Musicians, Actors, Writers
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.
You blogged my thoughts today… I think about everything I’m going to write or say in my head, I don’t even realize I’m doing it sometimes, I just do. I write up a topic and save it in drafts, then for a few days I’ll think out the entire plan of what I’m going to write, not on paper, but in my head. Then I sit down and let the ideas flow onto the blog post.
Liz, how true. I do that all the time. I mean that almost literally. I could be walking around doing my shopping and composing something in my head. Or drafting a review while I play a game.
The only problem is, once I get going, I go all the way to the end. And then I can’t remember how it started. Somehow, nothing ever ends up (in my view) as good “on paper” as it was in my mind.
But hey, good to know I’m not the only one who does this 😉
Hi Techz!
Thanks for letting me know how you rehearse your writing. I find it’s fun and really helpful Sounds like that you have the same experience! 🙂
Hey Scorpia,
It is nice, isn’t it — to know that other folks rehearse too? Sometime I feel like what was in my head was better, but usually it just gets my rhythm going so that I’m ready to write with some words that feel like being written. 🙂
Y’know Liz, I do it all the time and everywhere and I mean literally every places — at home or outside. That’s why I have my MP3 everywhere I go; so if I speak too fast for me to recap later, I record it.
Friends thinks I’m some kinda freak, strangers in the streets stare at me head on while others are more discrete using corner of their eyes. But I don’t care, ‘cos they aren’t the ones writing my lines.
Of course, not every recording sounds good on print because they’re ususally chains of choppy thoughts…that’s where editing comes in to take its place.
Hi Renee,
I wish I had the knack of using machines. I just can’t. They distract me and I start to think about how they work rather than the idea that was exploring. So I’ keep a pad and pens in my back pocket — that’s what works best for me.
Sme idea, different technology 🙂
Liz, I totally agree. “Same idea, different technology”. But I find it hard to write while driving.
I now see writing is like designing. When I’m in designing mode, all through the day I’ll be looking at this or that angle on a design I have in mind. I may pick up on how an ad on the side of a train looks, just a small corner or detail, or the colour, or just how the artwork is placed.
And it’s the same when I’m drawing. Everything I look at is converted to pencil in my mind. Angles, shades, lights and darks. By the time I get the paper out and the pencils sharpened I’ve already practiced what I’m going to create.
Not that it comes out exactly as my mind envisioned. A new creative surge kicks in once I’m at it. Whether it’s on a computer or pen/pencil to paper, it goes on from there.
Thanks Liz!
Hi Cat!
That’s the ticket! We all practice what we’re working on, working toward, thinking about, trying to do. We move inside and our of it to get to know what it is that we really after. Then when it comes to doing it, we’re more than prepared; we’re well-rehearsed in the nuances of what we’re about to take on! YEAH!
Y’know Liz, my dream – which I’ve had for many years – is to be able to just think into the computer. I’d put a device on my head and think my stuff right in. Then I could go back later and edit it.
No interface. That’s always the problem, whether typing at a keyboard or writing on paper. No computer is faster than its slowest peripheral and any form of output is slow. But to just sit there and think, with nothing getting in the way, that would almost be paradise.
I was sure that would be around by now. Where is it??? I want one!!
I hear you, Scorpia! I hear yuo. That does sound divine.
I never really thought of it as rehearsing, but I do something similar. I’m not a logical thinker. When I get an idea for something to write, I’ll think about it, preferably while moving around. As it jells enough to have form, I’ll try writing it down. And so the process goes – move, think, write. Stir and repeat until done.
Scorpia: I hope that never happens. Think of all the brain hacks we would see. If a signal can get out, another can get in.
Beautiful post as usual.
I always rehearse, but never thought of it that way. I freewrite, then re-read a few times, sometimes even setting the post to the side before finishing the editing process and finally posting it. Heck, I do that when I comment on other blogs! *chuckle*
Hi Rick,
I think that learning to write in school causes litle paradigms issues in so many ways and this is one. We tend to think of writing as we think of opening a book to read it, only slight harder . I don’t think we give ourselves or writing the full respect due.
It’s easy to think of actors or muscisians rehearsing, but not writings — that’s something we have to think through and discover that we already do!
Hi Whimspiration,
I freewrite when I can, but not often. I find that looing at my words still gets in the way for this right-brain to play . . . for me freewriting is a bit like filling in someone else’s brainstorming flip chart — I find myself setting the wrong kind of goals. I want to play with ideas and words like build blocks when I rehearse . . . so when it’s with paper, I find myself drawing pictures 🙂
whow! Another great thing I’ve learnt.
Infact I never went through that process. I spot something that might deserve a post and when I’m infront of the screen just writes everything that flows according to this idea.
Now I understand why I miss many important factors in my posts. There’s no rehearsal. One shot to a one publish post. Then later when I get through it again through discussions, I see how much I lost, things that could be included to make that post a better one.
Whow, I didn’t know that there’s so much to writing. Thanks for the tip Liz 😉
Hans!
I so enjoy your enthusiasm for learning and your reflection on the value of thinking. I’m delighted that anything I write helps in those ways. 🙂
Oh bravo, Liz, bravo. What a succinct and eloquent summarization of something that many of us do and that many who know us have written off as simply a colorful excuse for procrastination. Leftover from overly prescriptive high school English classes, there are so many who still think it’s only pre-writing if you’re actually writing something on the page.
My best work always started in this rehearsal mode. Of course, one does have to be careful that “rehearsing” doesn’t turn into “analysis paralysis”…where you deliberate for too long on something before you sit down and start putting words to paper (or screen)!
Thanks Whitney,
I was rehearsing just this morning and it saved me! It got me around to a much better lead and away from a direction that really would have been filled with just that nuggest of “venting” — something I find not comfortable in others and really distressful when I see it coming from my own writing.
Who am I to criticize?
A little rehearsal and I was back to my own voice talking through the advice the way that I would really give it, not the way someone else might type it. 🙂
Enjoyed this post and its pertinent subject almost as much as I enjoy painting images with my words! Blessings….