blog
-
We Just KILLED One of Your Stories
I think my eyes registered the memory the words before my mind did — because as my eyes widened with excitement, my body soon followed, as my mind played catch-up trying to string the words together with memories… “We’re killing your story…” The first thing, I think I thought was Nancy Drew… no, that’s not it… ahhh, yes, Journalism 400, in college, when you wrote for the Lantern… when you thought you’d be a newspaper reporter covering the Gulf War. OK — wait, you’re doing what? You’re killing a story — and all I have to do is submit it and I still get paid? Because you want me to jump…
-
On Saving Women’s Lives and Giving them Power
Take a look at some of my recently published stories. Here, And here.
-
Without Having All the Answers, She Made It Anyway
April is a remarkable woman. Without having any hope, support or help of moving her life in a new, healthier direction, somehow, she managed to do it anyway, I may have mentioned her before, when I was in the middle of writing her story,,., and here it is published.
-
All The Things I Can’t Tell You About What Happened In New York
At a party last Friday, my story about my trip to NYC went off like a bomb. And through the open, dropped jaws of my friends, came the words, “write this down… this is an amazing story….†I’ve been thinking about how I will do this. The story cannot be published here, it’s far to dangerous to publish. We talked about disguising the story, and then, everyone’s face squints up with horribleness, and we realize, no, this is not an option. The story has elements that make the story, and they are impossible to evade. Nor is it worth the risk to try. We are referring to my trip…
-
Students: Show Me How You Will Change Lives
Last night, I provided a workshop to students at OSU. The room was full of electrical, mechanical, and computer engineers, pharmacy majors, education majors and business majors. The one thing they had in common? Bright ideas. Each one of the kids, still college students, already have a new product idea; some have already launched. (And they’re taking exams and carrying a full course load.) I was there to give them some insight into how to convince venture capitalist to invest in their product; doing so could be the smartest business decision they could ever make. How do you do that? I taught them to tell a story…Don’t show me how…
-
To Those Who Abandon Their Own Storefronts
My 7th Grade English Teacher : If you want to understand something, teach it. If you want to know something, write about it. They asked me to write a column; a series of articles to show how storytelling could help companies explain their products and services to customers. I thought, I’m just simply going to “re-tell†everyone what they already know. What’s so profound about explaining information about your product, and getting it out there for people to see? What I found instead, was how so many companies get it wrong. Poorly written websites, which never get to the meat of what consumers want to know: How does your product…
-
How To Create Timeless Stories
In the same way that there are only 8 notes, every story we love follows a pattern. Whether we are watching Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, or The Hobbit, there is always a recurring theme. The archetype, is Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth... and it buries down deep into our psyches. Our hero has a problem, he receives help from a wise mentor, faces an obstacle and he is eventually transformed. The same story evolves when we watch the iPhone Christmas Commercial. The aloof teen is our hero. His weekend with the relatives is transformed when he uses the iPhone to create a tear-jerking family memory montage movie. I love revealing…
-
The Bicycle Wheel and Indulging in the News
Three years ago, when we were in the Russian River Valley in California, we ate in a bistro. In the back of this restaurant was this painting of a bicycle wheel. I remembered it, stored in the archives of my photo collection, when I wrote this article, and created a graphic to go with the article. The article is the first of my new column… my next deadline is May 1. The article focused on finding a fast way to read all that you need to read on the internet — so that even if you’re just reading the headlines, you’ll know what’s going on. I just started using Feedly…
-
The Work of Christmas
As we clear out the Christmas Clutter, the real work of Christmas begins. Read here.
