on life, ambitions, and dreams

Sunday Serial: Storytelling, a Photo a Day, Besties, and Success

success baby

Sunday Serial is curated list of the best blogs and articles that I’ve encountered over the past week. Sometimes there’s a theme, but most times there’s not. My goal with these posts is that I introduce you to at least one new idea that you may not have otherwise been exposed to. Enjoy!

The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar by Cyriaque Lamar on iO9

Read this because: Where else are you going to find 22 tips about storytelling from the brilliant minds at Pixar?

Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

What I’ve learned taking photos every day at 8:36 p.m. by Buster Benson on GeekWire

Read this because: Could you commit to doing one thing every day for a month or even a year? Five years ago, Buster Benson (founder of 750 Words) decided to take one photo every day at 8:36pm. As he says, most of the photos are boring, but it also captures things like the day he and his wife got married, got pregnant, and the day their son was born.

I love this idea. I’ve committed to blogging every day for thirty days (twice), and learned so much about myself during the process, and mostly because I committed to it. But a year? Not sure if writing (and posting) a blog for 365-days straight is sustainable, but taking a photo. Yeah, I could do that. Could you?

5 Different Kinds Of Besties by Sydney Nikols on Thought Catalog

Read this because: I’d bet money that you have friends like this, and you might be one of my five.

The 5 traits of radically successful people by Alex Banayan on VentureBeat

Read this because: We all need a recipe for being successful, and this article is the latest one. Here’s an excerpt:

I have a crazy idea: success isn’t just about hard work. We hear about hard work all the time—it’s what Olympic champions talk about when they get to the top of the podium and it’s what the media credits as the sole force behind of multimillion-dollar Internet entrepreneurs. But there has to be something else in the equation of obtaining unimaginable success. What other traits tipped the odds in favor of the world’s most successful people?

What helped propel their careers before they had track records?

For the past year I’ve been fortunate enough to interview some of the world’s most successful people to find the answers to these very questions.

What did you read this week?

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6 Responses

  1. What I’ve learned taking photos every day at 8:36 p.m. is a lovely post that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I recently started blogging for no other reason than I needed an outlet for my random ramblings on life, love and the pursuit of happiness…whatever that looks like.  He presented a simple, yet beautiful concept that I can’t help but get behind.  I recently devoted myself to writing one blog post per day for thirty days, so this article was timely.  My favorite passage:
    “I’ve learned that there is beauty in the impossible, in the
    unfinishable, in the imperfect.  I’ve learned that it’s okay to be
    boring, and to let other people know you’re boring.”

    I’m boring.  And ordinary.  Go me.

  2. What I’ve learned taking photos every day at 8:36 p.m. is a lovely post that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I recently started blogging for no other reason than I needed an outlet for my random ramblings on life, love and the pursuit of happiness…whatever that looks like.  He presented a simple, yet beautiful concept that I can’t help but get behind.  I recently devoted myself to writing one blog post per day for thirty days, so this article was timely.  My favorite passage:
    “I’ve learned that there is beauty in the impossible, in the
    unfinishable, in the imperfect.  I’ve learned that it’s okay to be
    boring, and to let other people know you’re boring.”

    I’m boring.  And ordinary.  Go me.

  3. This is a great blog post, I really like it! I really like the 8:36 p.m photo idea. I may take that one on myself and see what happens. 

    But really liked all the links of here and had a look through them all. Some thought provoking stuff. 

  4. This is a great blog post, I really like it! I really like the 8:36 p.m photo idea. I may take that one on myself and see what happens. 

    But really liked all the links of here and had a look through them all. Some thought provoking stuff. 

  5. Good list!  I enjoyed the traits of successful people; it is absolutely true that you need a mind-shift to happen before anything else can.

  6. Good list!  I enjoyed the traits of successful people; it is absolutely true that you need a mind-shift to happen before anything else can.

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