Working Writers: Songwriting With Soldiers

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Don’t ever doubt the power of words—the power to hurt; the power to help; and the power to heal.

          Most of us have heard, said, written, and read words that hurt. We know that power. No need to dwell on it.

But what about the words which help and heal? We should dwell on them.

Several songwriters donate their time to soldiers, mostly with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as part of a healing program called Songwriting With Soldiers. It’s also a PBS show entitled In Their Own Words: Songwritering With Soldiers.

Over 2.5 million soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. One in five suffers from PTSD.

To help these soldiers, songwriter and singer Darden Smith founded this program several years ago. He wanted to help soldiers tell their stories and, since he is a songwriter, turn those stories into songs.

In this program, soldiers and their spouses go to a weekend retreat. The soldiers meet with the songwriters in the great room with a huge fireplace or at picnic tables outside or even walking through the woods.

Smith said that the most important thing is to listen to the soldiers. Ask questions, but let them tell their stories in their own words. At some point the songwriter picks up on a theme or a phrase. The two then start collaborating on a song.

In 48 hours, 12 songs were recorded and then played for the group along with their spouses. In this event, the wives of the soldiers also wrote a song with a songwriter about having different husbands come home than the ones that left.

People were crying as the songs were played. Smith watched the face of the soldier as he sang their song. He saw a burden lift off the man as he sang. When he finished, the Smith burst into tears knowing he had helped change this brave soldier’s life.

The power of words in action. Amazing!

         

My word count for the week of July 16-22 was 8,939.

My Personal Writing Class--Songwriting

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Songwriting without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises for Finding Your Voice by Pat Pattison is set up as a two-month class. I’m three weeks in and I highly recommend it.

The first two weeks are timed writing exercises. Each day, one exercise lasts for 10 minutes, one for five minutes, and one for 90 seconds. In less than 17 minutes, you can meet your daily writing goal—a fantastic feeling—and it’s fun! It’s also easy to double up so you won’t fall behind when you have a busy day planned.

          The point of the exercises is to put your five senses to work, along with body and motion, when writing about objects or characters. You can read other writers’ descriptions for inspiration before you write or you can read them after you write to see which senses were stronger for them.

          The exercises seem easy. For example: describe an elevator (what writing), a sailor (who writing), six in the morning (when writing), a park bench in the city (where writing). It’s capturing all your senses in your answers that is hard. The pressure of a timer, especially one that ticks, helps squeeze words out.

          If you have kids old enough to write, you can include them in this class. Look at Taylor Swift—songs she wrote in her early teens became hits. You never know. Plus it’s fast and fun!

          Week 3 moves on to metaphors.

Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.

–Orson Scott Card

          After a discussion of different types of metaphors on pages 49-51, you start with Adjective-Noun Collisions. On Day 1, the adjectives and words are given to you in the ten 90-second exercises. (example: Lonely Moonlight) On Day 2, you are given the adjectives; you get to choose the nouns. (example: Boastful _____) Day 3 you are given the nouns and have to provide the adjectives. (example: ______ cottage)

          The more you do these exercises, the more writing you can fit into the 90 seconds.

          Even if you aren’t planning on writing songs, these exercises would be useful to complete when you are having a hard time starting your writing day. Three or four exercises will jump start your brain.

          Writing is writing. Trying different genres gives you a new perspective—always a good thing for writers!

2015 Writing Resolutions

From Kate's Writing Crate…

        Like most years, my 2014 writing resolutions became hopeful targets rather than hard and fast goals.

They were:

             Write every day.

    Write 52 blog posts.

             Write, co-write, and/or edit for trade publications or big projects.

             Write a book by writing a page a day.

             Write a poem.

  

The reality:

             I wrote almost every day so I feel okay with that one.

             I did write and publish 52 posts.

             I did not co-write an article, but I did edit several big projects.

             I did not write a book, but I finally discovered my milieu: essays.

             I did write a poem, although it was shorter than I planned.

My 2015 Writing Resolutions are:

          Write every day.

          Write 52 blog posts.

          Write articles for regional and/or national publications.

          Write at least two essays a month. Word count 1,000-4,000.

          Write a song.

I'll let you know how these resolutions work out next year.

  

What are your New Year's writing resolutions?

The Best Writing Advice Ever

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Concise writing takes more thought, more work, more drafts. However, the results can stand the test of time. Updated 3/30/16: See posts on Mary Oliver on 3/21/16 & 4/4/16. Her thoughts: Give your writing power and time--look for verbs of muscle and adjectives of exactitude.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, published 1935

Omit needless words (page 23).

          Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. (62 words)

Gettyburg Address, 1863, the Nicolay version—thought to be earliest copy of the speech—is copied here:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal”

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow, this ground—The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people for the people, shall not perish from this earth. (235 words)

I’m not sure I can legally print lyrics here, but these songs are surprisingly concise:

“Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce, from 1971, is 128 words long.

“Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver, from 1971 is 113 words long.

“Three Times a Lady” by Lionel Richie, from 1978, is only 51 words long.

          Make every word tell. I think that is the best writing advice ever.


Please note: This advice refers to the polishing/self-editing stage, not during early drafts when the goal is to get all your thoughts down on paper.