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If Bird Can Shoot, You Can Flow
Marsha Maung
Aug 14th, 2009One great writer once told me that some people have it, some people don’t.
And then you have Larry Bird, one monstrous, awkward cement mixer in the middle of the basketball court. He should be just standing there and get paid, you know what I mean? He’s an OBSTACLE not a basketball player! And yet, he’s one of the most amazing players known to man. Apart from that lithe speed-of-light Jordan guy. Phew!!
Larry Bird who moves at a speed so slow, I could beat him to the net. I think…kinda hoping.
Anyway, the point is this; someone great once told me that some people have it, some don’t. The same goes for writing. You think?
The problem with most wannabes is this: they don’t know how to make everything come together as one nice piece of artwork. Like they KNOW how to write and put sentences together and stuff but when people read it….they go ‘And….the point is….let me read it again….er….oh, what the hell!’
Flow.
But flow is a tricky thing, you see, because it doesn’t come to you JUST LIKE THAT. Your English teacher can’t teach you how to make your writing flow because it’s something that comes naturally to people. Like how some people just dance more gracefully than others. Like how some people are better at plate-washing than others – it comes naturally.
Or so it seems.
In order to have flow, you need to be good at putting your THOUGHTS into WORDS in the correct manner and if you read your writing out loud when you’re done with it, maybe you’ll find the places where things don’t sound right.
Or you start stuttering a little when you’re reading it aloud. THAT’s where it doesn’t flow. It’s not hopeless, however, because it can be practiced. You can practice so hard….SO HARD…till it hurts just to think about doing it. You begin to hate the word ‘write’ and ‘flow’ so much that you want to slam your head into a wok and cook your head.
Now, back to Larry Bird.
The thing that makes Larry Bird great is that he tries THAT MUCH HARDER just to be as good AND better than anyone else you can imagine.
I mean, have you seen the man in court? He’s the size of a truck and acts like a boulder, for goodness sakes! And there he is, there’s his name – one of the most amazing basketball players in the world.
And if Bird can learn how to be faster and better than so many other writers…..shoot, I meant basketball player out there, you can learn flow just by practicing it till it hurts.
You can start by reading it aloud or mouth the words out silently when you’re editing or proofing…just don’t let anyone see you mouth the words out. There’s also no need for theatrics either when reading aloud. You don’t need to slam the table to make a point.
Just check if it sounds smooth is all.
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REPUBLICATION RIGHTS! IMPORTANT!!
Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance web copywriter with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her blog for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.
REPUBLICATION RIGHTS! IMPORTANT!!
Listen up! I am a very nice person, if you think this article is neat and you'd like to publish it in your website, all's cool with me but with one condition. Only one and from the bottom of my heart, I wish that you would, in all sincerity, allow me my one single wish....to place the following codes into the your website at the END OF THE ARTICLE. It's not going to disrupt much, so please do it?
Either paste the above ABOUT THE AUTHOR stuff into your website (with links included) or copy the following codes into your website. That's it! Thank you! *muax*
<b>Marsha Maung</b> is a Malaysian-based <a href="http://www.marshamaung.com" target="_blank">freelance writer</a> with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her <a href="http://www.marshamaung.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blog</a> for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.
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