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8 tips for writing a killer author bio (even if you haven’t published anything yet)

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

mark-twain

Couple of years ago, a good friend of mine, an artist, came with a request to help her write a resume for an upcoming exhibition she wanted to apply for. Now, writing a resume is not such a big deal, but when you have somebody at the beginning of their artistic career (with only 1 exhibition) and this exhibition she was applying for, was supposed to be held in Louvre, then it is a big deal – at least for artists. And it has to be remarkably written, just as her masterpiece. It was quite a challenge, but I knew her for a long time (we grew up together) and we had to start from somewhere. Certain approaches we applied, eventually paid off (her bio was very much praised as her art) and these approaches can work for any type of biography – including that of a writer.

Beside some minor details about education and study field, I was not left with much to work with: only one exhibition behind her, so what do you write about then?

My first tip is:

  1. Mention the most relevant professional, educational, travel, or personal experiences: what is special about you.

It has to resonate with your audience and the occasion for which you are writing your resume (you can adjust and rewrite your bio according to the current needs). My friend, she used to travel a lot, was great admirer of history and architecture, so we included that. Same applies to writers. If you are writing non-fiction about health issues, than include your personal story. If you are writing a novel, give some juicy details what inspired the idea –  you get the picture. Your biography has to look and sound both human and professional and the trick is to find the balance between the two. Once again, it’s about pulling in the details which will resonate with your readers/editors and which fit adequately with the topics you’re writing about.

  1. Always ask someone who knows you very well about your qualities, skills, what distincts you from other people and include that in your bio.

We tend to be very subjective and overly critical. Observations from other people can be very helpful.I knew that my friend is very skilled with hands, for example (she could make anything you imagine), so I emphasized her knowledge of work with materials, tools, experimenting with textures and colors. Around that we carefully crafted a short story that was about the work she was submitting. And at the end it turned out very well.

Also, she had a lot of pieces that she developed in free time, but never seen the eyes of the public. So, the second thing we did, we developed a basic website where we published the pictures of her other work as well. We included the link in the biography so she could showcase the spectrum of her work – not only sculptures, but sketches, oil paintings, everything that represented her and her work. That contributed to her uniqueness and artistic individuality.

The same can apply to writers:

  1. If you are not already a published writer, build a basic website or blog where you can showcase excerpts of your writings (you reading this probably already have a blog) so try to reorganize your blog to showcase your best work and include the link in your bio.

Also, if you haven’t published anything yet, it’s hard to get reviews and testimonials. What you can do:

  1. Use the comments that people leave you on your website and social media as a testimonial. I’ve seen many writers – entrepreneurs doing exactly that, and it’s paying off.
  1. If you are part of any writing/literally organization, group (even forum) – list that in your bio, as it adds to your credentials. Another plus in an editor’s eyes is your affiliation with writers’ organizations. If you are not, join one! My friend was a member of national artistic network and that detail added to her professionalism.

Now, some technical stuff:

  1. Always write in third person. It kind of makes it easier to talk about yourself and your achievements. You should give it a try.
  1. Keep it short.

Editors, committees, even your readers don’t have much time to read a novel in your biography. Try to be concise, yet informative.

  1. The opening line should be straightforward and meaningful (in simple words telling who you are): if your degree is relevant, then note it.

This is where you captivate your reader (editor). You have to introduce yourself and this is usually the turning point. Never start with personal details – it will just make you look unprofessional.

For the end, apply this trick: read your bio out loud. How does it sounds, feel? You will know you nailed it, when it simply feels right!

 

 

 

 

 

3 reasons why we should “revisit” our core beliefs, from time to time

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

poetry

We could call our core beliefs our “operating system” in this world. The system of values formed from our early childhood, adolescence and later through out the life. Our values are mostly influenced by our family, educational system, but also by our surroundings. Going though life we experience each and every event which we “catalogize” somewhere in our memory as a good or bad and when something similar happens we tend to compare and label each event. Usually this is framed by societal norms that act like boundaries within we want to fall: we strive for success, but in terms that society implies…and it happens that we get lost; that our value system evolves and demands something else from us.

Or we are so wrapped in the societal way of thinking that unless something like illness or other form of trauma happens, we are not able to recognize the signs and life demands our attention – wanting to tell us that something is not right.  Then it’s the time for a different approach.

One thing important here is that we are in complete control over our beliefs and our emotions. We are creators of our experiences and only we can call them “good” or “bad”. Remember the famous experiment in quantum physics where it is proved that observer affects and perceives reality from his own point of view?

In a study reported in Nature (Vol. 391, pp. 871-874), researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have conducted a highly controlled experiment demonstrating how a beam of electrons is affected by the act of being observed. The experiment revealed that the greater the amount of “watching,” the greater the observer’s influence on what actually takes place. When a quantum “observer” is watching Quantum mechanics states that particles can also behave as waves. This can be true for electrons at the submicron level, i.e., at distances measuring less than one micron, or one thousandth of a millimeter. When behaving as waves, they can simultaneously pass through several openings in a barrier and then meet again at the other side of the barrier. This “meeting” is known as interference.

Strange as it may sound, interference can only occur when no one is watching. Once an observer begins to watch the particles going through the openings, the picture changes dramatically: if a particle can be seen going through one opening, then it’s clear it didn’t go through another. In other words, when under observation, electrons are being “forced” to behave like particles and not like waves. Thus the mere act of observation affects the experimental findings.

Source Sciencedaily.com

We are creators of our reality, and values we follow. I think that from time to time we should reevaluate our core beliefs, because we change; it evolves with us and there 3 crucial reasons for that:

1.What stands as a truth for us, might not be the same for somebody else.

Some beliefs have roots in the experiences of our parents or have the origin in the collective subconsciousness. We should honestly ask ourselves: “Is this what I truly believe? Is this what I want?” Your definition of success is only yours. The same it comes with the notion of failure.

2.Our needs and desires change.

When I was 18, 19 the world looked completely different. I had different expectations of myself. What I wanted to do then is not in alignment with who I am today. My purpose changed as much as my ambition, which influences my further choices and decision making.

3.Each experience is an opportunity for growth.

I don’t dwell that much on the bad stuff. Yeah, it happened, but I don’t want to be stuck in the past. It has no power unless as a learning lesson; something I wouldn’t like to happen again and that’s it. While letting go we are able to move forward, like removing heavy chains off our feet. And than you are prepared for new experiences.

Engaging in the poetic process can accelerate our quest in search for meaning, value and purpose. Claire Morgan in her book “What Poetry brings to Business” further notes:

The development of ethical sensibility is a mind changing process. The changing of mind is partly dependent on a reframing of viewpoint in which the transformative potential of art can be a major motor. The absence of a simple, singular message in the artwork is a part of its value in developing an ethical sensibility.

Poetry is a pathway to new experiences: unlived, missed, desired. Either way eventually,  it can be our guidance in which way to turn our life and to what kind of reality we strive for.

They Were Welcome To Their Belief -by Robert Frost

Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
They were welcome to their belief,
The overimportant pair.

No, it took all the snows that clung
To the low roof over his bed,
Beginning when he was young,
To induce the one snow on his head.

But whenever the roof camme white
The head in the dark below
Was a shade less the color of night,
A shade more the color of snow.

Grief may have thought it was grief.
Care may have thought it was care.
But neither one was the thief
Of his raven color of hair. 

How important is tacit knowledge for your creativity and one simple way to get more of it

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

polanyi

We could say that tacit knowledge represents everything undefined, inexplicable, unknown yet perceived knowledge by one person – usually rooted deeply in the subconsciousness and its largely based on his or her emotions, experiences, intuition, observations, any internalized information. It is the knowledge we all have, we all use – it influences our judgment, decisions and it’s kind of a framework that makes explicit knowledge viable. For first time, it was conveyed by the Hungarian philosopher-chemist Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) in his 1966 book ‘The Tacit Dimension.’

Innovations and innovative thinking are mostly related to science, to factual representation of knowledge. It’s a knowledge completely rationalized and most importantly verified – verified by accepted methods and methodologies. Yet for any innovative thought to be brought to surface, it has to have some sort of ignition point: unease, desire, need, unconformity that propels us in searching for new solutions and expressions – being that technology, art or science. That ignition point is our tacit knowledge.

In a research paper ‘Bicycling on the Moon: Collective Tacit Knowledge and Somatic-limit Tacit Knowledge’ author Collins H., argues that:

This knowledge has to be known tacitly, because it is located in human collectivities and, therefore can never be the property of any one individual. The simplest way to see this is to note the changes in content of the knowledge belonging to communities is beyond the control of the individuals within the communities.

In any entrepreneurial pursuit, or development of organizational knowledge accessing individual tacit knowledge is the center of creation and finding channels for verbalizing, sharing and expressing this knowledge is of vital importance.

We are not always able to recognize our tacit knowledge, but it is who we are; sometimes it turns out of nowhere as an intuition, or an attitude. It can be a surge of unorganized impulses and discomforts. One form of this outlet can be directed through poetry.

In the paper ‘Personal Performatives: Collecting Poetical Definitions of Management’ author Kostera M., firmly believes that:

Poems are also therefore an act of discovery, and require a degree of effort to write and to be understood. Poetry can cut through superficiality and help us to see the world differently. Poetry, as an approach is well suited for expressing the ambivalence and volatility of the managerial experience.

I. A. Richards, literary critique liked to call that

a pseudo-statement of words which is justified entirely by its effect in releasing or organizing our impulses and attitudes.

We can think of writing a poetry as a sort of revelation, an imaginative “living of the situation”  and we emerge from that experience like it really happened. It reframes our values, our goals, needs and it dictates the further factual exploring we strive to. Poetry is a lens through which we can see real truth and it’s no strange that some philosophers like Aristotle were afraid of poetry, that it can destabilize well run state.

Tacit knowledge is a particular challenge for knowledge management. Companies would like to prevent knowledge loss due to employee migration. Long gone are the days when employee would stay in one company for twenty + years. Now it’s usual that people change jobs more frequently – even every 2-3 years. In my 15 years of professional experience I’m in my fifth different (entrepreneurial) engagement. However, tacit knowledge almost always goes with the employee.

Tacit knowledge is essential to competitive advantage because it is that special ingredient that nobody can copy. Individuality and originality. Forms of tacit knowledge may include emotional intelligence, leadership skills, humor, sense for music, aesthetics, rhythm, cultural inheritance – practically all hidden talents.

It’s the reason some companies pump out innovation after innovation while other experience saturation.

Mapping your subconscious mind through poetry can be a key to your creativity. As a poet Wallace Stevens said:

Is the poem both peculiar and general?

There’s a meditation there, in which there seems

To be an evasion, a thing not apprehended or

not apprehended well.

Does the poet evade us as a senseless element

Evade, this hot depended orator

The spokesman at our bluntest barriers

Exponent by a form of speech, the speaker

Of a speech only a little of the tongue?

 

4 qualities of thought leaders and how to become one

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!

thoughtleadership

We all want to become more influential, persuasive in what we do. It’s of vital importance, being you a writer, small business owner or just an employee in the company. Getting our message across, being understood and perceived in the right way is how new, creative bonds are built in relationships – especially the business ones.

What being a thought leader is about anyway? Many people relate that term only to marketing and ways how to monetize “masterpiece” thinking, which opens the door to the new markets and new sources of income. That is the end-result of good directed and implemented thought leadership, but before that in order to become more influential you need to offer a sort of purposeful contribution that your audience and clients can actually benefit from. It’s a well developed internal strategy, wrapped in the perceptive cultural approach.

There are 4 qualities that are a common denominator among successful thought leaders:

1.They bring innovative thinking.

Especially entrepreneurs and people “zooming outside of the box” – they question everything and don’t take anything for granted. Sure, sometimes they don’t succeed at once –still, they move, shake, disrupt, and build paths through unexplored industrial jungles.

2.They are the brand.

Sharp and focused branding behind their persona is another ingredient in their leadership recipe. They are not afraid to begin, all over again – from zero, building something worthwhile, aligned with their personal values.

3.They are strategic thinkers and engaging storytellers.

Not only that they have well structured strategy around their message, they know how to convey it in a form of engaging and moving stories – stories that relate to our human side, experience and position in the world, which lead us to the final trait:

4.Thought leaders are empathetic.

Often, thought leaders draw their own life energy from struggles and suffering they went through themselves, which give them the opportunity to better understand the social needs. There, they see the chance to disperse their message and they are heartfelt, generous with their time, talents, money. Think of Richard Branson or Deepak Chopra for example.

In some of my previous posts I extensively wrote about the benefits of poetry in developing leadership qualities. It is that magic bond that allows of incomprehensible to be understood, unsaid to be heard, complex to be simplified to the tiniest pieces.

We are all thought leaders, once we decide to be.

It is not the Critic That Counts by Theodore Roosevelt

It’s not the critic who counts,

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,

or when the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;

who errs and comes short again and again;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;

and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,

so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid

souls who know neither victory or defeat.”