EXERCISE: What do you do in an emergency?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 12:57:16 -0400

CNN had a noted child psychologist (or some such) on this morning, providing guidance for those whose children may be reacting to the news of the sniper.

His advice consisted of tell the truth, but don't stress it.  Listen.  Give them plenty of family time and attention.  Don't let them watch too much news.

For some reason, I remembered the "change management" points about "give people ways to react and 'control' the change."  The notion (backed by good research) is that when we feel we have some influence over a situation, the stress is significantly lower than when we feel "out-of-control."

So I thought a good response might be teaching children ways to handle emergencies.  For example, talk to them about what they think might happen, and how they can deal with those problems.  Maybe even do the role-playing thing, and run through a few scenarios.

Knowing how to put pressure on a wound to cut down on the blood loss, how to yell and demand that someone call 911, and how to put similar Boy Scout first aid strategies into effect seems like it might help alleviate the fear of the unknown.

EXERCISE: The Elevator Version?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 00:04:45 -0400

Hum...

One of the bosses, in an effort to focus conversations, has been asking for "elevator versions" of project status, etc.  As he explains it, suppose we were in an elevator, and he was going to get out and go to a meeting with his boss where he would report on some issue -- what would you tell him in the moments between the floors?

It's an interesting exercise.

Perhaps the writing equivalent would be writing the cover blurb for your novel?  What would you like the back paragraph to be?  Or if there's a little squib on the cover flap (is there a word for that flap of the cover that fits inside the front of the book, where they often write a little about the book, or maybe about the author?) what would you want that to say?

What would you like the abstract on Amazon.com to be?

Go ahead, write your own publicity.

Oh, and then write the book to go with it, of course :-)

write.

I would have written on my stone:
I had a lover's quarrel with the world.  Robert Frost

and in the morning, ah, what a breakfast we had!