Author Archives: The Author

Perfect Mind Discipline Produces Perfect Writing

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Aaaaaaaiiiieeeeeeee!  This is the ‘war cry’ that Bruce Lee emits before performing a series of moves that incapacitate his opponents perfectly.

In the same way that Lee disciplines his mind to execute the moves that categorically put his opponents ‘out of business,’ we need to discipline our minds before writing.

Economy of speech

Although it’s tempting to use a multitude of words to say something, we should be sparse in our speech. In the same way that Lee uses economy of movement–to produce best effect–we should do the same with the written word.

Best effect

The best effect results when there is harmony between thought and word.

Remember your goal

Your goal is to express an idea in the simplest and most elegant way.  Your aim is to immediately convey something powerful to your audience.

Keywords

In the same way that Lee strikes selectively, we should ‘precision strike’ with keywords.  Keywords are the action words that make our story come to life.  They are the punchline.

A constant state of awareness

In order to maintain the effect of suspense, our writing must mirror our constant state of awareness.  This is our commitment to remaining alert to the details of our lives.  As we purposefully pay attention to what surrounds us by disciplining our minds, this will invariably reflect in the quality of our writing.  As we become better and better at acting when we must and speaking when needed, our writing will reflect our state of mind.

Mind creates words

Our thinking creates what we write.  How and what we think are intimately tied to what we write.  They cannot be separated.

Let the fight begin

We begin the fight–to produce the perfect story–by developing techniques that help us discipline our minds so that the product we produce is a reflection of what we’ve achieved.

The outside mirrors the inside

What we write mirrors what we think.  For best effect, we must have the ‘best’ thinking, so to speak.

Take your time

In the same way that it took years for Bruce Lee to attain the level he did, it will take you years in the field of writing.

Remember, the secret to perfect writing is perfect mind discipline.

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Keep Your Voice

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The late American author and philosopher, Joseph Campbell, said that when you like an author, read everything they’ve written and then read authors they’ve read.  This is the opposite of reading as much as possible by as many writers as possible.  What Campbell was pointing at was that we should follow ‘threads,’ not follow blindly.  This is why Ted, Babbitt’s son, (Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1922. Print) must, as Campbell advocated, ‘follow his bliss’ rather than do what Daddy says.

It’s the old story of individuation.  You need to write about what’s in your heart, what’s true to you, rather than allowing yourself to be influenced by well-meaning folks.

Influence

When we read, we get influenced.  Fearing that we somehow may not have what it takes, not be on the level, we may get wrongly influenced.  We may even begin to adopt the style of another.  This is not good because in doing so, we give up a big part of ourselves, the part that’s unique and makes us stand out from the crowd.

Your voice

They say that we learn how to write by reading much and writing much.  This is true.  But equally important is what we read and what we write.

Don’t fall into abstractions

One of the worst things we can do is fall into abstractions.  This is when we don’t have anything substantial to say yet, feeling the need to say something, start twisting and turning words in such a way as to sound erudite while, in the end, saying nothing or next to nothing.

The old story

Individuation is an old story because it’s the story of our race.  We have, since time immemorial, been trying to define ourselves as separate from others and communicating this definition.

An ongoing struggle

Keeping our voice, our true identity, is an ongoing struggle which starts in early childhood and ends in old age.  It has to do with fighting against being pigeonholed; falling into the trap of directional questions; being able to say ‘no’ when everybody else is saying ‘yes;’ and appreciating someone the world disdains.

If the myths and legends are true, (Campbell, Joseph and Moyers, Bill.  Flowers, Betty Sue (ed.).  The Power of Myth.  Doubleday, 1988. Print (Paperback)) then we have much more to draw from than we thought.  There is, in fact, a vast reservoir of archetypal material we can ‘extract’ and use to individuate and find our voice.

Once we’ve found our voice, we need to keep it since it is precious and defines who we are.

Cover of "The Power of Myth (Illustrated ...

Cover of The Power of Myth (Illustrated Edition)

Get to the Point: Effective Communication in the Digital Age

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In spite of the fact that we literally have a plethora of modern, digital media at our fingertips designed for communicating with one another, we seem to have less and less time in which to do so.  If feels like we’re being ‘crunched,’ ‘crushed,’ or ‘pressed’ for time.  The result of this time ‘pressure’ (real or imagined) is that our communications are moving more and more toward being:  brief, direct, reduced and, not to use the word blunt, devoid of any nuances let alone flourishes.

This is not necessarily bad.  We have tight schedules, tasks to complete and messages to impart.

One of the secrets to my success on the social media site, Facebook (R), is brevity.  Strangely enough, the less I say, the more popular I become.  Although this may appear paradoxical, it is not.

Social media adherents (i.e., people) are pressed for time and want nothing more than for me to stop wasting their time and get to the point.

A platform to meet the times we live in

Although, for proprietary and corporate reasons, we must post, tweet, link and e-mail via separate accounts, I believe that what we’re secretly yearning for is one account.

If we have less and less time to share, then wouldn’t it make much more sense to, instead of having to log into, let’s say, four accounts daily, to merely log into one?  One account.  One password.

Unishare:  The account of the future

Imagine for a moment a dashboard that has four simple words:  POST, TWEET, LINK and E-MAIL.  Although each function is different, each is nevertheless a vital part of our modern lives.  To separate these functions would be like separating legs and arms from our bodies.  Absurd!  We know full well that we need all the parts to work together as one body.  This is the true meaning of optimization.

If I need to publish a brief, press-like announcement, I’ll click on the TWEET function.  If I want to be more casual and perhaps share a digital image, I’ll POST.  When it comes to a more formal, professional communication, I’ll LINK.  Last, but not least, I’ll use the E-MAIL function ‘as usual’ with the exception that Unishare will provide a much more sophisticated way of organizing and prioritizing my mail than exists today.

In spite of the legal, proprietary and corporate obstacles involved in creating such a ‘dream,’ time-saving, cost effective communication platform, I believe that we are inexorably moving in precisely this direction because…brevity is not bad–in the written word as well as in movements.

Let us, therefore, be brief and quickly and easily get to the point.

GET TO THE POINT: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE Copyright © 2013 Luba Rascheff