How Much Is Too Much?

Overwriting.

Over-explaining.

Over-doing.

Over-extra-ing.

Whatever project you have going on in your life right now, take a step back from it and ask yourself if you’ve done too much?

But wait.

Aren’t we supposed to go the extra mile?

That’s not exactly what I mean.

If you’re painting a picture, do you have so much going on that it’s beginning to look like the illustrations in Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy books?

And is that a bad thing? (It worked for Richard Scarry, after all.)

If you’re throwing a pot on a wheel, do you risk implosion by trying to add one more centimeter in height or width. (I don’t know the risks. I’m not a potter—forgive me.)

If you’re thanking someone for a gift, do you go overboard in your thank you note to the point where you’ve lost all credibility?

And if you’re a writer, do you beat your reader over the head with a story theme, doubling down on it on page one, two, seven, ten, etc.?

When do you stop?

How can you be sure the details you’re adding are really needed?

As I said, I don’t know about throwing pots, but I do know when a thank you note sounds too gushy.

As for art, I only know what I like, which is lots of details because it gives my eye something new to find every time I look.

But too many details in a painting, I suppose, might make it look like a Where’s Waldo illustration.

Let me scurry back to my corner and talk about writing.

As a writer, I know I tend to beat readers over the head with too much. (SOMETIMES! NOT ALWAYS, MS. or MR. AGENT!)

I just had a middle-grade story of mine critiqued by one of my writing groups, and one of the women crossed out several lines.

She didn’t say why.

She didn’t need to.

I was overwriting.

Her deletions were her way of saying, “We get it already, move on!”

Point taken.

Hand slapped.