Just an Example

I was at a training session for Toastmaster Area Governors last weekend. The main speaker was Tevis Thompson, an International Director of Toastmasters. About the middle of his speech he began to tell us what Toastmasters had meant to him.
“I remember,” he began, “Being in high school and going to the school cafeteria where they [...]

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The Velvet Glove

I’ve often found it difficult, when I’m doing a motivational speech, to create stories and a speech-ending that gets my point across without me sounding like a Victorian moralist.
When we write a motivational speech we are encouraging people to change their behaviour  – to do more of this or less of that. Our stories or [...]

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Sunshine

I’m writing this on a foggy day. I can see my neighbour’s house and a few nearby trees, but not much else. It affects the way I feel this afternoon – rather blah and unmotivated. Yesterday we had bright sunshine and I was outside beavering away, cleaning up the garden. My feelings, and I think [...]

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You Had To Be There

Have you ever listened to someone tell a story and wondered ‘What was that about?’ Why are they telling this story? What exactly was the point? Others around you are left with the polite smiles that say ‘I don’t get it’. We wonder if perhaps we missed something.
Usually this polite smile reaction means that something [...]

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Tie up loose ends

She was telling her story breathlessly:
“I was driving to work and this little white dog ran across the street. I swerved to avoid it and I drove into a big tree. The car wasn’t badly damaged but a tow truck came and I had to make a police report and go to the insurance people. [...]

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Personally, I like to laugh

When I choose a program to watch on TV I have certain expectations. If I select a documentary I expect information, if I choose a drama I expect suspense and if I choose a sitcom I’m hoping to be entertained and to laugh.
Often, though, the documentary will include stories. If the information is about drought [...]

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I want it, and I want it NOW

Sometimes when I’m writing a story I find that I have made the protagonist, who is the most important person in the story,  too ordinary. In my effort to make him a believable character I have actually made him too much like everyone else on the planet. I have to go back and re-work the [...]

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