18 Essential Lessons from Oprah Winfrey for Blogging Success - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

18 Essential Lessons from Oprah Winfrey for Blogging Success - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Whether you love Oprah Winfrey or not, you have to admit that she advances the causes of both women and African Americans.



What started out as a silly talk show has turned into a media conglomerate with tremendous power and influence.

You Can't Blog Effectively Without This Daily Exercise - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

You Can't Blog Effectively Without This Daily Exercise - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Takeaways:

Reading is an essential task in writing.

Writing is a challenging process beginning with the task of generating topic ideas.

Writers risk getting blocked, but reading helps avoid getting stuck.

Reading improves your brain in both the long-term and the short-term.

Not only will critical reading give you topic ideas, it will help you think and write better.

Oprah Winfrey on taking risks and failure. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Oprah Winfrey on taking risks and failure. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Points of courage to remember:

You are an important human being with enormous potential.

Victory only becomes possible when you take the risk to begin.

Failure is a step towards success if you learn the causes.

Failure makes you stronger if you own it, learn from it, and avoid repeating it.

All successful individuals are risk takers who have passed the risk of failure.

Successful people have a list of failures that preceded their victory.

A failed blog post does not equal a failed blog.

Nietzsche quotes that help find a unique writing voice. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Nietzsche quotes that help find a unique writing voice. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Nietzsche declared "God is dead."

He was referring to the modern trend toward agnosticism and atheism, and he frames God as a story.



That God was dead was shocking enough, but that we killed him, took Nietzsche to a heightened individual voice. He was bold and went against the grain.



All Gods are stories told by humans to explain existence, and most gods we have created are dead. Think of the Greek and Roman Gods, crushed by Christianity.



Nietzsche claims that modern life has eliminated the need for god, but he asks what will replace him. In other words, if you don't believe in God, where is your moral foundation? If you don't believe in God, how do you tell the story of existence in a powerful way that rings true?



Nietzsche values the individual who must always fight to keep from becoming a drone, one of the mindless masses. Tribes always threaten to strangle individuality, and resisting the majority is difficult. With and without god, people must fight for their individuality.

Darin L. Hammond on Depression - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Darin L. Hammond on Depression - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Raising children into respectful, kind adults by turning parents into empathic mentors. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Raising children into respectful, kind adults by turning parents into empathic mentors. - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Takeaways:

Infant humans are geniuses at least until the age of eight, with the greatest learning power in the known universe.

Typically, parents  view children as less capable, intelligent, and valued than adults.

Adding the word "mentor" to the vocabulary of early childhood learning, with  the same importance as the word "parent," might help us to remember.

Raising a child as if he or she were a respected and loved adult will empower youth to embrace their roles as mature and responsible citizens.

Words to Cut to Empower Coverletters - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Words to Cut to Empower Coverletters - ZipMinis: Science of Blogging and Writing

Darin's notes: I find great power in advice that encourages me to trim down. We almost always overwrite, cluttering our language with unnecessary words. I usually cut almost half of a story or letter I write.



We use filler language, usually to sound important, but we accomplish the opposite. Other words to look out for: to be verbs, there, it, you, which, and that. Choose power verbs, nouns, and descriptors.