‘Does it bring you joy?’
You’ve probably heard that phrase once or twice as you go about your day to day life and wondered what people were talking about. Thanks to the handy-dandy internet I know about Marie Kondo and her Netflix show Tidying Up. I have yet to watch it but it is on my list (a list of shows that nearly rivals my list of books to be read) and could certainly use the advice.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a hoarder, but if someone gets me a gift, I will want to keep it just because it came from someone special to me. Or I may have purchased something years ago that I never used but, for fear of the rule that once you toss it, you’ll need it, I have kept almost everything; to the detriment of my living situation.
My dear friend, Sam, helped me clean my living room the other day and frequently asked me that famous question. I would give the reason for keeping it, to which she would follow up with, “But does it bring you joy?” I would, most of the time, say no and then toss it.
I’m going to try this method out with my writing. My plan is to go through my manuscript, reading it out loud, and if anything comes across as awkward or doesn’t ‘bring me joy’ then it’s getting tossed. This will be difficult for me because I loathe reading out loud. I stutter and I stammer, I twist my words and garble them into a whole ‘nother language. For this reason, among others, I did not enjoy K-12 very much.
I am excited to see if this Marie Kondo approach to writing helps!
Bye for now!