The kids and I performed for more than 10 years at Renaissance Faires, bookstores, private parties, museums and other places as members of the Irish and renaissance band, How Now. We won awards for our costumes and our all-out support of the events at which we performed. I always told the kids, when it comes to costumes and performances, details count. Take a little extra time to make the details of accessories and props as authentic as possible, and people will notice.
As I wander down Canadian Highway 1, stopping off each night to camp–sometimes in traditional campgrounds and sometimes in odd spots where I have to worry about the authorities knocking on the window–the thought crosses my mind every day that details are even more important when you’re camping and writing.
When camping, you should get your clothes out for the next day when you are camping where it’s cold, for example. Put them under the covers with you all night, and they will be warm in the morning.
Buy a little rubber pad to make sure your extra iPad charger doesn’t slide off the portable desk when you’re charging it while driving.
Experiment with hairdos that look good when your hair is dirty, while keeping it out of the way during biking and packing or rearranging the truck.
Pack a separate shower bag, so you have a minimal amount to take in with you to the showers. Keep makeup separate and put it on in the car, where you can enjoy the outdoors better anyway.
Don’t forget your towel when you go to the shower. I’ve done this twice. The first time I air dried (brrr), and the second time I dried off with my dirty clothes. Sheesh.
Wash your feet before you go to bed, so you don’t accidentally have to smell your dirty feet if your covers get switched around a few nights later.
Put the Sterno(R) stove in a container of its own with a lighter, a small plastic spoon to stir the fuel if needed, a small cooking pan, and the dish soap, because you always use the dish soap with a little hot water.
If you are trying to boondock in the middle of civilization, park where people expect to see strange vehicles: hotel parking lots, all night casinos and truck stops. And make sure you lock yourself in and keep the bear spray handy.
You get the point. So, what does this have to do with writing? It’s obvious, I suppose: details count. When you’re writing anything for business, there is a lot at stake and it’s worth paying attention to details. You can’t labor over a piece of writing forever, but if you pay attention to details in the time you have, your ideas get across more successfully. And that directly relates to connecting with an audience, which directly relates to making more money.
Some of this has to do with the mechanics of language. I always delete the word “that” if I can. I relentlessly banish the passive voice, unless I have a good reason to use it…such as when we don’t want anyone to know who did something, or don’t want to emphasize it. (“When the rule was passed, the public rebelled by refusing to send their children to school before the long holiday.” Really happened in Canada. You’d write it this way if you wanted to de-emphasize the fact that you pushed for the rule, so you can move on to new solutions.)
Sometimes special attention to detail in language has to do with ideas. Are you choosing the best word to get across the right idea? Is a coaching attitude important to help your employees develop into leaders? Or is a coaching attitude important to help your employees transform into leaders.
Each word (develop or transform) has a slightly different meaning and connotation. If an employee develops into a leader, it implies a lengthy process depending a great deal on the employee’s hard work. If your coaching transforms a person into a leader, it implies less work, a shorter period of time and more emphasis on the coaching than the work of the employee.
Pardon me, please, while I pay attention to an important detail: I must develop a way to prop up the hatch with the bike on it, so I can get to the suitcase with my clothes in it. Any ideas?
