Comments on: Why you should write like a jazz musician plays

By: Antoinette

Antoinette — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 07:37:00 +0000

I signed up to your newsletter and
already your tips and ideas fascinates me.

I just have one question for now: is there a particular reason as to why one does the tracking in Word and not Excel?

I like to make my computer work for me, hahaha.

Ps:
the mind mapping booklet and concept is amazing, thank you

By: Melanie Moore

Melanie Moore — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 02:37:00 +0000

In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant. I started playing classical flute when I was young, but only within the last year have I really gotten into the jazz scene. Aww, it can definitely be hard to keep up with music when you're not in an organized group setting. I try to play at open-mic nights and such whenever I can. Maybe you can find one in your area to try out some improv :). Thanks for the reply!

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 02:42:00 +0000

In reply to Melanie Moore. LOVE jazz flute! Did you start when you were young? I blame my lack of progress with the flute on having started too old (I was in my mid-20s.)

By: Melanie Moore

Melanie Moore — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 00:55:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing this inspiring analogy! I’m going to be saving this email for help in the “writer’s block” moments. Fun fact: I play jazz flute as well :).

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 16:56:00 +0000

In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant. The overall theme of the webinar was finding your own voice and was aimed at copywriters. I still have dreams of doing the free-writing marathon, but certainly not for specific assignments :) But yes, two hours already had a strong enough impact!

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 15:33:00 +0000

In reply to Lori. Sounds as though Mark Levy and I agree on just about everything except the 5-8 hours part! I can't imagine non-professional writers being able to chain themselves to their desks for that long. (Even most professionals won't do that — at least not for writing.) I think you were quite smart to limit it to two-hours, Lori!

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 14:20:00 +0000

I took a webinar once by Mark Levy and the focus was on something similar. He said you need to allow yourself to be bad at it before you get good at it. One way of finding your own voice is through free writing, where you set your timer for 20 minutes (or whatever suits you) and just write. Then you rest for a few minutes, review what you’ve written, underline the parts that have energy, and then pick one and set the timer again. Rinse, repeat. It really helps you get to your own voice, because after awhile, the internal editor gets bored with the jibber jabber you’re writing and turns off. He suggests trying this for 5-8 hours. He says you want to clear your mind, and to do that, your mind has to start reaching. I haven’t had time to do this for awhile, but when I did it over a two-hour period once, my writing changed. So what you’ve written here, Daphne, is bang on. Getting messy first helps us figure out what we want to say, which also lets us bring our own voice to the table.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 17:50:00 +0000

In reply to Doug. Glad it arrived at the right time, Doug. People often forget that NO ONE ELSE needs to see their crappy first draft. It's always better to get started and then fix what you have...

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 15:36:00 +0000

I rarely respond to newsletters, but wow, this tip landed in my inbox at exactly the right moment. I've been struggling to start writing a product recommendation page for my website. I'm glad for the validation that it's okay to just let go of the worry and start writing. Thank you!

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 00:17:00 +0000

In reply to Charles Broming. I have a huge amount of respect for jazz musicians, largely because of the amount of experience and practice they bring to their art. Thanks for making the comparison of the "risk" of performing publicly. A very good point.