Raise your hand if you’ve ever had:

1. Writer’s block
2. Fear of public speaking
3. Difficulty with marketing

Now raise your hand if you have ever improvised.

When I teach improvisation on the piano, one of the first things my students learn is how to make up a tune on the black keys.  The black keys are special.  No matter what you play on them, even if it’s with your nose, the notes that come out will always sound nice.

What does this mean for a writer?

It means that, when you’re making something up, your success will be increased by limiting your possibilities.  That sounds contradictory, doesn’t it?  Shouldn’t you be opening up the possibilities?

Suppose I asked you to write a short story.  Right now.  I’ll give you 30 minutes.  Go.

Could you do it?  Better question:  How hard would it be?  Best question:  How could I make it easier?

What if I told you the story had to be about a woman with a gun?  Does that make it easier for you to start envisioning what your story might be about?  What if I went on to say that this woman lives in a town where every woman has a gun until she is married, and she’s being courted by a man who’s jealous of her marksmanship?

As I limit the possibilities more and more, do you feel more and more empowered to make up a story?

If you’re going to speak in public, you have a choice:  You can “wing it,” or you can “read from something.”  Most writers will do something in the middle, between these extremes.  How much should you improvise, and how much should you “stick to a script?”

It depends on what you want to emphasize.  More script (if the script is good) will offer more structure.  More freedom will provide energy to the talk.

What’s important is that you think of it not as two extremes, but as a spectrum.  Think of “improvisation” as hot water in a faucet.  How hot do you want it?

How do you want to present yourself?  More structured, or more energized?  How will the balance of freedom and structure help you present yourself at your best?

You decide!

What about marketing? 

If we think back on what we’ve just learned about improvisation, we know that:

• There is more than one way to succeed in anything you do
• If you limit what you are trying to accomplish, you will empower yourself
• The right context can enhance your efforts

Marketing gurus will tell us they have the only way (but…see dot one above!). Some of them will tell you that you should spend tons of money and go as hard as you can (but…see dot two!). If you have someone telling you this, are they enhancing or reducing your effectiveness?

In my workshop, “Speaking Success – For Writers Who Want to Give Talks,” I show writers ways to get where you want to be: In front of an audience, talking about your book.  In the workshop:

• I show that there’s more than one way to get where we want to go
• I offer ways to limit ourselves (in the short term) that empower rather than shut us down
• I facilitate the decision-making process about how we want to present ourselves.

If you believe this workshop will enhance your efforts as a writer, please come visit me at: https://acole.net/finding-your-voice-public-speaking-workshop-for-writers