Archive for March 2015
Everyone deserves to have fans.
I’ll be showing this clip to my students. Sportsmanship can mean so much when it’s done right. It’s rarely been done better than this. Still, I want to know who won the damn game.
Read MoreThe consistently late are the scum of the Earth. Here’s a simple strategy to avoid being late in the future.
I’m a timely person. I’m timely because I think it’s rude to be late. Even worse, I think it’s despicable for a person to be consistently late. The consistently late are a selfish pack of uncivilized heathens who should be pay higher taxes and be forbidden from ever celebrating Thanksgiving. Consistently late is also a…
Read MoreThis is what happens after you behave well during your doctor’s appointment
The Joyful and Effective Use of Condoms in the Latter Years of Life: My latest workshop
I’m hired from time to time to deliver talks and teach workshops on a variety of topics. I’ve delivered inspirational speeches. Commencement addresses. I’ve hosted conferences and story slams. I’ve taught workshops on storytelling, teaching, writing, personal productivity, and more. And while I’m hardly an expert on anything in particular, I’ve always felt that if…
Read MoreToday I feel like a real author – which doesn’t happen often – and not for any reason that you might imagine.
I’m not sure if other authors feel this way, but most days, I don’t feel like a real author. Its ridiculous but true. I’ve published three novels – two with Doubleday and one with St. Martin’s Press – and I have a fourth publishing in September. My last book was translated into more than 25…
Read MoreThis is the real reason you go shopping before a snowstorm
Daniel Engber of Slate offers an explanation as to why people behave like idiots before a snowstorm, rushing off to a grocery store that will undoubtedly be open at some point the next day. The word is hunkering, in the specifically American sense of digging in and taking shelter. It’s the anxious form of self-indulgence,…
Read MoreMalcolm Gladwell on shorter attention spans, inherent unfairness, and the selfie.
From an interview with Malcolm Gladwell in The Guardian comes a few of his more interesting comments: I don’t know why people think attention spans are getting shorter. Thirty years ago, you could go and get a sandwich in the middle of a Kojak episode, come back and still follow it. Today, if you get…
Read MoreThe single greatest death bed regret of Generation X (and maybe beyond) will be this:
On their death beds, the people of my generation will lament the time the spent driving – sometimes daily – from grocery store to grocery store, chasing the freshest produce, the finest meats, the best seafood, and the lowest prices, when they could’ve been spending that time reading, watching a film, climbing a mountain, writing…
Read MoreI didn’t respond to a stranger’s unsolicited manuscript for 48 hours, so his angry response was probably justified. Right?
On Wednesday of this week, I received an email from someone who I don’t know. This is the entirety of his message, minus his name and the Word document that was attached. ___________________________ I play poker in las vegas, and not a week goes by that someone doesn’t say your the politest poker player.Poker is…
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