Quote of the day
From a young age, economically privileged children are socialized into interactional styles emphasizing independence, self-expression, agency, and entitlement. Just as affluent parents are more likely to advocate for placing their kids into classes with good teachers or to dispute poor treatment of a child, affluent children similarly learn to act on the social world to get the resources they need.
~LAUREN A. RIVERA, author of Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs
WRITING & SCREENWRITING
- Want to be a better writer? Cut these 7 words, The Write Practice | Twitter
If you’re reading this, then you want to be a better writer. However, becoming a better writer is elusive, isn’t it? It’s more art than science. There are hundreds of writing rules, thousands of words to know, and millions of possible ways you could write even a simple message. How do you become a better writer when writing itself is so complicated?
- I would if I could…, Live Write Thrive | Twitter
Some people might consider the distinction between could and would to be only a matter of degree of politeness (would being more polite than could). But could encompasses additional meanings and connotations.
→The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well
- How to manage scenes in a novel, Kristen Lamb’s blog | Twitter
As a fiction author, you will often feel like an acrobat spinning plates while standing on your head and juggling fiery chainsaws. There are so many components to keep track of, lest you end up down the Bunny Trail of No Return. Organization is key when it comes to being a successful novelist.
→Scene & Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing)
- The benefits of reading your script aloud, Go into the story | Twitter
You’ve probably heard or read this advice: Read your script aloud. It’s great advice. Start from FADE IN, then go through it, line by line, all the way to FADE OUT. I do this several times in the latter part of my final edits for each draft.
→Reading Screenplays: How to Analyse and Evaluate Film Scripts (Creative Essentials)
- 8 common mistakes made by new screenwriters, John August | Twitter
B.J. Novak is all about lists. He asked me to write this one about issues I frequently see in scripts written by beginning screenwriters.
→20 Common Mistakes Made by Screenwriters and How to Avoid Them
SELF-PUBLISHING
- Different ways to publish, Author Marketing Experts | Twitter
As you know, there are many ways to publish a book. And it’s important to define which type of publishing is right for you and your book.
- A new reflection on image copyrights and legal issues with book cover design, Creativindie | Twitter
Today I saw this post about Richard Prince taking other people’s Instagram photos without permission or warning and selling them in a New York art gallery for $90,000 each.
→No Law: Intellectual Property in the Image of an Absolute First Amendment
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CREATIVITY
Nostalgia makes us crave the past. It brings back fond memories of family road trips to the Grand Canyon, a crush at summer camp, hanging out with high school friends—the good old days. It seems counterintuitive, then, that such a backward-looking emotion would inspire original ideas, but that’s exactly what new research has found. It turns out that nostalgia may actually make people more open to new experiences, and this effect can boost creativity.
→Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention
MINDFULNESS
- Harvard Neuroscientist: meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain, The Washington Post | Twitter
Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was one of the first scientists to take the anecdotal claims about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans. What she found surprised her — that meditating can literally change your brain.
→Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness
LIFESTYLE
- I get a wife bonus and I deserve it, so STFU, New York Post | Twitter
Meet Polly Phillips, 32, who gets a five-figure sum every year from her petroleum engineer spouse for being a stay-at-home mom. While she refuses to divulge exact figures, Houston-based headhunter Mike Vineyard estimates her husband’s bonus could be as much as $150,000 a year. Here, Phillips proudly explains how she spends the money — and how the cash payment makes her more, not less, of a feminist than ever.
→Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir
LEARNING
Some people can speak a seemingly impossible number of tongues. How do they manage it, asks David Robson, and what can we learn from them?
→Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
EDUCATION
- How to join the 1%, The Economist | Twitter
Which raises a pressing question: how do you maximise your chances of joining such elite professional-services firms? Lauren Rivera of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management has spent a decade studying how these firms recruit. The result, “Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs”, is an academic book with the requisite references to gender theory and Marxist concepts of inequality. But read it carefully and it becomes something far more useful—a guide on how to join the global elite.
→Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs
PSYCHOLOGY
- Research confirms that humble bragging doesn’t work, it’s just really annoying, Huffington Post | Twitter
Before you share the news about your recent job promotion on Facebook, consider this: Researchers have found that a little humble-bragging can backfire. In other words, your false modesty is pretty transparent, and people detest you for it.
→Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It
HEALTH
Most meals at American restaurants aren’t healthy. They’re packed with processed food and enough calories to cover two or three sensible meals. Yet it’s entirely possible to eat both healthy and tasty restaurant meals. And because eating out is one of life’s great pleasures, we’ve put together this guide to smart restaurant eating.
→Eat Out, Eat Well: The Guide to Eating Healthy in Any Restaurant