Spring Cleaning

I've started to get into Spring cleaning mode, and I'm making an effort to simplify my life. For me, this means:

- not having three different face lotions, fifteen lipsticks and multiple hair products for those with curly hair (which, I have finally accepted, I will never have.)
- not keeping every receipt for every purchase I've made since 1997.
- not staying on every music related mailing list just in case I happen to be in London when one of my favorite bands is playing the O2. (To be honest, I'm not really sure how I got on the O2's mailing list, I've never been there. Also, I'm on some strange Australian list.)

I was also thinking about simplification in terms of picture books. A few ways to simplify (for the better) your picture book text:

Leave the illustrator room to work. Get rid of any description that isn't vital to the story. Instead of writing "the blue door," write "the door." Unless it is important to the story that the door is blue, the illustrator will draw the door as s/he thinks will best further the story.

Don't define words in your text. If you feel like you have to define a word for your reader, this probably means that the word is too advanced for your story. Or, in the case where you're trying to teach responsibility, for example, and you define "responsibility is...", chances are this is going to read as far too didactic for the current picture book market.

Delete unnecessary back story. In picture books, the beginning and end should be significantly shorter than your middle, where all your action is taking place. Unlike a novel, picture books are usually concerned with a short span of time - a few days, maybe just a few hours. Knowing where your character grew up, how many cousins he has or why he first learned to tie his shoe is only important if the problem he has to solve is directly related. Starting a picture book with a page of unnecessary back story is unlikely to keep your reader.

How else can you spring clean your writing (or your life?!)