When I write, I feel like an optometrist, constantly flipping between lenses and asking, 'Is this better? Is this?' Slowly, the work comes into focus.
Interpretation
Writing is a process of refinement that requires careful adjustment and evaluation.
In this quote, Nell Scovell compares the act of writing to the work of an optometrist, suggesting that writers, like eye care professionals, must continually adjust and refine their work to find clarity and focus. The metaphor highlights the iterative process of writing, where constant testing and reassessment lead to the final polished piece, emphasizing patience and precision in creative endeavors.
In practice
In a writers' workshop to encourage a friend who is struggling with their draft.
I think, in all fields, there's this motherhood pay penalty where, the second you become a mother - and this is true whether you give birth or adopt - you're perceived to not be as committed to your job. Whereas men are perceived as breadwinners who now need more money and promotions because they're fathers.
If women who don't help women get a special circle in hell, I think women who do help women should get a special cloud in heaven.
Turn your melodrama into a mellow drama.
Everything you do is right, nothing you do is wrong, yet you must still make ceaseless effort.
He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.
Great persons are able to do great kindnesses.
If you do good in secret, Allah will shower His good on you in public.
Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the one who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.
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