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Blog Posts and Articles
The Power of Swimming Ducks and Getting Attention
Imagine you're on a lake, watching the ducks glide across the surface of the water. The picture looks serene and peaceful. What you don't see is the torrent of movement underneath the tranquil body of each duck. The webbed feet are paddling like crazy, propelling the...
The Rise of Web 3.0
Have you ever been excited for a new movie to come out? Maybe it's the sequel to a beloved series? Maybe it's based on a great book you love and you can't wait to see it on screen? Either way you feel that adrenaline rush of energy when you see the trailer. So you...
The Danger of Authors Pretending To Be Publishers
Authors, welcome to the game. It's hard, and brutal. If you're not careful it will swallow you whole. I've learned this the hard way. Being a "self-published author" looked kind of glamorous, especially if you read stories about the likes of Amanda Hocking, JA...
How to Win An Election… Every time.
So, you've decided to run for office and you're wondering how to win an election. You assemble your team, you define a campaign strategy (for incumbents, stay the course; for challengers, we need change!), and then you need volunteers. Before you go any farther...
More To The Story
The best stories are wide as well as deep; wide enough for everyone to "get" the story but deep enough for anyone to find more story if they want it. Star Wars is an incredible example of this. Millions "get" the heroes journey that pits Luke Skywalker against his...
No Conflict Means a Bad Story
Much of my life has been spent in pursuit of sitting. I'd like to say I did something more with my time, but I can't honestly admit to a more lofty goal than the desire to do nothing. And I was really bored. Not the rainy day Saturday bored, but the kind of bored that...
Are You Prepared For Your Final Review?
Maybe you've heard this piece of advice before, but give it another chance; Dream about your funeral. Rather than being morbid or taking this as an opportunity to decide on the specific type of wood for your casket, use this moment to think about what you want others...
Your Story Is The Mojo
Every major company has a great story that you probably know, and you definitely know if you are a fan. Steve Jobs starting Apple computer in the garage, Bill Gates leaving Harvard to launch Microsoft with Paul Allen, Thomas Edison and General Electric, Colonel...
Failure is Great
As you try to live a more exciting and helpful Lifestory, you will inevitably make some decisions that simply don't work. Some of those decisions might have consequences that seem too big to overcome. They're not. Heroes are quite dumb. They have to be. In order to...
Is Truth Better Than Fiction?
I read a tweet saying there's not enough stories about people connecting, coming together, and fighting a common enemy. The context was community stories and wanting more stories about coming together as a group. That got me thinking, did the writer mean that there...
The Group vs The Individual Story
Every morning on Twitter, I ask people how I can help them. A recent request asked for more stories about communities of people persevering, more stories that share the gift of groups. The Tweeter thinks we're addicted to lone hero stories, and miss out on the gift...
Are you telling the right story?
Human beings are designed to focus on the individual, therefore stories focusing on individuals are the ones we connect with and enjoy. But how often do we tell stories that have no focus, or focus too broadly on general ideas or groups of people? Apply this to your...
Why Anguish Is Good
In stories, anguish or pain can only be effectively dealt with if neither are the exclusive focus of the story. Anguish is better introduced as a temporary state, something that must be overcome. In the same way we must deal with pain, as a temporary situation, a...
Your Story Sucks, How To Tell Great Stories
I told my friends that they needed to make up an imaginary friend named Bob. People could relate to a big guy named Bob. My friends own a small dance studio in downtown Tacoma, WA and their students were slow to commit to anything more than a few classes at a time, so...
Is Your Art A Hobby Or A Business?
Once upon a time, I wrote a piece about how an artist stood out at a local street fair by being interesting and unique. As a consequence, that artist sold more than her peers and connected with several new clients. By offering unique and interesting products, both she...
Why the Why is the Story
Too often we tell small stories without connecting to some larger story. When that happens, the audience loses interest. Without the larger story, the small stories don't have meaning. People need a "why", a larger, better story to follow. That's called context. The...
Unfollowed For Being Unfollowable (or Why I’m a Terrible Christian)
My friend unfollowed me on Twitter. Not the sort of thing a friend does, I thought to myself, but apparently she had a good reason. You see, I was hurting her heart. All my talk about the Church and the Christians that make it up, all the pointless questioning and...
Unfollowed For Being Unfollowable (or Why I'm a Terrible Christian)
My friend unfollowed me on Twitter. Not the sort of thing a friend does, I thought to myself, but apparently she had a good reason. You see, I was hurting her heart. All my talk about the Church and the Christians that make it up, all the pointless questioning and...
5 Ways to Make Social Media Work
After publishing a series of bedtime stories for parents to tell their kids and a devotional for Christians in Business, I needed a new project. So, I've begun work on a book for authors and artists about using Social Media to its fullest. These are a few main points...
How to Be a Unique Artist
In a previous article I wrote about how uniqueness will help you sell more art. You need to create unique art, or at least something more interesting than what people can buy at Target. So how do you do that? Here are some ideas: - For Painters - Find another...
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