Hollywood rarely gets creative/writerly characters and situations right. (Just one case in point is the mom character in Cheaper By The Dozen. A publisher picks up her book and in about two minutes she’s touring and has an Oprah appearance scheduled.) So I was surprised that the movie Music and Lyrics gave several fairly accurate glimpses of what the life of a professional artist is like, whether that person is a painter, songwriter, composer, or novelist.
Music and Lyrics is a chick flick and I wasn’t expecting anything heavy or overly soul-searching in a movie about a washed-up ‘80s pop singer trying to make a comeback. It lived up to its billing as a light romantic comedy but it went a bit further as it illustrated these truths about being a person who strives to make a living from his—or her—creative ventures:
Truth #1: “In the end it’s all just business.”
After the new pop singer’s version of their sweet song twists it into something that “simultaneously destroyed two musical cultures,” Alex (Hugh Grant) tells his principled lyricist, Sophie (Drew Barrymore), that she’s not going to be able to convince the singer to change the song back to their version because “in the end it’s all just business.”
I certainly learned this lesson. I love to write and create characters and plots, but if I want anyone else to read my writing it has to be saleable. Publishing is a business, not a charity. Publishing companies have to make money to stay in business. As a hybrid author who also self publishes I have to decide if what I want to write will resonate with readers. Traditional publishers and indies are taking a gamble with every book, investing time and money. The trick, as Alex discovers in the movie, is to balance the business side with the creative side.
Truth #2: Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’d hoped.
When Alex takes Sophie to a music store and shows her his solo album, he tells her he only sold a few copies and most of those went to his mother. Then he says the particular copy they’re looking at has been in the stores for years—literally. He’s made a mark on the case so he can check to see if it has sold.
This scene perfectly captures the agony and the ecstasy of presenting your work to an audience. The ecstasy: doing the “shelf check” at the local bookstore and proudly signing copies, or signing on to Amazon and seeing your book there for anyone to download. The agony: returning to the bookstore two weeks later (or a month) and seeing those exact books are still there—as in they haven’t sold. Or, checking your sales dashboard and seeing that no one has picked up a digital copy of your book. Not good. Sometimes you hit the mark and sometimes you don’t.
Truth #3: “Inspiration is for amateurs.”
When Sophie says she can’t write the last verse of the song because she doesn’t feel inspired, Alex tells her “inspiration is for amateurs.”
Sometimes getting my fingers on the keyboard is the hardest thing I do all day. There’s always plenty of other pressing things that need to be done: errands to run, laundry to fold, dishes to wash, bills to pay, a dog to walk. But if I make myself start, then I’m sucked into my fictional world and time flies.
Truth #4: “It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just spit it out.”
It took me a long time to learn this—and I mean years. The first draft is just that: a draft. It’s supposed to be messy and rough. I even wrote an article about this truth called Just Get Something Down on Paper. It’s in the November 2006 issue of The Writer Magazine and is based on the Maxwell Perkins quote, “Just get something down on paper, then we’ll see what to do about it.” Excellent advice!
Do you have any “truths” about writing? No movie references required—but I’d love to hear them if you’ve got them.
Oh, and by the way, if you haven’t seen the movie, the video for Pop Goes My Heart is great fun, especially for those of us who grew up on cheesy story-telling music videos with the puffy haired, shoulder-pad-wearing guy groups of the 80s.
This post has been updated. It originally ran on the Good Girls Kill for Money Club blog.


While waiting for Hollywood to release a new excellent romantic comedy (she’s not holding her breath), Sara Rosett writes cozy mysteries (the Ellie Avery series and the Murder on Location series) and a suspense series with a dash of romance (the On the Run series). She is a travel junkie, loves all things bookish, and considers dark chocolate a daily requirement.
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