Use Your Feeling Words.

Words are good for shaping feelings, but words without feelings are like clothes with no body inside--cold and limp.  (unknown)

The If-Then Solution.

By now, so many New Year's resolutions are abandoned on the shore of our good intentions.

In the January/February issue of Psychology Today there is an article that suggests a useful technique when it comes to resisting temptations and building good habits.

Why?  Because our brain understands contingencies:  if X, then Y. The If-Then solution offers greater specificity. And, by extension, greater success. 

Regardless of the goal, reserchers say that using If-Then planning boosts success by two to three times.

And get this:  it requires less willpower than mere resolutions.

Consider, for example, the resolution to eat less and exercise more.

So, the eat less resolution becomes, When the dessert menu comes, I will refuse it and order coffee.  The work out resolution becomes I will work out at the gym for an hour on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays before work.

I've been applying If-Then in my work of late.  It's working.


 

Walk, Don't Run.

A few years ago, I journeyed to Saigon on a travel writing assignment.  I stayed at the luxurious Park Hyatt in the center of the city.   After sleeping off my jet lag, I set out on foot to explore.

The traffic in front of the hotel was dizzying:  cars, pedicabs, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds, trucks.  And a few brave (crazy?) pedestrians.

I'm pretty fearless, but this looked daunting.

As I hesitated on the steps of the hotel, the doorman offered this sage advice:  "It will be safe if you walk slowly. That way everyone will see you." 

Counterintuitive, isn't it? 

So much in our world encourages us to hurry up.   But when we act deliberatively and calmly, others see us.  And we see others.

My heart pounding, I crossed that Saigon street.  Not once, but dozens of times during my stay.  All without incident.

Not only did I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, I learned something valuable that informs my relationships and my work.

Two Words That May or May Not Be Used Together in a Sentence.

Indelible.
Cocksure.

The Clank of Narrative.

In a review in Entertainment Weekly of director Mike Leigh's new (and critically acclaimed) movie, Another Year, writer Owen Gleiberman praises the movie as free of "the clank of narrative." 

He's talking about a loose style of filmmaking, driven not so much by action as by observation.

But this applies to writing as well.  If words clank, then they clearly don't work.

My advice is to loosen up.  Listen to each word and determine if it dances on the page, on the tongue, in the ear.

The Battle Over Huck Finn.

NewSouth Books has released a tidied-up version of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, sanitizing the classic by removing the “n” word.

The tweaking is an attempt to reinstate the oft-banned book, first published in 1885, back into curriculums. Incidentally, "injun" has also been replaced.

Writers are truth-tellers. The "n" word in this story is honest and appropriate. The censors, who have replaced the offensive "n" word with "slave" have completely destroyed the book's rhythm. 

As a writer, I find the reworking of a book without the author's permission disrespectful.

More than a century later, race remains a hot button issue in America. But instead of evading it, wouldn't we honor Twain--and readers--with an honest discourse?

Check out Harvard University professor Randall Kennedy's book for a contemporary take on this controversial slur: http://www.amazon.com/Nigger-Strange-Career-Troublesome-Word/dp/0375713719/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294686639&sr=8-2.

Splendid Beginnings.

Great opening lines are known among writers as "grabbers."

Beause a reader, once hooked, hungers for more words.

I was reminded of this as I read the opener of the book Furious Love:  Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century:   "I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out. The fire, of course, is you."

Tell me you wouldn't want to read more.

I did.

New Words for the New Year.

After the sluggishness of December, January sure comes off the block in a hurry!

Here are a crop of cool new words to consider using this year to enliven your writing: 

Discomfitted
Blistering
Goad
Lassitude
Plangent
Breezy
Ensnare
Sumptuous

Happy!  New!  Year!