TRANSFORM

You may need to transform your life as a writer

In the above article Rasheed Hooda challenged me and other writers to write a story based on the acronym template TRANSFORM, using Tim Maudlin’s model. You can find further information on Tim’s Template method here and in the free template he offers readers.

Rasheed wrote: “The time to TRANSFORM is here. It is a Therapeutic Resurgence After Nearly Suffocating From Old Repulsive Memories.”

According to Marsha Sinetar

“Change can either challenge or threaten us…Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you.”

What are your beliefs that may be blocking your way to transformation? As Henry Ford said:

“Whether you think you can or you can’t — you’re right.”

I chose different words for each letter of the TRANSFORM template.

Teach — teach something new that you know something about. The best way to learn something is to teach others about it. Share what you know. Do research to increase your knowledge and understanding.

Read — read something in a genre you don’t usually read. Reading broadly is the best way to expand your horizons. Too often we read only the types of books and articles we’ve enjoyed in the past. Try something new.

A ugment your reading with writing about what you’ve read. Take notes. Ponder what you read. Writing is closely related to teaching. When we share what we know, we enlighten others. Our words may inspire our readers to learn more about our topic or even apply it to change their lives.

Novel — write something novel, something new and different. Our readers get tired of the same old stuff. They crave new views and fresh insights and perspectives. We writers need to dig down deep and provide that. If we have nothing new and different to say, maybe we shouldn’t say anything.

Simplify — make what you write simple to understand. This doesn’t necessarily mean to shorten it, though brevity is a source of wit. Having someone else read what you write and tell you if it is understandable will help you simplify your writing. Using short sentences and common words can help.

Funny — make it humorous. We all need to laugh once in a while. One doctor(see note below) even prescribes 2 belly laughs for 15 seconds each day for good health. Look for ways to make your writing humorous. I light-hearted approach can often drive a point home and make it memorable. As one speaker said: always leave them laughing.

Outcome — what do you want to achieve? A maxim that I always try to remember is: Start with the end in mind. What do you want the take-away to be? What conclusion do you want your reader to draw? Lead them to it.

Review — Be sure to review and edit your work. We all make mistakes, but if you set your story aside for a while and then come back to it in a day or two with fresh eyes, you’ll catch many errors. Having someone with editorial experience review it and give feedback will take your writing to the next level.

Manage — Set up a plan and manage it. Projects have a beginning, mileposts or achievement goals along the way, and an endpoint. Once we know the scope of a writing project, we can layout a timetable: outline by first date, first draft by next date, first revision by next date, second revision by next date, final draft by subsequent date, submission for publication by final date. You may not like to work to such a schedule, but if you intend to be a professional writer, you need a disciplined approach. You simply must manage your work. Since you’ll likely have multiple stories in process at one time, you’ll also need to manage your submissions, rewrites, etc. Keeping a spreadsheet of submissions with date submitted, where submitted, etc. can help.

I’m tempted to transform the acronym into TRANSFORMA so I can add one more point

Attitude is everything. As the quote above implies: if you think you can, you can. If you don’t, you can’t. I know. I had a negative attitude, one of doom and gloom, for years. It took considerable work to improve my attitude and give me a brighter outlook on life. Having the right friends and a good support group or network will provide encouragement as you make any transition. You may need considerable patience and perseverance, too.

Happy TRANSFORMING!

I’ll confess, I have never been a professional writer, at least not until I started writing for Medium. I did, however, spend over 30 years as the co-owner of a Japanese language translation company specializing in the translation of Japanese patents into English. That work which involved translating and preparing thousands of documents for publication taught me the discipline needed to meet client expectations and to turn out a finished product ready for publication on time every time.

Rasheed, I hope this helps you and others think about how to transform your lives as writers.

For more on humor, see what Dr. Dale L Anderson, MD has to say about laughter at www.acthappy.com.

As always, happy reading, writing and connecting!