Tag: Storytelling
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1,000
1,000 likes on Five Minute Observations. More than 700 stories about grief, grace, friendship, and paying attention to ordinary moments. Thank you for reading. New goal: 100 subscribers. Read something here that stuck with you? Send it to one person. Link in bio.
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Ms. Francelli, VP of Human Relations, Graymer Inc.
She smiles before every threat, shakes hands before every lie. In the VP’s office, “yes?” isn’t a question — it’s a leash. A quiet, corrosive study of power, performance, and the small surrenders that keep an org chart running smooth.
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Words Between Zero and Your Goal
GoFundMe. It’s a great way to raise money for funeral expenses, in a short time. But often there’s a gap between the “real need” and “funded,” and, believe it or not, it’s not that people are unwilling or unable to give. It’s a wording problem, easy enough to fix in the time it takes to…
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Tuesday’s Twelve Minutes
Grants fund the work. Data measures it. Spokespeople explain what you do. But the story? Story lets people feel all of it.
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A Secret I’m Bad At Keeping
Finally, it’s finished! My first thriller fiction novel. Restitution — it’s about a woman who uncovers something she was never supposed to find and must choose between exposing it or staying silent. I’ve spent the better part of the last three weeks getting it ready for the BookLife contest. Now I’m ready to talk about…
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Choose Words That Count
Two coffee shops. Two conversations. One word ended a friendship. Another changed someone’s whole day. Your words carry more weight than you think.
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Sit Down. Stay.
What does it feel like to live in the middle of grief? A personal essay on losing Jude, the Swamp of Sadness, and why the best thing you can do for someone grieving is simply sit down and stay.
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Tales of the Dragon — Part Four
Eleven years of searching end in a village square. A boy who was never given a name finally claims his own. And Old Maren, unmoved as ever, keeps watching for who’s ready to carry the story next.
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Tales of the Dragon — Part Three
Eleven years without a rumor of an answer. He’s not chasing a royal daughter or wolves that were never lost. The stranger shows Old Maren something, changing the story she thought she knew.
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Keeping Your Word When It Costs You
Jonathan won’t speed, even with his daughter’s scholarship interview on the line. She thinks he’s choosing a sign over her future. Thirty years from now, she’ll understand exactly why he didn’t budge.
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Worth Waiting
He stood at the door for two minutes. No one was watching. That’s the story that actually lasts.
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Tales of the Dragon: Part II — Vhorrak Arrives
A dragon curls around the village well and falls asleep. Old Maren was there. Now she tells it to the children at her feet — all of it, except the part about the wolves.
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Tales of the Dragon
Every dragon story ends the same way — the beast falls, the village cheers. This one starts with a stranger, a ring, and questions more than eighty years old.
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Mile Nine
Nobody claps for mile nine. That’s the whole point. A new essay on leadership, endurance, and those quiet decisions no one sees.
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How’s the Water Today
A passenger confesses the three people he overlooked yesterday. An old goldfish story — and a daughter’s question — won’t let either of them off the hook.
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Get To
I noticed I was living in have to when I could have been living in get to. Weird. Two little words. Everything changed.
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Overheard at Brood & Barley
We weren’t trying to listen. But Gina and Shelly had no volume control — and Margie had no idea what was waiting for her at the next table.
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Name It
The average adult knows 20,000 words. But the one you learn today? What if that’s exactly the one someone in your life is waiting for?
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Still Excellent
Two weeks. One dismissal disguised as a compliment. Margot started writing and stopped refreshing her email. Then the phone rang.
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Love Pursues
Our truck slid off a jungle bridge, plunging us into the river. Tires blew. But the frame? It held. Our story doesn’t start at the bridge. Find out more. Read Love Pursues. Five Minute Observations.