Stay Positive

Grab your coat and get your hat, Leave your worries on the doorstep; Life can be so sweet On the sunny side of the street. Life’s kind of a Debbie Downer half the time already (wah-wah) – enliven it a bit in your writing by staying clear of the not-only-this-but-that sentence construction. Not only do our clients deserve better, but our readers do, too. Wait, let’s rephrase that, because you can almost always rework this phraseology so it’s a positive instead of a negative: The not-only-this-but-that sentence construction is overused and negative. Our clients and readers deserve better. Let’s all try to be a bit more sunny (without being too cute about it) – a positive sentence structure gets your point across more convincingly, anyhow.

Note: I know, two weeks ago I started a post with song lyrics, too. But we can learn a lot from song lyrics about wit and rhythm, especially standards and songs written for musicals, where the songs are stories themselves. "On the Sunny Side of the Street" was written by the lyricist Dorothy Fields, who also wrote "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "A Fine Romance," among others. "A song just doesn't come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out," she said, "and anyone that tells you that a song is something that's an inspiration - I hate that word - or a magic spark, or an IBM machine gets you going, has got to prove that one to me. It's hard slave labor. Ask anyone who writes - it's slave labor and I love it."

Comments

[TJ]

I agree with everything you wrote. It is really hard to stay positive when waking up everyday concerned about what the day might bring. I just read an article on ways to help stay positive and healthy. The author noted that we all need to keep ourselves motivated to stay positive. We all must admit to ourselves that "yes eventually I will probably have a bad day". We need to get over these times of "downess" and move on and progress in our lives and as people. To help stay motivated find an inspirational saying or lyric that sticks in your head. You don't have to write it down or read it every hour of the day. Keep it in a place in your mind/heart so that you can refer to it when you need it. I hope you find peace in everyday...