The Quiet Quotient

The Space Between Sentences

Most of what I write starts in silence.Not the dramatic kind—no candlelit desk or sweeping soundtrack—just regular silence. The kind that happens when the dishwasher hums, or when you pause mid-scroll and suddenly hear yourself breathing.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/

How to Make Big Ideas Feel Personal (and Small Moments Feel Universal)

The other night, I spent 45 minutes scrolling through Netflix, looking for something to watch. I wasn’t asking for much, just a show that was exciting but not stressful, funny but not silly, smart but not exhausting. Basically, I wanted the perfect thing to match my mood.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/

Quiet Leaders Series - Author Susan Cain

Let’s talk about Susan Cain.
She didn’t crash into the culture screaming. She slipped in quietly—and completely rewired how we think about power, personality, and what leadership looks like.
Her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking didn’t just sell millions—it sparked a movement. She gave voice to a group that didn’t even know they were allowed to raise their hand. Not because they couldn’t—but because they’d been trained their whole lives not to.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/
 

Quiet Leaders Series - Producer Rick Rubin

In a culture obsessed with doing, Rick Rubin is the guy who doesn’t. In meetings, he's quiet. In sessions, he waits. He creates space, and in that space, artists breathe again. They rediscover what they were trying to say before the industry turned them into a content machine.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/

Characters Who Won't Leave You Alone

Certain characters show up on the page. Others take up space in your head and refuse to leave. They wake you up at 3AM with lines you didn’t write. They interrupt your lunch. They start speaking in scenes you never planned. You didn’t create them. You met them. And now they won’t shut up until you tell their story right.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/
 

Plotting Is A Scam

Plotting Is a Scam
Not storytelling. Not structure. Plotting. The rigid, over-engineered “three-act arc” every writing book tries to sell you. It’s storytelling with a GPS, sounds useful, until it takes you straight into traffic and kills the magic.
Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/

The Draft Is Lying To You

The first draft is a liar.
It tells you you’re a genius, until you read it back and realize you wrote 800 words of incoherent sludge. Or worse, it tells you that your idea is trash, when in reality, it just needs time to grow teeth.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/
 

The Printer Hates Her (A Writer's Perspective)

Writers, as a group, tend to be paranoid. Jenna once spent a full afternoon convinced a barista was judging her laptop stickers. (“'Plotter not Pantser, a little desperate, don’t you think?” she imagined the espresso machine sneering.) But the printer wasn’t judging. The printer was plotting.

The Sandwich or the Sentence? (A Writer's Perspective)

Writers are strange like that. They build rituals out of absolutely nothing, specific mugs, specific chairs, the exact right kind of silence, which sounds a lot like regular silence except it involves no leaf blowers, no dogs, and definitely no self-doubt whispering in a French accent.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/

The Sound of Silence in a Loud World

We live in a loud world. Everyone’s talking. Posting. Pitching. Building their brand. Optimizing for engagement. Silence? That’s often mistaken for irrelevance. For losing.
But silence, when intentional, is actually a power move.Connect with me:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hansen-b67412169/