Durable Human (2 book series)

Yearly Archives: 2014

How to Mingle with Agents and Editors

PubSmart Conference logoHere in the digital age where anyone can publish anything, emerging authors need to work harder than ever to stand out in the crowd, especially when speaking with an agent or editor. Your approach will make all the difference.

“Professionalism matters,” advised Angela Bole of the Independent Book Publishers Association, setting the tone for PubSmart, a practical new conference about the business side of book publishing.

Since there’s no second chance to make a first impression, PubSmart presenters stressed that authors should speak with confidence and positive energy. “Have a pleasant look, hold peoples’ eyes—and don’t say um,” agent Rachelle Gardner told a rapt audience of authors in a session about how to mingle with industry experts.

But just as important as what you say is where you say it. Continue reading

Train Your Brain to be Happy

Young man has head resting on golden retriever's shoulder

Athletes do endless drills to qualify for the Olympics. It takes practice to perfect any skill, whether calligraphy or coding. Now, it may be possible to train your brain for an ongoing sense of well-being.

“There is a lot of evidence that the technologies of the 20th and 21st centuries may have made us more productive and able to do more stuff, but we are not happier,” claims Ofer Leidner, developer of Happify.com. But his creation uses technology “as a means of creating happiness and human to human interaction.” Games and activities on Happify are grounded in science proving that repeating certain behaviors can reroute pathways in the brain to make happiness a habit. The goal of using his platform, says Leidner, is to obtain “a set of skills to use and apply.”

Continue reading

Kids Need Parents to Pay Attention

Kids are getting fed up with all the time their parents spend on technology. Yes – those same kids who are themselves involved in upwards of 8 hours of media per day.

The news comes from top behavioral experts at the annual conference of the Family Online Safety Institute.  I was there in search of advice for reining in screen time now that the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children and teenagers should spend no more than two hours a day on digital media.

But it didn’t take long to realize those darned kids aren’t necessarily the trouble. To borrow a phrase from Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us. Continue reading

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