Today’s guest post is a conversation about accepting compliments which I had with Karen Lynn Ragsdale and a handful of others, wherein she presented what was, to me, a challenging idea about giving. Karen Lynn knows a lot about how intent affects trust. So here’s the thing about gifts…you have to give ‘em up. Ya [...]
Back when I was angrier, I used to say “Never argue with an idiot; they’ll drag you down to their level, then beat you with their expertise.” How do you avoid getting sucked into pointless flame wars, especially the kind that happen via email at the office, but also the kind that happen at your [...]
Some things are true. They are knowable. They can be measured, quantified in some way, verified, observed, taught.
As if February Album Writing Month weren’t madness enough. As if working on three business books simultaneously weren’t time-consuming enough. It’s NaNoWriMo and I’m about to write the first of 50,000 words on the sequel to my one and only fiction novel. Perhaps I’ll have time to share a bit about it here. Perhaps I’ll [...]
The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place (and yet, I still can’t find any firm evidence that Shaw actually said that.)
Books are not ideas. Words are not the things they label.
When words contain our ideas, they’re somehow transmuted into children bearing our DNA. Writers, whether of fiction, how-to books, poetry or music, suffer physical pain when the cord is cut.
anger arguing argument assumption assumptions background books brevity challenges communication embarrassment expectations family fear generosity giving honesty indignation intent intentions joel d canfield Karen Lynn last word lie logic lying manners no passion perception perceptions process psychology punctuation quote reading reality semicolon simplicity sources stress trolls truth writing yes
