How to Make Your Writing Unforgettable — Using the Music of the Gettysburg Address

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What Makes Writing Unforgettable?

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When people tell me I write well, it’s because I do something extra. After I finish writing and revising a piece, I go back again to listen. I listen to the rhythm and sounds of the words. I listen and make small tweaks. It’s like being a technician at a sound board. I’m mixing the music of the language. I say that seriously.

One guy who understood what I mean, who really had it down, was Abe Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President. He understood that fewer words and more music would deliver more meaning. To me, that’s the reason his Gettysburg Address — less than 300 words — is considered the most remembered American speech in our history.

Listen to the Music of the Language

Read the first paragraph of The Gettysburg Address below. Read to see what the words say.

Now read to hear the music, don’t think about what the words mean. Read them aloud slowly, evenly. Listen to how they sound. Read the paragraph aloud two or three times this way.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. — Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

Do you hear the rhythm, the rat-tat-tat of the syllables? It’s kind of fun to say the words, especially liberty,. dedicated, and proposition. Those words seem to stand out at the right spots.

Can you hear the difference that occurs when you change that last word equal to the term the same. The sounds change too. The two syllables of equal have more stress on the first syllable — E-qual. That difference in stress doesn’t happen with the two words — the same. It doesn’t sound like an ending.

Without that ending, without the feeling of closure, the impact of the whole sentence is lost. The final word doesn’t ring and stay in our ears — or our minds if we’re reading silently. Unconsciously we’re waiting for the next word, the way we wait for the next shoe to drop. The sentence feels incomplete rhythmically.

Abe Lincoln understood how words make meaning and how they make music.You could almost sing the Gettysburg Address. It wouldn’t surprise me if folks already have.

It’s not hard to do what Abe did.
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The Secret to Why Dennis Miller Can Rant in Public and the Rest of Us Really Can’t

Filed Under Audience, Branding, Successful Blog, Writing | 16 Comments

Rant Is a Four-Letter Word

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Something has happened. It wasn’t nice. It happened once too often. It happened to someone you care about. It needs to be addressed. You’re about to write something someone is going to read.

Before you write, check your emotions. They’re running high, aren’t they? Here’s what you need to do before you write.

Go to the local store. Buy 100 ballooons. Blow them up and pop them each one individually — one at a time — slowly savoring the noise. Or do something else that will open a steam valve: go running,

Whatever you do, please don’t write and rant. Rant is a four-letter word. You’ve read ‘em. They’re deadly.

So, how come Dennis Miller can rant in public?

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Rehearsing My Writing . . . No, It’s Not Just a Liz Thing

Filed Under Content, Productivity, Strategy, Successful Blog, Writing | 21 Comments

Musicians, Actors, Writers

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Growing up, I learned early that it was imporant to sort the things I do that everyone does from the things you might call . . . um, er . . . “uniquely Liz stuff.”

Knowing the difference has saved me from looking foolish and made me a better teacher. . . . Unfortunately, knowing doesn’t come with immediate credibility on that self-same subject.

Sometimes I know that other folks do the same things that I do. Yet the idea is apparently so incredible that people hearing me say so assume I’m delusional and that the subject in question is . . . sshhhh don’t tell Liz, but we all know it’s . . . a “uniquely Liz thing.”

I’m writing this because I know I’m not the only writer who rehearses before writing.

Stop whispering.

I can’t imagine a person who hasn’t used the process, you included.

We all practice what we want to say when the conversation is really important.

“Mom, I don’t want to go to the party. . . . I need to. My entire life depends on it.”

“Sweetheart, when you talk that way, I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

“In the past year, I’ve take on significant new responsibilities . . .”

Those aren’t words that just happened. We rehearsed them.

Actors rehearse improvisations.

Musicians rehearse jams and free-wheelin’ rock solos.

Writers rehearse before writing. Some prewrite. Some freewrite. That’s rehearsing too, but I mean thinking words before sitting down, typing, before having to look at them.

Here’s something of how my rehearsing goes.

  • I think about the words I might write.
  • I say them and listen. I construct and recontruct sentence as if I were preparing for an important conversation.
  • I think I might say this. I think about whether that statement makes sense and makes me want to pursue it.
  • A few words come that sound right.
  • I find a word I particularly like. That word begets another and there are two, three , and four.
  • Soon I have sentence, sentences — whew an idea is rolling — it’s a paragraph!
  • I walk and practice and play with words until I feel ready to write jazzed about what I want to say.

Rehearsing is more fun than sitting at my computer.

I hear some folks rehearse in the shower, . . . That’s okay for writers. It’s not a good idea, if you play electric guitar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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Love at First Write: 5 +1 Steps to Your Authentic Writing Voice

Filed Under Branding, Content, Successful Blog, Writing | 28 Comments

One Note and 42 Days Later

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My husband and I got married 42 days after we met. He says he fell in love when he read a welcome note I left downstairs when he came to pick me up for a date. He still mentions it now, 23 years later.

We had a small wedding — 12 people in our living room.

My mother-law-in didn’t approve. She wanted us to wait. She also cried showing her husband what I wrote her on our wedding day. She told him I must love her son very much.

Both son and his mother heard what I said and knew I meant every word.

Using your authentic writing voice isn’t hard once you know how. In fact, it’s natural and works with all writing, not just lovey stuff. You only need to remember five things to do. Would you let me show you how?
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6+1 Traits of Effective Blog Writing

Filed Under Branding, Productivity, Successful Blog, Writing | 13 Comments

Things Kids Know that We Don’t

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I’m writing a writing program again. Writing programs are like other products. They have their individual nuances. They offer particular features and benefits, but all solid writing programs offer certain things in common. The engine of any well-built writing program is the 6+1 Traits of Writing.

If you’re reading this post, it’s unlikely that you encountered the 6+1 Traits as a student. You could find plenty about them on the Web now. Unfortunately, what you found would take the form of lessons and research for teaching school children. Why should school kids and their teachers be the only ones with direct access to the information and the rest of us have to adust our thinking?

I’ve decided a simple action is in order. Read more

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