“We now live in a world of infinite information. Most of our systems weren’t designed for this world. Even if you had the best recommendation system ever, and everyone stopped publishing interesting stuff tomorrow, you’d never get through all the content you’re interested in. You need a place to start. So our goal is to help people pay attention to the most valuable stuff first and to have the best ideas win.” Ev Williams,  founder of Medium.

Like I said about 6 months ago, a whole bunch of people just spent a whole bunch of time writing a whole bunch of material on the internet. How do we sift through the ashes to find the best of the best? I believe they just may have a model with the A to the Q.

These guys brought us Blogger. And Twitter. Hello, did you register that one? Like these dudes have been on the cusp before, maybe just maybe they’re on to some new goodness here too?

So here’s their angle:

• Great ideas compete on their own merit at Medium. They rank short stories and manifestos based on interest and engagement.
• They claim the best in-browser editor on the web. There is no layer of abstraction. “Smooth as butter and like no other” – Hmmm… it is incredibly clean. What writing should be 🙂
• Writing here is a collaborative effort. That can be in the form of writing on a shared idea, or by inviting collaborators to help polish up a piece before publishing it. I like both of these possibilities.

OK, I got an invite and I hung out a shingle. “Just Out There” is my namesake. I have some material on the back burner for this place… we’ll see where it goes.

Please stop by and check it out, pretty cool!

The post It Could Happen… (Why I Like Medium) first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.

The post It Could Happen… (Why I Like Medium) appeared first on I'm Just Thinkin'.

Always up for an adventure…

This week I was looking through my blog at some of the material that I’ve written over the past 3+ years. When you write about life in general, over time you come up with quite a variety. That’s fun, in a lot of ways. I’ve learned quite a bit about God, life, and myself. Well, I’m in the process of finalizing my third book, “All Sorts And Conditions Of People: The 7 Essentials Of Extraordinary Relationships.” You can read more about my forthcoming book at the link, this post isn’t really about that. As I was reflecting on the material that I have crunched out to date, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on building your content, and two miracles that God has accomplished in this short season of my life:

– First of all, I had no idea that I was capable of writing. Please don’t take me wrong, I don’t think that I’m super great at it now or destined to be the next guest on Oprah. But it is a pretty cool part of my testimony, that I never had a knack for writing until some friends pointed it out to me that God had given me this gift. I’m really thankful for that, for those wonderful people who genuinely cared so much about me that they took an interest, and for God for giving me this somewhere in the midst of my life. To me, it was so pronounced that I would compare it to Jesus giving sight to a blind man who had never seen before. Yep, that powerful. Well, close anyway. And it started after I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, little more than 10 years ago…

– Two central themes in my life seem to be passion and adventure. I have to be passionate about something for it to stick around for very long. When I think about what I would describe as fun it would be adventurous. It doesn’t have to be as zany as living on the “Lost” island. My sweetheart will tell you that creating something delicious in the kitchen on Saturday night is ALWAYS a fun time together, and a sort of adventure. I guess in my little world it’s sort of like getting my ya-yas out. As far as my writing is concerned, I’ve enjoyed just sharing with you my adventure, and learning how to write along the way.

Passion and adventure… 007 is that kind of guy. He’s passionate about his work, and he is always on some sort of adventure. That’s why I dig the Bond movies, and many others like Indian Jones, Mowgli the man cub, and, of course, you know that Gump is into the passion and adventure… about his running, and life!

If you read some of the material written by what we call “the author’s authors” – you know, those authors who are making it by telling other want-to-be authors about how to do it… if you read their stuff they’ll tell you how you can write a book one blog post at a time. It’s true. I’ve done it, at least in part, with all of my books.

With that said I want to let you in on another miracle that God has worked in my life over this season: The relationships book that I’m finalizing, there is some material that I started writing last year with a specific goal of including it in my book. There is also material that I will be including that I wrote 3 years ago that fits perfectly. While I never intended to include Gump in this work, Forrest fits to a T, as you will soon see.

Why?

Well, because I followed His lead in faith, and did what my friends suggested…

Write.

Just write.

“Maybe I’m amazed at the way you help me sing my song…” Paul. You know, the other one 😉

It’s like understanding the signs of the times, as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12:32, to help unify God’s people. And hearing His voice, following and knowing how to respond…

“… He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. After He has gathered his own flock, He walks ahead of them, and they follow Him because they know His voice.” John 10:3-4 They may be shaken, but not stirred!

The post Building Your Content: How Adventure Runs Through My Life first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.

The post Building Your Content: How Adventure Runs Through My Life appeared first on I'm Just Thinkin'.

I believe there is “a Larson” in all of us… that we all have a niche… that everyone has a story to tell… a creative. One that is captivating and worthwhile… one that will turn heads and open minds. How do you find yours? How can you be a great storyteller?

Tell a story about something that you know really well… or tell a story about something that you’re really passionate about.

How do I do that?

Here are 2 ideas…

• Write about your journey. 

or

• Write about your passions.

Here are a few examples of folks I see doing this really well…

Scott Kerzner (aka Skotty Dog) is one that really inspires… his blog, In Due Season, is centered on his family’s financial journey… from -$100,000 to back in the black. Scott’s inspiring story is honest and transparent!

Christine Niles is making a difference in the world today by sharing her story and hope for the fatherless children of the world at River of Thoughts. Her story is very real as they have adopted two girls from the Ukraine!

Dan Black does a smoking good job with leadership at his blog, Dan Black On Leadership. One of the keys for Dan, to me anyway, is his servant attitude… he really goes all out to help his readers grow… serve… and lead!

Joe Lalonde is my all around guy… he’s got spunk! Joe’s blog, Joseph Lalonde, is about life… and Joe writes it well. Joe is an excellent storyteller, and I’ve learned a lot from him about building community.

So how does this storytelling work? Well, it comes from God… it comes from the heart. Once you start you’ll find that there are plenty of other people out there that will benefit from your testimony, or story. You’ll get in a groove, network and build a community… sometimes it’s completely unpredictable… that, in itself, is at times breathtaking!

Perhaps the most awesome part of doing this is that you may just find yourself… and your ministry… that’s sort of what happened to me when a few friends suggested that I had a knack for writing… a heart for God… and a story worth telling… I never knew!

“Who Me?” Yep, you too… give it a whirl…. and don’t forget to write with a servant’s spirit… that will go far in helping others… which should be our goal in living a Be Great life, right?

The post Two Easy Ways To Be A Great Storyteller first appeared on I'm Just Thinkin'.

The post Two Easy Ways To Be A Great Storyteller appeared first on I'm Just Thinkin'.