E is for Elegance

It's the A to Zed Challenge! I'll be posting the first half of the month from Ottawa where I'm staying with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who is 12 days old today! Yay!

Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...

The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -

E is for Elegance 

What the heck does elegance have to do with it? Elegance is more than just optics - when we strive for elegance we naturally assume balance - being balanced is elegant, no? Elegance is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary thusly:

noun

1. a. Refinement, grace, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners.

   b. Tasteful opulence in form, decoration, or presentation.

2. a. Restraint and grace of style.

   b. Scientific exactness and precision.

   What a crazy word it is - how can it be both restrained and opulent? Precise and beautiful? When we come up with an elegant solution to a problem we feel it. It is when we are in the zone - zooming down a hill on our skis we don't have anything flailing - we look beautiful when we do things economically and correctly - why is that? The study of beauty is something that I could write about for books and books but I do know that if I think about the balance in my life I know that I must conserve energy - I must practice restraint and try for exactitude. Elegance is a simple brush stroke, the right word, the look that heals, the touch that says so much without too much.