In their Advanced Writing an Editing seminar—which I taught with them last year—Mark Ragan and Jim Ylisela talk a lot about leads.

Other than the headline, the first sentence or two of a story is the most important thing you write, we all agree. And most writers would, too.

The first sentence that the reader reads sets the tone for the entire article, right? Of course it does.

But it occurred to me the other day that “leads” exist outside of writing, too. Leads happen in the real world, don’t they?

Can’t the first sentence you hear in a meeting set the tone for the entire meeting?

When I was the editorial director at Ragan years ago, before I learned that I wasn’t cut out to manage anyone other than myself (and that’s questionable), a lot of my meetings with my bosses would start out with sentences like these:

“How could you fuck this up?”

“Do you have any idea how much money this is eventually going to cost us?”

And my personal favorite:

“Are you running an editorial department out there, or a fucking circus?”

Those first sentences set the tone for the entire meeting . . . and, for that matter, for my entire career as an editorial director/manager of people.

And I think leads exist on the domestic front, too. The first things you say to your spouse—or the first words he/she says to you—can set the tone for the entire day. Sometimes for the entire week, month, or year!

This occurred to me the other day. Cindy and I had been out late, at the Blues Bar that we go to whenever we can, and things got a little fuzzy towards the end. As they sometimes do, at the Blues Bar.

When we woke up the next day, here are the first things we said to each other, word for word:

Steve: “Why am I not wearing any pants?”

Cindy: “I think I yanked a hamstring.

That's a lead that makes you want to read the story, no?

Now, you may think this sort of exchange happens almost every day at Crescenzo Communications, but you’d be wrong.

First of all, I never go to bed without pajama pants on. Or at least sweatpants. I have some caveman instinct in me that won’t let me get comfortable unless I am adequately dressed, should I need to get up and defend the house against intruders.

So the fact that I wasn’t wearing pants was important.

And Cindy is a dancer. And she is in training right now. She doesn’t pull hamstrings easily. I can yank a hammy leaning into the refrigerator for a bottle of champagne . . . and I have. But Cindy’s legs are the ninth wonder of the world . . . so for her to yank a hamstring, extraordinary things must have taken place.

Can you see how that “lead” could set the tone for the entire day?

And that got me to thinking about other morning “leads” that are common in the Crescenzo Communications marital bed. They are all tone setters for the day. Play a game with yourself, and try to figure out which person—me or Cindy—said the following leads:

“Oh . . . . shit. My head.”

“Want to?”

“What the fuck with the pillows?”

“I’m going to kill your cat and show you the bloody carcass.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else today?”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“We have a bit of a situation here, honey.”

[Sung in someone’s best Marvin Gaye voice]: “Let’s get it on . . .”.

“Poke me with it again and I’ll rip it off and flush it down the toilet.”

“The cat stays. You don’t have to.”

“El Jardin’s?”

“Sorry about last night.”

"How many did I have, exactly?"

“That Goddamned Murray.”

Of course, there are plenty of normal mornings too . . . where we say things like, "Good morning," and "How'd you sleep?" and "I love you," and "What should we do with Zach today?"

But those aren't as much fun to write about.