Lessons from Lady Gaga

Okay, so Lady Gaga is not “Lady Behave Yourself,” and maybe you’re not one of her “Little Monster” fans, but that doesn’t mean you as a writer (or anyone for that matter) can’t learn some valuable lessons from Stepani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.

Here are ten for starters.

1. Don’t stop writing, revising, and submitting your work until someone takes notice.  Early in her career, Lady Gaga had trouble getting airplay, and at her first appearance at the Lollapalooza music festival, the stage was sparse, the crowd distracted, and the reviews less than stellar.  But Gaga didn’t stop practicing and singing until somebody took notice.
2. Fight fear.  “I’m not afraid anymore,” Lady Gaga is quoted as saying.  She describes herself in high school as a bit insecure, too provocative and eccentric, that she didn’t fit in and often felt like a freak.  All the more courage for her to appear on stage with her keyboard and sing her heart out.
3. Ignore the critics.  Lady Gaga has been described as a pop exhibitionist, a gimmicky pop tart, a train wreck, a pop weirdo, and a loner workaholic.  Even worse, her music has been called glossy, formulaic pop.  Yet she’s now one of the most powerful and influential celebrities and musicians in the world.
4. Image matters.  Don’t be afraid to incorporate a few bells and whistles into your work, a catchy header to your website, an eye-popping book cover, a hooker book title and story opener.  Stand out from the crowd.  Gaga is a natural brunette, but after people started mistaking her for Amy Winehouse, she bleached her hair blond.  She’s flamboyant, provocative.  She wears revealing leather corsets, glittery bras, black bottoms, drag queen over-the-top nutso clothes.  She brought performance art into the mainstream, her mantra: “If you’re going to be an entertainer, look entertaining.
5. Create a fan base and then be true to them.  No matter how difficult it is for you as a writer (rather than a performer) to “meet and greet” your current and future readers, it’s a must.  If nothing else, maintain a website or a blog to stay in touch.  Lady Gaga calls her fans “Little Monsters” and has a tattoo with that inscription to their tribute.  She says “It’s not an easy thing to create a fan base,” and lets her fans know that she appreciates their loyalty.
6. Believe in yourself.  Your future as a writer starts with you and ends with you.  If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.  In Lady Gaga’s own words, “I would stare into the bright lights and imagine I could do anything.  Be anything.  And I would tell myself it would be me up there one day.”
7. Face the life that is ahead of you.  Don’t look back at past failures.  Look at what lies ahead.  The first stanza of Lady Gaga’s song Come Sail Away, says it well.  “I’m sailing away; Set an open course for the Virgin Sea; ‘Cause I’ve got to be free; Free to face the life that’s ahead of me.”
8. Keep practicing.  I’ve heard it takes 10 years of deep practice to get really good at something.  Stefanie Germanotti began performing open mike nights at age 14.  Now she’s 23.  Ha.  Almost ten years.
9. Stretch your horizons.  Use fashion, art, dance, music, essays, poetry–whatever it takes–as inspiration for your writing.  Lady Gaga says fashion is a source of inspiration for her songwriting and performances.  At age 17, while studying music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, “she improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues, and politics.” Wikipedia, Lady Gaga.  “Once you learn how to think about art,” she said, “you can teach yourself.”
10. Don’t give up.  Yes, you’re been told that the odds are against you, that chances are you’ll never get published, the competition is fierce.  But Don’t Give Up.  (Lady Gaga’s Lyrics Mode.)  “Don’t give up; ‘Cause I believe there’s a place; There’s a place where we belong.”

At the subatomic level, the world is weird, and Lady Gaga has brought weird center stage and added her personal touch.  People who follow her feel that she is sincere, regardless of–or maybe because of–her flamboyant, provocative style.  They feel blessed, because she and her music touches them.

To sum things up, here’s a quote from Lady Gaga, followed by the video, Poker Face, compliments of YouTube:

“My name is Lady Gaga.  I thank your for coming to my show.  I didn’t used to be brave.  In fact, I wasn’t very brave at all.  But you made me brave, little monsters.  So now I’m going to be brave for you.  Tonight I want you to free yourself.”

As always, thanks for stopping by,