Show. Don't tell

How many times have I heard these words from writers? Show, don't tell.
But what did it mean? It made me so frustrated just trying to get my head around those words. I asked my peers. I asked other writers. Nobody could give me an answer. Not an adequate answer that I could understand and implement.


Then I found a book called 'Show, don't tell'. I downloaded it straightaway and voila, it all became a lot clearer. For example instead of saying, ' Sally stepped outside into the cold dark night', it sounds better to say, Although Sally was terrified of the dark, she grabbed her coat and scarf and stepped outside.'


This morning on our walk, we met a friend. We had Sabina, our six year old Labrador cross and our trainee Seeing Eye dog, Thomas with us. We stopped to chat. She asked us how our new little Seeing Eye dog Jesse was doing. Jesse is only nine weeks old and stays in his crate while we do our morning walk. Howard started to show her with his hands how small Jesse is and animatedly began to tell her how cute he is.


I pulled out my new smart phone and said, "I can show you."  And there he was cute, tiny, playful, adorable all in one picture.


So I continue to write and rewrite, trying to show and not just tell. It's harder than you think.
In fact, writing is harder than you think. I'm trying not to overthink things when I write but there has to be a balance between just writing, and thinking and trying to choose the right words for what I want to say.
I hope I manage to find the right course to help me be a better writer this year.