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Bad Writing, Spinach and Mid Week Musings

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Have you ever had an idea that was brilliant in your head but completely worthless once it left that comfy incubator between your ears? I heard something that inspired me and my brain cells began to fire as I mentally formulated a brilliant post.  I was excited and could barely wait to sit down and write.

Twenty minutes later, I sat at my keyboard tapping out my idea. I wrote two paragraphs and read in horror a jumbled, confusing mush of ideas that made me want to weep with embarrassment. I tried in earnest to fix it, and several mixed metaphors and half formed ideas later, I decided to close the document and walk away.

I had a bowl of spinach, which cured my brain fog and mood. An hour later, I returned to the post and declared it a horrible, depressing mess.

I learned two things:

  1. Spinach is magical (for me at least)
  2. Sometimes what you write really does stink, admit it and move on.

What have you learned this week?

For some decidely non-stinky writing, check out these posts by writers who clearly eat their spinach:

Novel Beginnings

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Last November, I wrote my very first novel during National Novel Writing Month. I chronicled my adventures on the blog and did a happy dance on Thanksgiving Eve in the wee hours when I finished.

I dutifully walked away  as experts advised and let it sit for the month of December.  In January, I thought about it but was busy implementing the 2009 Master Plan (cue ominous music).

Spring came and I finally took my USB drive to the printer and printed out my first draft. I giggled all the way home as I looked over at the box of printed papers that represented my first “first draft.”

Later that day I opened the box with nervous anticipation – Would it be so awful that I would cry? Was the whole thing a big dream? – I started to read and smiled as I found myself enjoying “my novel.” Yes, there were holes and inconsistencies, and things to be fixed but overall I did not want to burn it.

Each day I opened my box and made notes on the pages, periodically checking books and sites on editing to answer questions. I was working at my book and it felt good.

I got through my first rough edit and now it was time to type. I closed the box with every intention of continuing my work…the box taunted me in the open so I moved it to a shelf.  I moved it to dust but there it sat until this week.

Tired of my inaction, I pulled my dust free box off the shelf and moved it to my office where it sits with “First Draft” written proudly on the top (as if I would forget what’s in there) screaming at me to open it. Okay, not screaming but whispering very loudly.

Train Derailed
Image by bredgur via Flickr

In spite of our best intentions, we can get off track. For awhile I felt like a failure for not making progress on my goal. Today, I choose a new beginning. I may have missed my own self-imposed deadline but I learned new things and endured challenges which can only help me to view my book with a fresh perspective.

Today is a new day. Today is the day that I write again. I am not finished but I am getting started.

Any words of wisdom to share? Are you dusting off any goals of your own? Shall we encourage one another to the finish line?

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Hot Sweet Cup of Possibility

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Crowned Lily
Image by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton via Flickr

Written by Karen D. Swim

Possibilities, shades of maybe, bouncing prisms of what if. Nerve endings tingling as you wonder,  could this be the one? Blank page breathlessly waiting for ideas to caress. Fragments gently spill to fill the space, heart beats faster, mind and fingers rhythmically strumming the chords, pieces moving, transforming blank to creation.

Alas, work is done, satiated, deep breaths, luxurious stretch, languishing in the moment. Next step, are we ready?

Query, viewing, sharing. Anticipation, hope, not breathing, waiting for yes, eyes closed, kaleidoscope of maybes, cautious optimism interrupted by blissful expectation.

Accepted, chosen, hope realized, heart leaps, elation, fruits of labor, then back again to the blank canvas. Pens up, fingers attentive, ready? New day, fueled by what can be.

It’s Friday people, time to play.

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March of the Illiterati in E Flat

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Written by Karen D.  Swim

Two weeks ago, my Grandmother retired her old school TV Antenna for a digital converter box. If the FCC had not mandated that the US switch to digital on June 12th, my Gran would have kept using the rabbit ears.

In the world of early adopters one might say my Gran is a no bloomer. Yet, her diehard dedication to “rabbit ears” is not unlike those who hopelessly cling to the notion that social media is worthless and digital media is solely for the illiterati.

In a recent conversation with an erudite writer, I listened to what has become a familiar litany:

People who publish on the internet are not real writers. I am a noted journalist/writer/editor and accustomed to spending 6 weeks, writing 15 drafts before publishing.

My crowd is very literate and will not possibly be on Twitter. ( I pull up Twitter screen) Oh, look there’s Bill /Jane/ Buffy, they’re on Twiter?

I do not have time to waste engaging in urbane conversations with plebian strangers.

Internet publishing is for hacks.

Overlooking the fact that I had just been called a moronic hack who spends time on inane platforms talking to a motely bunch of idiots, I patiently explained this new world that has “killed newspapers” and made superstars out of the unknown.  I politely declined to point out that a truly impressive insult would have described “my people” as having brains as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage.

Alas, we no longer use insults such as: “Away!, Thou art poison to my blood.” Yet, in spite of the evolution of the English language we have managed to make amazing discoveries, and advances.  Who’da thunk it? (See what fun online writing can be?)

Those who view online writing as a dumbing down of provocative thoughts and ideas are missing the point entirely. It is an expansion of creative thought, discussion and collective collaboration. While other forms of publishing aim to “talk at” digital publishers “talk to.” It’s the sharing and exchange of ideas and information in real time.

Literature, and great writing are not dying, we are simply evolving in the way we communicate. Many will hold on until the bitter end, until change has steamrolled over them leaving no other choice but the truly erudite will not only embrace the change but lead the way.

What do you think? Are we diminishig the art of writing with online publishing?

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Butterfly Wings

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Cairns Birdwing, the largest butterfly in Aust...
Image via Wikipedia

Written by Karen D. Swim

When I was 6 or 7 years old I caught a butterfly in a jar. My little girl innocence led me to believe that the butterfly would be happy in its glass prison. I put a leaf , the head of a aisy, and a few blades of grass in the jar so Ophelia would feel at home.  I gently carried the jar to my room and sat it on the windowsill. I pressed my nose against the jar watching closely believing that something magical would happen.

What I did not know is that the beauty of the butterfly is in its flight not its capture.  I tried to recreate nature in a jelly jar but it was not the same. In the jar there was no soft fluttering of wings as the butterfly moved gracefully from leaf to flower and the sun did not catch the kaleidoscope of colors that made the world seem magical.  The beauty that I longed to possess was only present when the butterfly was  in action, free and in the wild, not stilled by a little girl and her jar.

Like the butterfly, words, ideas and thoughts  are  most beautiful when they are allowed to soar.  Their beauty is showcased as they move effortlessly with the wind mixing with other elements and carrying the conversation from plant to leaf.

Yet, we long to capture that moment when the idea, the thought shimmers brightly in the sunlight casting a warm glow over the horizon. The beauty of writing is to capture while simultaneously allowing the words to soar free and unfettered.  We must not imprison them with our doubts and fears or suffocate them with ownership. We must allow them to pollinate,  to morph, to migrate or to enjoy   symbiotic  relationships with other social insects. To do anything less is to deny them their true beauty.

How about you, have you caught any butterflies lately? Once captured were they as beautiful as they were free?

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A Novel Approach to Picking up Customers

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Written by Karen D. Swim

Maman est morte.–Albert Camus, L’Etranger

The first line of a novel has the power to hook you as a reader and entice you to read more. The line may shock you with honesty, tease you with what is to come or set the scene for the story ahead. Some first lines are so brilliantly memorable that they have become more famous than the novel itself, such as:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. — George Orwell, 1984

It was a dark and stormy night. — Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

A great first line gets your attention and compels you to read on. It is the come-hither look and whispered breath of longing.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. –Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

It serves as an introduction to character, place or mood.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. –J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. –Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

You do not have to be a literary great to apply this novel approach in business. Every business has a story but that story gets lost in corporate jargon. How often have you opened a marketing brochure or visited a website with a first line that made you lean in eager to read more?

Applying storytelling techniques in business writing is an excellent way to make a great impression and pick up customers. Storytelling adds warmth and humanity to your writing and feels more like a conversation than a pitch. Here are five practical ways that you can leverage the novel approach:

  1. Craft headlines that mirror the first line of a novel. Use them to capture your reader’s attention.
  2. Use “characters” to tell your business story. The character can be you, an employee or  a customer.
  3. Think like a reader. If your copy were a book, what would make the reader pick it up from the shelf?
  4. Be descriptive. Providing a reader with just enough detail allows them to form a mental picture and makes them part of the scene. Visual mediums use this technique but it is also possible to do it on paper.
  5. Ditch the corporate jargon. The use of corporate jargon is common but often is a barrier to engaging your reader. It can read like a 10 foot wall that you expect readers to climb to get to the real message. Skip the corporate acronyms and jargon and talk to your readers.

Have you seen any good uses of storytelling in business? Are you using the technique in your own business writing?

Resources:

Kelly Erickson takes this idea a step further in her post on Building Your Business with a Concept.

Joanna Young discusses the use of long words and makes a case for plain, simple language.

If you have ideas to share on Writing Website Content, please offer your comments here.