Writing Today

<title>Every business in today’s high-tech world needs writing, and those projects can range from simple e-mails, memos, letters, to more complex reports, white papers, brochures, and press releases Writers are known for shelling out loads of money on blank journals, books, bags, pens, pencils, and more books just to create their personal toolkit to help them accomplish their job of writing, whether it’s for magazine articles or books and even their blogs. But there are shortcuts to saving so you don’t break the bank. 1) Dictionaries Do you spend money every few years for a dictionary to make sure you have the updated versions? Why not save that money and head over to Dictionary.com or Merriam-Webster Online. Here you’ll find all the latest words and definitions, and it’s all free, so you can use that money for other tools in your toolkit. More dictionary Web sites: yourDictionary.com OneLook Dictionary Search TechWeb: TechEncyclopedia 2) Blank Journals and other office supplies Do you like to write everything using a pen or pencil and then transfer it to a computer? You can save money on buying blank journals by making sure you buy them at the right time of the year. You can always find bargains when the major discount stores have back-to-school sales. This is usually from July to September, but the earlier you shop, the better deals you can get, and you’ll also have a greater chance of getting the items you need. This is also the perfect time to stock up on all other writing supplies like pens, pencils, erasers, folders, files, and more. Check your weekly newspaper for coupons and local sales. If you don’t like fighting crowds this time of year, then you can always shop online. Most of the office supply stores, including the major discount stores, have special online savings for back-to-school items, so you can still stock up and save, and shop without leaving the comfort of your home. Online office-supply stores: Staples OfficeMax Office Depot 3) Magazines There are so many writing magazines to choose from that it can be hard to figure out which one to subscribe to. The best way to save is to pick one (or two) that includes the information you’re looking for, and then get a multiyear subscription, because most magazines offer an even cheaper rate by subscribing for more than one year. When you finally do subscribe, make sure you do it through a reputable company. Either subscribe through the magazine service (online, by calling, or using a subscription card), or through other magazines that you enjoy reading. Most magazines are now offering a two-for-one deal: subscribe to one magazine and get the other one free. If your child offers discounts through a school program or an organization like Girl Scouts, this is also another great way to save and get multiyear subscriptions. Sometimes it’s cheaper to just subscribe for a year or two to a magazine instead of purchasing a few issues at a newsstand. After about three issues at regular price, you could have subscribed for a year and got six to twelve issues for the same amount. Some top writing magazines to consider: Writer’s Digest The Writer Writers’ Journal Publishers Weekly 4) Books Writers love buying books on writing, and they’re always trying to improve their craft. And with all the books out there on writing, how does one save? If you purchase them one at a time at your local brick-and-mortar bookstore, you’re going to go broke fast. If you’re lucky, you can usually save ten percent, or if you’re a bookstore club member, you can save more. But there are so many restrictions that’s it’s difficult to tell if your savings is worth it. The best way to save is by joining a book club that offers free books for enrollment. They usually offer these books if you agree to purchase a few more in the next couple years. You’re still saving quite a bit because you’re getting the books at a discount, and most of the time, they’re cheaper than buying from a bookstore. Book clubs: Writer’s Digest Book Club Book-of-the-Month Club Online stores that offer great deals on books: Amazon.com Half.com 5) Software There are dozens of software programs that can help you write better, but these tools can often be expensive. Most of the time, writers are looking at these programs to help them get organized and keep an account of their writing projects. There is an easier and cheaper way to get organized, and you don’t need a computer or to spend hundreds of dollars to do it. Check out how a novelist can get organized by using this easy, convenient Novel Planner. And the nice thing about this planner is you can take it everywhere you go. No need to lug a laptop with you; just bring along your handy planner and never miss an opportunity again to jot down those important notes. 6) Editor StyleWriter is a style and usage checker that plugs right into your word processing software and allows you to step beyond your basic spelling and grammar check. StyleWriter can be used on just about any writing piece from memos to presentations to novels. Once you load StyleWriter, to use all its wonderful features all you need to do is click on the icon it places on your word processor’s toolbar. It will scan your document, and then provide you with a rating on three areas (Style Index, Passive Index, Average Sentence), and give you options on how to improve your writing. You can choose to ignore or accept the suggestions. And the program doesn’t stop there. StyleWriter allows you to customize it to your own writing patterns so you can become more aware of common writing errors. The best thing about this software is its ability to tell you when you’re using passive verbs and notifies you to use active verbs. StyleWriter is worth the $150 price tag because it’s like having your own editor sitting there with you as you write. Although it doesn’t replace the personal touch a human editor can give to your work, it’s definitely the next best thing. 7) Web sites A Web site is where readers have a place to go to learn more about their favorite writer, her works, and new projects she’s working on. A Web site is where a writer can keep in contact with her readers, and it’s also an excellent promotional tool. It’s easy to spend thousands of dollars on having a Web designer create a site for you, but not everyone has that kind of money to shell out. If the writer is willing, and has some time on her hands, she can easily create a Web site with or without any knowledge of HTML. It’s always good to know the basics though, and there are many sites to go to learn these skills. The W3C HTML Home Page will have the latest information on HTML and tutorials. Webmonkey has a great HTML cheat sheet. And HTML Goodies is good for learning all the skills one needs to create a standard Web site. You can also check out BasicTemplates.com or FlashToGo to get some cool templates to start with. Or if you prefer to skip learning the basics and want to step through a simple wizard to build your site, and not pay a dime, then check out Tripod or Yahoo! GEOCITIES. If you have FrontPage loaded on your PC, then look no further than Microsoft Office Online.   Sandra Graves is a freelance writer, copy editor, author, photographer, and licensed real estate agent. She is also the publisher of Writer’s Resource Guide, an online site that helps writers get organized and get writing. Visit .writersresourceguide.com for more information.    

Creative writing ideas can hit you anytime. It can hit you while you are nonchalantly doing your everyday household chores or while you’re doing your normal tasks. But there are also times that creative writing ideas, no matter how hard you try, just won’t seem to form in your head. When this happens to you, you can count on the methods and techniques below to help your mind easily come up with great ideas to write about. Pick Out A Scene This is one of the simplest techniques to come up with creative writing ideas. You start out by thinking of a scene. If you still can’t think of a specific scene on your own, then stick your head out your window and observe the people around you. Pick any of the activities they are doing and stick with it. Now that you have your first scene, you need to explain it. For example, a scene you have chosen is an average looking guy briskly walking down the street and suspiciously scanning the area around him. You then explain why this certain person was walking this way. It is possible that this person was part of a gang who just robbed a store and was acting as a decoy for the police to follow. Then you just explain further and add random scenes as you continue the story. From the scenes you have created, you can then build a creative story from it. A Combination Of Different Stories Another effective way of coming up with creative writing ideas is through a combination of different stories - the more absurd the combination, the better. A good example would be combining the story of Noah and the Arc and the story of Star Trek. You can come up with a story featuring one whole family who survived the demise of their planet by escaping through the spaceship that they built. When will they be able to go back to their home planet? Another good example would be combining the story of Romeo and Juliet and the story of King Kong. A human has fallen in love with an ape who has the ability to speak. Unfortunately, the norms of society wouldn’t allow their love to flourish. There are a lot of innovative writing ideas you can come up with by combining different stories. It’s All About You You can use yourself as the source of creative writing ideas. Be aware of your interests and preferences. Get to know yourself better and know what truly are your opinions about different subjects and topics. You can use your emotions to stir up your writing juices. Whatever you can think of, write about it. Pick a topic say, politics. Write what your opinions are and the emotions about the current issues in politics. List everything you can think about it and make a list. You can then pick a topic from this list to come up with your creative writing ideas. Want to earn a 5-figure monthly income through freelance writing jobs? Go to .20daypersuasion.com/5figurewriter.htm and discover how to earn massive amounts of money by becoming a freelance writer.

Part of an effective book marketing campaign is a website

Are you searching for a method to promote your website or business? If so, read on to discover a website promotion method that costs virtually nothing to implement. Article writing provides you with an excellent method of increasing the PR (page rank) of your website. The only expense to you is a little time to write short, informative articles that have value to others. The articles you have written can then be submitted to some of the best article directories such as Articledashboard.com, ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, isnare.com, and articlealley.com Article marketing is a great way to increase the flow of traffic and visitors to your website. If you are a business person and have a website, you may have heard the term SEO or search engine optimization. Article marketing is a very effective way to promote your business or website. In simple terms SEO uses tactics such as keyword optimization to achieve a better placing in the search engines, resulting in more visitors and hopefully more sales for your business. Google operates a site ranking system commonly known as page rank. Page rank is partially based on the quality of your website content but also looks at how many other sites are “back linking” to your website. A website with more back links should hold a better search engine placement and in turn receive more visitors. Once you have written your articles, make a list of article directories where you wish to submit your articles. Most directories will ask you to create a free account before articles can be submitted. Once you have your accounts in place, you can begin your article submission. Article directories must approve your submitted articles before adding them to the article directory. Try to make your article interesting, factual and useful to others. Do not just write a 300 word advert for your company or service as it will most likely be declined. Make sure the title of your article accurately describes the content of the article and contains keywords associated with your subject. Layout the article in short paragraphs, do not bunch all the text together as it looks terrible and web users will rarely read large sections of text. It is a known fact that web users have a very short attention span and tend to skim over large sections of text, so make it easy on the eye and easy to read. Most article directories provide a resource box into which you can place your name, a little information about you or your business and - this is the important bit - a hyperlink to your own website. This link creates the back link to your site and will help to improve both visitor numbers and search engine placement. The more back links you have, the more traffic you will receive. Do not link directly to affiliate sites as they will usually be declined, instead link to your own site and include your affiliate links there. For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website :- .instant-marketing-articles.com .articlemarketing.reprintarticlesite.com

John Huston, the director of such classic movies as The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of Sierra Madre, once told the story that when a woman invited his good friend Ernest Hemingway out to the dance floor, Hemingway responded, “Criminy! I hate dancing in public so much I’d rather write!” Many of us have been there done that. True, for article marketing online you do not have to write the Great American Novel but that doesn’t stop people from hating it just the same. Some complain about doing the research, others don’t like the brainstorming. While most of us can relate, the simple truth is manyt writers just cannot bare the thought of looking at a blank page and having to fill it. This is tough if you plan on making article marketing part of your online business plan; since you will have to repeat this process over and over again. What’s the solution? Articles which have already been written that reside in the public domain. An excellent definition of public domain is provided by the Online Library Learning Center: “Works which are not owned by someone, and therefore not protected by copyright.” This occurs when the writer has voluntarily given up the rights to their own material, the copyright has expired or the work was published before the existence of any copyright laws. Everything is basically laid out for you. It just comes down to finding the material that is right for your subject matter. Once this is completed you simply rewrite the article into your own words. Because the time to research your article has been drastically reduced and you don’t have to start with a blank page, this may be the fastest and easiest way to churn out articles on a steady basis. It’s also very cost effective. Many new or successful online businesses would just resolve themselves to outsourcing the chore of article writing. Even if the funds are available, it is still going to get expensive. Why? Because you are going to need a lot of fresh unique content on your website to make an impact with search engines (the same engines that will bring you the bulk of your internet traffic). Rewriting public domain articles, optimized with the proper keywords, is an excellent way to grow your website.You can then use the money you would have spent on outsourcing to invest in some other area of your business. Use public domain articles in your email newsletter or put several articles together and create an ebook that you distribute freely. Just make sure to brand your name and put a link in the book pointing back toward your website. The key to all of this is to rewrite the material thoroughly. Public domain articles may not have a copyright but it also means the public at large is familiar with the information. Copying almost word for word is quite amateurish and extremely lazy. Use a public domain article as a framework to incorporate your own original ideas. Article marketing requires a steady flow of creativity. Public domain articles are an incredible resource which can provide the solution to your web content needs. Tap into this overlooked goldmine starting today and give your article writing a major boost. Daryl Campbell invites you to get more free tips, video, step by step coaching and up to the minute information to help you grow your business into a long term success at Internet Marketing Guide

Ever notice how some people have all the luck? They seem to attract clients and business effortlessly, and win awards without even trying. Even the media seems to seek them out. So what makes THEM the anointed ones…. and not you? The difference is passion. Passion is what makes us get up in the morning, excited about what we’re going to do. It’s what pushes us through tasks we’d rather not do - and propels us through those that are ordinarily intimidating. Passion is something bigger, too. It’s a healing essence that makes whatever we do seem guided, and so very attractive to others. Things that are passionately created are truly magnetic - we all want a piece, so we, too, can be healed. I first became aware of this on a speaking tour I did in Florida a few years back. At the time, I spoke at a New Age bookstore/tea salon in Key West, FL called Kindred Spirit. This wasn’t a ‘must do’ stop on the circuit of major bookstores; when the owners invited me to speak, they didn’t even have a location yet for their store. Still, there was something about Kelly and Karen, the owners, which resonated with me when I met them at a conference. They had a certain intensity, the air of women on a mission. It was clear they would have exactly the space they wanted, and it would be great. Not only that, I would do an event with them, and that would be great. The Powers That Be were clearly whispering in their ear. When I got to Key West, my hunch was confirmed. Every inch of this store held things that were beautiful and unique, each artfully arranged. Karen had hand-painted fresh, original calligraphy on the walls, and they had composed their space so you could wander at will, finding treasures at every turn. There was even a tiny antechamber, beautifully decorated, where you could have a reading with a remarkable psychic. Lace-covered tea tables here and there waited for you to sit down, relax, and have superb cup of tea. The effect of being in Kindred Spirit was that my travel-jagged soul was immediately soothed. This store had the ability to heal people. That healing comes from what some call “the essence”. It’s an immutable standard for your work that comes from within, a refusal to deliver less than exactly what your soul told you to create. And this takes considerable work. When I met Karen and Kelly, they were coming off of weeks of 12-hour days putting the finishing touches on their store and holding their first event. They had that slightly insane, but critically important vision you get that pushes you forward, and forward, and forward, until you do create exactly what you want. They had passion, pure and simple. And please note that such work is not just a non-stop string of blissed out moments of creativity. There are many when you just want to go home and climb into bed. There are just as many when you lie awake worrying. Still, there is something sacred and holy that pushes you forward, whether it be the ‘essence’ or your own hands-on interpretation of God or Spirit. Not surprisingly, all of Key West turned out for my talk at Kindred Spirit; the event was electric! All, I say, because people wanted that healing at the heart of Karen and Kelly’s hard work. So how do you summon up the essence? For Karen and Kelly, it was just a matter of finding the courage to leave their jobs and follow their heart. And that’s true for all of us. If you can listen to your inner voices, you’ll find that back there behind the voices of doubt is your own private cheering squad. They want you to go for the gusto and begin your dreams; they want you to live your dreams - and they’ll make it more possible than you may believe. I say anyone can summon up their passion. First they have to find the courage to begin. Then they simply have to dig in and find that gift they’re blessed with, and move on to share it with others. May you be as moved as I’ve been by the healing work of all creators, great, small, famous and unknown, who are driven by nothing more than their desire to deliver what they feel. And may you discover the same within yourself. ©2005 Suzanne Falter-Barns LLC. For information on how to find the time, energy, and money to live your purpose in life, check out Suzanne’s free ezine, The Joy Letter. Sign up at .howmuchjoy.com/joyletter.html and receive our valuable report, 35 Guaranteed Time Savers. And find even more tips and tools at the Blast of Joy blog selfhelpsalon.typepad.com/blast_o_joy/

Without book promotion, no one will know that you’ve written a book that can change their lives. Without proper book promotion you won’t sell your book. However, sometimes proper book promotion can be well… dull. Here are 3 out of the box tools to promote your book. # 1 Advanced Email Marketing Email is by far the fastest way to get the message out that you have written and published a book. Try this email marketing promotion on for size. Send every single person that you know an email announcing your book. Offer them a free report, free book, or some other special bonus for everyone that signs up for your newsletter or purchases your book. Add an extra bonus for every person that is referred by another. Not comfy with such blatant self promotion? Send an email to every person that you know announcing that your book is being listed on Amazon and simply ask for their help to make it number one by purchasing on a certain day. Offer to return the favor when they publish their book! # 2 Blog, yes really Blogging isn’t really the out of the box promotional tool that it used to be but it is still an underused tool. Contribute to blogs, chat rooms, and forums that are appropriate venues for your book’s topic. In addition to blogging and participating on other peoples’ web sites. Add a blog or forum to your own website. There you can not only promote your products, you can promote your affiliate products, and you can get great ideas about what content is needed by your target market. Want more tools to promote and make money with your book? Visit my blog and learn “How To Write, Publish and Make Money With Your Book.” # 3 Carry your book with you This seems like a really simple and obvious tip but let me tell you a little story. I was out enjoying nature the other day and came across a person that was enjoying the same area along the river. As it often does when conversing with a stranger, the topic of what I did for a living came up. Too bad I didn’t have a copy of my book with me. Funny thing was, he was an author too and he didn’t have a copy of his book with him either. Think of what could have happened, had either one of us remembered this basic promotional tip. “Promote yourself” This is especially important if you are using your book as a business card to promote your service! Take your imagination to its limit. Promote your book with a crazy eye catching ad in your local paper. Pull a stunt or create a public spectacle to promote your book. Enjoy the process and enjoy the profits. There are of course many tried and true proper methods of promoting a self published book and they certainly have their place among your marketing plans. Among the winners are press releases, ezines and article marketing, websites and much more. For Information on How to Write and Publish your own book go to Expert Author : .expertauthorpublishing.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years you’ve heard of weblogs or blogs. Today the blogosphere is gigantic. There’s a blog for everyone including politicians, stay at home moms, and entrepreneurs. As acceptance of blogging continues to skyrocket, businesses are increasingly tapping into this valuable resource. So how would a business benefit from blogging? For one, blogging allows a quick way to hear from your customers. What used to take weeks and many thousands of dollars through market research can now be accomplished for a fraction of the time and money. That’s not to say market research doesn’t have its place because it certainly does, but now we have a compelling new tool. Business blogs allow a new dynamic in the way companies communicate with customers and visa versa. Improving your search engine rank is another reason to start blogging. Search engines favor sites which “live”. A site which is continually growing and which contains consistent content is going to rank higher because of its perceived relevancy. If a wedding planner put up a blog where topics related to weddings (and all the other associated words) then the whole site would benefit from a high relevancy score on Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Another reason is to show credibility and availability. A site which allows customer feedback is saying that it believes in its own product or service. We’ve seen examples of executives blogging on a daily basis and the enormous positive customer response which takes place

It’s not just embarrassing when business writing is confusing, boring and infuriating. Poor written material also wastes valuable time, sends inaccurate messages and projects a negative impression of both the writer and the organisation. Clear, succinct and compelling reports and letters are essential for effective communication, and being able to create them is a vital business skill. Fortunately, effective writing is not a gift that is granted to the elite few who happen to find it easy, but a competence that can be learned like any other. Five tips for effective business writing Here are five basic principles that will help to communicate your message and create a strong and positive image for your organisation. 1. Create a strong beginning The most important part of any document is the beginning. If this is well written, your readers will be more likely to engage with your document straight away. But if the beginning is dull or hard to get through, the reader may decide to leave it until later - which often means that it may never get read at all. 2. Use clear, crisp, lively verbs A verb indicates doing, having or being. It does valu5able work in a sentence because it is the motor that drives our ideas. English is rich in verbs, and good writers use them to give their documents energy and momentum. Learn to choose appropriate action verbs to express what you want to say. Here are some examples of the many verbs that are available to you in English: • Adjust • Assemble • Agree • Behave • Bind • Cause • Carry out • Convert • Define • Differentiate • Discuss • Describe • Explain • Extract • Find • Follow • Hold • Identify • Illustrate • Locate • Make Obtain • Operate • Perform • Prepare • Prove • Recognise • Remove • Select • Specify • Take • Test 3. Use paragraphs and headings Paragraphs are an important part of structure. They contribute to the readability of any piece of writing by: • Breaking a large piece of text down into manageable proportions • Grouping together a number of sentences that are related to the same topic • Making the page less cluttered because they introduce some white space • Giving the reader a break • Making it clear that you are moving on from the last topic. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence. All the content in the paragraph should support that topic - answering the questions why? what? how? etc. If the paragraph contains material that doesn’t support the topic, either remove it or start a new paragraph. In any document that consists of more than a few paragraphs, headings are essential for guiding readers through the text. They make it easier to refer to particular sections and will help to ensure that your readers do not lose track of the message you are trying to communicate. It is important that your headings are consistent: • Each heading level should always look the same • Subheadings should be less prominent than main headings • Subheadings follow a clear pattern. Word and other word processing applications contain built-in styles for the various levels of headings. Using these will give you access to useful features such as automatically generated tables of contents and document outlining. 4. Make your writing flow Start new sentences and paragraphs with a link to previous text by showing the connection between the old and the new thoughts. These links move the text along briskly and keep the reader engaged. You can repeat words from the end of the previous sentence, point back to the earlier thought by restating (this; that; these; those), or start the sentence with a signal word or phrase. For example: • First • For example • In addition • But • However • Because • By contrast • Moreover • Nevertheless • Given that • Similarly • On the other hand • Likewise • Furthermore • In the first place • Secondly • As a result • By comparison • Alternatively • Therefore 5. Talk to your reader Readers will be more interested in what you have to say if you talk directly to them. It is possible to call your readers ‘you’ without being over-familiar - and the resulting tone will be warm and sincere, rather than rather cold and impersonal. Don’t say ‘Once this decision is made’; try instead ‘Once you have made this decision’. Similarly, ‘The point that must be borne in mind is this …’, is better expressed as ‘You should remember that …’. Saying ‘you’ makes readers feel that you are thinking of them as human beings. At the same time, it is a good idea to show that both you and your organisation are human too. You can do this by using the personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘we’ and ‘us’ where they are appropriate. Write, for example: • ‘I received your letter’ instead of ‘Your letter was received’ • ‘We will make a decision next week’ instead of ‘A decision will be made next week’. Finally, remember that you are writing for your reader, not for yourself. It’s all too easy - but a fatal error - to assume your audience has the same understanding of the subject, the same objectives and the same interests or priorities as you. You need to: • Recognise what readers already know (so that you are not wasting their time) • Use terms they are familiar with (so that you are not using jargon or abbreviations that they will not understand) • Pitch the style of the language you use at a level that they will find neither patronising nor overly complex. Jane Smith, Word Smiths • Do you spend a long time composing and rewriting your business messages? • Are you concerned about the accuracy and quality of what you write? • Does your team leader or manager often edit what you write? • Do readers sometimes have difficulty understanding what you are trying to say? Whether you answer yes or no to most of these questions, our one-day Effective Writing courses will make your business communications easy to read, easy to understand - and hard to ignore. Check our website for more details - .word-smiths.co.uk

What is the fastest, smartest and most reliable way between your wildest dreams and your tangible reality? …Your Intention… Never underestimate the power of your Intention. It represents the most powerful tool in your life manifestation box. Why…because that…my friend… is pure Energy! It is the divine creative Force behind all cosmic, universal and human designs. Let’s consider the two parameters its efficiency relies on… The first one is: establishing a purpose, which I call “the doing” and the second one is the intensity, which I call the “being” element. The doing is necessary for it gives the direction. It affects the trajectory of the creative Energy. The practical question is: what do you wish to achieve? The more precise your answer is going to be and the greater the path will unfold in front of you. Each stone that will be placed ahead will be part of a meaningful trail that will match your expectations. You will attract the perfect fitted piece to your journey. The second element, not the least, is the intensity. This is the focus you actually can drawn into your thoughts. The greater concentration, passion and amount of energy you will be able to surround to your intention and the greater and faster the result will appear. Coincidences won’t be coincidences but messages and divine signs that will automatically make sense. The practical question is: How much do you want this dream to come true? To be part of your reality? To be fully experienced?.… You need to engage your entire being into this process. The understanding of who you are is the key. Be aware of your thoughts, your choices, your decisions, your beliefs and more so your power… Remember that your reality always matches the way you perceive the world outside. And remember that the way you perceive the world outside always matches the way you perceive your…Self. So, now…who are you?…