Writing Prompt: Observe and Note Bellamkonda’s Patterns of Activity

Week #3 – Leaders who discuss emerging trends

On Monday, we began discussing a person who does a great job discussing emerging trends – Shashi Bellamkonda. http://writenonfictioninnovember.com/2013/07/15/writing-prompt-profile-emerging-trends-leader-shashi-bellamkonda/ Shashi does a lot of different things using social media and blogging. If you haven’t already completed Monday’s prompt by writing a profile on Shashi, now is a good time to do it. Today, we are building on that profile. Your job is to observe and note Shashi Bellamkonda’s patterns of activity.

Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts

Observing people is not as nefarious or ominous as it sounds. It simply means that you have to pay attention to the things that people do. Preferably, you will observe those you admire. I happen to admire Shashi Bellamkonda because I think he does a great job discussing issues and current events in his field.

It is useful for me to study Shashi’s patterns of activity because that will enhance my learning. The more I understand how Shashi shares information and figure out why he chooses to focus on some topics and not others, the clearer my work becomes. If I am to follow Shashi or any other leader who does a good job discussing emerging trends in a particular industry, I need to start picking up on that leader’s patterns of activity.

Many people already study patterns of activities of others, by the way, whether through newsletter subscription, listening to podcasts, watching videos, following Twitter streams, or reading online news sources. It is not unusual to follow, for example, Guy Kawasaki, Mark Zuckerberg, or Dan Cathy. These are all leaders we can learn from.

Tips on How to Spark Creativity in Writing

• Tip #8 – Take a sincere interest in obscure matters

I have touched briefly upon obscure matters in previous writing prompts. Today, I’d like to highlight the importance of being sincere when researching things that are less-popular. The notion of popularity is incredibly subjective. What is popular to one person may be rightfully obscure to someone else because no one is an expert on everything. The thing to remember is sincerity. Sincerity is essential when processing and digesting information that is not mainstream.

Just like with everything else in life, a sincere approach to doing things is best. People will see through you and your writing if you try to highlight obscure information with a sense of puffery or false flattery. No need to do that. Every topic merits a rightful audience.

Emerging Trends on Twitter

Here is a sampling of yesterday’s emerging trends based on Twitter hashtags:

• #Mike Miller (Miami Heat basketball player who will soon be a free agent)
• #IfICouldWishforAnything (appears to be mostly tweets expressing desires for cancer to not exist)
• #janoskianLove (Wow – this one was hard!) (related: The Janoskians are an Australian boy band who do a lot of pranks; this Twitter hashtag is a plea for followers and retweets)
• #ParadiseVoxBox (Another difficult one…) (Influenster.com invented the term “ Voxbox.” The Paradise voxbox is a reward given to members of Influenster.com)

Writing Prompt 083

Prompt: Observe and note Shashi Bellamkonda’s patterns of activity

• Step 1: Truthfully, it is difficult to observe anyone’s patterns of activity. Try your best to see what Shashi Bellamkonda does and how he does it.
• Step 2: Social media follows is a must for observing leaders who do a great job discussing emerging trends. Do what I did: follow Shashi on Twitter, LinkedIn, or anywhere else. Notice the frequency of his posts. Pay close attention to his comments on the types of information he shares. Notice interesting things?
• Step 3: Observe and note Shashi Bellamkonda’s patterns of activity. Keeping track of what a leader does makes it easier to spot their discussions of emerging trends. Try it! You have nothing to lose and so much great knowledge to gain!

Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!

About the Author

Amanda M. Socci is the creator of this unique 10-month training program providing writing prompts to nonfiction writers. Amanda is a diehard creative and an aspiring book author, currently blogging a book on faith, A Slice of Faith, on a community website. Visit Amanda’s blog. Follow Amanda on her journey to book publication. Like A Slice of Faith on Facebook.