Tidying Up Your Writing

Try giving you writing the “Marie Kondo” treatment

A few years ago, my husband and I moved out of a house that we had lived in for over 25 years. As we sorted and packed, I turned to Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (and later Netflix special) for inspiration in dealing with the accumulated stuff.

Before you ask-no, we did not sort all of our earthly possessions into piles and choose only those that “spark joy” to remain. Even so, her approach offered useful insights into letting go.

Kondo suggests we thank the things we no longer need for their service, and then let donate them or send them on.

It’s a beautiful antidote to the sunk cost fallacy. ( I paid so much for these pants I never wear, I can’t get rid of them!)

Recently, I realized that this approach works for words as well as stuff.

What to do instead of killing your darlings

Cutting is a necessary, and sometimes painful, part of revision. People often tell writers that they need to “kill their darlings.” That advice that sounds doubly dark coming from Stephen King! (See his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.)

Of course, the advice is sound. As writers, we often become attached to bits of brilliance that we…