NaNoWriMo Day 4 of 30

We are at Day 4 of NaNoWriMo (see previous post).  1700 words a day seems daunting but with an army of helpful collaborators we can do it... for 10 people that's only 170 words a day... heck, I write that many words in emails.  If you would like to join the Palo Alto NaNoWriMo project click here for permission.  As soon as I get your request I'll let you in.

No Plot No Problem: A Novel by Dec. 1 in just 1,700 Words a Day

November is taking off with Dia de la Muerte leading the charge and The Festival of the Dead Turkey bringing up the rear. In between the feasts (and before the Christmas rush) we have stumbled upon NaNoWriMo or "National Novel Writing Month: 30 Days of Literary Abandon".

More than 170,000 writers have signed on to produce a novel before December 1, 2010.  Their goal is to write 1,700 words a day.  Their battle cry is "No Plot No Problem".  This pen wielding army of prose-a-tarians have already written more than 2 million words this year alone.

The NaNo organization, kind of like Team in Training, offers full support for this writing marathon, including a Procrastination Station featuring a page called Permission to Suck.

So pen warriors.  Take arms and start typing.  Join the battle and speak your mind in a Mes de la Pluma  if you will.

Public Relations is Dead and Other Thoughts About New Marketing Realities

Mark Twain never exactly said: "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"; what he probably did say was something like: "This report of my death was an exaggeration". (How great indeed is the need to tweak another man's prose).

While we are on the topic of deaths, real or exaggerated, and in observation of Dia de los Muertos, let's mourn the classic model for technology sector public relations.  This is the model best and most widely implemented by Regis McKenna Inc. and his many devotees.  If it's not exactly dead, it's on serious life support, just waiting for someone to trip over the cord.

If the RMI PR model is dying the cause is most likely complications related to old age.  Certainly technology has changed around us. As Marshall McLuhan observed so long ago: the medium is the message.  As the medium changes, the message changes, and so does the messenger. In the last 30 years the medium of communications has gone from paper publications to tweets in the blink of an eye. 

The "Mad Me" phenomena encapsulates the changes in our world in the glass jar of the 60s and 70s.  We can watch as the world changes around Don Draper (a fictional character within a fictional character) and feel safer as our world changes around us.  Let's have a martini with lunch today and remember the good old days.

Everything We Know About Study Skills Sucks

The New York Times has published a review of study skills and learning styles:  Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits. Sept. 6, 2010.  In summary

• No research exists to support the old advice about studying
• Use the same quiet place
• Study according to a routine schedule
• Set goals and boundries
• Recent studies call for more actual research about learning styles theory
• NPR Talk of the Nation has an article about Master Teachers that can be heard here  
• More ideas about the craft of teaching Uncommon Schools Networks
• Master teacher demonstrates classroom control http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124532654

We won't grow up: Why 20 somethings delay adulthood

According to the "New York Times Magazine", 20 somethings are delaying adulthood: avoiding the checklist items of adulthood like the plague.  Fewer than 1/2 of women and 1/3 of men have passed the 5 classic milestones of adulthood by age 30. 

• Mortgage? Not possible if we want to move every year
• Financial independence? Waiting for a job that's both meaningful and relevant.
• Finish school?  Would I have to matriculate?
• Marriage?  Forgetaboutit.  Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free.
• Children?  Wait, I'm the child here.

The real story is more complex.  Read  "What is it About 20-Somethings ....Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up" by Robin Marantz Henig. New York Times Magazine. Aug. 18, 2010
Details here

Frugal Leben: Stuck on Glue

When living by frugal life creed ("reduce, recycle and reuse") you will often be forced to repair.  Use the right glue for the job.  Thistothat.com provides a truly simple glue finder app as well as gripping true-glue stories from real life like the You Glued What Gallery.

Pass it on.... may it live long and prosper... and you too! 

A different kind of garden: Raising Kids

Two of my three beautiful daughters were adopted from China.  It's complicated.  It's wonderous.  It's one of the mysteries of life that seem to become more profound the longer I live.  PBS will be airing a documentary about adoption Fall of 2010 starting with a view of a recent Chinese adoption. The trailer touched me deeply.  The interview with the film maker can be found here

Watch the full episode. See more POV.