Keep Sentences Short

Perhaps the reason I wanted to talk about this topic is for one very important reason, I get long winded and I'm sure you do, too.

Take a look at the above sentence. How might I shorten it and still keep the meaning?

How about:

I love this topic. It keeps me from being long-winded.
Long winded? Keep your sentences short.

Keeping sentences short doesn't mean we think that others are stupid. It doesn't mean we are stupid, either. Short sentences give clarity to our writing. Short sentences cause others to think.

Got milk?

What does that slogan do for you? How many folks have duplicated the saying with their own spin?

Photo by: Matti Mattila, courtesy of Flickr

Photo by: The Paperclip, courtesy of Flickr

I often have to go through my sentences and shorten them. Kind of like shortening a length of rope, extraneous words are cut out. One sentence becomes two, like this one and the sentence before it. I try to make my writing a little better by weeding.

Got scissors?

Photo by: James Bowe, courtesy of Flickr

When Lying is a Good Thing

Yesterday I was with a group of fine women. We were discussing my book, "Conquering Your Goliaths," and had come to the third stone, "Optimism."

I asked, "What does optimism mean to you?" I got varied responses, including "being positive when you feel like crap."

There are days I feel like crap and when someone asks me how I'm doing I want to spill it. You know what I mean. All of it. Of course, I know that most folks are only saying "How are you doing?" because they expect you to say "fine", and not have you dish out a half an hour of straight talk--negative stuff they really don't want to hear.

But the comment made me think. What if, when I felt like crap and someone asked that question, I said, "I'm wonderful," "I'm fantastic!" "I couldn't be better!"

What if I...lied?

Okay, usually lying is considered a bad thing, something you do to protect the feelings of others or secrets that enter your soul to protect yourself. Lying may even be considered to be a sort of black swarm swimming inside your soul, a swarm you don't want anyone to know about.

But in this case I'd like to think that lying will do something for you. Something for your view on life. Something for your character. Something to lift your day. And if you say it often enough to enough people, you just might discover that you feel terrific after all.

And what sort of lie is that?

When Past Struggles Become Future Successes

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at an assisted living center. Not only did I have a great time, I learned something about myself and it was this:

A struggle in the past doesn't have to limit me in the future.

When I was in the fourth grade I received a particularly poor report card. In English writing I received a spectacular C- and in speaking I received a C.

For years I looked on this report card, as well as others that came after, as some sort of future expression of my future. Of course, I wanted to become a writer but these numbers fooled me into thinking that becoming a writer was nigh to impossible.

When I married in 1980, I still had this thought of never being able to become a writer inside of me. I thought, teachers must know what they're talking about. I'd better choose something else as my dream career.

Do you have a writing barrier in your life?  Photo by: BinaryApe, courtesy of Flickr

But nothing really set in...

Until the day I finally sat down to write. It was so FREEING! I felt as if I could do anything after writing that first story about the joys and qualms of being pregnant. Notice I didn't say the writing was GOOD. It was anything but good, but I was writing.

It took seven years after that first writing exercise to finally get into print. And another 15 years after that to get my first book published.

But I had done it! Despite all the negative forces pulling against me, I knew my dream would be fulfilled.

And it continues to fill me.