a word after a word after a word is power

Margaret Atwood, the prolific author of eighteen books of poetry, eighteen novels, eleven books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, and eight children's books, once wrote, "A word after a word after a word is power." Even rubbish words are more powerful than a blank page. In fact, they are much more powerful, because there can be no magnum opus later without those rubbish words now. 

So if you are feeling overwhelmed by an essential project because you think you have to produce something flawless from the outset, simply lower the bar to start. Whether it's writing a book, composing a song, painting a canvas, or any other creative pursuit that calls to you, inspiration flows from the courage to start with rubbish. 

By embracing imperfection, by having the courage to be rubbish, we can begin. And once we begin, we become a little less rubbish, and then a little less. And eventually, out of the rubbish comes exceptional, effortless breakthroughs in the things that matter.

Greg McKeown

Effortless: Make it Easier to do what Matters Most. By Greg McKeown. Random House. 2021. p. 132. Also watch Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word is Power, Hulu.

as if the muse is convinced

When I am writing, I write. And then it's as if the muse is convinced I'm serious and says 'Okay, Okay. I'll come.

Maya Angelou

Effortless: Make it Easier to do what Matters Most. By Greg McKeown. Random House. 2021. p. 132

hook your audience with one sentence

[James] Patterson spends a lot of time writing the first lines of every chapter. That’s the opportunity to hook the audience. For example, the first sentence of Kiss the Girls, the second in the Alex Cross series of novels, reads:

For three weeks, the young killer actually lived inside the walls of an extraordinary fifteen-room beach house.

A lot of thought (and rewriting) goes into crafting a sentence like that. The purpose is to entice the reader to lean in, so they’re quickly invested in the story.

First lines are also crucial for speeches and presentations. Avoid starting a presentation with a long, tedious agenda of what you plan to cover. Instead, hook your audience with one sentence that draws them in.

In 2007 Steve Jobs kicked off the 90-minute iPhone presentation with the line, “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” I was watching and I was hooked. I wanted the mystery to be solved: How was Apple going to reinvent it? What would it look like? What features will it have? How is it different than my Blackberry? How much will it cost, and when can I buy it?”

Carmine Gallo

"James Patterson’s Storytelling Tips For Leaders," Forbes. August 10, 2022

the lead to the story

Charlie O. Simms taught a journalism 101 class in Beverly Hills High School. He started the first day of the class Nora Ephron attended much the same way any journalism teacher would, by explaining the concept of a "lead." He explained that a lead contains the why, what, when, and who of the piece. It covers the essential information. Then he gave them their first assignment: write a lead to a story. 

Simms began by presenting the facts of the story: "Kenneth I. Peters, the principal of the Beverly Hills High School, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a colloquium in new teaching methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead. college president Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, and California governor Edmund 'Pat' Brown."

The students hammered away on their manual typewriters trying to keep up with the teacher's pace. Then they handed in their rapidly written leads. Each attempted to summarize the who, what, where, and why as succinctly as possible: "Margaret Mead, Maynard Hutchins, and Governor Brown will address the faculty on...", "Next Thursday, the high school faculty will..." Simms reviewed the students' leads and put them aside. 

He then informed them that they were all wrong. The lead to the story, he said, was "There will be no school Thursday."

"In that instant," Ephron recalls, "I realized that journalism was not just about regurgitating the facts but about figuring out the point. It wasn't enough to know the who, what, when, and where: you had to understand what it meant. And why it mattered." Ephron added, "He taught me something that works just as well in life as it does in journalism."

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.73,74