Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. James 1:19 ESV

Though there are libraries filled with books, college courses and seminars on how to edit, strangely enough, I learned some of the best pointers on the subject from the apple orchard. After many Winters of frozen fingers and toes, while pruning those trees it felt like I was getting to know some of them on a first name basis! Now, back in those days I wasn’t doing much of the “be quick to hear” stuff, but as I have grown older, I am beginning to remember things spoken to me years ago. These words of wisdom that God was trying to tell me in the orchard, apply as much to life as to writing, So, even if you don’t fancy yourself an author, these just might help you find the path that He has laid out for you as well.

Clear Away those Suckers!

Both editing and pruning begin as process of organizing. When I start to trim an apple tree, I don’t just wade into it with a chain saw, slicing here and hacking away there. No! Instead, a person has to begin by clearing away the sucker growth. For the uninitiated, sucker growth means those long straight stems that shoot up both from the trunk as well as the tops of trees during the Summer. You see that sucker growth looks great, because it is tall and strong, but it will never bear fruit. Instead, just as their name implies, they suck the strength away from the rest of the tree. Sucker growth, in our life and writing is when we are trying too hard and saying too much. In writing, suckers look like crowds of adjectives or unnecessary rabbit trails leading readers down paths of our personal pet peeves. Sometimes suckers come in the form of fifty-dollar words, we toss in, hoping folks will see how brilliant we are. If left unchecked, these guys will grow taller and taller, but they won’t yield a single piece of fruit. What we should be looking for are the branches called fruitwood. Fruitwood looks old and gnarly, but it is filled with healthy buds, that burst into white and pink blossoms in the Springtime. As trimmers, our job is to eliminate anything that steals the air flow and sunshine from the mature fruitwood. Trimming out the clutter in our manuscript or in our daily life, might feel as if we are oversimplifying, but if we want our readers to taste the fruit of the ideas we are trying to communicate, we must not be afraid to ruthlessly cut back everything that draws away attention from the heart of our story and puts the focus on us, instead of on Jesus. So, if you are ready for a new year and a new perspective, then grab those pruning tools, put on your coat and a warm pair of gloves and let’s go out into the orchard and get to work!