Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher, wrote in 1657, “I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.” These might not be his exact words, but the thought is what counts.
The irony for me is blogging takes more words than I am used to. I spent several years as an advertising copywriter and many more as a greeting card writer. Every word matters. Many times, there is only so much space to work with.
Sometimes I walk through Target to look at their book section. Over time, it seemed there was frequently a new novel by James Patterson and other thriller/mystery writers. I used to say to my family and friends that these writers could write entire books quicker than I could write a greeting card.
I don’t apologize for taking a while to write my greeting cards. I edit, revise and search my thesaurus, sometimes taking a week or two to find the right word. Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug.
But rest assured, I don’t begrudge any writer, novelist or not. The only difference I can see between a novelist and a greeting card writer is that a novelist can write to any length they choose. With greeting cards, the message has to fit a 4×6 or 5×7 space.
Frankly. I’m not sure I could write a novel to begin with. All novelists put me to shame when it comes to the form. But greeting cards are a genre all to their own. And I love writing them.
