It's All in the Details

When I was in college, I took a couple of writing classes. At that point in life, I wasn’t even considering making a living as a writer. I was bartending at night, and trying to get into a respiratory therapy program by taking classes during the day. But, I knew writing was something I loved to do.

The professor in my writing class said, “Being a good writer starts with understanding it’s all in the details. Sharing details with a reader means you as a writer must learn to stop long enough to take in everything that is going on around you, and articulate it closely enough that the reader hears, sees, and feels everything you do. When you learn to do that, you’ll not only be a better writer, you will be amazed at how it impacts your life.” Well, she said something close to that.

I was twenty-something, struggling to stay awake in class because I’d mixed margaritas until the wee hours of the morning at the restaurant I worked at the night before. I didn’t give much thought to what that professor said until years later, when I was expecting my first son. I decided I would keep a journal, so he could one day know all the things I thought about and did while preparing for him to come into my life. I realized because of that journal, I paid attention to things I might not have were it not for writing it. I stopped and took in what was going on around me more often. As a result I have clear memories of what was one of the most wonderful times in my life.

Life gets busy. Finding the time to stop and take in everything that is going on around us can be overwhelming at least, and sometimes terrifying at most. But, it is those details that often shape memories of times in our lives we most want to recall. The fact that my grandparents’ house always smelled like musty, old books and furniture polish, the first time my father let me drive his pickup, he wore the cowboy hat that made me cringe… And for months before my son came squalling into my life, I would sit in his nursery folding baby blankets as I wondered if the heartburn could get any worse, would I ever be able to tie my own shoes again, or would my baby have a dimple in his chin like his mother.

Years after I took a writing class, I realized that professor was right. Whether you want to be a writer or not, it is sometimes the small details of life that make the biggest impact. And if we don’t slow down to take it all in, we may just be missing out on the details that will one day shape the sweetest of memories.