Where the Mind Sprocket staff writes about inspiration, communication, culture, storytelling, and more.

The Back Page is where the feet go up on the desk at the end of the day. It’s that good book with a mug of hot cocoa just before bed. It’s where we goof off after a hard day’s work. The Back Page is our blog.

All posts filed in How-To

How to do stuff.

How to Write a Pantoum

by Lindsey Anderson on May 21, 2008

Looking for a little structure for your poetry? Try a pantoum, a poem consisting of 16 lines and four stanzas. There is no rhyming requirement for a pantoum, but there is a certain order that the lines go in:
Stanza 1         Line 1
                        Line 2
                        Line 3
                        Line 4
 Stanza 2        Use Line 2 above as Line 5 here
                        […]

How to Formulate a Battle Plan

by Lindsey Anderson on May 7, 2008

This can work in business, in planning a road trip or a fun summer, a wedding, a party,  or anything involving multiple people and many details that can seem overwhelming.
1. Look at the big picture. Write down your Ultimate Big Goal.
2. Break the big picture into smaller sections, or smaller goals. Write them down, too.
3. Analyze […]

How to Track What You’re Listening to

by Lindsey Anderson on April 29, 2008

Obviously iTunes does a pretty good job of keeping track of how many times you’ve listened to this or that track. And they can even make music recommendations for you based on your purchases from their music store.
But last·fm not only tracks your most played songs, they offer you artist recommendations, concert dates, music videos, and a […]

How to Be Patient

by Lindsey Anderson on April 23, 2008

Yesterday I panicked after I paid three large bills. I thought “I need to make money, right now, today.”  I thought of calling some of my old places of part time employment to see if I could fill in for anyone for the rest of this week. I thought of writing a few chapters on […]

How to Know the Joy of Audiobooks

by Lindsey Anderson on April 15, 2008

In recent years, I have found myself reading less and less. I think it all started when … hmm, yes, I think it was when I started college. Reading was included in homework - read twenty pages for Sociology, fifteen for Human Communication, fifty for Rhetorical Theory, and so on. There was hardly room for a […]

How To Endure (and Possibly Enjoy) a Long Car Ride

by Lindsey Anderson on April 9, 2008

This past weekend, a dear companion and I drove to Georgia from Maryland. We had to entertain ourselves for roughly 11 hours in my Honda Civic. The weather was neither warm nor bright on the way down or back, and our spirits, though not in poor condition, were not in the cheeriest of conditions either.
1. Bring […]

How to Be Artistic (Even if You Aren’t an Artist)

by Lindsey Anderson on March 25, 2008

My sister goes to art school. She does a lot of artwork for Mind Sprocket, and does all kinds of crazy art for school - things that involve sculpting meat and sewing herself into a homemade strait jacket and piecing together neat fabrics.
I’m not an artist. I don’t know about any of these things, though […]

Be Shiny

by Lindsey Anderson on March 24, 2008

“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”
–Malcolm Stevenson Forbes
This quote ought to speak volumes to someone who is hoping to accomplish something. How many of us begin a project (piece of art, piece of writing, a diet, a household fit-it project) and fail to finish it? Or drag our […]

How to Change Your Life

by Lindsey Anderson on March 18, 2008

I noticed a bunch of people making life-changing choices lately, mostly job related. I quit my job last week. So did two of the attorneys at the same company. Then I found out a secretary also quit. Then today I found out that a friend at another company resigned from her job.
I don’t know what’s […]

How to Get Yourself Out of the Dumps

by Lindsey Anderson on March 12, 2008

There are some days when I want to just disappear, or die, or drive as far away as I can. Unfortunately, these things tend to be a little inconvenient. Here are some things that I do instead:
1. I look inside of my joy box. This is a round box that I painted using sponges back […]

Sometimes the truth is
Not what you want it to be.
Is it ever what you expected?
No, probably not.
Are you okay with that?
Are we meant to create truth or
Are we meant to find it?

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