Words for Writers

The goal of a first draft isn’t beautiful writing; it’s to come as close as you can to identifying the underlying story you’re trying to tell.

- Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence 

This business of saying the same thing over and over and over again — which to a lot of Washington insiders and pundits is boring — works.

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Michael Deaver, deputy chief of staff to President Reagan

YES YES YES!!!!! I have been trying to explain this for the entire two years I’ve been at my current job. My coworkers in all departments get bored with saying the same thing all the time, but that consistency is exactly what we need to get our message(s) across! If only Mr. Deaver had the answer as to how to keep people on their (boring, repetitive, NECESSARY) message.

While we can’t always control the writing we have to do, we can control how we feel about it. Don’t let a writing assignment make your life miserable.

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Daphne Gray-Grant, The Publication Coach

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I feel about my job, my work and my writing. What do I want to do more of, and why am I not doing it?

There are lots of reasons that my ideal projects get back-burnered — my priorities are set by my boss, her boss, and our organization — and I have a hard enough time managing those without adding in the “fun” work I want to do that would really add value to my organization. I’ve been feeling stuck with Other People’s Priorities for my writing for quite some time, and I’m miserable. It’s hard to remember that I love my job when I’m bogged down in OPP.

So this quote is a reminder that I need to step back from every writing project and find the joy in it. That joy will improve my writing and come through in my voice — and readers will know the difference.

(Martin Luther King Jr.) gave the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech — not the ‘I Have a Plan’ speech.

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Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why

I’m at the two-year mark at my current job. My hope for Year Three is that I can start to move my organization away from talking about plans and toward talking about our dreams. I’m feeling inspired thanks to Simon Sinek. His premise that we buy products and follow leaders because of WHY they do things - not because of WHAT they do - is causing me to reframe my thinking.

To become wise you must learn to listen to the wild dogs barking in your cellar.

- Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Dread of Death by psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom

When circulation and advertising revenue are combined, the newspaper industry has shrunk 43% since 2000.

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The State of the News Media 2012, an annual Pew Research Center report (view here)

This may be the saddest thing I’ve read all day. I’m part of the 43% shrinkage - I left newspapers under my own steam, but I left because I saw the handwriting on the wall.