Ernest Hemingway’s Suggested Reading List for an Aspiring Author - Thoughtkryme At 22 years old, Arnold Samuelson had done the unthinkable by hitching rides across America during the Great Depression . Throughout his travels he enjoyed reading, and one day came across Ernest Hemingway’s piece, ‘One Trip Across’, a short story which would later be integrated into Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not . Samuelson was so impressed by the piece he decided he would have to hop freight trains and hitch his way toward Florida in order to meet Hemingway in person. He did just that. “What do you want?” “I read your story ‘One Trip Across’ in Cosmopolitan . The next day Hemingway offered the following advice: The most important thing I’ve learned about writing is never write too much at a time, never pump yourself dry. Hemingway also advised young Samuelson to stay away from contemporary writing and stick with authors who have withstood the test of time.
Once Upon A Company: What Fairy Tales Can Teach You About Leadership Once upon a time… Even now, as adults, there’s something in most of us that perks up and starts to listen when we hear those words. We love stories. Think of stories as the cultural DNA of a pre-literate society. And over the centuries, some of those maps seem to have transcended culture and geography to offer guidance for being successful humans. Think of folktales as maps of success--how to live as safely and happily as possible, how to avoid making fatal mistakes of belief or action. Drawing the Map By finding and extracting these leader maps, I reasoned, I could learn not only what people look for in leaders but the corollary of that: what it takes to be the kind of leader whom others would follow. The acknowledged leader is Farsighted Passionate Courageous Wise Generous Trustworthy Here’s a quick overview of the essence of each of these characteristics: Moreover, the leader-in-training doesn’t just go through the motions. He’s not a cardboard action hero, though.
50 Best Blogs for Creative Writing Students Posted on Monday September 27, 2010 by Staff Writers Creative writing students can learn a lot from others in the industry, whether they’re fellow students, educators, or successful writers. You can find advice, inspiration, and more, just by checking out creative writing blogs online, and we’ve found 50 of the best to share here. General Find information and interesting tidbits for writers on these blogs. Inkygirl: Inkygirl has daily diversions for writers.The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog: Get your literary life with the help of this blog.Literary Rejections on Display: See literary rejections on this blog.Three Guys One Book: These bloggers discuss books together.Like Fire: Like Fire is devoted to everything wonderful in literature. Advice You’ll find excellent advice for writing and more in these blogs. Success Check out these blogs to find the secrets to creative writing success. Education Educators, students, and more share their creative writing insight on these blogs. Resources Journals
How to Tell Your Company's Story Skip Advertisement This ad will close in 15 seconds... Young Entrepreneurs Today's Most Read 9 Proven Ways to Get People to Take You Seriously 4 Intangibles That Drive CEOs What It Takes to Go From Dead Broke to 6 Figures in 6 Months The Mentality of a Successful Career 4 Big Challenges That Startups Face These Siblings Are Cooking Up America's First Meatless Butcher Shop Kim Lachance Shandrow 3 min read News and Articles About Young Entrepreneurs Failure 6 Stories of Super Successes Who Overcame Failure They're perfect examples of why failure should never stop you from following your vision. Jayson DeMers Podcasts Top 25 Business Podcasts for Entrepreneurs Podcasts are as easy to use as old-school radio but as specialized as blogs. Murray Newlands Entrepreneurship Programs Saxbys and Drexel Team Up to Promote Entrepreneurship Saxby's founder Nick Bayer talks about the one-of-a-kind program and why he wishes there was one for himself years ago. Carly Okyle Presented by Young Entrepreneurs Laura Entis Fear
Famous Advice on Writing: The Collected Wisdom of Great Writers By Maria Popova By popular demand, I’ve put together a periodically updated reading list of all the famous advice on writing presented here over the years, featuring words of wisdom from such masters of the craft as Kurt Vonnegut, Susan Sontag, Henry Miller, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Susan Orlean, Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, and more. Please enjoy. Jennifer Egan on Writing, the Trap of Approval, and the Most Important Discipline for Aspiring Writers “You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly… Accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.”
A Quick Guide to Making Your Brand's Story More Compelling image credit: The NeverEnding Story In a lot of ways, people don't buy products anymore -- they buy your business's story. That means companies must constantly refine their stories and present them in innovative ways. A brand story envelops your mission as a company, your culture and your history: How did you get started? Because shoppers are so connected through social networks, marketers should aim to present their stories in such a way that people will want to share them and their friends will want to connect with them. Here are a few suggestions on how to convey a more powerful story: Related: Storytelling Tips from the Campaign Trail Develop your "why." Not quite sure how to go about brainstorming your "why"? Ask your customers: Put up a blog or Facebook post asking your customers why they stick with you. Share your "why" in distinctive ways. Put a video on your site. Related: How to Be Unforgettable Online Give your "why" more real estate. Put it on the home page.
5 Timeless Books of Insight on Fear and the Creative Process by Maria Popova From Monet to Tiger Woods, or why creating rituals and breaking routines don’t have to be conflicting notions. “Creativity is like chasing chickens,” Christoph Niemann once said. But sometimes it can feel like being chased by chickens — giant, angry, menacing chickens. Despite our best-argued cases for incremental innovation and creativity via hard work, the myth of the genius and the muse perseveres in how we think about great artists. In the ideal — that is to say, real — artist, fears not only continue to exist, they exist side by side with the desires that complement them, perhaps drive them, certainly feed them. Steven Pressfield is a prolific champion of the creative process, with all its trials and tribulations. Are you paralyzed with fear? There’s hardly a creative bibliophile who hasn’t read, or at least heard of, Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. Athletes know the power of triggering a ritual. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
School of Storytelling - Welcome to the UK's largest selection of storytelling courses 25 Ways To Fight Your Story’s Mushy Middle For me, the middle is the hardest part of writing. It’s easy to get the stallions moving in the beginning — a stun gun up their asses gets them stampeding right quick. I don’t have much of a problem with endings, either; you get to a certain point and the horses are worked up into a mighty lather and run wildly and ineluctably toward the cliff’s edge. But the middle, man, the motherfucking middle. It’s like being lost in a fog, wandering the wasteland tracts. Seems like it’s time for another “list of 25″ to the rescue, then. Hiyaa! 1. Fuck the three-act structure right in its crusty corn-cave. 2. Hey, when you fake an orgasm, you gotta commit. 3. The shape of a story — especially the shape of a story’s middle — is a lot of soft rises and doughy plateaus and zoftig falls. 4. When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was the most interminable time because, y’know, Christmas morning is everything. 5. Sometimes, a story needs a bit of new blood in the form of a new character — someone interesting.
5 Tips for Writing Memoir « Art of Storytelling: On Writing Window view, Haverhill, MA 1. Write chronologically. On revision you can choose to mix things up, but for the rough draft, write your memoir chronologically. It’s so much easier to write that way, to remember the details. And you’ll be amazed by what memories come to you as you unfold the map of your life, year by year. 2. 3. 4. 5. Writing a memoir is profoundly healing and well worth every amount of effort that goes into the process. Need help writing your memoir? Like this: Like Loading...