Arlo Guthrie, a Pickle, and 5 Signs You're Forcing a Bad Idea to Work

I Had This Idea about Deadlines

I had this idea Sunday about deadlines and how we sometimes push words and designs out the door to meet them — how schedule beats quality and how that works against us every time.

I wanted a fun example to talk about. So I chose Arlo Guthrie’s “The Motorcycle Song,” and started writing this post. I chose it because the first time I heard someone sing that particular song, I remember thinking that the lyrics are, well, less than inspiring.

I don’t want a pickle.
Just want to write on my motorcyle.
I don’t want a tickle,
I want to write on my motorcyle.
and I don’t wanna die. . .
Just wanna ride my motorcy-cle.
–Arlo Guthrie, The Motorcycle (The Significance of the Pickle) Song

My, wasn’t I smart? Well, no, not even clever. I was in love with my own idea.

Anyone who remembers the song probably already suspects what a truly bad idea that was.

Why Arlo’s Example Was a Bad Idea

I was so in love with my own idea, I didn’t see the inherent flaw. Arlo Guthrie wrote those “unfortunate lyrics” with care and purpose as part of a humorous story. He wasn’t tring to meet a deadline. He didn’t write those words in some rush to get them out the door.

To be fair to Mr. Guthrie, and for those who don’t know the song, this is part of the story within the song . . .
.

I was doing a 150 miles an hour sideways and 500 feet down at the same time. . . . I knew that that was it the end . . . I decided to write one last farewell song to the world. . . .

I don’t want a pickle.
Just want to write on my motorcyle.
I don’t want a tickle,
I want to write on my motorcyle. . . .

Hey I, ya know, I knew it wasn’t the best song I ever wrote, but I didn’t have time to change it. . . . As fate would have it, I didn’t die. I landed on the top of a police car, and he died. –Arlo Guthrie, The Motorcycle (The Significance of the Pickle) Song

Arlo’s lyrics weren’t an example of what I wanted to talk about. They didn’t belong in the post at all.

I was IN a proverbial pickle and didn’t know it.

5 Signs You’re Forcing a Bad Idea

I wrote the post anyway. It took me hours longer than most do. The hardest part was figuring out how to tie what I said about deadlines back to the lyrics in Arlo’s song. Of course it was hard, I was reaching for a connection that didn’t exist. I look back now and see the signs were all there.

You already might know the 5 signs that you’re forcing a bad idea to work, but just in case, here they are in a list.

1. Your writing is taking exponentially longer than it usually does.

2. The segues get longer and longer and seem more and more impossible to write.

3. You hear yourself and your readers whispering to you, “yes, but . . . ” the entire time you are writing.

4. You feel smart and stupid simultaneously while you’re writing — particularly when you write the conclusion that sums everything up.

5. You know that something’s not working, but you can’t seem to find it, fix it, or let go.

It’s hard to leave an idea we love that’s not working. As someone who knows, it’s even harder to know you’ve worked an idea to death and live to mourn the result. The good news is most of us know intuitively when we’re trying to make a bad idea work. What we need to do is add a little time and distance to the mix.

What Arlo’s Song Really Taught Me

When I reached the point where I thought I had a reasonable draft, I set the post aside and didn’t return to it until today.

Even before I opened the post to edit it, I knew what the problem was. I made the content about deadlines a different post for later.

I wrote this new post to share what I’d figured out and because . . . well, I like the weird irony that Arlo wrote protest songs and that my ideas protested loudly when I tried to force them to fit.

When writing becomes a pile of potholes and roadblocks, I’m working too hard on the wrong things. I shouldn’t need a bulldozer or a machetet next to my keyboard.

Good ideas don’t need to be forced. They eventually find their natural shape.

No more writing pickles for me or for Arlo. (He explains it quite well in his song.) Go on listen.

Motorcycles on the other hand are still an option.

Thanks, Arlo, for that wonderful song and for the reminder that I can’t love a bad idea into a good one . . . no matter how much work I invest.

–ME ‘Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.