SOME SOUND ADVICE

July 14, 1964

Hollywood (UPI) 

Just a short while ago I was invited to speak to the student body of the University of California at Los Angeles as part of the presentation ceremony at the 10th annual Samuel Goldwyn creative-writing awards. 

What is a former Goldwyn girl supposed to say on the subject of creative writing to an auditorium filled with June graduates? Well, the one thing I felt I could do was give these youngsters an idea of what has helped me in my own life and just hope they wouldn’t think me too square. 

Being in the position I am today I certainly know some of the pitfalls that young people worry about. They are just a little bit apprehensive about the world outside the gates of their alma mater.

I feel sincerely that one of the most important things to do is to recognize all the small successes along the way and not let that one big goal be so bright and shiny that it blinds everything on the way to it. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if I could say to a graduate that because he did so well in college, “You just walk right into a studio, join a union, get yourself representation, find work, and make a fine living.” Unfortunately it’s just not possible. 

On the other hand, no one should get taken up in the undertow of pessimism in our lives. Don’t accept it. There’s room for everybody, and don’t forget it. Pessimism is not worth wasting time on. 

It’s better to put time on writing or whatever endeavor is the goal. There’s room for any one who wants to survive in any business. Just don’t be overwhelmed by all those people out there doing all those big things. Remember the starting point, and meet just one wave at a time. An individual should develop enough self-awareness to recognize every little success that comes his way. 

Another thing I feel very strongly about is that a writer – or any individual – must have an interest in people. I don’t think it can be stressed too much. Next to you right now may be the most interesting human being in the world – even in your own home. 

Every day that we live there are interesting, stories all around us. It’s all in the way the writer looks at it and is able to transmit it to paper. 

Writing a story about that little incident that happened today is just as important as that big, big novel to be written sometime in the far distant future. 

But don’t make it too tough. Don’t make it any tougher than getting up every day and being interested in everything and everybody around you. And, above all, each one should keep up his interest in himself – his love of himself.

My final point – as a Goldwyn graduate – is this: There’s only one way to write. How? You take your pencil in hand and apply it to paper. There’s no other way.

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Lucille Ball was not  a writer herself. She had a brilliant team of writers by her side throughout her career. Ball speaks in general terms about the power of positive thinking, a motivational strategy espoused by her friend and mentor Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who performed her marriage to Gary Morton.  In the 1970s, Ball would return to UCLA as a guest lecturer in comedy.