This week I was reminded of something I’m bad at and something I do well and enjoy.

On Tuesday, one of the children at the studio was showing me her drawings. She’s pretty good for her age, and when I told her “I don’t draw well,” she giggled, pulled-out her drawing book, and proposed a draw-off. She sped through the baby lion we chose, free-hand and without following those drawing instructions that look bogus until you see a professional do it. I took twice as long and tried really hard to follow each step…here are the results:

I emailed this to Joie Brown and said "This is one of a million reasons I need you...I draw like a 10-year-old!"

On the flip side, Joie inadvertently reminded me that I like proofreading and constricted writing. Many writers I ran into while in college loved to use lots of words, bedazzling the crap out of each piece. These people freaked-out over deadlines and word counts. I personally find complete freedom more challenging and less fun than having rules. It’s like fixing-up my house, trying create a beautiful room with a limited

This is my kind of writing!

budget and resources. That’s when you have to do as Tim Gunn says. “Make it work!”

This week my poetic form I’m reinventing is a Terza-Rima. Here is a link to the Fridge Poem. With this interior design/writing crossover in mind, I was inspired to write this:

Terza Rima  (Climbing Rhyme) – A poem with three lines per stanza. The first and third lines rhyme, and the second line of the stanza rhymes with the first and third of the next.

The Interior Design of Writing

Writing is interior design,
on a page,
building beauty within the confines.

The way that words are staged,
change the vibe when moved or tweaked,
Like a lamp, a chair, a vase, an antiqued bird cage.

A simpler technique,
is a minimalist’s décor.
Contemporary writing’s dark and sleek.

Vocabulary French doors,
once words are whittled away,
can be a clean and formal office floor.

Literary feng shui,
East or West? Which word is best?
Move this word North and take that one away.

Sloppy writing is a rat’s nest.
Paint a wall. Clear the clutter,
until then, stay on writing house arrest.

Whether the task at hand is your bread and butter,
or a chore that’s not your style,
if the word bank budget makes you smile or sputter,

Just remember all the while,
writing is interior design,
and words are curtains, knick knacks, trim and tile.