Topics

• 2016-08-05

  The neverending story of personal storytelling (part two)

  This essay is in three parts, of which this blog post is the second. Click these links for parts one and three. What The Neverending Story tells us about personal storytelling Now that we’ve worked our way through all the elements of The Neverending Story, I think we are ready to explore what the book… Read more

• 2016-08-05

  The neverending story of personal storytelling (part one)

  This essay is in three parts, of which this blog post is the first. Click these links for parts two and three. I’ve been waiting a long time to write this essay. I thought of it four or five years ago when I was writing a series of posts about natural storytelling. I never wrote… Read more

• 2016-05-24

  Where is the participation in PNI?

  Here’s a thought. I saw a reference to participatory narrative inquiry recently that said it’s participatory because during the return phase of a PNI project, stories return to the community. I thought: that’s true, but the return phase isn’t the only place a PNI project can be participatory. There is a place for participation in… Read more

• 2015-12-30

  It’s a great big box of chocolates (Circle of the 9 Muses)

  I just now posted this review on Amazon.com. It’s about David Hutchens’ new book about stories in organizations, Circle of the 9 Muses: A Storytelling Field Guide for Innovators and Meaning Makers. I first heard about David’s book project two years ago, and I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter ever since. I’m excited to see how… Read more

• 2015-04-13

  The Holy Roman Empire was a complex adaptive system

  So a few weeks ago my son and I were watching the Crash Course World History series. In it John Green mentioned Voltaire’s famous statement that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. A few days later, I found that the phrase “Holy Roman Empire” was still bouncing around in… Read more

• 2015-02-10

  My left ear

  As you know if you read this blog regularly (or as regularly as I write it, anyway), I have strong opinions about some things. For example: I have spent fifteen years working toward these goals, and I am passionate about them. But I’ve also thought a lot about whether being passionate about a goal is… Read more

• 2014-12-17

  Of cookbooks and story books

  Would you like me to tell you how to cook pasta? No? Pretend you do for a minute so I can make a point. It’s about stories, I promise. First, choose a pot with a good thick bottom. If the pot’s bottom is thin, the water will not boil evenly, and the pasta will clump.… Read more

• 2014-11-12

  Including the unincluding

  Here is a question I’ve been mulling over for the past few months. How can you include people who don’t believe in inclusion? Put in other words: I’m not making up this problem. Here’s a quote from a recent New Yorker article about Hong Kong: Last year, when the Party faced mounting complaints over deadly… Read more

• 2014-09-23

  From the archives

  I have some top secret projects going on right now, but I have nothing ready to show you just yet (mwahahaha). However, the other day I was poking around in some old files (can’t remember why), and I thought, gee, I wonder if some of my blog readers might like to see this old musty… Read more

• 2014-08-09

  Stories in search of characters

  I thought that in returning to blogging more regularly I’d write one of my old-style blog posts, the kind where I take a handful of thought pebbles out of my pocket and line them up on a table for us to look at together. (I tend to find them in the places where things foam… Read more

• 2013-08-27

  Getting to priceless (the Mistake Bank book)

  I’d like to start this post by owning up to a mistake. When John Caddell published his excellent book The Mistake Bank a few months back, I promised him I would post a comprehensive review here and on amazon.com. But my level of frustration at my own book being really and truly nearly done led… Read more

• 2013-01-31

  Tick tock tick tock tick

  This post is about a little thing I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s not a story thing, it’s more of a complexity thing, but I’m allowed to talk about that here because I said I would. Clocks to leaves I spend a lot of time looking out of windows. Most of the… Read more

• 2013-01-22

  The Mistake Bank book

  Hey everybody, John Caddell’s Mistake Bank project, about which I’ve written here before, has swung into high gear in the final days of getting it out as an awesome book, with a Kickstarter campaign. Drop everything and go get your advance copy! The book is called The Mistake Bank: How to Succeed by Forgiving Your… Read more

• 2013-01-15

  Neverending

  My last post on this blog was nearly two months ago. That’s the longest gap I’ve had so far in, what is it, three years? I am writing nearly every day, but it is all going into the book. The book? It’s still plodding along like the dear little dogged thing it is. It says… Read more

• 2012-11-22

  What has never happened to you?

  Here are some ideas that have been bouncing around in my mind for months. I’ve tried to write them down a few times now, but I keep being held back because the ideas are not fully formed. However, today I correct myself on that point: such thoughts are against my rule on this blog. The… Read more

• 2012-10-29

  Do that to me one more time (more on the reading experience)

  This is going to be one of those rambling blog posts where I start by describing an experience I’ve had which nobody but me could possibly care about, and end by making statements about life, the universe, and everything that … nobody but me could possibly care about. So if you came here while hopping… Read more

• 2012-10-10

  Blog reading made easy and fun

  So we just got back from a family car trip. At a rest stop on the way, I picked up a cute little brochure called “Born To Be Wild: The Guide to Getting Kids Outdoors.” I like to see what people are saying about nature, so I picked one up. The brochure is formatted like… Read more

• 2012-10-01

  What goes around

  Here is a little pestering idea you might want to be pestered by. I started this blog to pass on pestering ideas, so there you go, little idea, move along. When Google first got exciting, it was because it was more accurate than anything else out there. It was more accurate because it relied on… Read more

• 2012-07-23

  What makes a good story listener?

  This blog post has been moved to (and revised for) The Working with Stories Miscellany. You can find it as the section called “Finding good story listeners” in Chapter 2, “More on Story Collection.” Read more

• 2012-04-13

  Lonely for …

  So yesterday I get in the mail the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly, and it’s a double dose of loneliness in one day. The Atlantic has an article called “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” while in the New Yorker it’s “The Disconnect.” I read these with interest, partly because I’ve been writing similar things… Read more