By Chris Manion
Lessons the cello taught me that apply to my
writing.
1. Even
though I knew nothing about playing it, I learned the cello with practice and a
good teacher.
2. When
I practice the same scales week after week just to get through them, I make
little progress. I must understand the relationship of each note to the next.
3. I
need to listen in a new way to discern when a note is on pitch. This takes
time.
4. I
need to practice new pieces slowly at first. Zipping over the parts that give
me trouble does not earn praise from my teacher.
5. Cello
strings need constant tweaking to stay in tune.
6. I
must make a commitment. If I don’t set a specific time for it, practice doesn’t
happen.
7. If
I want to be good, I have to commit to practicing regularly. I want to be good.
Here’s how I’ve applied these lessons to my writing
this year. To practice and find a good teacher, I’m attending another writers’
conference this month and will attend a fall writers retreat. I’ve committed
myself as a writer on several blogs and formed a local chapter of Word Weavers
to provide critique partners to help fine tune my work.
To understand the relationship of words to one
another, each month I watch Left Behind
author Jerry Jenkins’s live critique sessions. I also read a book on editing or
writing to help me listen in a new way to what I’ve written, to write tighter
and with less errors. I’m currently reading
Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors by Kathy Ide. One of her
bonuses: updates on the latest changes in CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style).
I’m a procrastinator. I skip parts that give me
trouble. When I get stuck, I don’t finish an article or submit it for
publication. A good critique partner or writing coach can help me through this.
I need to swallow my pride and ask my partner for help more often.
After editing my writing, I print it out and read it
aloud. Many tiny errors pop out on paper or to the ear that slip by on a
computer screen. Ears hear the music in writing. Another practice: I wait and
re-read it again, later.
My best time for writing is the morning, so I’ve set
6:00 – 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. – noon for writing hours. My brain feels drowsy
after eating lunch, so I set my cello practice for 1:00 p.m.
If the energy from a butterfly flapping its wings
can result in a tsunami (quantum physics says so), what transformative power we
hold in our hands when we make music, or write, or do whatever God gave us
talent to do. Let us do it now without another moment’s delay.
Like my cello, someone’s waiting and needs our
words. Our talents are not meant to be buried.
Best-selling author Chris Manion is a
conference and retreat speaker as well an award-winning catechist. Chris served
as a coach and national leader in the direct selling industry for twenty-six
years where she built a $20 million sales organization before retiring. Chris’s
mission spotlights the oneness of all creation; her writing and talks encourage
hearts to awaken to what their souls know but may have
forgotten. Chris blogs at www.PuttingontheNew.com and www.ChrisManion.com/blog. God’s Patient Pursuit of My Soul can be
found at Amazon www.tinyurl.com/GodisPatient, Barnes & Noble, and www.Redemption-Press.com/shop. Social Media links: http://www.facebook.com/authorchrismanion
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