Currently, I’m a minimalist and it has come about after years of living a poor uni student lifestyle on Youth Allowance and then afterward I was on either the doll or when working I was saving as much money as possible so I could get my UK visa. I left Australia with only a large suitcase and backpack.
Then when I was in the UK I was fortunate to get a flat with my husband that had furniture supplied. WIN! I’ve grown accustomed to not having a flashy lifestyle, in fact, I think I’ve got a good thing going. I don’t drink alcohol (it tastes nasty and in Australia, its expensive as fuk) and I’m a pretty quiet person (husband recently said I was a lone wolf). I don’t need that much to live on. So having a simple waitressing job is enough for me to financially support myself.
In terms of writing, I agree with the writing advice that say to remove all superfluous words or use only one word if it gets the message across. I had a friend who mentioned something along the lines of that every word I wrote had a place or that there were no unnecessary words. And I was like, yes, that is what I want in terms of my writing.
Why have a hundred words when only fifty will do just as fine? Yeah, it might mean my stories are in the novella range, but I don’t want to be wasteful. If I can write my stories with fewer words then I will.
Stephanie Haggarty 