Long Story Short by Margot Leitman
Long Story Short is one of the most enjoyable and helpful storytelling books I’ve read in a while. Margot Leitman is an experienced stage storyteller, meaning she actually TELLS stories. To a live audience. She doesn’t just write them. But most of what she teaches in this book is highly relevant to story writers as well.
I’m a big proponent of learning your craft from multiple angles, so if you’re interested in learning how to tell stories, whether you want to actually tell them, from a stage, or you just want to write them and share online or in print, start by learning the valuable lessons Leitman has to share in this book.
The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein
If you’re young, and you haven’t started investing your earnings, you need to get going. If you’re older and you haven’t started investing your earnings, what have you been waiting for all this time?
If you want to be financially secure, you can’t just learn how to earn money. You need to know how to manage it and invest it. Otherwise, no matter how much money you earn, you are in great danger of losing it and not being able to take care of your family or yourself in the future.
So do yourself a favor and learn how to manage and invest your money. This book is a great place to start, if you’re a beginner like me. It covers the four basic principles of investing, and even gives you a few specific pointers on what to do with your money.
No matter where you are in life, it’s not too late. Read The Four Pillars of Investing, and start your own investment plan. Your future self — and future generations — will thank you for it.
Talk Triggers by Jay Baer
From the adorable llamas on the cover, to the fascinating real-life examples given in the book, Talk Triggers is truly a worthwhile read, particularly if you’re interested in going into business.
Jay Baer is a longtime marketing expert and author whose well-organized book on word-of-mouth marketing teaches readers what talk triggers are, why they can perform miracles for your business, and how to come up with your own talk triggers.
The first 2/3 of the book (explaining the importance of talk triggers, what makes a talk trigger a talk trigger, and examples of real-life talk triggers that have distinguished multiple businesses) is the strongest. The final section starts to get flabby, but the book is still worth reading for the first half alone.
Rework by Jason Fried & David Hansson
If you’re not fond of reading large, dense, chunky books, then you’re going to love this one. In Rework, the founders of Basecamp sums up the best of the business and life lessons they’ve learned over the years.
Sometimes contrarian and always insightful, Rework is organized into several dozen mini chapters, with playful illustrations interspersed throughout to keep things interesting. If you want to look at your work life (and life-life) from a different perspective to see what can be done to improve it, give this book a shot.
Basecamp is a remote software company that focuses on web application development. It’s undergone multiple major shifts and is still around, after 21 years (which is pretty amazing, considering that 90% of all internet startups fail within 4 months). So the authors do know what they’re talking about.
All that’s to say that maybe you might wanna give this bestselling book a try. You know, just maybe.
The Major’s Daughter by Regina Jennings
Most days, I read books the way sword fighters sharpen their swords — to keep my mind full of helpful tidbits and ideas to use in my job as a writer. But every now and then I indulge in a bit of fun fiction just to keep things interesting. This month, the indulgence was The Major’s Daughter.
Regina Jennings is one of my favorite funny historical fiction writers. Her light-hearted, snarky books have a strong romance bent, but even if you’re not into romance or fiction, you can read these books just to learn from her craftsmanship.
Jennings’ writing ability is much stronger than most fiction authors (particularly those in her genre), and her ability to craft interesting plot lines, create playful characters, and weave in some super interesting historical facts is a rare find.
I have to confess, The Major’s Daughter is not one of her best works (I preferred her Caught in the Middle among other books), but it is the most historically interesting. I didn’t know much at all about the Land Rush of 1889 until I read this, and it really makes you think about what you would do if you were given the opportunity to start from scratch with a piece of free land…
And that’s the book list for March!
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