THE RIGHT WORDS HAVE POWER

You know the right words when you hear them.

“Everything will be okay.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“This is just how it’s supposed to work out.”

“You’re the one for me.”

You hear those words and it feels like they’re amplified words to live by.

People who have heard the right words do live a different life.

Maybe they find others who need to hear them, people on the verge of believing they are what they’ve heard about themselves, and you can tip the balance.

Or maybe they let those words sink in so deep in themselves that they become something they could never image: a better person.

You’ll know them when you meet them. (Hey Rey)

With careful listening you find meaning beyond mere words.

You hear kindness, decency, good will. You hear love, caring, and commitment.

In a world that spins fast enough to confuse anyone interested in a better life, and a better life for others, the right words have power.

 

Cutting Through The Cacophony

More than once I’ve been told I live in a precious little bubble, an echo chamber filled with my own thoughts.

And they’re not wrong.

This isn’t an excuse, but if you don’t have a bubble, or a chamber, and you’re a writer, want to write, dream of the writing life, come on in.

The right words show up when you find a reason to use them, and you may need that bubble, that chamber, to find them. (Cacophony?)

You may use them in your normal life, but putting them down on paper, on a screen, is different that letting them loose in the air.

A famous writer told a fan, “I could send you to any street corner where some guy would tell you the most incredible story you’ve ever heard and you’d walk away amazed. A writer’s job is capturing the story and giving the feeling to millions of others, or thousands, hundreds, or if you’re a workhorse blogger, a few. That’s what writing is.”

It’s not an exact quote.

You don’t always hear the right words from the expected source.

Someone has a bad experience that changes their life and instead of working through it, they blame someone, they blame something, and wonder why nothing changes.

 

I read of a technique for getting to sleep when sleep won’t come is repeating, ‘breath in, breath out,’ for every breath until you drop off.

When an intrusive thought comes in, acknowledge it, and continue repeating breath in breath out.

‘You were cheated.’ Breath in, breath out.

‘You don’t know what you’re doing.’ Breath in, breath out.

‘You could have been somebody.’ Breath in, breath out.

Then write it all down after a good night’s sleep.

Dedicate it to those who’ve been cheated, doubted, never lived up to their potential and never got over it.

 

I never give you my pillow
I only send you my invitations
And in the middle of the celebrations, I break down

Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time

 

Be A Good Listener

Fran Lebowitz said, “I write so slowly I could write in my own blood and not hurt myself.”

Well, don’t do that.

Instead, go on a word hunt, put them together, and see what you’ve got.

It’s a puzzle, a game, and everybody wins who tries, which isn’t to say everyone else loses.

Set a goal and get to work. Just make it attainable.

Not, “I will write myself a new swimming pool,” or, “I will write myself a private jet.”

I once wrote for a money manager who had no money. It didn’t last.

After taking a master’s class I wrote a screenplay about the greatest story of WWII never told. Still hasn’t been.

My 150,000 word memoir is still on the back burner. It’s getting warmer.

Writer gonna write, then write some more. If self-fulfillment is a goal, be that writer.

“How much money do you make?” isn’t the first question, but I could be wrong.

Start with, “Did you hit your goal today?”

 

The Right Words Have Power

Saul Bellow wrote himself a Nobel Prize with Humboldt’s Gift.

I call boomerpdx a gift to my children.

Quick, someone notify the selection committee.

My adult children are smart and quick and able to shit-talk their old man like they know what they’re doing.

They cut through my bubble, jump into my echo chamber, and they are hilarious in their points of view.

 

Me: Listen, I’ve laid the foundation. People love reading exchanges between kids and parents.

Kids:

Me: Start on any post you like and hit it with your version of things.

Kids:

Me: You have a front row seat to an indulgent baby boomer indulging himself in writing. Be a millennial writer indulging themselves in setting things straight.

Kids:

Me: Look, you’re whip smart, know how numbers work, know how business works, put it together and write yourselves a new swimming pool.

Kids:

Me: Can you hear me now?

 

Call it a pipe dream, a vision, a folly, but why not roll the dice, take a chance on yourself.

If you’ve got a story, write it.

You had an unusual upbringing full of passive-aggressive mixed messages? Write it.

An unexpected turn of events? Write it.

You have old friends who would fit right in with the rest of your friends?

To them I say, “You can do it.”

To myself I say, “I’d like to read it.”

Am I alone here? I don’t think so.

What’s a possible outcome?

 

The selection criteria focus on exceptional creativity, as demonstrated through a track record of significant achievement, and manifest promise for important future advances.

Emphasis is placed on nominees for whom our support would relieve limitations that inhibit them from pursuing their most innovative ideas.

The MacArthur Fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award; we are looking for individuals on the precipice of great discovery or a game-changing idea.

 

Sounds right up my alley. Our alley. Let’s go.

 

PS: Everything will be okay. You’re doing fine.

PSS: This is just how it’s supposed to work out. You’re the one for me.