Pinky Promise

I am happy to say that I am typing with all ten fingers today. My pinkies, both injured recently at different times, are finally healing. The first pinky was injured nearly a month ago, the other, not quite a week. The healing on pinky #1 was really slow, but the second injury was not quite as bad.

Interesting, how much I depend on my pinkies. They are the smallest fingers and definitely the weakest. Still a lot of things are harder to do without pinkies. For example, opening a jar, opening a can, chopping vegetables, turning a doorknob. And what about shifting gears, holding a baby, writing a check, to say nothing of playing the piano or typing. Last week I was making handwritten notes for my tax return. My pinky was not happy.

Little things make a difference. Not just pinkies, either. We don't always notice them, but when they are gone, we can clearly see it. Today I thought about lots of little things I appreciate in my life. Things, like clean socks, hot water, reading glasses, windows, forks, hand lotion,...you get the idea.

In writing, little things make a difference too. You may have big ideas, but a lot of little things have to work right for those big ideas to fly. We can't afford to ignore things like punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, grammar. Those little things provide the framework for bigger ideas like voice, point of view, dialogue, plot.

Improving our writing is really a lot of little things. If we are serious about improving we need to take a closer look at the basics. I'll do it. Will you?

Pinky Promise?

Linda Garner