Dim's Write Stuff

In spite of my word faux pax, extreme convolutedness and tendency to hide behind mixed metaphors, I was okay at English as a kid. Actually better than okay. Then, on the morning of my Year 12 Matriculation Exams, an horrific backyard incident took place leaving me numb with shock and anger. The details are not important. What was important and even more tragic, was what I did with these raw emotions. I ripped out my heart and rammed it on my sleeve, alongside my anguish, and for the next three hours goaded and forced them to fit into the composition question of my English exam. It wasn't exactly an epic fail. But it did remove any chance of scoring the A+ I had in the bag 24 hours before hand. A lesson hard learnt. Zip forward a few decades... Five years ago I penned a picture book manuscript which I've been pushing around, in and out of competitions and past a few critical eyes. It is now foremost in my in-tray again, as my wonderful mentor, Dee White , and I...

Are you the type who can't thin out vegetable seedlings because you believe if they took the trouble to germinate, they should all be given the chance to grow? LET GO. Does your garden look like an Amazon rainforest because you can't bear to get out the hedge clippers? LET  GO. Do you possess more meaningless, random five-year old art work than you actually have five year olds because you won't throw anything out? LET GO. Do you hang onto ill feelings long after an altercation just in case you need them again for round two? LET GO. As a writer, are you reluctant to edit your own work, because they employ people to do that sort of thing for you anyway don't they, and any self-respecting editor will be able to see how much blood, sweat and tears each word took to produce therefore earning its place in your convoluted story? LET  GO. An oft hackneyed term that is easier said than done. Perhaps, as writers, we have to deal with the id...