I have a book. Of course, I have a book. This ones name is "A Change Of Heart". That is far better than its original working title: "Sister Mountain". The story really wasn't about the sister mountain at all; the mountain was just something that the travelers went over. The sister mountain was about my family; the female side, at any rate. I liked that part. It was fun. It was poetic and beautiful.
But I realized it didn't have to be there. So I chopped it. I wouldn't even have considered chopping it if it hadn't been for something my mother said. She told me that sometimes you have to sacrifice your darlin's.
It's not easy. In fact, it's downright hard. You get attached to these parts. They become so much a part of your story, that to think about your story without them is difficult. Or maybe they are just little lines that are so witty, yet so unnecessary. Those parts that you just love to pieces, just as themselves, those are your darlin's.
Not all darlin's have to be sacrificed. I have heard a definition of sacrifice that I find rather accurate. To sacrifice is to give up something good for something better. If disposing of a darlin will make the book better, you know what to do. If it aids the book, by all means: keep it in.
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