There we are. I've been 50 for a few days now. It's official. It's a bit weird because I still feel like I am 35. I put on some 'serious' clothes this morning for my Zoom calls. Let's see if it makes a difference? In this 'inspiration shot', I offer you some insights from 'the fifties' and an update about the birthday gift I gave myself: an olive grove in Puglia...
“The tragedy of life is that you live it start to end, but you can only understand it in reverse. One way to at least overcome this when writing a book is using the reverse writing method that Esther explained during her workshop..."
Have you ever heard of ‘The Hero’s Journey’? It is the storytelling principle that guides most fairy tales, Hollywood movies, and good books. It is the key to delivering better stories for your book, speech, presentation, training, movie, ecourse, social media, or other copywriting. In the departure part of the narrative, the hero or protagonist lives in the ordinary world and receives a call to go on an adventure.
Storytelling is a valuable tool for both fiction and non-fiction writers. Whether you are writing a thriller or a management book, you can learn from other authors. Also, speakers, trainers, coaches, and entrepreneurs can greatly benefit from these techniques. In this blog, I share Barbara’s success story.
Many writers struggle to bring their story to life. Either they splurge too much, too fast, or the build-up of their narrative is too slow, and their readers lose interest. Their characters and dialogues are not lively or realistic enough. As I wrote and published more books, I learned to manage the pace of the story and to make my characters into real people, with both positive and negative traits. I also learned to liven up my story with direct dialogue and quotes.
At age 40, Esther Jacobs writes a letter with wise lessons to herself as a teenager. What did you want to know when you were so young? Part of the book by Steven de Jong and Viola Welling.
Most authors, coaches, and entrepreneurs are troubled when it comes to selling. They know their book, product, or service is awesome, yet they feel ‘cheesy’ or too aggressive when trying to market it. They don’t realize that by holding back, they are depriving the world of their gift, their message, their way to help or entertain others.
My first book was published by the (then) largest publisher in the Netherlands: A.W. Bruna. At first, I felt so lucky. Here I was, a first-time writer getting a contract with a large publishing house. They promised to take care of everything. I should have known this was too good to be true. Working with a big company has its advantages and disadvantages.
TJ Halbertsma is an 'ordinary' guy, who does extraordinary things. In daily life, he is the CEO of a large financial firm in London. In his spare time he is an extreme adventurer; climbing the highest mountains, crossing the Arctic and Antarctic, swimming the 'escape from Alcatraz'and more. Read his story
At the end of February I left the Netherlands for a few weeks to run a writing retreat and some workshops in Curaçao. I traveled with just my small carry-on luggage. Who would have thought that I would only be able to return to the Netherlands three months later, after spending almost two months in Miami? Traveling in this time and age is an adventure.