Say It Awesome.

The average person has an absurdly short attention span. A&R reps have incredibly huge work loads on a day-to-day basis. Having said this, I feel I can pretty much say the same thing and have it apply to both the advertising and songwriting businesses. The following are just a few thoughts I have on how to make sure your writing is punchy and memorable.

1) Your First Idea Sucks- I'm sorry, but its true. And really, if I were to be more accurate, I should say "Your First Ten Ideas Suck". This is because we are bombarded with thousands of messages everyday and far more of them get integrated into your subconscious than you think. I promise you that first concept you think of (or that first line you write) is a derivation of something you have seen before. It's nothing to be ashamed of, everyone does it. The key is digging deeper than those first, "off-the-top-of-your-head" ideas and getting into the meat of what you are trying to say. Which brings me to...

2) Cliches Are The Antithesis Of All That is Good- I hate cliches. I find their uses range from annoying to downright repulsive. And yet I catch myself writing them more often than I would like to admit. This is because they so permeate our vocabulary that you don't necessarily recognize them when you see them, which is why they are so dangerous. Cliches weaken your writing by using phrases that are so common they have completely lost any effectiveness. Your audience doesn't even absorb them.

Let's take an example: "You broke my heart". You've seen that so many times you can say it out loud without feeling a thing. But consider for a moment the VERY first time someone uttered those words. Get into the mind of the individual who in attempting to articulate how profoundly sad they were could only express it as having their heart broken. When you think about it like that it can send chills up your spine. The challenge for us writers is to invent the new cliches. Say something so uniquely meaningful that your audience feels every syllable in their gut.

3) Borrow Voices- As talented as I'm sure you are, you are only one person with one perspective on life. This presents a challenge because to be a good writer, you frequently have to be able to come at life from a completely different perspective than your own. Also, borrowing the perspectives of others can help you arrive at ideas that you would never have thought of had you stayed inside your bubble.

If you are writing a love song, its tempting to stick to the big universal truths. Unfortunately, the big universal truths are boring. They've been in every love song since the dawn of time. Change things up. How does a gondola operator in Venice see love? How does a workaholic lawyer see love? How does a teenage orphan see love? I'm sure all these people would agree on some basics, but its the nuances that make them interesting. I'm not saying necessarily write a song about these individuals, but consider looking at life through their lens.

If you are writing an ad for a chain of car-washes, how does a sports car owner see it versus a mini-van driving soccer mom? What would a cab driver say about it? A limo driver? These aren't concepts in and of themselves, but they are great jumping off places to get a start.


In conclusion, I would like to say that the bad ideas are often used because we are told to go with our instincts. Don't. If you do 50 concepts and have 5 good ones, you're better at this than me. If you write a song and get it perfect on the first draft, congratulations, you're a genius. But for the rest of us mortals, hard work pays off and in the end you really only need one awesome idea.

Back on Thursday.

It's Not What You Know...

Advertising and Music are both entertainment industries. They are professions in which your success is based on your creativity and talent, and if there is one thing I've realized, its that there are a ridiculous number of extremely talented people in the world.

Now, this phrase has been used to describe just about every job in the world, but I feel it gets used in particular with the glamor positions in life : Actors, musicians, CEO's, politicians, etc.

"It's not what you know, its who you know."

I couldn't agree more. The reality is that no one does it alone and you have to have a circle of people (a "network" if you will") to help get you where you want to be. HOWEVER I think way too many people use this as an excuse to not work as hard as they could or give up altogether.

So what if you don't get anything purely on your abilities? Get out there and meet people! It's not selling out, it's not sucking up, and its not cheating. It's building a safety net, a ladder, or whatever other metaphor you want to use. If you are a musician, go out and meet some producers, talk to some songwriters. Actor? Find people who make music videos, get involved with student films, befriend a key grip on some crappy B movie.

If you are in advertising, find out who did your favorite ads, and CALL THEM. Thats the beauty of what we do. No one is so famous that they won't take a call to speak with someone who truly admires their work. We're an insecure lot, and any ego-stroking is greatly appreciated.

You never know when you are going to make a friend who knows a guy who knows a guy who MIGHT get you a job. It's called opportunity people, and it doesn't just fall into your lap. Everything doesn't happen for a reason. Everything happens, and then its up to you to make some reason out of it.

Ok, rant over. See ya Tuesday.

The First Post!

So here we are.

I have joined the ranks of the blogosphere and added my voice to the literally millions of others. Joy. What am I doing here you ask? Well, to be perfectly honest I about to embark on a new leg of this crazy little journey we call life. I am about to graduate college, move to Nashville, move in with my best friend, (hopefully) find a job in the advertising world, seek out an incredibly attractive and talented woman to con into a relationship, AND hopefully write a bunch of songs along the way.

I figured I didn't have enough on my plate, so I'd start a web log. Or blog as the kids say.

My plan is to record my perceptions, misadventures, and sometimes even my "not-quite-insane" thoughts about writing ads, writing music, writing a blog, and of course my personal life. Who knows, I might even throw in a few classic internet rants. Those are fun.

I will do my best to A) Update every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. B) Respond to any comments you people leave me. C) Keep it relatively clean for the childrens, and more importantly my parents.

I realize this was boring, but its 3:30 AM and the first post always sucks. See you Sunday.