The role of sexuality in Victorian society applied to A. S. Byatts Essay

The role of sexuality in Victorian society applied to A. S. Byatts Possession - Essay Example Byatt’s novel Possession. Although the novel tells a fictional tale of two literary scholars tracking down evidence of a love affair between two Victorian era poets, episodes dedicated to the poets themselves reveal a great deal of information regarding the way of life of women during this period in history. Unlike much of the non-fiction articles that have been written about life in Victorian England and elsewhere, Byatt’s novel provides a glimpse of several different women during this period that held quite opposing views regarding their individual sexualities. By tracing through the novel Possession and comparing it with non-fictional accounts of this period and critical evaluation, one can begin to gain a sense of how women had been severely restricted in their options in Victorian society as well as how they rebelled or worked within it to achieve their own sense of sexuality. There are three principle female characters involved in the Victorian portion of the novel, each with her own strengths and weaknesses demonstrating how she has both conformed to and resisted the definitions placed upon her by the strict nature of Victorian England. Christabel LaMotte is a scholar and minor poetess who is the object of Randolph Henry Ash’s fascinated attention. Blanche Glover is the companion of Christabel, sharing her home and dream of independence but not able to retrieve the same sense of fulfillment as she does not receive recognition for her actions. A fourth woman, Sabine Kercoz, Christabel’s younger cousin, adds her own perspective regarding female sexuality during the Victorian age from the unique oblique of the French countryside.

The Income Gender Gap Sociology Essay

The Income Gender Gap Sociology Essay Income gender gap can be reviewed at both the individual and institutional level. It refers to the prejudicial beliefs and discriminatory of individuals, and the policies that restrict the opportunities of minorities respectively. SECTION II THE ISSUES AND WHO ARE INVOVLED Income gender gap is also known as the disparity of income between sexes. It has been a debatable issue ever since globalization takes place. In the context of economic inequality, gender gap generally refers to the differences in the wages of men and women. This can be calculated as a ratio of female to male wages (often expressed as a percentage). The female population has been showcasing their talents and it is depending on how the world accounts and utilizes such talent pool to determine the competitiveness of the economies. Gender disparity in income is an issue that has been surfacing worldwide and economies would have been affected as a result. Thus, it was chosen as I openly felt that corrective measures might not have been designed to address the issue on a global scale. Besides, reports have also shown that the gender pay gap has not been fully resolved as many countries workplaces are still faced with the problem of gender discrimination. In this income gender gap report, I aim to highlight the importance of promoting gender equality. This is in hope that creation of greater awareness among a global audience is present, with implementation of good practices and effective measures drawn that can help further reduce gender inequality. An example of common stereotypes stating males being more dominant and females seen as the weaker sex are present. This happens when both sexes working in the same field are being remunerated differently the male with a higher wage as compared to the female. Singapore is not spared in this aspect. Statistics have shown that there is a closing of gender income gap. However, this is only relevant in the occupations of professionals, services/sales and cleaners/labourers. Statistics have shown that employers tend to empower males with prospective occupation tracks that lead them to having high flying careers; however this isnt so for the females. There is more likelihood that employers entrust women with occupation positions that are deemed to be dead-end, or have very little mobility for advancement. This is due to the perception that women will leave their jobs or labour force at times of marriage or pregnancy. SECTION III WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO TALK ABOUT IT? The principle of equality of opportunity is one of the basic tenets of human development. However, the differences in wage between genders speak about how discrimination brings about inequality and places one at an advantage or vice versa. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), progress in reducing the gender pay gap is very slow in Europe and Central Asia. The gender income gap may have narrowed in some countries, but on an international level, it is still not evident as proven by ILO. Improvising of stricter policies and measures should be done in the light of significance in every country and the most effective means of doing so is through governments intervention. The talents of women which involved the capacity for and skills are not equally rewarded. Also, division of work has always been gendered, which left women often experiencing a disparity in the labour market limited positions and rights in companies. Constrain on the economic growth is one of the impacts contributed by gender inequalities in society. In the long run, society will experience greater negative consequences economically, resulting from this discrimination gender inequalities at work. This is because income inequality diminishes growth potential. With gender inequalities reduced, it benefits men and women, children and the elderly, for the poor and as well as the rich. This in turn would lead to the better advancement in economic growth. However, research begged to differ that such reduction in income disparity between genders would be positive. It is argued that higher inequality would be an advantage in encouraging growth in well developed regions although it will hinder growth in poor countries (Robert Barro, 1999). Although the economy at large is still affected, inequality and growth were believed to have no correlation-concluding that inequality neither drives nor impairs growth (World Development Report, 2000). This is also supported by a recent study on income inequality; a society in which income was distributed perfectly equally with respect to gender would not be a desirable place either (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2008). On a fair note during entry level for both sexes, earnings of womens pay have been analyzed in some countries and the increase in earnings is substantial, in addition, even higher than those of men because of their qualifications. This explains that income is based solely on merit of individuals. Still, I believe that this is not practiced internationally, with Singapore a globalized developed country, ranking 84 out of 134 countries, with a score of 0.666 (0.00=inequality/1.00=equality). And for wage equality for similar work, shes ranked 9th (World Economic Forum, 2009). Yet Singapore is still facing these problems at present. For this reason, the gender gap plays a significant magnitude in determining wage. In the perspective of Singapore, females still earn less than males in all occupations. Disparity is even wider when comparing of mean incomes, which implies that males still receive higher wages than their female counterparts as a whole. This is backed by structural constraints in Singapores economy preventing women from attaining similar income. Comparison of the monthly gross salary in the managerial roles shows signs of glass ceiling. The mean gross wage is $7272 for a female, compared to $9065 for a male, and the median gross wage is $5673 for a female, compared to $6450 for a male (Singapore Yearbook of ManPower Statistic, 2009). Predetermined conception that women have shorter employment life-spans and experiences on the job due to pregnancy and traditional domestic duties, such as child rearing and housekeeping is the contributing factor bringing about stereotype against women at the workplace. Studies have shown that these factors accounts for a considerable component of the gender wage gap. Due to womens family-related commitments and priorities, the average woman on the labour market has fewer years of experience than the average man, which contributes to the difference in pay between men and women. Furthermore, an equal position whereby both genders are employed takes into the consideration of National Service. Men trained in the National Service were being favoured, which played a part in the salary differentials. A strong argument cited that because National Service provides men with essential skills such as in leadership, organisation, and decision-making, which is said as to be a pre-requisite in the job market. Awarding them a higher starting salary in the public and private sectors is justifiable. Since National Service is unavoidable, it is deemed as a result that women may be left with little power in the public and private sectors in terms of representation. SECTION IV WHERE CAN WE START TO FIX THE PROBLEM? With males given a higher edge above their female counterparts in the context of wage, it is a prejudice as men is seen as the domineering sex. Thus, with no qualms that such an issue creates inequality in society. Men would be given perks at the expense of the degree and opportunity of womens representation; which are considerably affected by social norms and perceptions regarding womens roles in society. I take the stand that both genders should be given equal benefits based on their qualifications, and hence the pay differentials should not surface. At the individual level, adopting different educational-informational means to alter the aforementioned public perception of womens role in various spheres of society is essential. Using these strategies may boost public awareness of gender stereotyping, ensuring there is minimal social prejudice against women, as well as strengthening a positive insight. With the aim of overcoming uncertain societal nature of womens representation in the labour force, it is necessary to adopt legal constitutional provision on the principle of womens right to be represented. In Singapore, the Government and social partners commitments are affirmed by the addition of an appropriate clause in collective agreements to certify that employers conform to the principle of paying their employees the remuneration based on merit. To conclude, with the implementation of various means would improve the status of female representation and gender equality.

Genesis Flood of the Christian Bible and the Flood of Gilgamesh :: Epic of Gilgamesh

The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh has been of interest to Christians ever since its discovery in the mid-nineteenth century in the ruins of the great library at Nineveh, with its account of a universal flood with significant parallels to the Flood of Noah's day.1, 2 The rest of the Epic, which dates back to possibly third millennium B.C., contains little of value for Christians, since it concerns typical polytheistic myths associated with the pagan peoples of the time. However, some Christians have studied the ideas of creation and the afterlife presented in the Epic. Even secular scholars have recognized the parallels between the Babylonian, Phoenician, and Hebrew accounts, although not all are willing to label the connections as anything more than shared mythology.3 There have been numerous flood stories identified from ancient sources scattered around the world.4 The stories that were discovered on cuneiform tablets, which comprise some of the earliest surviving writing, have obvious similarities. Cuneiform writing was invented by the Sumerians and carried on by the Akkadians. Babylonian and Assyrian are two dialects of the Akkadian, and both contain a flood account. While there are differences between the original Sumerian and later Babylonian and Assyrian flood accounts, many of the similarities are strikingly close to the Genesis flood account.5 The Babylonian account is the most intact, with only seven of 205 lines missing.6 It was also the first discovered, making it the most studied of the early flood accounts. The Epic of Gilgamesh is contained on twelve large tablets, and since the original discovery, it has been found on others, as well as having been translated into other early languages.7 The actual tablets date back to around 650 B.C. and are obviously not originals since fragments of the flood story have been found on tablets dated around 2,000 B.C.8 Linguistic experts believe that the story was composed well before 2,000 B.C. compiled from material that was much older than that date.9 The Sumerian cuneiform writing has been estimated to go as far back as 3,300 B.C.10 The Story The Epic was composed in the form of a poem. The main figure is Gilgamesh, who actually may have been an historical person. The Sumerian King List shows Gilgamesh in the first dynasty of Uruk reigning for 126 years.11 This length of time is not a problem when compared with the age of the pre-flood patriarchs of the Bible.

Mrs. Hamilton

Gender and Development Gender-role development is one of the most important areas of human development. The moment a women finds out she is pregnant she is often anxious to find out the sex of her child. The definitions of the terms â€Å"sex† and â€Å"gender† need to be understood. The term â€Å"sex† denotes the actual physical makeup of individuals that define them as male or female. Sex is determined by genetic makeup, internal reproductive organs, the organization of the brain, and external genitalia.The behavior of individuals as males or females, the types of roles they assume, and their personality characteristics, may be just as important as a person's biological framework. In order to differentiate between biological features one may take into consideration behaviors and social roles to establish â€Å"gender. † Sex and gender are often intertwined, and certain social expectations can be attributed to one’s biological sex. The sex of a ne wborn sets the agenda for a whole array of developmental experiences that will influence the person throughout his or her life.Overall, the sex differences between boys and girls in the first year of life are minimal. Boys may be a bit more active or fussier and girls more physically mature and less prone to physical problems, but that may be the extent of the significant differences. Mothers have a tendency to ignore more of their son's emotional outbursts in comparison to their daughters' outbursts. Boys may be rough-housed or played with in a more aggressive manor as well. This goes in line with stereotyping males as more hardy or tough and girls as gentle and soft. A parent can influence their child into these gender roles by the way they discipline.They may be harder on a boy than a girl for the exact same behavior. â€Å"Children see what their parents do. Children learn when they try to imitate their parents (Putnam, Myers-Walis; Love, p. 1). † For example, a boy may g row up seeing his father fix things around the house and his mother being the one who always cooks dinner. Parents may also assign specific chores to the children according to sex, thus reinforcing gender roles in their development. Another way a parent influences gender development is by what they say to their children. Making comments about girls do this or boys do that supports the gender stereotypes.Gender roles development is crucial around ages 2-6 years when children are becoming aware of their gender, where play styles and behaviors begin to crystallize around that core identify of â€Å"I am a girl† or â€Å"I am a boy. † Typically males have been thought to be more aggressive than males; however, in a study reported by the American Psychological Association, Inc. , reveals â€Å"our interpretation of these results emphasizes that aggression sex difference are a function of perceived consequences of aggression that are learned as aspects of gender roles and o ther social roles (Eagly; Steffen, 1986). How a parent teaches the child and role models aggression, play, chores, and toys may have more of a factor of gender roles than being biologically male or female. The areas of gender differences include brain development where there are fewer connections between hemispheres, right brain reliance on space/movement, single focus, sexual response, and emotional response. Males hear less at higher decibels then females and tend to hear better in one ear than the other.Testosterone levels are different as well including a correlation between the amount of testosterone and higher energy and aggression, sex drive, and higher amounts throughout the teenaged years. â€Å"Male babies, on average, are born slightly longer and heavier than female babies. Newborn girls, on the other hand, have slightly more mature skeletons and are a bit more responsive to touch (Craig; Dunn, 2010, p. 188). † By age 2 ? , most children can readily distinguish bet ween male and female, and accurately answer the question of whether they are a boy or a girl. Gender-role stereotypes are fixed ideas about appropriate male and female behavior (Craig; Dunn, 2010, p. 189). † Distinguishing between feminine and masculine appears to be shared in almost every culture, although cultures may differ in their definitions of what masculinity and femininity entail. Children's concepts of gender depend in part on the child's cognitive development. A 3-year-old boy might put on a dress and now believe he has turned into a girl, whereas a 5-year-old boy now may understand that his sex is not going to change, which is referred to as gender constancy (Craig; Dunn, 2010, p. 89). Developing gender identity is partly a result of models and rewards. Again, what a child sees and hears growing up about male and female appropriateness will shape their gender personality and roles for the future. In William Pollack's book Real Boys, he talks about boys in America b eing in crisis and teen-aged girls losing their voice, mostly as a result of society's stereotypes about girls and boys. Pollack talks about boys and men wearing masks of masculinity to hide their true inner feelings.Boys are being taught, at a young age, to be tough, act like a man, and if you display feelings you are considered weak or other assorted names given to men who show vulnerability. These stereotypes are limiting and are hindering the development of children. As a society, we push boys into grown-up roles faster than their female counterparts. Moms and dads on the whole begin pushing their boys away by less hugs and kisses at an earlier age than girls (Pollack, 1999). In a study done on drawings of grade-school aged children, there were vast differences in the subject matter the participants drew.Boys' drawings contained a profusion of violence, of villainy, and of vehicles; girls' drawings were full of benign animals, bugs and flowers. In the drawings, boys seem more in fluenced at this age by the media in drawings of superheroes, whereas the girls depicted more domestic-type scenes (McClure-Vollrath, 2006). During the feminist movement, there was a theme that men were â€Å"the problem† and women were â€Å"the oppressed. † By characterizing gender this way, development can fail to address effectively the issues of equity and empowerment that are crucial in bringing about positive change.Gender bias's and roles are ultimately power relations (Cornwall, 1997, p. 8). Through the feminist movement, many people changed their ways of thinking surrounding men and women, but there is still room for re-thinking when it comes to boys. Boys get mixed messages, â€Å"to be manly but empathetic, cool but open, strong yet vulnerable. † Society has come a long way in liberating girls and women from the gender straightjacket. There is still room for improvement to break down the roles our boys are forced into by letting them own their feelin gs and communicating with them in a way that allows them to express their fears and distress.Gender identity normally develops in children by about age 3, when they most often are able to identify themselves as boys or girls. People with gender identity disorder or â€Å"gender dysphoria† can remember as early as age 5 as having feelings of being born in the wrong body or wanting to be the opposite of their biological bodies reveal. â€Å"Children who deviate from the socially prescribed behavioral norms for boy or girl children are quickly pushed back in line by parental figures. Behaviors, mannerisms, and play that appears to be gender nonconforming to a parent may feel perfectly normal to the child (Mallon; DeCrescenzo, 2006). Western society continues to reward parents for conforming their children into their gender roles by buying Barbie's for girls and dump trucks for boys, even if they have asked for something different. Sexual orientation is different from, and not d etermined by, one's gender identity. In most cases, the onset of gender identity disorder can be traced back to childhood. In an interview with a 46-year-old male who struggled with gender dysphoria all of his life, he reports as early as 5-years-old he was dressing up in women's clothing and wished he did not have a penis.After years of therapy and insight into his disorder, he has been able to attribute his confusion to some things that were said in his home at an early age. He remembers his mother saying that she was convinced when he was in her womb that he was a girl, and she would often tell him that he should have been a girl. He remembers people telling him how â€Å"pretty† he was and that he would have made a beautiful girl. All of these things contributed to his confusion about his gender at a very young age. He never felt â€Å"attached† to his mother, and later he would find out that his mother would just let him lie in his crib and cry as an infant.He rep orted that his mother had his 1-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister to look after, and she was too busy to take care of a fussy baby. He said he spent most of his life trying to establish masculinity as society and family would see it, so that nobody would know the terror and confusion he lived with on a daily basis. Eventually, he would decide that his only way out would be suicide, he thought then the pain would finally end. God did not allow him to take his life and instead he found his value in Christ and was set free from his pain and found acceptance of who he was in Christ.He started going to therapy and completely turning his life around, living as a man, and finally finding gender acceptance rather than dysphoria (Robbins, 2011). Roles of home environment, peers, and teachers in the acquisition of gender difference in behavior and attitudes play a role in gender socialization (Lau, 1996). Gender role socialization according to a study done cross-culturally found that it could be narrowly defined by the type of sex-typed behaviors such as play activities and toys.In summary, gender identity is a learned behavior that starts at a very young age and can hinder or enhance a child's development. Gender plays a role in how a person defines themselves and grows as a person depending on their safety and security in being male or female and what that means to them and what they are taught at a young age. Bottom line is that men and women are different, and as a society and as parents being a boy or girl does not meet we have to fit into a certain box, as people are unique in of themselves, and that is what we can enhance and nurture to develop.

Life Ambitions Essay

Owen Stuart Phillips-Statement of Ambitions and Life Purpose Scouting has taught me many things about myself. It is a big part of who I am now and it will stay with me forever. Through Scouting, I have learned the importance of preparation, personal responsibility, service to others, and leadership skills. I first started out with Cub Scouts where I earned every rank and received my Arrow of Light. After Cub Scouts, I crossed over to Boy Scouts and joined Troop 40. I have been extremely involved with my Troop and I have done almost everything they have had to offer. I am proud of the fact that I will be the 6th member of my extended family (cousins) to earn the rank of Eagle Scout from Troop 40, all under the guidance of the same Scoutmaster, Mr. Clifton Glover. I plan on staying involved Scouts to improve on my leadership skills and earn additional merit badges. I would also like to earn the three Eagle Palms. In school I am an honor roll student. I am in the band and I have received awards at band competitions in Greenville at ECU and Music Performance Adjudication held in Jacksonville. When I was in the 5th grade I completed the DARE program which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. We were required to write a 2 page essay to complete the course. The winning essay would be read aloud by the student at the graduation ceremony. My essay won the competition, I received a trophy and I was very proud. I play sports such as football, baseball, and wrestling. I have been team captain in football. I was also asked to participate in a youth football instructional video for Championship Productions. The video was filmed at Wingate University with other youth players and college coaches, demonstrating football drills and fundamentals. The video will be sold to youth players and coaches nationwide. After I graduate High School, I have strong interests in applying to our Military Service Academies. I would like to be an officer in the Military because I feel like I can be a leader instead of a follower. I started getting strong interests in the Military Academies when we went on a camp out to the United States Military Academy at West Point. It was a great experience and I absolutely loved every bit of it. If it was not for Scouting, I would have not had that opportunity. I enjoy math and engineering, and would like to pursue a career in this area in the military, such as a combat engineer.

Definition and Examples of a Coordinate Clause

Definition and Examples of a Coordinate Clause In English grammar, a coordinate clause is a  clause (i.e., a word group containing a subject and predicate) that is introduced by one of the coordinating conjunctionsmost commonly and or but. A compound sentence is made up of one or more coordinate clauses joined to the main clause. The rhetorical term for a coordinate construction is parataxis. Examples It was apple-blossom time, and the days were getting warmer. (E.B. White,  Charlottes Web. Harper, 1952)I wasnt a fan of most vegetables, but I didnt mind peas. (Gene Simmons,  Kiss, and Make-Up. Crown, 2001)They ate the dessert, and neither one mentioned the fact that it was slightly burned. (Ernest Hemingway, Christmas in Paris.  The Toronto Star Weekly, December 1923) Combining Clauses The basic unit in syntax is the clause. Many utterances consist of a single clause, but there are also rules for combining clauses into larger units. The simplest way is by using a  coordinating conjunction, and, but, so and or. These may seem rather insignificant items but they represent a vast step forward from anything we can imagine in even the most sophisticated form of animal communication, and they are probably more complex than many people realize. (Ronald Macaulay,  The Social Art: Language and Its Uses, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2006) Disconnected Coordinate Clauses in Conversation In English conversation speakers often begin their utterances with and (also with so or but) without linking these connectives to immediately preceding linguistic material, but rather to more distant topics or even to their own as yet unarticulated (and unrecoverable) perspectives. In (29) the topic of the episode in which this utterance occurs concerns one of the participants consistently getting sick when he travels in Mexico. In this example, the speakers and is making reference to the whole discourse, not to a specific preceding utterance. (29) and you both eat the same things? (D12-4)   (Joanne Scheibman,  Point of View and Grammar: Structural Patterns of Subjectivity in American English Conversation. John Benjamins, 2002)

An Easier Way To Tell Your Story Using Content Marketing

An Easier Way To Tell Your Story Using Content Marketing The term story is used all the time with content marketing. â€Å"Find your story,† they say. â€Å"Tell your unique story.† Well, sometimes your story can be so big, it can be hard to know where to start. Do you have a ton of ideas for blog posts but struggle to find the topics your audience would care about the most? Is it hard to understand the connection from one blog post to another? Creating content that connects one blog post with the next can seem like a complex process. But it doesnt have to be. An Easier Way To Tell Your Story Using Content Marketing #ContentMarketing #Storytelling How Story Flows Can Help You Create Connected and Relevant Content Defining your story about a specific topic- and breaking down that huge concept with story flows- will help you create better content. Story flows are just a small group of ideas you can use to create content. They are parts- or chapters- of your story that can help you manage your process much easier while making sure your content is connected. Story flows can make sure that all of your content marketing is connected. #ContentMarketingIf you have a ton of ideas- or even none at all- the process of defining your story and subsequent flows will help you: Find your topic. Connect that topic with your audience. Discover the unique story you’ll share. Find patterns to connect your blog posts. Manage your blog posts as projects. Reuse your blog posts as larger content formats (like e-books, webinars or whatever your audience wants). Essentially, the process of defining your story and story flows will help you plan your work to help you create blog posts faster and more strategically. Give this a try in the morning, and youll be creating better content by the afternoon. Heres how it works. Step 1: Find Your Topic Whether youre a product or service company, you probably have a million things you could talk about. For this process to work, its essential to narrow your topic to just one thing. That’s not to say that you could create content for multiple topics- just concentrate on one at a time while planning this stuff so your head doesnt explode. Topics are typically high-level niches your company is well-known for- or wants to become well-known for. Were not looking for broad, sweeping industry terms here- this cant cover everything your business does. Instead, focus on something truly unique to your company that makes you stand out from your competition. Thats your topic. Ask yourself: Whats the first topic you want to tackle? Step 2: Connect That Topic With Your Audience Knowing the topic you want to talk about is one thing. In order for your content marketing to be successful, you need to make sure your audience actually cares about that topic. At this point, you need to have an understanding of your customer base- your content marketings audience. For this practice to work, understand that everyone is not a good answer for who your audience is! Everyone is not a good answer to the question who is my audience?   #ContentMarketing #ProTipYou may have heard of reader personas before to help you think of your audience while you write blog posts. That may be exactly what you need to connect your topic with your audience. Ive seen marketers create content that only talks about their products or services (what theyve defined as their topic) without figuring out what their audience really wants from their business. Its a huge waste of effort to create content without understanding your audiences needs. You have things you want to talk about. There are people who want to hear about those things. But they may not want to hear the features of your product or service, but learn about a way to do something different- better, faster or easier- as related to your topic. As an example, provides an editorial calendar as a product and service, but a topic we  concentrate on is helping our  customers enhance their own content marketing. Ask yourself: Who cares about your topic enough to search for information to solve their need? Step 3: Discover the Unique Story You’ll Share Now its time to explore the details of your topic and the things your audience cares about. This is when you define your content core- your content marketing story. In this step, you need to find your topic expert (whether its you or someone else in your company) and gather some information from them. If you think of this like an interview, you need to ask about this stuff: What does your audience already know about your topic? How did they learn about it? Why does your audience care about your topic? How can you help them learn more about that topic? So when you start gathering that information, keep these three things in mind: Ask enough questions to make sure you fully understand the topic. Connect your knowledge with your audiences needs. Use what you learned to define a mission statement to help you stay focused. Put it to work: Find the information to understand your topic, audience and mission statement. Step 4: Find Patterns to Connect Your Blog Posts When you discover your story, you’ll find a ton of ideas you could create blog posts about. Dont let this overwhelm you- this is when your story flows will help you strategically plan your blog posts. Organize all those ideas from awareness level messages to the ones that help your audience make big decisions. One way to think about this is with a traditional marketing funnel. The funnel can help you visualize which ideas your prospects might be interested in- people just discovering your topic- versus people who are nearly ready to use your product or service. You should categorize your discovery ideas at the top of the funnel, whereas the big decision-making ideas are probably at the bottom of the funnel. Organize your ideas in an ideal chronological order. So think of it this way: If someone were to read every single blog post you write, which posts would come first, second, third and so on. Organizing your ideas in chronological order can help you choose ideas from beginning to end for your story flows. This way, when you write your blog posts, you’ll walk your audience through an entire journey from awareness to helping them make a decision. Once you have your ideas in order, look for patterns from the beginning of the list to the end. For example, you might see a pattern on how your audience could do something faster, which would be helpful for them to save time they could use on other projects. There will be ideas from the top of the funnel all the way to the bottom that could come together as a story flow for these ideas. It’s important for your story flows to have ideas from awareness to decision-making. As you laid out in your ideal chronological order, you want to funnel your audience to the end ideas to help them make a decision. You can’t do that if you don’t have a story flow with ideas ranging from the top of the funnel all the way to the bottom. Put it to work: Categorize your ideas in a chronological order (as if your audience were to read every blog post you write from start to finish). Step 5: Manage Your Blog Posts as Projects When you looked through the ideas that make up your story, you were probably able to come up with a number of story flows. This is helpful because you can manage your blog posts as projects- pick a small group of ideas to tackle at a time. For example, if you had 10 ideas that came together in a story flow, that has the potential to be 10 or more blog posts. Now you can manage those posts with your editorial calendar and assign them as projects with specific due dates. At this time, you may want to spread out a single story flow throughout the year- and work on several story flows at the same time. That gives you time to create minimum viable content and measure the success of a given story flow- piece by piece- while consistently creating strategic content. Though this approach involves working on several projects (story flows) at a time, its very manageable by planning your work for the upcoming weeks, month or year (depending on the size of your story flows) using an editorial calendar. In this example, its easy to spot blog posts planned for three story flows because they are highlighted with different colors. Your story flows give you the opportunity to plan your work and help you move faster while strategically connecting all of the content you create. Put it to work: Plan your ideas as blog posts on your editorial calendar. Step 6: Reuse Your Blog Posts in Larger Content Formats When youre done with your blog posts for a specific story flow, you now have so much connected content that you can create larger pieces from those posts. After you create enough blog posts to complete a story flow, you can reuse that content for larger formats like e-books, webinars and videos (among others). Imagine your blog posts coming together as chapters in an e-book. After you have an e-book, couldnt you use that same content for discussion points in a webinar? And after that webinar is over, couldnt you share that recorded webinar as a training video? And maybe you could even write a few more blog posts to share that video of the webinar. Being able to reuse your blog posts for larger forms of content is one of the biggest benefits of strategically planning your story flows. Ask yourself: How can you repurpose the blog posts you wrote for specific story flows into larger content formats your audience wants? What Will You Do Now? I meant it when I said a lot of this can be done in a single day. The beauty of the process is that it can be as extensive or relaxed as you need it to be. How could you plan and execute your content marketing using story flows?