2025.22 Become a Thought Leader
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for June 27, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Become a Thought Leader The more you speak--and this goes for writing, too--the more people see you as a "thought leader." I would rather be a thought-provoker, but that's me. When you're a thought leader, people think of you first. That's ideal if you're trying to use content marketing to sell books or your services. Two weeks after I started my consulting business, I received a...
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2025.21 Think of Stories in Three Ways
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for June 20, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Think about stories in three ways: standalone, linked, and nested stories. * Standalone* stories describe a single situation to illustrate a specific point. They can also be anecdotes or examples. Many of the sidebars in this book are standalone stories that support the text on either side of the sidebar. In a presentation, a standalone story helps the audience understand the...
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2025.20 Shy or Introverted People Can Become Effective Public Speakers
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for June 13, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. However, if you are shy or you do gain energy from your thoughts, you can explain that to your audience. The people who feel the same way will feel a kinship with you. Once you start speaking effectively, your shyness or introversion won't matter to anyone—including you. Even better, the more effective your presentation is, the more likely your audience members will connect...
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2025.19 Take Time to Breathe
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for June 6, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Take Time to Breathe One of the best things you can do to prepare physically is to take a little time to breathe. While I don't do deep breathing exercises, you might consider doing so. However, especially if my allergies are acting up, I'll breathe, blow my nose, and otherwise make sure everything is working. We can't easily stay present if we can't breathe. Breathing allows...
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2025.18 Trap: We Can’t Afford You
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for May 30, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Trap: We Can't Afford You People who are not able to buy will ask you to speak. Those nice people are not the economic buyer. I rarely say, "yes," when someone asks me to speak. Instead, I use a discovery call to understand what a prospective client actually wants. That helps me understand all the boundaries of the potential speaking engagement. Halfway through one call, I asked if there...
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2025.17 Trap: We Never Pay Speakers
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for May 23, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Trap: We Never Pay Speakers Early in my consulting career, before I'd even published a book, I drew the attention of a famous Fortune 100 organization. (The kind of organization that had plenty of money to pay for consultants and speakers.) An administrative assistant called and said, "Our VP is very impressed with you." I said, "Thank you." She continued, "We'd love you to...
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2025.17 Trap: You Pay for the Infomercial
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for May 16, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Trap: You Pay for the Infomercial Every so often, I receive emails from some World Famous Person or their admin. The email says something like this: "Because you're a leader in your field, World Famous Person wants to interview you for this serious-sounding radio or television program. You have your choice of several radio or television packages, starting at a mere $2500 for an hour...
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2025.16: Are You a "Best-Kept" Secret?
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for May 9, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. Yes, it’s been a couple of weeks. I am finally over my cold, my website is fixed, and my car is healthy again. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Yes, I changed the start of the book again. Are You a "Best-Kept" Secret? Too many writers and consultants are best-kept secrets. It doesn't matter if they publish fiction, nonfiction, or show their consulting expertise through their writing. These people cannot seem...
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2025.15: Skip the Jokes
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 18, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. (Yes, I have a head cold.) This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. Unless You Are a Comic, Skip the Jokes Sometimes, I hear speaking advice that says, "Start with a joke." Unless you are using content marketing to market your book about humor, there's a problem with that. What you consider funny might not be funny to your audience. Too often, those jokes destroy any empathy you might build with the audience. And few of...
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2025.14: Make Every Presentation Valuable
Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 11, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is from the Effective Public Speaking book. The speaker's job is to make every presentation valuable. Speakers do that when the audience has all the information they need to solve their problems. What about people who "steal" your ideas? Do not worry. People will steal from you. They will copy your slides and remove anything that identifies you as the author. Worse, they will copy your images and pass them off as...
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I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for February 21, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This is from a short story titled “A Fine Hand.”
Lillian Gray lifted the delicate white bone china teacup to her mouth and inhaled the calming odor of red raspberry leaf tea. She never understood how something that smelled like summer and raspberries and home could taste quite so awful. She thought it tasted like musty spiders, old, dead, and slightly off.
Instead of the tea, she focused on the drawing room.
She was a guest in the Brantwood home on Hawthorne Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. This home was at the “top” of Hawthorne Street, about a half-mile from the New Bedford harbor. (Although, she always thought of it as the Acushnet harbor because Acushnet surrounded the harbor on three sides. Unfortunately, no one asked her.)