny because first of all, it's true--and second of all, it's like he's teaching about himself while he's living his own expatriate life!

If there is any writer alive who didn't need to declutter, it's Hemingway. Short, sweet, to the point--with a few beers.

(Now Faulkner, on the other hand...no, don't get me started. He'll never be my favorite novelist, even though his short story "A Rose For Emily" will probably always be on my syllabus. That story is delightfully creepy. But I digress.)

So today's topic is decluttering. Not just the prose, but the desk.

Cutting the prose, those darling words and phrases, is tough.

Cleaning the desk is easy in comparison.

We're doing some cleaning at our house tomorrow. I'll be taking more books out of the house, dusting and sweeping and vacuuming, bagging up the trash, collecting and stacking the recyclables in the garage.

I'm hoping to also declutter my brain in the process of the physical decluttering. We'll see if it makes me more productive.

PS: If you haven't seen Midnight in Paris, go rent it now. It's a really enjoyable movie.