A Study in Scarlet not only marks the first appearance of the most famous detective in history—Sherlock Holmes—it also introduces the magnifying glass as a tool for said occupation. Nearly 140 years later, the market for magnifying glasses is still growing, even if most are bought by aging literature fans rather than actual criminal catchers.
The idea of a magnifying glass is clear: Zoom in on a detail so you can better understand it and thus the whole of what you are looking at. Can’t read a word in your newspaper? Magnify it. Can’t identify the sticky material stuck on your paint brush? Magnify it. Whether we need optical support or not, we can—and perhaps more frequently should—use our brains to achieve the same outcome.
My roadmap at work for the next year. The plans I have for my books and this blog. How a great story works from end-to-end. I can’t understand these issues in one fell swoop. They’re too big, and I have way too many thoughts about them. I can dive in on one end, jump through a million ideas, then come out the other none the wiser.
But I can also slow down. Concentrate on one tiny detail. Magnify it, understand it, then zoom out again. That adds a little more color to the overall picture. It lets me sort the puzzle pieces and rotate them into the right orientation. Big goals take big time. The best we can do is go step by step and hope everything lines up in the end.
This blog is a magnifying glass. Your journal can be a magnifying glass. Most of all, your mind is a magnifying glass. Don’t get lost in the smoky haze of omniscience. Omniscience is an illusion. Build your knowledge one idea at a time. Pick a detail. Study it. Try to your best to understand it. Place it where it needs to go, and if you’re not sure, add it to your ever-expanding hard drive for future reference.
Life gets easier when you use your magnifying glass.
