Jared Dees's Blog: The Latest from Jared Dees, page 37

Marcus Aurelius and Memento Mori

For thou must consider the things of the world, not as a loose independent number, consisting merely of necessary events; but as a discreet connection of things orderly and harmoniously disposed.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I find great comfort in reading the Stoic Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.

I didn’t realize how much I have been bothered by the realization that there were more than 100 billion galaxies in the universe.

I think the the angst came from a position of trying to comprehend ou...

Marketing = Mission

Watch Steve Jobs launch Apple’s Think Different marketing campaign. There is so much for anyone to learn:

What is the purpose of marketing?

“To me marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world; it is a very noisy world and we’re not going to get a chance for people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want people to know about us.”

Jobs goes on to talk about Nike and its success in marketing:

“Nike doesn’t talk about their produc...

Don’t Think, Just Do

“And then whenever I stop and think—why did I want to do something?—how did I work out how to do it?—I get a very strong desire just to stop thinking about it.”

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 

We worry and ask ourselves “why?” a lot.

As a Christian, of course, I do believe there is an answer to the biggest questions about life and our purpose here. I also know the benefits of taking time to consider these questions in meditation and prayer.

At the same time, however, I kn...

The “Meet the Characters” Email Autoresponder

I recently joined a lot of online groups of writers. Many of the members of these groups ask about email newsletters. They know they should have one and many of them do, but they are not quite sure what to send to their subscribers.

I signed up for a lot of author email newsletters to experience some best practices. Unfortunately, I’ve heard from very, very few of them. Most authors send emails to their lists sporadically.

One email newsletter, however, has stood out so far.

Garrett Robinson,...

The “Meet the Characters” Email Newsletter

I recently joined a lot of online groups of writers. Many of the members of these groups ask about email newsletters. They know they should have one and many of them do, but they are not quite sure what to send to their subscribers.

I signed up for a lot of author email newsletters to experience some best practices. Unfortunately, I’ve heard from very, very few of them. Most authors send emails to their lists sporadically.

One email newsletter, however, has stood out so far.

Garrett Robinson,...

Objective & Subjective Truth

He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily ‘true’ or ‘false’, but as ‘academic’ or ‘practical’, ‘outworn’ or ‘contemporary’, ‘conventional’ or ‘ruthless. Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 1

Like a lot of people, I grew up with an education that was steeped in objective truth. This is the keystone principal that guided all public education.

We should all be grateful for the focus on objective truth. That seems to...

Get the Other Person Saying “Yes, Yes” Immediately

When a person says “No” and really means it, he or she is doing far more than saying a word of two letters. The entire organism—glandular, nervous, muscular—gathers itself together into a condition of rejection.

Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People 

My youngest daughter’s favorite word right now is “No, no.”

She is so cute when she says it.

Without a doubt, however, she learned it from her parents and her sisters who must say it so often that she picked it up on her own.

Sh...

Stages of Platform Development

I was thinking about the progression of an audience from hearing about an author for the first time to becoming a true fan. It looks something like this:

1. Notice

People notice your name or books. They hear your name or books mentioned in conversation or in an interview or in something they read online.

Most likely, however, they forget your name without seeing or hearing it multiple times in multiple places.

2. Remember

Having seen your name in multiple places, they can recall your name and...

Writing Advice from R. J. Palacio, Author of Wonder

R. J. Palacio, author of the popular book and now movie Wonder, offers two pieces of advice to aspiring writers on her website about page:

1. Write every day. 

I would sum it up with another precept I wrote down when I was a teenager. It was from The Agony and the Ecstasy: “The most perfect guide is nature. Continue without fail to draw something every day.” Substitute the word “write” for the word “draw,” and that would be my advice. Just write. Don’t wait for the perfect moment: there’s usu...

Stories > Strategies

When I read books these days, I read to learn what the author has to say but I also pay close attention to how she or he says it. I’m always very curious about how an author chooses to structure the book and the individual chapters. I hope to learn from them and improve my own writing.

Of the many nonfiction books I’ve read in the last year, it is very clear to me that the most effective books focus on story rather than strategies.

My tendency is to want to write chapters and books with a pra...