Mental Health Moments: How To Overcome The Fear of Sharing Your Writing

In last week’s blog post about self-publishing, I mentioned in the last point to not let fear stop you. I wish I could bottle even just a drop of that little-girl fearlessness. There are times I really need it and have to still push myself past the corners of a suppressed envelope in order to reach my writer’s potential. I’ve written millions upon millions of words at this point personally and professionally, but I still struggle with a lack of confidence in certain writing realms. Here are three ways you can work on overcoming your fear of sharing your work.

Why We Need Storytellers More Than Ever

Our publics need compassion and truth in the information they consume on a daily basis. In essence, all of us need storytellers more than ever. We need the truth in media and throughout the chains of commands in our organizations. We need stories, fiction and nonfiction, that reflect who we are and who we aim to be. Ultimately, silence isn’t golden in these situations. Communicate early and often with your audiences. Here are some ways communicators can ensure their publics’ stories are being told.

Creative Ways to Use Your Inner Child to Brainstorm Children’s Story Ideas

Before the soft launch of my first children’s book, Plastic Cupcakes, I took a free online course through my local library titled, “Writing For Children.” I’m going to share a few things I learned during this course if you are interested in writing your own children’s story or find yourself in a communications position marketing to children. Here are some ways you can use your inner child to craft stories for your own children’s story.

Top PR Trends to Watch in 2020

Coming into the third month of 2020, it makes me wonder what lies ahead for the PR world. What will be the next big thing in this industry? Public relations trends are ever-changing, as is the world as a whole. So as a PR professional, it’s always good to stay ahead of the game. So, here are some trends that I see changing the PR playbook in 2020.

Using the 8 Elements of a Story in Your Narratives

As November comes to a close, I’m sure you’re revisiting your projects’ word counts and diligently trying to reach all of your writing goals and objectives. If you’re like me, then that means that you didn’t meet your goal (*gasp*), and you’re faced with establishing a newer, stricter goal measurements in December and beyond. These eight elements will strengthen your story and cause you to geek out just like me when you lose yourself amongst books.

Mental Health Moments: Three Ways to Own Your Story

I have a confession to make: I haven’t always lived my most authentic life. My anxious-and-depressive wheel constantly spins behind my PR face. I am in a very public profession (I mean, public is in the name, after all), so I always wanted to put that fact first. The truth is, when you don’t show your actual personality, your efforts won’t resonate with your audience. Here are three ways you can own your story and begin to live the life that falls in line with who you truly are.

Why Stories Are Important To Your PR Efforts

No matter who you are, storytelling will help you achieve your goals and objectives through Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. As public relations professionals, we use RPIE religiously. It’s paramount to communication and how you tell your story. Nearly 70 percent of our daily conversations consist of personal stories (source: Jeremy Hsu). Why are stories important to your bottom line?

Signature Course: Telling Stories Through A Holistic Public Relations Approach AVAILABLE NOW!

Unveiling the heart of stories is our way of life at Hourglass Media. It’s more than just a mission statement and a statement of being. We live and breathe stories, whether it’s reading the latest strategies in an industry publication or sitting with a client and brainstorming new messaging. That is what led me to craft my first signature course, “Telling Stories Through A Holistic Public Relations Approach.” In this course, students will learn how to confidently create, plan, execute and evaluate their stories through tried-and-true public relations practices.

Using Images to Tell An Compelling Story

Even as adults, our brains crave images, whether it’s scrolling through a social media feed or enjoying a coveted piece of art at a museum in a big city. Images make the world go ‘round, and as communicators, it’s our duty to provide beautiful imagery for our companies, clients and other key stakeholders. We owe it ourselves and our narratives to showcase goods and services in visual formats. Here are some best practices when using images in digital storytelling.

Basic Photography Skills To Help You Tell A Story

Storytelling through photography has always been in my blood. Photography means, “writing with light,” and everyone knows I love the written word. Why not add a visual component? When I was a child, I would use my mom’s 35mm film point-and-shoot camera and my dad’s instant Polaroid camera to take photos of family members, still-life shots of my toys and, of course, clouds. The skills I learned in that first photography class in high school remain with me 15 years later. Here are some photography basics I learned.

What You Need For Your Storyteller’s Travel Kit

As spring comes to a close and we prepare for our summer vacations, we create our to-pack lists and check off all of the planning boxes for our trip. We devote time, money and other resources to these trips of a lifetime, and you better bet we want to to chronicle each moment. I ensure that I chronicle each trip through physical mementos, the written word and photographs. That’s all you need to tell your travel story! This month, Hourglass Media will give you travel tips. These three items help me tell my travel stories before, during and after the trip has come to a close:

Our Favorite Apps, Services and Software in 2018

We have a whole host of favorite apps, software, services, products and personal-life hacks, so it was challenging to narrow it down to just 10 items! The following 10 items have impacted Hourglass Media in positive and productive ways in 2018 and will continue to do so in 2019 and beyond.

10 Tips To Help You Tell Brand Stories

There's nothing better than reading, watching or playing a game with a good story. With your business, nonprofit organization, event or wherever you find yourself, you have to have a good story or your efforts will fall through the cracks. Whether you’ve just started your brand or are looking toward a refresh, here are 10 branding tips you can put to immediate use.

A #behindthehourglass Rebranding Journey

There comes a time in every business’ lifetime when it’s time to make a change. It could be a major change, like hiring someone new in the C-Suite or changing physical locations. It could also mean something small, like replacing the broken paper towel dispenser in the bathroom or making sure every Friday is “Wear Your Graphic Tees To Work Day.” Other times call for changes in your business’ narrative. See which recent branding changes we’ve made to our company.