Ever heard the old saying, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?” You’d think we would learn from our mistakes but those I coach report they seem to go around the same mistakes over and over again like they are on an emotional carrousel. I’ve done it myself more times than I care to admit. If we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, it can be damaging to our emotional health in many ways. Here are a few: 1) We conclude we are in some way incapable. If we continue to fall into the same hole, it has a way of telling us we were meant to be in the hole. 2) We learn to accept living in the hole. When […]
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Villainous Antagonists: Tips, Tricks and Hints
This week on our fast Maass notes review, we’re going to look at the antagonist. What is an antagonist? The opposite of protagonist. (Yeah, thanks, Rach, big help!) Antagonist is the villain. The opposite of the hero. The trouble maker, the one who pulls against the protagonist to keep her from achieving her goal and dream. Some famous antagonist you might remember: Darth Vadar Lex Luthor Kryptonite The terrorist in Die Hard Biff in Back to the Future In Sweet Caroline, the diner, The Frogmore Café, was the antagonist. A broken down diner the heroine inherited. She could’ve cared less about the building, but the people who came with it tugged on her heart. In Dining with Joy, her secret – that she can’t cook – is like the antagonist. […]
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Quick Skills: Tips on Creating that First line
How you hook your reader on the first page? I love this quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature for 100 years of Solitude. “One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph…in the first paragraph, you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is defined, the style, the tone. At least in my case, the paragraph is a kind of sample of what the rest of the book is going to be.” By the way, that book sold over 10 million copies. The hook paragraph, your first paragraph just might be the most important paragraph you write in your entire story. Yesterday, I talked about four ways to begin your story. Today, I’m going to share with you my […]
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Don’t Be Fooled Part Three: Driven by What’s Inside
A few years ago Subaru came up with a commercial slogan: Driven by What’s Inside. It made a snappy twenty second spot on TV but that message is not even remotely unique. Since the beginning of time mankind has always been driven by what’s inside. Your thoughts, beliefs, environment and experiences all provide the fuel for your little engine that should. I coach individuals who have been given a tankful of sugar water. Their emotional engine spat and sputtered until it completely stopped dead in the middle of their road to success. They watch helplessly as others speed by them at lightning speed, seemingly without a care in the world. The only thing they can do is be towed in and have their engine overhauled. Because we are all driven […]
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