Photo Credit: Mike Miley via Compfight cc
Quote of the day
What neuroscience has revealed is that there is no such control center in the brain. There are hubs in our brain networks whose activity is more influential than others; however, there is no one single hub that dictates action. Our brains are much more like an ant colony: billions of neurons collaborating to give rise to our selves without any external or internal agent. In other words you are an emergent self-organizing phenomenon.
~ANDREW SMART, author of Autopilot: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing
WRITING & SCREENWRITING
- Using backstory effectively, Kristen Lamb’s Blog | Tweet
All righty. So we have been discussing “flashbacks” and I have been working hard to pull this blanket term apart because not everything that shifts back in time is the dreaded “training wheel flashback” that make us editors break out in hives. New writers love to shift back and forth in time because they are weak at plotting and characterization and “flashbacks” often serve to prop up these weak spots.
- 5 Grammar hacks for writers who hate grammar, The Write Practice | Tweet
For those of you who have decided you are a writer too, you don’t need a degree in English or be an expert in grammar. There are a few grammar hacks I’ve learned that have helped me. Here are five hacks to help you look like you know what you’re doing when it comes to grammar.
→The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment
- How to take a break from writer’s block, Men with pens | Tweet
If you’re a writer, you’ve certainly sat down at some point and realized you’re unable to create the right words. I could go into the mental anguish and agonies that ensue, but you already know them well.
Memoir is everywhere. The genre is pervasive, clogging slush piles and hard drives and bookshelves. Part of its ubiquity might have something to do with the pop-psych notion fed to so many Millenials for so long, that we are all special and unique, our perspectives and experience critical. Another contributing factor is a literal interpretation of the author’s adage, “Write what you know,” which is in fact a call to use your experience as a launching point for story, not a script.
→Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, Second Edit
- Stack of needles and giving your characters too much of a good think, John August | Tweet
Writers often create challenges for heroes by taking away something they desperately need or want. Billionaires go bankrupt. Children become orphans. Diamonds get dropped in the snow.
- Breaking In: Congrats! You won a screenwriting contest–now what?, Script mag | Tweet
From time to time, my clients report back to me that a script I evaluated in their previous draft has now won (or been a finalist in) a major screenwriting contest. I’m always happy to hear that their hard work has paid off, and that my comments apparently helped them during revisions. But after congratulating my client, I always provide additional advice: get going and take full advantage of your accomplishment.
→Write It to Win It!: 39 Secrets from a Screenwriting Contest Judge
SELF-PUBLISHING
- Selling on Facebook with Ian Cleary, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet
Do you know about Heyocart, a fun new tool for selling on Facebook?
→The Book on Facebook Marketing: To Help You Set Your Business & Life On Fire
- 5 On interview, editor Jim Thomsen discusses freelance editing, story craft, Jane Friedman | Tweet
Editor Jim Thomsen discusses freelance editing, story craft, favorite authors, and his own authorial aspirations.
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WELL-BEING
- 5 Simple ways to live an abundant life through self-simplicity, Becoming Minimalist | Tweet
We often think of minimalism as shedding away our external possessions and living with only the essentials. Certainly, this is very much part of it. But I am learning the journey is not just external, it is also internal. To experience true abundance from minimalism, it must start within.
→Simplicity: How To Live With Less, Downsize, And Get More Fulfillment From Life
PSYCHOLOGY
- The art of idleness, Psychology Today | Tweet
To be idle is to not be doing anything. Idleness is often romanticized, as epitomized by the Italian expression dolce far niente (‘it is sweet to do nothing’). Many people tell themselves that they work hard from a desire for idleness. But although our natural instinct is for idleness, most of us find prolonged idleness difficult to bear.
→Autopilot: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing
TIME MANAGEMENT
Timing really is everything. Expert advice on when is the best time to send an email, schedule a meeting, make a decision, and more.
INNOVATION
- Here’s how empathy makes real breakthroughs. Really!, The Creativity Post | Tweet
Designing with empathy doesn’t make a product that is a mere technological breakthrough, but one that people will love and that makes the difference.
→Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
- Josephine Cochrane, inventor of the dishwasher, Don Surber | Tweet
She hated washing dishes. She hated the way her servants did dishes. She hated the way dishes often chipped during washing. She longed for the day when a machine washed dishes. She waited. And waited. Then waited some more. In 1886, Josephine Garis Cochrane finally said, “If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I’ll do it myself.”
→An Uncommon History of Common Things
