Steven Barnes's Blog, page 44

Doubling Grades #4: Memory work

Once upon a time there was a court case accusing a man and woman of Public Indecency.  A witness was on the stand, and testifying:

 

“Well, your honor, they was up against the wall screwin’ up a storm–”

The judge interrupted him.  “Excuse me.  We would prefer you use the term `having intercourse'”

“Intercourse?” the man asked.  “What’s that?”

“That,” said the judge haughtily, “is a technicality of language of which the witness is unfortunately unaware.”

The witness flinched, but continued. “W...

Doubling Grades #3

I’ve seen some  people commenting, with some emotion, that Colin Kaepernick “taking a knee” is a “mere symbol” that means nothing.  I find that kind of funny, and think that either they aren’t paying attention, or they aren’t being honest.   If it “meant nothing” people wouldn’t be so upset that he does it. And if symbols aren’t important, why do people care about the “symbol” of standing for the National Anthem?  Can’t have it both ways.

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Five Minute Daily Achievement Goals #3 (from “How t...

Its been Twenty Years!

Today we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of MY SOUL TO KEEP, still Tananarive’s most popular book. We’ll discuss its origins, impact, and future…as well as tell you how you can get a free autographed copy!

Tonight at 6pm Pacific on AFROFUTURISM: LIVE!

https://www.facebook.com/steven.barnes.7127

 

 

write with passion, live with purpose!

Steve

Filed under: Autobiography, Coaching, Soulmate, Steven Barnes, Writing

“The Five Minute Achievement Check” #1

 

I do not know if Eugene Schwartz’ book “How to Double Your Child’s Grades In School”  (subtitled “build brilliance and leadership in your child–from Kindergarten to College–in just five minutes per day!”) will ultimately pay off in our guidance of Jason.

 

But I want to document the most basic aspects of the program, so we can discuss it.   To start, I’ll go over my reasoning: WHY I interested, and the decisions I’ve made.

 

Dr. John La Tourrette, who has been a successful information  mar...

The Art of Winning

“How do I market?”

“I’m stuck”

“How do I find ideas?”

“What if I don’t have anything to say?”

“How do I get an agent?”

“Will people steal my ideas?”

“Should I pay to have my work edited?”

“When will I know my book is finished?”

“How do I rewrite?”

 

These are some of the most common questions I get asked about the writer’s path.  And the truth is that they are all valid things to ask.  Any art has thousands of moving parts. Any profession as well.

 

“Know the Ways of All Arts” and “Know the W...

Double your child’s grades…in five minutes a day? Really?

 

Look…you all know of our struggles with Jason. That the school system wouldn’t tell us his test results, or give him grades we could comprehend, until he was in 4th or 5th grade, by which time he had fallen behind drastically, throwing everything into an emergency death-spiral: he knew he was behind, which made him doubt himself, which created fear, which triggered anger…

 

And he started locking down, becoming defiant, refusing to do his reading and insisting that he needed vast swaths of...

The power of desire

(The first self-mastery book I remember being exposed to was the immortal THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill.  My Mom used to play an LP of its core principles over and over and over when I was a kid, and man, I got sick of it. But…the ideas sank into my head and became a part of me.   Here’s a post from 2011 on the first basic principle)

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“TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they
are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING
DESIRE for the...

The power of a year

I’ve noticed a bit more napping in the ten days since Jerry’s death.   That’s stress.   I tend to process it in chunks, often by sleeping an extra hour a day.  I’ll know I’m really processing when he starts popping up in my dreams, and we have a few final ding-dong arguments.  Man, those irritated Larry (and I can understand that. They were very often about the same few subjects, topics on which we had differing articles of faith.)

 

It’ll take about a year to fully process.  Most major thing...

Solving the right problem

There is a story I tell frequently, where a man is searching under a streetlight for his keys, and a kind stranger begins to help.  After ten fruitless minutes, the stranger asks the man if he’s SURE he dropped his keys here.  “Oh, no,” the man replies.  “I dropped them across the street in the vacant lot.  But there’s no light there.”

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So…looking back from the END of the goal (writing/publishing a book) is the same as looking back from the end of the story (protagonist ends at higher or lo...

Why is Lifewriting so powerful?

I am often asked how the entire Lifewriting program fits together.  Let me use an amalgam of student concerns for the sake of clarity.

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Once upon a time a student joined the Lifewriting Premium program saying she wanted to write a novel, but was stuck.   She had studied writing in college, and by reading lotsa articles and reading lotsa novels, and really wanted to break through her block.    I told her I could unstick her in three months, but she’d have to do as I asked.   She must have ag...