Creativity Tips: A St. Patrick's Day Story

Here's a classic tip for How to Write: Tell stories.

Kansas City shines green today with one of the country's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parades. It's a real crowd pleaser. Unless the crowd you're talking about consists of rowdy DJs on a company float.

One year when I was news director of KUDL, I was in charge of the Shamrock Broadcasting float. Unfortunately, that year parade organizers decided Prohibition was in style again. No green beer on the floats. No alcohol of any color on the floats.

Now, you try being a 5-foot-tall chick and enforcing that rule with a dozen DJs bent on a binge with a brogue. It was awful. I couldn't win.

I should have been more like St. Patrick. According to legend, he feared nothing. I didn't even have the guts to tell my boss that event management wasn't my forte -- even though I knew it going in.

The same thing goes for writing. Stand up for yourself. If an editor is dissing your copy, and you disagree, speak up. Maybe the editor is simply missing a point -- believe me, it happens.

You don't have to be a fearless saint. Just have faith in your convictions -- and in yourself.