How to Win the Writing Game by William Jeanes

Here’s an article I think all writers will appreciate. Enjoy.

In Issue:  of The Saturday Evening Post

Many of you out there in this great land of ours have taken pen in hand to write in seeking the inside dope on how to write good. I’ve reached into my bag of tricks and come up with one sure-fire tip from the top: Avoid clichés like the plague.

A hearty hats off to the man or woman who gave us that pearl of wisdom. Those are, as sure as I’m sitting here, words for writers to live by.

Though I’m busier than a one-armed paperhanger, and I’ve got a lot on my plate, I’ll take time out of my busy day to clue you in about how clichés can ruin your whole day. Here are three good reasons you should give clichés a wide berth.

Many of you out there in this great land of ours have taken pen in hand to write in seeking the inside dope on how to write good. I’ve reached into my bag of tricks and come up with one sure-fire tip from the top: Avoid clichés like the plague.

A hearty hats off to the man or woman who gave us that pearl of wisdom. Those are, as sure as I’m sitting here, words for writers to live by.

Though I’m busier than a one-armed paperhanger, and I’ve got a lot on my plate, I’ll take time out of my busy day to clue you in about how clichés can ruin your whole day. Here are three good reasons you should give clichés a wide berth.

First, clichés suck the life out of those words you’ve been working overtime on, leaving your sentence without a leg to stand on, as it were.

Second, a cliché is old hat, pure and simple. People in all walks of life have heard them time and time again—more times than you can shake a stick at.

Third, if you were a fly on the wall, getting an earful of folks spewing clichés left and right, you’d fall all over yourself to bid a fond farewell to that wall and get the hell out of Dodge.

If you want to make your writing smooth as silk and solid as a rock, you must set yourself apart from the crowd. Put some distance between yourself and all those run-of-the-mill writers. Realize that you’re not your own worst enemy; the cliché gets that nod. You may work your fingers to the bone, but in the end, when your writing is clear as a bell and beautiful to gaze upon, trust me, you’ll be proud as a peacock.

Keep your nose to the grindstone, and before you know it you’ll find brand spanking new ways to put into words things you’ve kept bottled up in your heart of hearts for lo, these many years. Just a once-over-lightly look at your letters tells me that you’re dead serious about making something of yourself. I know as well as I know my own name that you’re willing to give cliché-avoidance the old college try. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, and you deserve a pat on the back. It’s only natural that you want more than anything in the world to make your colleagues so green with envy that they’ll scream bloody murder. Get with the program, and soon you’ll be in Fat City—sitting in the catbird seat, happy as a clam.

Taking a long, hard look at your questions tells me in words I can’t ignore that you’ll spare no effort to write paragraphs that light up the page like a Christmas tree.

So, how do you rid that Great American Novel, the one you’re burning the midnight oil over, of clichés? It’s as easy as falling off a log—just keep in mind the hoary old chestnut that says: If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s a duck. Stick to your guns, and you’ll have those clichés on the run before they know what’s hit them. Tell them not to let the door hit them on their way out. What crosses the mind of your average eagle-eyed editor when a cliché-laden manuscript lands on his desk? Dollars to doughnuts, he’ll get madder than a wet hen. Chances are, at the very least, he’ll tell the writer in no uncertain terms never to darken his door again.

Fighting the good fight against clichés can take the wind out of your sails on any given working day, but there’s no question in my mind that working like a dog to rid the world of clichés is taking the linguistic high road. When you get right down to brass tacks, the herculean task of wiping clichés—and the horse they rode in on—off the face of the earth is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. But only if you adopt a take-no-prisoners approach to your work. Do that, and those hard-to-please editors will not only sing your praises, they will beat a path to your door.

About the Author

William Jeanes

William Jeanes is the former editor-in-chief and publisher of Car and Driver magazine.

Here is the link to the original article.

P.S. There’s a cliche’ contest on the host site. Maybe you’re up for the challenge?

I Believe in You (Story Behind the Song)

When my beautiful friend and talented writer, Susan Gregg Gilmore, sent me an advance copy of her new novel, “The Funeral Dress,” I already knew I was going to be writing a song for the book. As I mentioned in my last post, Susan and I had talked about what a cool thing it could be, and we had heard her publisher was on board to use it to promote the book.

Just write...

Just write…

 

I admit that this is a totally fun project for me as a songwriter. I’m a great supporter of novelists, and this is a neat way for me to add to (hopefully) the promotion of one. I believe in the power of music, and I definitely love that music could be used to further Susan’s work. I thought you might be interested in hearing the song, “I Believe in You,” and knowing a little about how the song came together for me. Listen to it, and then read on for some insight into my writing process.

I broke my process down into Five Basic Steps so you could follow me. (I.Need.Structure.)

1. What I Didn’t Want

First, I decided right away what I didn’t want. I figured that if I took a few things off the table at the start, then I could get a better focus. The one thing I knew right away that I didn’t want was for the song to be a slow, sad ballad. With a title like, “The Funeral Dress,” I knew I wanted to stay away from writing a funeral dirge. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) So, slow songs were out.

For the sake of melodrama, I also decided not to use a minor key. (Musicians, can I get an ‘amen?’) 

Finally, I didn’t want to write the book title, “The Funeral Dress,” as a song title. I know me, and I can’t be trusted to write that closely to another writer’s title. I inevitably would have made up my own story for the title, and then the lyric wouldn’t have served Susan’s novel.

2. What I Did Want

With #1 in mind, I took some time to think about what I DID want. Right away I wanted the lyric and music to be hopeful. I suppose it is the commercial writer in me, but I thought a lot about the reader/buyer. Again, considering the novel’s title, if I were a potential buyer, I would want to have some feeling that I wasn’t signing up for a totally gut wrenching read. (I prefer to be tricked into those.)

I wanted a musical ‘feel’ that seemed inspiring. While I hadn’t read the book yet, I wanted to go into the reading of it with some sort of ‘soundtrack’ that would lift me up. So, I played around with music till I landed on something that I made me feel positive. Okay, I guess that’s just an instinctual thing, but in the end, if I’m writing it and I like it, then it’s all good, right?

3. The Easy Part

Once I had the musical soundtrack playing in my head, I finally read the novel. (Oh yeah…THAT.)

I didn’t take notes, and I didn’t worry about finding a lyric in it. I didn’t even try to remember facts or names or anything. I just read it at my own pace and when I was finished, I took a few days to see what bubbled to the top. All along, though, I did keep the ‘soundtrack’ in mind.

4. Got Questions?

After a few days of sitting with the story, some very specific questions began to form for me. So, I spent time answering my own questions.

  • What moments kept coming back to me?
  • What characters did I want to know more about?
  • What about the observers? The people in the town who weren’t mentioned in the book, but who were watching?
  • What did I think the real story here was? Was it the same story I guessed Susan intended to write?
  • What is my personal response to that story?

5. Enough Already

Finally, I started writing. I’m not going to talk about the scenes and moments (yet) that shaped the song because it might ruin your read. However, I will tell you about the small moment in the book, the moment you may not even notice, that got the whole lyric started.

Susan describes a scene when Emmalee, a new employee, is sitting at her freshly assigned sewing machine in the factory.

“From behind Emmalee, a woman half stood over the top of her machine and introduced herself as Wilma Minton. She had full cheeks and bright pink lips and eyebrows drawn on her face. The tail of her left eyebrow was smudged, and Emmalee held her hand to her mouth, careful not to snicker.”

For whatever reason, that passing moment in the novel never left me. My mind went off into a million directions when I read that small part–wonder who Wilma Minton is at home? Do I know a ‘Wilma Minton?’ Is Wilma lonely? Is she kind? Is she a gossip?  …and before I read too many more pages in the story, I decided I was going to like Wilma till she proved me wrong. And the lines in the pre-chorus of my song, “Life can break your heart, that’s the hardest part,” are totally, 100% from my first decision about Wilma Minton.

Gang, I wrote this song based on how The Funeral Dress made me feel. The overall story and not just one character or one moment.

It’s not a song for Emmalee or Kelley Faye, nor is it a song for Leona or Wilma or Easter, or any of the characters. Rather, it’s a song for all of them.

And, I suppose if I’m being honest, it’s a song for each of us who needs our own community, however disjointed or flawed or unlikely a community it is, to hold us up, too.

The Funeral Dress is available at your local bookstore, or on Amazon.com. I hope you’ll join me in supporting a fellow writer. Also, please share this post with your particular online universe–facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. However you communicate with the outside, let’s be the people who talk about art.

 

The Power of a Bad Song

 

I was just telling a co-writer the other day about how I’ve written some stinkers over the years. I always get a kick out of running across an old not-at-all-awesome lyric. I’ll come across a piece of paper with one of my furious scribbles, and the first thing that pops into my mind is, “What were you thinking? That’s terrible!”

Such is the case with a song I started when I was seventeen which I had to record recently.

I was a sophomore in college, and I was pledging a sorority. (I know. You don’t see it, do you? I am an Alpha Gamma Delta. It’s totally true.)

Our pledge class was told that we needed a class song. I was pledging with my high school friend, Kristin, and she and I decided to take the song I’d written for our high school graduation and change it to make it fit for the pledge class. (I found out later that they hadn’t meant we had to write a full-on song. They’d meant for us to make up lyrics to a popular song. Oops.)

The song was called, “When I Say Friend.” The hook is, “When I say friend, I’ll always think of you.” I’m not even going to go into all the parts that I wouldn’t write now (teardrop? Gheesh.) For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture the lyric I wrote all those years ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got an email from an Alpha Gam a few weeks ago asking me for a recording of this song. “When I Say Friend,” has been passed down from year to year, and my chapter is still singing it. They wanted a recording because a music therapist from hospice wanted to play comforting songs to a young woman, Toni, who was dying of breast cancer.

“When I Say Friend,” was one of the songs they asked for.

Toni was younger than I and we never met. I knew her name, and I knew she had been fighting breast cancer for years. I also knew that her husband died unexpectedly last September leaving her with the two boys.

I sat down at my piano that day to record, “When I Say Friend,” and the professional writer in me kept getting embarrassed at the lyric. Then, I would think of Toni dealing with the betrayal of her body and the weight of leaving her boys, and I sang. I remembered the spirit in which I wrote that little song all those years ago.

At seventeen when this song was started for my high school graduation, I was making a promise to my friends. Truth is, it was the best promise I knew how to make at that age.

As it turns out, with all it’s imperfections and naievete, it’s still about the best promise I know how to make to my friends today. I’d write it differently, but I’d still mean it.

Toni Gusic Saylor was diagnosed with breast cancer on September 19, 2003. She died at the age of 37 on September 11, 2012. 

Songwriters, write your songs with the passion of where you are in your experience. Write what you know exactly as you know it. Write your truth. Be excellent.

Songs have a way of finding their place. Even the bad ones.

RIP, Toni.

Full Circle Moments: Thanks, Songwriting

It’s been a terrific week around here. I’ve spent a lot of time on learning new things, and then on Saturday I spent the day in Atlanta as a guest of the NSAI (nashvillesongwriters.com) chapter. I’ve adopted them, now, so they’re stuck with me.

I spent the afternoon answering questions, introducing a cool creative exercise, and then we ended the day with a few hours of my giving on-the-spot feedback for songs the writers played me.

What no one there knew (hi, guys! ha) is that the last time I was at that church, years and years ago, I felt stupid and fat and awful and unwelcome.  I wrote about the experience here.So, when I pulled up on Saturday morning and realized where I was, the exact same place I had been so many years ago, and this day I was actually being paid to ‘do what I do really well,’ let’s just say it was one of those full-circle moments.

It’s funny how things come back around.
 
-b

Making a Video: No More Excuses

We never know what people deal with on the inside where no one else can really see. We can never fully look into the dark corners and cobwebbed spaces of someone else’s heart. When someone does invite you in and does shine a light, albeit dim, it’s a responsibility not to be taken lightly.

I’ve been in a particularly interesting conversation about “food stuff” with some of my gorgeous women friends over the past week. We’ve talked about food as punishment and food as reward, food as hate and food as love. And, of course, sometimes an Oreo is just an Oreo, nothing less and nothing more.

As you’re getting to know me, you’ll learn all kinds of things about what makes me who I am (even I’m still learning), and the truth is that food has been–and sometimes continues to be–everything from punishment to reward to hate to love. I’m not alone in this.

So with all the honest conversations going on in the background, I thought it appropriate to tell you how much I hate seeing myself on video. Okay, it’s 37 steps BEYOND hate, or like hate to the 37th power.

I hate seeing myself on video for lots of reasons that I won’t go into here, but I also don’t like that I’ve always felt so much self-loathing when it comes to my appearance. I don’t like it that I have so many gorgeous friends who don’t feel beautiful, either. And, frankly, I don’t prefer that things should stay this way.

So, how do we start changing this? How do we start lighting up the darkness, and stop the automatic ‘shame switch’ from flipping on?

Maybe the first thing we do is make a video of us being real and then post it online, and then get used to feeling all the stuff that comes up with it. Maybe if we decide to persistently and pointedly face the demons, they’ll get bored and move on to somewhere else.

It may not work, but it could…and just what if it did.

To Your Adventure,

Belinda

In Business and Creativity: When Possibility Happens

A few days ago, I was having dinner with a friend.  She said, “Belinda, there is a momentum around you right now.  What are you doing?”

A momentum!

Cool.

Without really thinking about my answer, I said, “I’m encouraging people, and it’s what I was put here to do. I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

I started Belinda Smith Creative because I wanted to make it official, but the truth is I’m not doing anything that I didn’t already do. I’m a born-encourager and I get real joy out of seeing people surprise themselves in magnificent ways. 

I asked my friend about her business, and as she began to tell me how she was running it—or more accurately how her business was running her–I gave her three ideas about where she could make money now with just a little effort.  I was just brainstorming on the spot, but I could completely tell when ‘possibility’ happened for her. 

The moment she realized that she could work a little differently (not more) and get faster and better results, her entire countenance changed. A light bulb actually came on in her head. 

My ‘possibility’ happened when I created my songwriter Tune-Up academy. 

When I decided to leave all the old models I knew behind and create the program I personally believed in, I wasn’t sure if anyone would get on board.  I’m elated that regional writers ARE on board and they are changing their thoughts and their communities.  It was a risk, but it has been one of the best things I’ve ever done.

We get so stuck in our own ways of doing things that sometimes it is hard to move our own thoughts out of the old patterns. 

 I’ve done it in my business, and I’ve done it in my songwriting.

 If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten.

My challenge to you this week is to find one thing in your life that needs a little prodding forward and take action toward making a change.

  • If you want to start exercising, start walking.
  • If you want to finish a song, then take the week and finish one.
  • If you need to find some new and meaningful song ideas, then sign up for my Free Creativity Lesson (you’ll be surprised how many ideas you’re missing).

Do something to move yourself forward this week, and this time next week you’ll feel AMAZING!

 

To Your Adventure,

 Belinda

 

p.s. Let me know how it goes!

The One Critical Thing You Must Remember as a Songwriter

In a recent interview, I was asked, “Belinda, if there is one piece of advice you could give an aspiring writer, what would it be?”

Background

I’ve been a professional writer in Nashville for fifteen years. We are a town of writers and dreamers,  and the energy is magnetic.  The creative energy has attracted so many of us that we’re practically tripping over each other.

Have you heard this one?

How do you find a songwriter in Nashville?
Just raise your voice and say, “Waiter!”

I love being around writers all the time and my experiences have run the gamut.

I’ve been in rooms with people who couldn’t carry a tune in a dump truck and couldn’t be convinced otherwise, and I’ve hung out with the best of the best. In my opinion, songwriters are the greatest people (insert my own bias here).

 After living in this amazing writer’s community, I have noticed one thorn which consistently competes for a writer’s attention:  NEGATIVITY.

A few years back, a successful songwriter friend of mine told me he felt like he was living in a black cloud. No matter where he went, people were complaining.  “Nobody’s happy about anything!” 

After he said that, I started paying attention, and, as it turns out, he was right. 

Soon after our conversation, I wrote down in my notebook all the complaints I heard in one day at a publishing house where I was writing.  I found the notebook last night.  Here are just a few I wrote down:

  • [That artist] wouldn’t know a hit if it hit her over the head.
  • I’m so tired of my songs not getting demoed.
  • I hate the way they demoed my song.
  • My publisher just doesn’t get me.
  • I can’t get anything on the radio.
  • Everything on the radio these days is [mindless stupidity].  (Keeping the G-rating, gang.)

And on and on and on and on. 

It’s so easy to get into a negative mindset as a creative person because the truth is sometimes an artist doesn’t know a hit. And sometimes our songs don’t get demoed, and sometimes our publisher doesn’t get it. And everyone complains about what gets played on radio unless it is their song (that’s just a general rule of thumb). 

There are so many things to complain about.  There are legitimate gripes, too. I get it.

There’s also one thing to remember, though, and that’s what brought us to writing in the first place.

Magic 

There is a certain magic that happens in the true moments of writing something new. You know that feeling you get in your gut, the one that makes you forget everything else for just a moment and focus on the song that’s coming out of you.  In those moments of pure writing, everything else gets lost.

I started writing because I love that feeling.  I love the fact that I can think of things to write, and when I’m finished, there’s something where there was nothing. 

It is magic.

 And so what is the one piece of advice I would give to an aspiring writer?

 We write because we’re writers. 
All the rest of the stuff is NOT the writing.  It’s just stuff. 
Whatever you do, do not get the two things mixed up.

Fiercely, and I mean FIERCELY, guard the magic of writing.

To Your Adventure,

Belinda

 

 

Five Excellent Questions for Writers to Worry About

Five Excellent Questions Writers Worry About
Worry: to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts;fret. (dictionary.com)
If there were sashes and tiaras to be awarded for being the Best Worrier, I would have a collection.  I would have a title for every day of the week for every week of the year.  

I am an excellent worrier when I set my mind to it.  I can deeply and profoundly worry about the color of my living room wall and the lack of color on my bathroom wall. I can worry about whether my grass is going to grow in the spring and whether I am living the life I am supposed to be.   I can worry that I’ll never write another song again, and I can worry that no one will ever write with me again.  ALL IN THE SPAN OF TWO MINUTES.

Yes, gang, I could be the Homecoming Queen of the University of Worry.  

The good news is that I’m in recovery.  Step by step, a little at a time, I’m learning how to STOP the absurdity.  I’m starting to let go of my responsibility to take care of the entire world and everything it holds.  As it turns out, the Savior has come, and it is not me.  

Whew!

When I look at the definition of ‘worry’ and it includes the word ‘torment,’ I totally get it.

Worry is torment.

So, in order to give myself some perspective, I started replacing the word “worried” with “tormenting myself.”  For example, if my old sentence was I’m worried about that, my sentence now is I’m tormenting myself about that.

I know that worry is wasted energy. I’m intelligent enough to see that I can worry all day about something and it is not going to help the situation.  Regardless, I still do it.  However, I’ve realized that switching the word ‘worrying’ out for ‘tormenting myself’ changes my perspective. I have no interest in tormenting myself.  Do you?

Torment sounds so dramatic.
And no one likes a drama queen.

If You Insist

Here is my list of five excellent questions you as a writer can torment yourself with, though, if you insist.  These are questions we all ask, and questions which are brilliant time-wasters. If you’re looking to be more popular at the University of Worry, these are the top five tormentors.  

(I’ve also included my answers in case worrying is getting boring and you’d like to move on.  Further, I’ve included a gratuitous shot of Bernice as a puppy purely for manipulative purposes.)  

1. Am I crazy for pursuing writing?

Yes.  

Welcome to our club.

2. Who am I to think my words matter?

Who are you not to think they matter?

3.  Am I a good enough writer?

Keep writing and you’ll find out.

4.  What if I never get published?

Writers write.

5. Do I look fat today?

Did you look fat yesterday? Well, there’s your answer.


Why don’t you try replacing the word “worry” with “torment” for the next 30 days.  Just see if it makes you feel as ridiculous as it does me.  Then, take all that new mental space and focus on something good and positive.  I bet you’ll love the results.

To your adventure–

Belinda  

5 Ways to Be a Real Winner at Holiday Shopping

I’ve compiled a list of tips to help us get through what is my most stressful task of the season: SHOPPING.  Enjoy!

1. Set Your Intention.

When you leave your home to go shopping, set the intention of getting the parking space which is the greatest distance from the entrance.  You’ll have an excellent chance of succeeding and you’ll feel like a winner from the start.

2.  Trust Strangers to Get It Done

If you didn’t have time to make your list before you got to the store, just roam until you find someone else who did.  Then, follow them and buy everything they buy.  They’ve obviously put some time and thought into what they’re going to purchase, and there’s no reason their time and thought cannot save YOU time and thought.  You can worry about who gets what later.  Winners accomplish tasks.

3.  Shop Smarter, Not Harder

If you pass someone in the store who has a cart of things you admire, feel free to take whatever you like out of their cart and put it in yours.  This will save you the time of going to look for the item yourself.  ***(Holiday Winner Tip:  This one works best if you wait till the other shopper is looking in the opposite direction.)

4.  Manifest Your Own Christmas Miracle

When the check-out line is really long, start singing Christmas songs as loud as you can.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a singer to do this.  Just “sing for all the world to hear,” as Buddy, the Elf, says.  You’ll find that people like to give you a little more room when you’re doing this, and lines instantly move faster.

5.  Take it All In

When starting the hike back to your vehicle, walk very, very slowly in the line of traffic.  This is a great way to OWN YOUR AWESOMENESS.  Some people will even honk with holiday joy.  When they do, you should wave and smile…because that’s what winners do.

Here’s to a winning holiday season!

Belinda

Dreamhost Coupon