Little Brush Strokes of You
For the Tattoo That Line Challenge. Formerly for the Abecedarian Challenge - a plea against over-editing
Ahh, sweetheart, I see you agonise over your draft. Authenticity is scary
Be bold. Be brave enough to suck just enough. Because
Character comes through in some of those little mistakes.
Don't sweat for perfection
Edit, yes but let us taste some little
Flaws. A flavour of you
Give yourself grace to be You,
Humble,
Imperfect.
Just tidy it up a bit, but don't make it sterile
Keep some foibles
Little brush strokes of You left in for effect
Maybe what you think of as mistakes are
Not so bad
Oh, stuff your old English teacher, the dreaded red pen, and "See me".
Perfection is a poison
Quit scrubbing your words of the qualities that make them special
Re-write, sure, but don't let it lose its
Soul. The thing that makes it sing
The stuff that makes it
Unique. Your
Voice,
Whether a whisper or a shout. We have enough
Xeroxes, we need writers with 'nads enough to stand out, suck, blend in.
Yes, correct it tweak it but don't
Zap the heart from it
~o~
Thanks for reading!
This is a submission for the Abecedarian challenge:
About the Creator
L.C. Schäfer
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I'm not a writer! I've just had too much coffee!
Sometimes writes under S.E.Holz
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Comments (17)
I love the idea of leaving brushstrokes! I’m afraid I’m quite rogue and break many rules, but then either over edit or let perfection kill action 😕
This is both a fun and encouraging poem. I love it! I read once that Flaubert would agonize over a single paragraph for hours and Oscar Wilde would spend the morning adding a single comma and then work all afternoon taking it out again. Since I am guilty of compulsive over-editing I will try to take your advice to heart.
A wonderful reminder :) And I found this so easy to read, the flow was artfully done.
Love the message of this one, and the way the words flow like kindly reminders to readers!
"Perfection is a poison" This year I'm working hard on correcting my worst habits and overcoming my worst inclinations. That line in particular really spoke to me because I know first hand how true it is! I don't have to imagine the results of it, perfection, the desire for it, is almost as toxic as doing nothing at all. Loved this poem, LC! Wishing you the best in the contest!
This is so great! So true!
TRUTH! absolutely adored this!
Ooof, this is such a great reminder, written with so much heart. I love the tenderness infused throughout this piece. Also, your abecedarian was seamless - especially the X! Everything flowed so smoothly and this was such an important, uplifting message. My favourite line was, "Perfection is a poison" - it's so, so true. Thank you for writing and sharing this poem! This was such a wonderful read. 💗
This is exactlyyyyyyy what I always tell everyone but I never follow it myself, lol! Loved your Abecedarian!
Sage counsel, L.C. The ABCs of writing effectively with your own voice. And Xerox was precisely what I was thinking when you mentioned not removing all the brushstrokes.
What you say here is spot on, and you did it in a poetic from, and you nailed the X word. It took me over 2 weeks to do an ABC poem and my X word is dodgy. Your output has been incredible.
A great message here!
Brilliant!!! Love it!!!💕❤️❤️
I agree, and most of my pieces suck enough to prove it. I truly can't get past correcting the typos, though, when I go back and see them later. It's like a foreign language. So, I guess I write with my own voice, but "wirting whit ,y own vioce" just isn't gonna' cut it. Great job with the abecedarian format and a very real message.
Very nice job! I can't stop creating entries for this challenge either!
Love this. Every writer needs their own voice, even if it does suck.
"Perfection is poison" yep. This poem was well suited to my current mindset, like a stern reminder that imperfection is okay. :) I love how you used an analogy to blend your words together like a painter filling in the edges of a canvas. ;)