The exercise:
Four lines of prose about: tweaks.
We had a busy morning sorting out tomato plants (what's coming with us tomorrow, what's getting planted out in the garden shortly, and what's not quite ready for either). It was good to get that done, as I'd been avoiding it for a few days.
Excited to have Kat with me at the market tomorrow morning for the first time this year. They're calling for sunshine and it's a long weekend, so it should be a good one.
Mine:
"It might be time to give up on this one," Kevin said over his shoulder as he headed for the kitchen. The sound of running water drowned out his next words.
"Nah man, it just needs like one or two more tweaks, max," Owen countered, putting down his screwdriver and picking up a hammer.
Kevin waited until the banging stopped before repeating his earlier observation: "That's all well and good, but I think this burn might require a trip to the hospital."
I'd heard it a was a Bank Holiday weekend over the water; enjoy it! We have one the following week, extra long this year to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.
ReplyDeleteThe tomato plant job sounds rather nice to me, I quite like the smell tomato plants produce.
Heh, I like the little tweak in the tail of the last line of your prose!
Tweaks
Doris looked at the table and the chinaware laid out on it. The tablecloth was antique linen that she'd inherited from her great-grandmother and the flowers in the cut-glass vase in the middle were freshly cut from the garden. The chinaware was her best set of plates, cup and saucers and sparkled from the effort of washing it all earlier. She reached out to tweak the tablecloth one last time, just perfecting its position, and the rear-left leg of the table gave way.
It happens all the time. You start with a drawing, a painting, maybe even a written work. It’s good, but you think it could be better. So, you take some time to look it over and think of the ways you might be able to improve on its various elements. Then unsatisfied you change, recolor and edit, until the unique creation you had made is barely recognizable.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that the modifications actually enhance the piece. However if you weren’t careful and tried to change too much or kept tweaking the same element in an effort to obtain perfection then it’s quite possible that what you’ve actually made is a mess. Its times like this, you need to learn to leave well enough alone.
Greg - I like the smell too, though it's a long wait between first smelling it and first tasting one of the ripe tomatoes they produce.
ReplyDeleteOof, that's heartbreaking. I can just picture the look on her face after that happened.
Morrigan - could not agree with that final line more. I'm terribly guilty of overdoing it with edits.
This blog has been helpful with that - with midnight approaching, sometimes I just have to hit publish and live with whatever I've got :)