At a business conference in Orlando a few years ago, we were given after-hours access to Epcot’s mission:Space ride. I squeezed into a space vessel the size of a bathroom stall alongside three women whom I’d just invited to connect on LinkedIn. Inside was a 3-D monitor, a control panel of blinking lights, and a set of…
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People who want to write tend to whisper
READ MORE: People who want to write tend to whisperPeople seem to have no problem voicing their desire to buy a good pair of jeans or go bird watching. I detect zero self-consciousness from the person who tells me she wants to go see Mean Girls on Broadway. Or enroll in improv classes. But. When people want to write, they don’t say it loudly;…
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You’re a lot like Orpheus
READ MORE: You’re a lot like OrpheusHave you seen Hadestown? The award winning Broadway show is a brilliant, modern retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. (And yes, it will blow you away.) Here’s the quick and dirty: Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love. Orpheus has been working on his masterpiece, an epic song that will change the world.…
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When’s the last time someone REALLY listened to you?
READ MORE: When’s the last time someone REALLY listened to you?When’s the last time someone listened to you. I mean, really listened. Like, you could tell they were right there with you. It’s rare, to have someone’s attention like that. Even right now, I only have a share of your attention. And I’m holding on to it for dear life. Why? Because someone’s talking over your shoulder, your texts are…
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Why your work should belong to someone else
READ MORE: Why your work should belong to someone elseIf you had asked me last week if I’d be moved by a closing performance by Queen at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, I’d say, umm, probably not. But then on Thursday, I watched Bohemian Rhapsody, and that changed everything. Have you seen the movie? You kinda can’t take your eyes off Rami…
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How to Prepare Your Talk Without Starting from Scratch
READ MORE: How to Prepare Your Talk Without Starting from ScratchYou have a big talk coming up. So you say to yourself, I’m going to sit down right now and write it. You type one sentence: “Good afternoon.” You delete it. You wonder if you’re a fraud. You wonder why you’re doing this. You wonder what to have for dinner. Then: Oh would you look…
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Why Writers Need to Think Like Entrepreneurs
READ MORE: Why Writers Need to Think Like EntrepreneursI sat next to a woman at a lunch recently who heads up the magazine publishing program at NYU, and she said the students are, understandably, feeling down about what they see as bleak prospects in magazine publishing—simply because those seats are becoming fewer and fewer. It’s easy to interpret the shuttering of (many) print magazines and newspapers…
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The Cure for Boredom (You May Not Like It)
READ MORE: The Cure for Boredom (You May Not Like It)I’m not an incredibly patient person. I have a short fuse and I bore easy. It’s bad. I think it makes me good at a few things, like keeping people entertained and engaged, but makes me bad at other things, like coping with slow restaurant service. Over the holiday break I turned away from the…
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How Stuff Gets Written: Insight Into the Creative Process
READ MORE: How Stuff Gets Written: Insight Into the Creative ProcessHow does stuff get written? Depends on who’s writing it. I know some writers obsess about their “process” but the biggest challenge for me is sitting my ass down and doing it. The one thing that makes a writer different from anyone else, including people who “think” they’re writers? Writers write. Period. This piece is…