Kia ora,
I’ve always liked rearranging a room. I like the different perspective I get when I change the chairs around or put a bookshelf or table in a different place.
I sit on a chair in a different part of the room, or stand in a doorway, look around, think mmn – no perhaps that would be better there.
The latest change came about only because of helpful whanau. A table and chairs had to be moved from one room to another, a couch removed entirely, my work setup rolled to another place.
It’s like taking another look at the draft of a play or a novel. Suddenly you see how it might be if you rearranged a few things. Had some fun with sequence perhaps. Or change some things about a character.
‘But if I do that,’ someone says, ‘it’ll put the whole thing out – I’ll have to go through the whole novel and tweak stuff.’
‘So?’
Sometimes, shifting chapters around, giving a character a bit of a twist, sheds a whole new light on a story.
Sometimes this can be a nuisance because it means more work. Duh?
Change is good. Incremental discoveries are great. If you’re a planner, nothing needs to be set in concrete – change is possible, change is good.
Whether it’s changing rooms or a piece of writing you need to be aware of the pleasures of a new way of looking. Our brains shift gear, we see possibilities.
Change, it is said, gives us a new perspective on life – we reassess, we see new possibilities – why should a room or a piece of writing be any different?
