Different thoughts about thinking differently

Archive for the ‘guest posting’ Category

Even more guest posting and the original version of a post

Friday, June 11th, 2010

I seem to do most of my writing elsewhere these days… nonetheless, I’ve got a couple of articles out there that I thought I’d let you know about:

Judging the Series Finales: ‘Lost’ vs. ‘Battlestar Galactica’ – the fine folks at Geeks of Doom (thanks Eve and Dave!) let me write another post using the Broadcasting Brain pseudonym (clever, huh?).  Lost and BSG are two of my all time favorite shows and it was pretty easy for me to crank out hundreds of words of opinion about the two finales.  The post hit the front page of Digg.com, much to my surprise.

EDIT:  June 12/10:  reading through the comments on this post, the commentators pointed out a couple of holes in my thinking about the finales.  While it doesn’t change my overall feelings about either finale, they do provide important points that need to be consider.  It’s all good.

What All Content Creators Need to Learn From Roger Ebert – this is my second Copyblogger guest post.  It was a way for me to express my admiration for Roger Ebert’s grace in dealing with profound disability while continuing to write wonderful stuff.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fantastic editing of my post by Sonia Simone.

In fact, you can be the judge.  I’m reprinting the original draft of the post here:  you can decide which one is better.

Thanks!

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What All Content Creators Need To Learn From Roger Ebert

He used to be the bespectacled chubby guy, brash and outspoken who spent decades riffing on movies to the delight of millions.  Now his voice only comes from machines:  one that makes sound for him; another that allows him to communicate with his fingers.  But Roger Ebert still has movies.  His voice still sings loud and clear with digital vocal chords.   Anyone who churns out content for a living needs to pay close attention to Ebert, because there’s a lot to learn there.

A brief background:  Roger Ebert did a lot of writing early in his career, writing screenplays and working with Russ Meyer, among others.  Movie and movie reviews were Ebert’s great passion, which he turned into a series of successful TV film review shows, starting with Sneak Previews with Gene Siskel in the late 1970s, and continuing on to the mid 2000s with other formats and collaborators.  At the same time, Ebert has maintained a strong series of film reviews in Chicago newspapers for several decades, wrote books on various subjects, and won the Pulitzer Prize from criticism in 1975.

Several bouts with cancer have deprived Roger Ebert of a television film reviewer key resource: his voice.  He has not been able to speak (or eat or drink) since 2006.  This would be a disaster that would destroy many people.  Yet Ebert has been able to carry on with his words.  He continues to receive new acclaim and appreciation for the quality and feeling of his writing.

Let’s see how content creators like you and I can benefit from Ebert’s example.

 

Maintain a sense of humor

It’s not fun to be deprived of natural pleasures.  Losses like this consume our life and energy, making every day seem torturous and joyless.  I’m sure Roger Ebert must have his bad days, but it never affects the quality of his writing.  His words continue to sparkle and shine with life.

He receives continual praise for the power of his insights and the humor sprinkled within his work.  Ebert’s recent criticism of Glenn Beck contains several pointed barbs and clever remarks that show that his wit and senses are still strong.  He doesn’t go for the LOL moment, but he uses sharp observation and analysis to make engrossing content, as he does in The London Perambulator.

Ebert’s ability to use humor effectively despite his ordeals is inspiring.  He continues to provide enjoyment for the rest of us.

Lesson: a sense of humor is worth its weight in gold for you and your audience.

 

Keep a sharp mind

It’s easy to take our minds for granted.  Personally, I fear the possibility of going senile or losing the power of coherent thought and memory.  I cherish the ability to think, reason, and communicate.  Losing the ability to speak would be horrible, but I could manage. But if I lost the ability to form coherent thoughts and communicate, life would be pointless.  Robert Ebert is fortunate to have maintained his full mental faculties and ability to write wonderfully and thoughtfully.

His analysis moves among many topics:

 

Lesson: Your content needs to teach, inform, or otherwise stimulate your reader to think.

 

Focus on what you can (still) do well

Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize winning writer before becoming a famous film critic.  Some people think his writing is even better since he lost the ability to speak.  That may be a sentimental judgment, but he’s certainly no worse.  His ability to analyze and reflect upon movies (or virtually any topic) is strong.  He writes in a way that reaches both the average person and his peers.

Ebert is rarely in front of cameras any more (his recent appearance on Oprah is a memorable exception), but he remains a prolific writer.  He uses notepad and pen to communicate in person and the keyboard for larger audiences.  Profiled recently in Esquire magazine, Ebert offered up a journal entry to explain the power of writing:  ”When I am writing my problems become invisible and I am the same person I always was. All is well. I am as I should be.”  The article goes on to argue that his online journal is the best work of his life due to its thoughtful, introspective nature.

Lesson: be thankful for what you can do well; do it as long and as vigorously as you can.

 

Be honest

Ebert has plenty to complain about:  his bouts with cancer and reconstructive surgery failures, plus the general decline in his health. For that matter, so would a couple of other smart guys like, say, Jon Morrow or Stephen Hawking.  Speaking, eating, drinking and mobility:  we consider these things to be key parts of the human experience.  These three men are definitely human, though.

None of them are wasting their time whining, either.  I think these three guys have their fair share of happiness and fulfillment.  They all enjoy what they do and they are damned good at it.  They don’t look for pity:  they are sincere when they say that they are doing what they love to do.  By their example, they are providing inspiration to us all.  The Esquire article features a small picture of a Post It note written by Ebert:   “There is no need to pity me.  Look how happy I am.  This has led to an exploring of writing.”  He was being sincere. In the Putting a Better Face on Things post, Ebert gives a frank and insightful look into his feelings about reconstructive surgery and prosthetics.

Ebert’s journal has produced close to half a million words of honesty that are touching thousands, if not millions, of readers.

Can you claim the same thing?  Do you need to drop a façade and put what you really think into your work?  If you feel you can’t, then are you really in the right situation?  Are you doing what you really should be doing?  Or is the golden handcuff feeding your bank balance but feasting on your soul?

Lesson: use your life experiences to fuel your work.  Be forthright and frank whenever you talk about yourself.  Use your life lessons in the context of education and inspiration.

 

Let your passion save and sustain you

Ebert makes this point loud and clear in the Esquire article:  “it is saving me.”  His journaling has led him to a gripping and moving exploration of the art of writing.  Writing provides him with continued purpose in trying circumstances.

How many people is he inspiring with this new phase of work?  Hundreds?  Thousands?  Millions?

Can you do the same?  It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?

Lesson: your passion can carry you through hardships. If even a fraction of that passion spills into your content, the possibilities for building your audience and developing true fans are huge.  People can tell when you’re “phoning it in” and when you’re fully invested in your writing.  Don’t phone it in.

 

Parting thoughts

I can’t claim to be objective about Roger Ebert because I’m a huge fan of what he’s doing with his writing.  That’s OK.  If Ebert can bare his soul in his journals and enthrall his readers, I can try to emulate even a little bit of that spark.

You can, too.  Try it – it might be the best thing that ever happened to your work.

More guest posts you should check out

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

I’ve published a couple of additional guest posts during the past couple of weeks that you should check out:

 

7 Steps To Find Lost Objects After Panic Sets In – the title pretty much describes it.  It’s my second guest post at Pick The Brain.

Make Problem Solving Part  of Your Personal BrandDan Schawbel of Personal Branding Blog was kind enough to allow me to submit a guest post.  Again, the title is pretty self-explanatory.

 

One other note:  if you want to see what I’ve been writing at Thoughtwrestling lately, you can always check it out.

Guest post at Pick The Brain

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

I wrote a guest post at Pick The Brain earlier this week that you might find interesting:  7 Simple Ways to Clear Your Mind.

Pick The Brain is a cool blog that I subscribe to:

a website dedicated to self improvement with a focus on personal productivity, motivation, and self education.

Check it out, you’ll find some great articles there.

Guest post at SiliconANGLE

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

The good folks at SiliconANGLE have let me contribute a post.  It’s called Why MG Siegler is both wrong and right about Twitter, the real-time Web and Walter Cronkite.  It’s a response, of sorts, to MG’s Techcrunch article called  In The Age of Realtime, Twitter is Walter Cronkite.

There’s no doubt that the real-time Web, as represented by Twitter, is becoming an important news destination.  However, in my opinion, Twitter doesn’t have a single face, voice, or anchor to represent the news.  I’m not sure it ever will.  Why not read the post and weigh in on this question over at SiliconANGLE?

EDIT: here’s another take on MG’s article, from CrunchGear:  Real time, real discussion, real reporting: choose two.

Guest post at Lateral Action today

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

I have a post today at Lateral Action, one of my favorite blogs.  The post is called Drill Sergeant or Buddy: Who Brings Out the Best in a Creator and was ably edited by Mark McGuiness.  This post was a lot of fun to write because it’s about one of my favorite musical acts of all time, XTC.

Please check out the post and take a good look around Lateral Action as well.   There’s a lot of interesting and great stuff there about creativity and putting your ideas into action.

Guest post at Copyblogger.com

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

I’m very pleased to tell you that I have a guest post at Copyblogger.com called The Doctor McCoy Guide To Healing Sick Content.

I’m equally pleased to note that Brian accepted my headline as is, without changes.  Heh.  (Background:  Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger, is recognized by many as the leading expert in crafting good blog post titles and headlines in general.  Just saying.)

Please head over and check it out, won’t you?

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