{"id":638,"date":"2016-01-05T00:26:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T00:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/songwritersplayground.com\/?p=638"},"modified":"2016-01-05T00:35:40","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T00:35:40","slug":"no-excuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/songwritersplayground.com\/?p=638","title":{"rendered":"No Excuses !"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCF1539\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3\u00a0WORDS – NO EXCUSES<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three words.<\/span><\/p>\n

No excuses.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can write today for 15 minutes, I promise you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t pay any attention to your thoughts and just look around the room or place where you are right at this moment. What 3\u00a0things do you see? \u00a0Write them\u00a0down; the three THINGS you see and don\u2019t think any more about those words.<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw a spiral<\/strong><\/span>, a face<\/span><\/strong> and a shade<\/strong><\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

These were actually:<\/span><\/p>\n

Spiral<\/b> rings of a notebook<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>face <\/b>on a spray bottle<\/span><\/p>\n

A pink and yellow <\/span>shade<\/b> on a lamp.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t care what they are. I\u2019m going to use those three words and just write one word after another until I\u2019ve used all three of those words. <\/span><\/p>\n

If I finish using those words and don\u2019t know where else to go, I\u2019ll look around and describe three other things with adjectives describing them, such as \u00a0\u201c<\/span>metallic<\/b><\/span>\u201d (spiral \u00a0rings), \u201c<\/span>shadowy<\/b><\/span>\u201d (face on a spray bottle), and \u201c<\/span>mauve<\/b><\/span>\u201d (shade on a lamp). <\/span><\/p>\n

I will then use those adjectives in the next part of my writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I think I\u2019m done, so be it.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I want to continue writing, I\u2019ll either let the story spin itself out on its own, or I’ll look around the room again and see what\u2019s happening. There will be 3 verbs that describe the action.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spiral rings are <\/span>vibrating<\/b><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The face is<\/span> staring<\/b><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lamp is <\/span>burning<\/b><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so on until I can\u2019t say I have nothing to write about or be inspired about\u00a0today. \u00a0I won’t\u00a0edit,\u00a0I’ll just give life to something on paper.\u00a0\u00a0Then I’ll look back at the writing, read through it once or twice and get an emotional vibe from it. \u00a0I won’t worry about using every single word I generated from the\u00a0previous exercise in my story.<\/span><\/p>\n

STORY<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hell to pay. \u00a0Helen was in the passenger seat and her brother Farrell was swerving violently left, then right as he did so often when he wanted to punish her. She cupped her hands tightly over her eyes until \u00a0she could see dancing spiral<\/strong><\/span>s of light, and bent her head down over the glove compartment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrell\u2019s face<\/strong><\/span> was flushed and his pupils gigantic. He swigged down at least half of his water bottle and accelerated to about 90. They were on the deserted stretch of 86 between Mattapa and the old Oshee Pass and no one was going to care that he was terrorizing her. He could get away with it, he always did, and she could do nothing about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Would you like me to slow down, Helen? \u00a0We could stop now, find some shade<\/span><\/strong>, and break out the lemonade you packed. Or\u2026.we could just push you out of the car right now, and leave you all alone in the desert without a thing to drink. I could do that, Helen, do you know that? Do you understand how bad you\u2019ve been”?<\/span><\/p>\n

What is that metallic taste on my tongue, she wondered, what did he put in my drink? Is it the taste of my fear or is it poison? She was always left to guess whether this was the time she\u2019d finally be murdered, in his mauve<\/strong><\/span> Porsche or in the shadowy<\/span><\/strong> alleyways he\u2019d make her walk down\u00a0when they took\u00a0Harley out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her seat was vibrating<\/span><\/strong>. She felt his rage scorch her skin but she would not open her eyes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then I’ll go back to the first three words and find the letters that are musical notes in each word, and let them be a melody for either a baseline, a chord progression, or a melody.<\/p>\n

SPIRA<\/strong><\/span>L<\/p>\n

(A)<\/p>\n

FACE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(A) (C) (E)<\/p>\n

SHADE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(A) (D) (E)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After I play around a bit riffing on the notes, I will look back at the story and \u00a0begin to write a song using the story as a jumping off point. No rules. It doesn’t have to make any sense or be related to the story unless I want it to be. By now I’m in a creative mood and if I doubt it and begin to paralyze myself with judgment, I will remind myself\u00a0that WRITING IS A PRACTICE. \u00a0The only think I\u00a0can do\u00a0WRONG in my writing practice is to NOT\u00a0WRITE. Then I don’t get to practice. I don’t approach this as “I must write something wonderful in this moment”, but simply as\u00a0“I will write something in this moment”.<\/p>\n

Slow down<\/span><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t do nothing about it<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a showdown<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone\u2019s gonna get burned<\/span><\/p>\n

Time to<\/span><\/p>\n

spin a spiral around you<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll find you<\/span><\/p>\n

Cause you\u2019ve a lesson to learn<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then I take a walk, or a nap or I go to bed that night feeling good about having exercised\u00a0my writing muscles. How else am I to get strong?<\/p>\n

Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n

Barbara<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  3\u00a0WORDS – NO EXCUSES   Three words. No excuses. You can write today for 15 minutes, I promise you. Don\u2019t pay any attention to your thoughts and just look around the room or place where you are right at this moment. 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