Writing On The Wall

Garth Beyer

My friend Michelle inspired me to write this post.

When I was growing up, my first AIM (AOL instant messenger) username was Writing0nTh3WaLL. My favorite song was “The Writing On The Wall.” And oddly enough, I liked to write on walls. – Still do –

Today, I read a post of Michelle’s which said, “You may never see the writing on the wall.”

In NYC, there’s a thing called the Underbelly Project. It’s where you can find all the writing on the wall. But it’s a different kind of writing, the most passionate kind; the kind that those writing it knew it may not work.

When you wait and look for the writing on the wall you aren’t only playing it safe, you’re regressing.

With your art, nothing is certain even in your most certain moments. When you are waiting for the guarantee of success or failure, when you rehearse through every failure or success, when you try to  steady your hand before you take a whack at the nail, you’ll never follow through. Doing is about risking.

When you use the writing on the wall idiom, you’re also insinuating that there are people who don’t see it. (If everyone could see it, there would be no need for the idiom.)

Leave it to other people to see the writing on the wall.

 

Stay Positive & More People Are Wrong About The Writing On The Wall Than They Are Right

Garth E. Beyer

Reminders

Garth Beyer

We all need them and while some parents and maybe a friend or two will always be there to remind you, it’s not only that we need to be reminded more, it’s that we need to be reminded in different ways, by different people, who have different insights, and experiences.

Being reminded to turn the lights off, to keep your head up, that it get’s more difficult before it gets easier, all gets very old and less helpful when it’s monotonously and verbally repeated.

Reminding those you care about that you care about them loses its meaning when it’s the same ol’ same ol’.

Knowing this now gives you the ability to connect on a completely different level with family, friends, and strangers. Being creative isn’t only to be done with your art, it’s also meant to be incorporated in your interactions, your connections, and most importantly, you’re reminders.

 

Stay Positive & Remember, There’s A Lot We Forget

Garth E. Beyer

“Keep Calm & Carry On?” So Passe

Garth Beyer

Keep calm?

Screw that. Calm is for the banal, for the overrated, for those who unfortunately associate calm with being safe and comfortable.

When I hear “Keep Calm,” I want to say, “Go try surfing. Go to a concert. Go rock climbing. Go ship your art. Go talk to that girl. Go try something for the first time. Go get criticized.” The list goes on. And this list is a remarkable one; it can’t be completed if you wish to keep calm.

(Nor is it any fun whatsoever if the water is calm, if the crowd is calm, if the audience thinks you don’t care, if the girl doesn’t sense your nervousness and think it’s cute, if you don’t take a risk, and if you don’t care. To get anywhere (and to have fun doing so), the further away from calm, the better.)

“Keep Calm & Carry On” The motto is a bit… bucolic on the first part.

Better yet, instead of “Keep Calm,” here are some alternatives,

  • Get weird
  • Be uncomfortable
  • Be impeccable
  • Stay positive

On the latter end, to “Carry on,” I couldn’t agree with more. In fact, I’ve given my own spin to elaborate on it.

Find the strength to carry on. Once completed, find the strength to carry more. Repeat.

 

Stay Positive & As You Are, Not As People Urge You To Be

Garth E. Beyer

So You Want To Be A Columnist

Garth Beyer

You’re a writer, a great one at that.

(At least you better be if you’re looking to go into this field!)

But getting that first writing position can be difficult.

What I’ve learned about getting writing jobs isn’t the “tell me what to write and I can write about it” mentality. Far from it. As I have heard repetitively from different organizations and agencies, if a major editor is going to tell you what to write about, they might as well write it!

First things first: don’t go into a writing job seeking topics to write about.

Have them prepared.

The big risks of writing isn’t the criticism you may will get after being published; the risk is in deciding exactly what to write about, in having to judge the audience, and in diving in without anyones confirmation of your idea.

Back in the day you may have been given prompts, but now there’s too much creativity and flexibility with audience’s desires.

How To Get A Second Meet Up

Garth Beyer

We meet a lot of important people: Idols, Influencers, Administrators, Deans, and so on…

Typically, after meeting them, we fly on the cloud quote of, “You won’t believe who I met!” And that’s it. Rarely does one continue to say, “and I am meeting them again for lunch in a couple of weeks!”

To get that second meet up with someone, all you have to do is ask a question – and no, it’s not “would you like to meet up again?” [insert “ain’t nobody got time for that” meme]

You want to ask a question that the other person won’t be able to answer right away. Not only that, it must be one that they will want to think deeply about and get back to you on.

It seems simple, but it’s devilishly difficult to 1. Put in the emotional labor in such short of time to understand what the person is truly passionate about and 2. To craft a question that they have never thought about related to their passion.

In achieving this task, you create an instantaneous bond. People who are of high influence are always more attracted to those who give them more challenges than they are attracted to their supporting fans.

 

Stay Positive & It Works Out Best When You’re Both

Garth E. Beyer

Questions are a big deal.

Two Important Notes I Need To Make

Garth Beyer

I watched Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell get arrested on the UW Madison campus the other day. I’d like to amend my Pen and Journal post and add a video camera!

The second note is a little explanation/realization of why I haven’t been writing so much on PR. It’s definitely not an excuse, although it has a lot to do with excuses.

In the past, after any presentation I’ve watched, any PR guru that I met with, or any dinners I’ve had with PR professionals, I have wrote about the lessons they provided, suggestions, and bits of advice they gave me.

The reason for the recent lack of my writing isn’t because I’ve stopped learning from the universal sphere of PR influencers or that I’m not passionate about sharing with you all that I learn. No. It’s that you can’t keep coming back to my blog to read about what you should be/could be/must be doing if you want to be a PR professional.

As of lately, every PR professional seems to be reiterating all the same pieces of advice, nuggets of knowledge, and lessons they learned. (Of course, they present it in different unique ways, but the gist is still the gist.) PR is something that you can research a bit, but then you have to go out and do it.

Preparing to enter the world of PR is 10% research and educating yourself.

The other 90% is going and entering it.