Archive
Posts Tagged ‘writing’
I have an article in Blue Avocado about being an executive director who knits that I think you’ll enjoy.
For those of you in the nonprofit world, I’m sure Blue Avocado needs no introduction. But if you are new and want a taste, these are some of my favorite features – Board Cafe, Nonprofit Finance and Strategy, and Word on the Street.
And to Blue Avocado readers stopping by, I hope you will feel right at home. Take a peek at some of my style notes I have posted for people who change the world. Or visit the archives to read about how to get into an art gallery, why confidence is sexy and knitting social media strategy.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
Earlier this month I went to Albany to lobby for money. One million dollars.
I stopped in Century Twenty One down in the financial district, my artspy source to get insolently styled T shirts, LaCoste sneakers, and winter white cashmere sweaters marked down to prices that can only be described as The Big Deal of the Day.
Not this time.
Nada Prada for me.
Nothing looked good on me today. (Note: I have decided to let go of being responsible for the world and not looking like Wow! in that horrible fitting room mirror, as if anyone could with all of that nakedly nonflattering flourescent lighting. What are you kidding?)
“Do you have anything less formal, more fundable looking in a medium?”
The sales associate sprinted along side of me, clearly impressed by my speed-racking skills. She pointed to a rack on the wall with marked down items.
“Oh, and I’m not interested if its not 70% off.” I smiled at my command of the situation.
But deep down, I knew I was not feeling good, doing good or looking good. Nowhere near Wow! as I needed to be.
Write
What do you do when you are not feeling Wow?
I find it helps me to write down what I am feeling as I am feeling it, as if I could coax all of that out of me through my moving pen.
First
To start writing, I start with:
a list
any list
just to start writing
and thinking.
Then
I start a story by:
writing a list of things that annoy me
things that can screw up my day
and faults, mine and everyone else’s, but mostly everyone else’s.
Then what?
Getting this far will make you feel better. It always works best when you end with:
a list of things you are thankful for. Especially if you are asking for a million dollars.
Get more Wow!
If you want more style notes for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
On Friday, I am heading down to Poet’s House in Battery Park for the Littap Conference where I will serving as the moderator of the book publishing panel.
do i trust that elephant head hovering above me?
I am curious about what this gathering of literary organizations thinks about how new technologies are changing the future of the book.
Last week, I attended an intimate gathering with 300 people at the Harvard Club where we had breakfast with Chris Brogan, Julien Smith, David Maister, and Charlie Green. They talked about issues of trust and how they relate to the way to do business. It was $25 to attend which included a complimentary copy of both The Trusted Advisor and Trust Agents plus breakfast for that cost.
trust agent summit
This is what I realized:
Chris has been giving away the content of this book on his blog and building a base of readers who value this and, perhaps more importantly, his generosity. Why would they buy the book if the content is already out there? Because we are lazy human beings that like getting stuff and getting fed. That is what Seth would say. Even though I agree, I would try vigorously to be nice about it and say something like, “I am buying the experience of being in a trust agent summit with the authors in a stunning space where there is a head of an elephant suspended above me and breakfast is being served.”
But it is so true. The book is an afterthought for me. It is a byproduct of Chris’s blogging and personal/professional beliefs. As a customer, subscriber, reader of his blog I am part of a much more desirable market share. We trust him and will gladly buy any experience he presents to us. Books too.
Is there a lesson here for book publishers, literary magazines, small independent presses? Can they recreate a similar structure for themselves and their reader community? Can literature be enjoyed this way?
The way I see it, Chris and his crew gatejumped the traditional process of becoming a published and recognized author neatly circumventing the gatekeepers of the publishing industry. I like that.
On Friday, I will be asking my panelists five questions about this topic and I am looking forward to hearing what they think.
What do you think?
Look in the mirror.
Congratulate yourself for being a fei cheong (Cantonese for very) fabulous human being, artist, entrepreneur, nonprofit, or company.
Now, look behind you. Wow, there are a lot of people in competition with you for being the most fei cheong fabulous.
How do you stand apart? How do you compete successfully?
A post on this very topic by Chris Brogan, a great thinker about things like this, appeared way before my morning coffee the other day. Being #1 Daughter of #1 Hsiung sister in a sprawling Chinese family has prepared me for competitive living, one family reunion at a time. Over time, I have realized that if you accept yourself as your fiercest competitor and critic, you will never lose. Through my years as a nonprofit ninja, I find that my mistakes have been my greatest mentors. There are many ways to be an awesome competitor. Here are some of my thoughts.
Rewrite the gameplan
Can you solve a problem I didn’t know I had? Chris gives the example of how Virgin USA solved his “flying is kind of boring” problem. Its always better to be proactive in creating compelling value for people. Do you focus more time on value or product?
Reconsider the failures
Another great post, this time about failure, by Fred Wilson who ends his piece by saying, “So don’t hide your failures. Wear them as a badge of honor. And most of all, learn from them..”. Failure is nothing more than a GPS alert telling you to re route a new and perhaps unimagined path to your goals. Do you look through your failures for clues?
Reinvent your nametags
Constituent, consumer, service provider…. Hmmm. Accurate, but not sexy. When you have a problem with your Apple product, who do you talk to? An Apple Genius. Hey listen, do you want to waste your valuable time with anything but a genius? Apple knows this about you and has made it easy for you to get help. And because these geniuses have had this title professionally bestowed upon them, they are filled with pride in being able to save you. Do you and yours do more than your nametags?
Redirect the race
The race to the best price is always towards the bottom. Being competitive and focused on other market factors such as listening well, empowering people, making life easier and fun, building a relevant community – whatever it is you do best for people - puts you in the position of running the race, not running in it.
Respect
No one is a winner all the time. Your day in the sun may be tomorrow, not today. Look at the big picture and consider what you gained from each success and from each failure. If you can backtrack from each success to a lesson learned or an insight gained from an earlier failure, consider that a fei cheong respectable success.
I am counting on all you competitive types to come back with more cool ways to be a contender!
Well, dear readers, here is a guest post from Josh Hanagarne, the formidable force behind the World’s Strongest Librarian. When he posted a call out to do a guest post for his readers as a marathon, I sent in my two cents which, of course, he turned my topic question upside down every which way and came up with – tada! a quintessential WSL post for you. Enjoy it and let us know what you think!
The Post That Would Not Sit Still
Hoong Yee asked me to write something about the glass being half-full or half-empty. Specifically, am I a glass half-full or half-empty person?
Like a true artist–or is it lame-o? Diva?– I took her advice, sort of ignored it, and started writing a post called “Why Do We Create Things?”
Fortunately, it cycled back around, but not quite in the way I expected.
So!
Is the glass half-full or half-empty?
Clichés
It’s hard for me to hear this question without rolling my eyes. I’m an upbeat person but I’m not immune to the occasional groan when I’m confronted with an overused phrase.
Now, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile question. It’s not the question’s fault that it’s been repeated so often that it’s become trite for loathsome squids like myself.
And yet, whenever I hear the question, what I hear transforms into: “Is the glass half- full of what?” I blame Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys. A Wonderful Book That Has Sidetracked This Post
The story centers on a few college students and their graphic arts teacher. At one point, their wonderfully named professor, Winter Sorbeck, offers the following critique of a student’s project.
“She took lemons and made lemonade. It’s too bad she had to go and turn it into pee.”
How does this apply? This is my first memory of hearing a cliché turned into something completely different. That became my defense mechanism. From then on, whenever I heard something “tried and true,” it immediately morphed in my ears.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right” became “Two rights are right on!”
“No pain no gain” became “Gaining weight is painful on a date.”
I have no idea what either of those phrases mean…but The Cheese Monkeys is definitely worth reading.
To Answer The Question Hoong Yee Asked
To answer Hoong Yee’s question of whether I’m a glass half-full person, I say yes—provided the glass is full of something I like. Orange juice, for instance. If the glass is half-full of sulfuric acid, I don’t want anything to do with it.
But I am an optimist, and that is why I stay curious: because it takes a good attitude to keep learning. Curiosity takes effort. Effort and persistence lead to progress, and progress leads to feeling good.
I call feeling good and looking forward to tomorrow optimism. If that means the glass is half-full, so be it.
I just might not say it quite that way.
And the answer to the question Hoong Yee didn’t ask
Why do we create things? Because we’re curious. Because we want to fill a lack.
I took a look at Hoong Yee’s immaculate blog and my subconscious said: This blog lacks a brief review of The Cheese Monkeys, a lot of rambling, and it definitely doesn’t have any incoherent gibberish.
Hoong Yee, we did it! Mission accomplished!
Whether we created something worthwhile together, I’ll leave to you, dear reader…but don’t blame Hoong Yee. I hacked into her blog and typed this mess without her knowledge.
Josh Hanagarne
Get Stronger, Get Smarter, Live Better…Every Day
About the Author: Josh Hanagarne writes World’s Strongest Librarian, a blog with advice about coping with Tourette’s Syndrome, kettlebells, book recommendations, buying pants when you’re 6’8”, old-time strongman training, and so much more. Please subscribe to Josh’s RSS Updates and Stronger, Smarter, Better Newsletter to stay in touch.
