Category: Work

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Tags blogger, flowery language, magniloquence, personal narrative, storyteller, writer

Work

Why Your First Draft Needs To Be Awful

Post author By Liz Brenner
Post date January 15, 2024
No Comments on Why Your First Draft Needs To Be Awful

Mostly True Memoirs

This post might include affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission from the seller at no cost to you.

That First Draft

You can’t write and edit at the same time.

There, I said it.

And I meant it.

Writing is creative and embraces possibilities while editing is logical and follows specific rules.

When you try to do them both at the same time, neither one turns out well.

Your brain ends up tripping over itself and mixing up the issues.

Learn to be OK with a messy first draft.

Don’t worry about specific words or grammar or structure.

Let your creativity flow unimpeded.

Then go back and tidy it up.

Ernest Hemingway once said, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”

Every piece of great writing that you’ve ever read started out as a messy attempt.

Learn to embrace that awful first draft.

It’s a necessary step in the creative process.

Need support with your manuscript?

Contact me – I’d love to help.

Liz Brenner

Everyone has a story to tell.

Even you.

Especially you.

free resource on how to give a great presentation

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Tags editor, first draft, great writing, personal narrative, storyteller, writer

Work

Q&A Questions – How To Manage Them Like A Pro

Post author By Liz Brenner
Post date December 10, 2023
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Mostly True Memoirs

Q&A Questions

Q&A questions are an often-overlooked public speaking element.

If you have a Q&A session with your presentation, it’s always a good idea to plant some questions in the audience.

That way, you’ve got a few eager discussion topics immediately underway.

Often, when a speaker calls for questions, the audience is reluctant to speak up.

They may have questions.

But they might be hesitant to speak up for any number of reasons.

The silence can be deafening.

And awkward.

It’s hard for a speaker to come back from that.

I recently attended a presentation where Q&A questions were planted in the audience.

I know because I was a plant.

My role was to help get things started and to keep it moving along.

This Q&A session was a success.

The discussion was lively, informative, and entertaining.

I saw another excellent presentation, but the speaker did not plant any questions.

The Q&A session started with crickets.

It didn’t get much better after that.

This was a shame because the presentation was fabulous.

A Free Public Speaking Tip

Always plant a couple of Q&A questions in the audience to bypass any awkward silences.

check out my public speaking classes

Liz Brenner

Everyone has a story to tell.

Even you.

Especially you.

Tags blogger, leadership, management, public speaking, Q&A questions, writer

Work

It’s An Amazing Personal Development Plan For Kids!

Post author By Liz Brenner
Post date December 8, 2023
No Comments on It’s An Amazing Personal Development Plan For Kids!

Mostly True Memoirs

A Personal Development Plan For Kids!

I’ve taught on lots of online teaching platforms.

Some of the forums were ok.

Others were terrible.

But recently I heard about Outschool.

Outschool

Outschool is an online K-12 teaching platform.

It’s used by homeschoolers, charter schools, independent studies, and even some public school programs.

They offer amazing support for the teachers, which is what really impressed me.

So I’m going to do it.

I’m going to teach on Outschool.

I’m starting with a middle-school public speaking workshop.

Every public speaker that I know wishes they had started younger.

No matter how young they started.

Join my public speaking workshop now.

It’s an amazing personal development plan for kids!

Public Speaking Workshop

Remember that speaking is not just about giving formal presentations.

It’s also about making conversations, meeting new people, talking to salespeople, answering questions, telling stories, telling jokes, and so much more.

It’s about voice, gesture, pacing, and word choice.

It’s about structure, impact, focus, and purpose.

It’s really all about self confidence.

And grace under pressure.

You’ll learn all of that in my classes.

Some Memorable Learners

I’ve taught Public Speaking to middle school students before.

Here are some of my favorite success stories:

A boy who didn’t speak any English was allowed to give a speech in his native language, but he was encouraged to say three things in English. He did it. A year later he was in class again, but this time he was fluent in English.
A girl told a poignant story about her big brother who got his first job and took her out for an ice cream. He let her pick out anything she wanted. This was the first time she had ever been afforded such a luxury. It was a heartwarming and inspirational story.
A budding comedian told what I thought was a serious story about terrible misbehavior, but there was a hilarious twist at the end. This girl was very shy and declined to participate in class until the final meeting. She turned out to be a very entertaining speaker!

A Personal Development Plan

Public speaking is a soft skill that’s required in every avenue of life.

You’ll need it for job interviews, networking, teamwork, and leadership.

It takes time to develop these skills.

Don’t wait.

Most adults wish they had learned this skill when they were young.

Start now.

This workshop is an amazing personal development plan.

There’s More!

I’m starting my Outschool teaching journey with a middle-school public speaking workshop.

Soon I’ll add a high-school section.

I have tons of other ideas for other classes.

Speaking, writing, ESL, and literature are just a few options.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Stay tuned for updates.

See you in class!

Liz Brenner

Everyone has a story to tell.

Even you.

Especially you.

Tags middle school, personal development plan, public speaking, self confidence, teaching

Work

Leave No Doubt – How To Be Very, Very Clear

Post author By Liz Brenner
Post date November 16, 2023
1 Comment on Leave No Doubt – How To Be Very, Very Clear

Mostly True Memoirs

Leave No Doubt

I always tell my students this:

If your words create a huge argument about How To Say It, you need to find a simpler way to say it.

I see it all the time.

Groups on social media will erupt into a HUGE grammar debate.

Dozens and dozens of people will chime in with dozens and dozens of varied suggestions.

It’s an enormous, distracting rabbit hole.

Seriously, if writers can’t agree, how in the world will your readers be able to make sense of the thing?

It’s the responsibility of the writer to be understood.

It’s that simple.

If an argument erupts, the writer has missed the mark.

Instead of debating the grammar rules, just find a simpler way to say it.

Keep drilling down.

Simpler, simpler, simpler.

Keep at it until you have found the most straightforward way to express yourself.

Simple, by the way, doesn’t mean stupid.

I’m not suggesting that you dumb down your work.

I am, however, suggesting clarity.

Leave no doubt, or dangling modifiers, or run-on sentences, or improper noun-verb agreements in your writing.

If you’re not sure about a particular passage, post it to a social media group.

If an argument erupts, you know what to do.

Simplify.

Liz Brenner

Everyone has a story to tell.

Even you.

Especially you.

Tags #education, blogging, reading, teaching, writing

Work

It’s Why I’ve Got No Worries At All

Post author By Liz Brenner
Post date August 1, 2023
No Comments on It’s Why I’ve Got No Worries At All

Mostly True Memoirs

No Worries At All

I’ve been doing a lot of work with AI lately.

I’m doing research and testing apps.

Most of what I’ve discovered is absolutely amazing.

But I’m not worried about my status as a writer.

No worries at all.

I’ve tested to see if AI can write a decent article.

Several times, I’ve given different apps the same prompt.

One of them overwrites, using pompous language that has to be rewritten.

Another one underwrites, repeating words and phrases that have to be revised.

Yet another one never gives the word count that I want, always coming in with a substantially shorter article than I requested.

I’ve found lots of spelling and grammatical and structural errors.

And plenty of errors of fact.

I asked for an analysis of the characters in a book.

The response included an extra character that was never in that story.

It also omitted an important character.

I prompted it to incorporate that missing person, but it couldn’t recognize the name.

Even though this was a main character.

And every single time I ask any of the apps for something humorous, I get a lecture about being kind to others.

Sometimes it delivers a response with the lecture, and other times it refuses altogether.

I prompted AI to review my blog and write a post in my voice.

None of the apps captured my voice at all.

One of them did figure out that Bob is a recurring character.

However, AI turned him into a hamster.

Bob, a hamster?

Now that’s funny.

AI can do some amazing things.

It’s an incredible tool.

But it can’t replace a writer.

Liz Brenner

Everyone has a story to tell.

Even you.

Especially you.

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