Writing Today

The promise of the rewrite is very sweet. I have collected evidence that the more authentic the labor put into rewriting your screenplay, the greater the reward, and the reward is high, for whatever lovely, wonderful moments you might have discovered in the frightening process of plowing through the first draft, those moments, those seeds, are only seeds, and they only fulfill their destiny as giant, involving scenes in the movie that screens before people. So if I shortcut my revision, I will miss the prize, pure and simple. The process of rewriting is recreating. I need to make a contract with myself to make room in every moment of my writing for the imaginative magic of inspiration, that flash of brilliance which some call talent, the muse, God, or desperation, to deliver something that did not exist just a second before, but now lives forever, like a huge white rabbit suddenly from a hat. This usually happens when my fingers are on the keyboard and there’s white below from where I’m typing, and I have no idea where I’m going. Or if I have some idea, I don’t have the answer, but I trust and that’s it. Rewriting is technically every change you make to your draft. There, I said it, so now you can’t come back and argue with me about what you think a rewrite is. But now I will tell you what rewriting really is, or what it really is not. Rewriting is not cutting and pasting. It’s not reading through your draft on your computer screen and changing words. It’s not pushing your cursor down the page, highlighting text and deleting it. I think this is called editing or deleting or garbage time or easy on the damn brain, but it’s not called rewriting over in the bust your ass capital of screenplay planet. Rewriting is almost starting completely over. It’s almost accepting that you have nothing after celebrating like you won your tenth super bowl simply by typing the end and poking two brass fasteners through a pile of paper. Rewriting is taking that pile of paper, plopping it beside you where you can see it without a lot of movement of the head, and copying it over with an industrious attitude. Okay, basically if you open a new file and name it second draft, or seventh, or whatever, lie all you want, but if you simply copy it over and the only thing that gets changed is the things that make you physically jerk in your chair, then you are not rewriting with an industrious attitude. An industrious attitude can mean a lot of things, I will probably call it something else next week, but it simply means you are open to work, and with a rewrite, the premise to work is the belief your script needs work. If you can’t see much wrong, how can it need a lot of work, and how is the rewrite going to work? It won’t. So make sure you have an open bent, and start typing it over. What happens? Well, if you’ve never done it, I’m not gonna tell you. A lot of screenwriters won’t even admit it they’ve never done it, because it breaks your neck. If you have done it, it’s almost time we did it again. Either way, go. Now, how do I find out what’s broken? It’s not all on one page, and it’s hard to see the big picture of the awful thing. Well, this isn’t a book, this is just a short essay, so here’s a short list of tools to get yourself into and ready for your rewrite. First, you got ask yourself, what’s the story, or more specifically, what are the stories? I usually make up a list of sentences that start with “The story of…” and fill in the blanks. What are the stories that are emerging from your current draft? What does your spirit want to tell versus what your poor brain thought you were going to do back in the coffee shop? You might find the list is long, and that’s a problem, too. There’s usually a main one, maybe one close behind, then a few tiny sweet ones. There is your family of stories. There they are. Now. How are you treating them? This is where you can make some kind of a chart. Like a spreadsheet or something. Or the back of a dry cleaning receipt will do. Divide up your script into the beginning, act one, act two, act three, and the finish. By the way, I know there’s all sorts of act divisions. Modify my directions at your will. It’s fine. So within this chart you will pencil in the beats that exist within the current layout of your script. When you’re done charting the arcs of your family of stories, you will undoubtedly find HOLES. Wow. Nothing’s there. Didn’t see that before. Okay, you better put something in there. Let’s say you got your chart pretty full, in fact, it looks like the stories of your movie have something resembling a beginning, middle and end. Now what you need is to make every scene as good as your best scene. Yeah, terrible news. How do you determine this? Grade your scenes. Some scenes might get an A. Others maybe a B. Give your work an F or two. Once you do this, you will know what scenes are functioning as placeholders and what are moneymakers. In the end, rewriting is making everything the most special ever. Anything short, and you have more rewriting to do. Unless you can live with an uneven ride. But this is a rewriting article, not a give up article. Finally, a reminder. Screenwriting becomes artful when compression arrives. Shorten your everything. All dialogue and description is representative of this life traveled through a living soul. Uh, that’s you. A screenplay is just another poem, it’s just another small bit resembling something we recognize as human beings. Seven Samurai is a very short movie compared to what happens in a life, even shorter stacked against forever. But it lives beyond forever, doesn’t it? Article URL: .bluecatscreenplay.com/About/rewriting_your_screenplay.php Copyright © 2006 BlueCat Screenplay Competition About the Author Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA , Gordy Hoffman has written and directed three digital shorts for Fox Searchlight. He made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW, which world premiered at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival. He is also the founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. Dedicated to develop and celebrate the undiscovered screenwriter, BlueCat provides written screenplay analysis on every script entered. In addition, Gordy acts as a script consultant for screenwriters, offering personalized feedback on their scripts through his consultation service, .screenplaynotes.com. For more articles by Gordy on screenwriting, visit .bluecatscreenplay.com.

It’s one thing to write a book, it’s an entirely different thing to write one that’s a saleable, viable, marketable product. Ensuring the success of a book is something even the biggest publishers have never been able to guarantee. Mitigating circumstances, flash trends, and world events will all affect buyer preferences. That said, there are still ways to leverage the sales-factor in your favor and here’s how you do it. 1. Know your readers. We’re not just talking about whether your readers are male or female. You’ll want to know myriad factors about your audience. How old are your readers (age range)? Are readers married, single, or divorced? Where do your readers live (generally)? What do your readers do for a living? What other books/publications do they read? Develop a profile that includes where they shop, what clubs they belong to, etc. These elements will help you incorporate these aspects into your book *and* help you unearth salient marketing opportunities (i.e., publications and stores). 2. Know your market. What’s the market like for your book? Is there a trend out there you’re positioning yourself toward? Are you reading all the publications related to this topic/trend? Are there any “holes” out there your book could fill? What’s the future for this market/topic? For example, let’s say you’re a fiction writer looking to publish chick lit. Go to any bookstore and you can’t help but spot the cutsie, pink, cartoonish covers. Many thought this trend was dying out, but it has recently seen another surge. What do you know about trends related to your book/topic/audience? 3. Similar books. What else has been published on your topic? Have you read all ten books in your category? If you haven’t, you should. You’ll want to know everything you can about what’s out there and how it’s being perceived in the marketplace. It’s never a problem having a similar topic. When I published No More Rejections - Get Published Today, I knew there were other books out there on marketing. I read them all–then angled my book differently. 4. Getting and staying current. What’s going on in your industry today? What are some hot buttons? What are people looking for? What’s next on the horizon for this topic/audience? If you can’t seem to gather this information through traditional channels, why not survey your target audience? There are a number of places to run free surveys, Survey Monkey is one of them: .surveymonkey.com 5. Follow the media. What’s the media talking about these days? Keep track of media buzz–what they’re paying attention to and what they’re writing about. Delve beyond the front page of your paper to the second or third page and see what’s filling the pages. If you can get your hands on out-of-state papers, do a comparative review. Do you see a trend in coverage? Is there something that seems to be getting more buzz even if it’s on page six? 6. Talk, teach, listen. One of the best ways I’ve found to get in touch with my audience was to teach a class and do speaking engagements. When I was putting together my book, Get Published Today, I found that the classes I taught provided valuable information for creating a great book because they put me directly in touch with my audience! 7. Timing is everything. When do you plan to release your tome? Are you releasing around a holiday or anniversary? Could you take advantage of any upcoming event and/or holiday for your book launch? About Penny C. Sansevieri: The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed the ranks at Amazon.com to the #1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at .amarketingexpert.com.

With Twitting becoming more popular amongst people who want to increase their social networks or create greater traffic generation, I have compiled a list of 20 tips and tools that will assist you in your tweeting.What this will do for you is increase your awareness and knowledge whether you’re new to Twitting or experienced. The knowledge I have acquired to compile this list comes from regular tweeters and bloggers that openly talk about the services they use on popular forums. What these 20 Tips & Tools will do for you is save time by not having to search for what other people advise.1. Make a decision how you want to use Twitter; social and traffic generation are the two most popular choices. If you decide you would like to do both it’s advisable to create different Twitter accounts.2. Create an ID that suits the Tweets you intend to write, doing this will allow your network to associate you correctly. Creating an ID associated with a Twitter subject is a great method of utilising the Twitter environment to your needs.3. If you are a regular Tweeter with specific subjects to discuss at certain times of the day and you know in advance you cannot make it, a tool called Tweet Later can be used to advise others when you will be back or post pre-scheduled tweets. Be careful though that you do not auto spam people as Twitter is about connecting people.4. Be patient in replying to Tweets and allow conversations to develop. Quick replies may result in your tweets confusing the thread thus getting lost in the conversational noise of the Twittersphere.5. Share pictures with other Twitters. Pictures are a great way to build interest in you as they can show the interesting place you live or have seen. A great tool to use is Twitpic, just simply create an account and start uploading your pictures. Twitpic also has mobile compatibility so there’s no excuse for not sharing that totally random moment.6. Use blogs to share your tweets creating an increase of awareness in you and share fun or informative subjects. There are several widgets that can help with this AddTweets is just one.7. No social network is a personal storage vault. Social networks give no guarantees should data be lost so if you upload pictures, video or business lists ensure to keep copies of these locally on your own computer.8. Twitter is not an Instant Messenger (IM). Don’t hold private conversations when you have a subject that is being discussed as fellow Twitters will just choose not to follow you, thus diminishing your social presence.9. Twitter Twitter everywhere. See what people are twitting about all over the world. This cool tool Twittervision will allow you see a geographical representation of the world showing what people are saying.10. Make your Twitter time more efficient by using a desktop client like Twhirl which runs on both Windows (2000/XP/Vista) and Mac OSX. This tool works in English, German, Italian and Spanish. It provides notifications on new tweets and has a timeline feature for personal filtering.11. If you’re a fan of Facebook you can sign into your Twitter account through the inbuilt application.12. For Firefox Twitter users who like to show others what they are listening to a companion for Foxy Tunes is TwittyTunes. Note you must have Foxy Tunes installed into your browser for TwittyTunes to work.13. Another powerful tool for Twitters who blog regularly is Post Later. This clever tool allows you to post to multiple blogs through a single interface. Please note this is a paid tool at the following rates: Monthly Membership ($19.95), Annual Membership - Recurring ($149.00), Annual Membership - Manual Renewal ($149.00). This tool also supports Microblogging platforms and is capable of scheduling reoccurring entries. 14. Twitter links to fun and interesting material on the web. Tweet the funny or topical sites you find and this will result in people following you thus expanding your network. Keep the links appropriate to your network of Twitters as you do not want to offend and lose followers.15. Make sure to follow back. The courtesy amongst Twitters is to follow back at least 50% of tweets however use your judgment, for example if you Tweet about saving the planet, you don’t want to follow someone who tweets about hunting as this may give the wrong impression to those that follow you.16. Create fun and interesting polls to get Twitter feedback. A great tool to do this is Polldaddy. Polldaddy has three sign-up options free and two paid. The number of polls you can do is unlimited however depending on the account will vary the number of questions you can set or responses you can receive. The free account will allow up to ten questions and one hundred responses. The paid accounts allow for an unlimited number of questions however the Polldaddy Pro account allows up to one thousand responses with the Polldaddy Pro 2 account allowing up to ten thousand responses. The Polldaddy Pro account costs $200 annually with the Pro 2 account costing $899 annually.17. Once you obtain a nice collection of followers use tools like Twubble and Mr Tweet to help expand your network further. Both these tools search your friend graphs and network and will recommend people for you to follow.18. The iGoogle page can be used to create a Twitter’s workbench called the iTwitter Tab. This tool will allow you to tidy up your Twitting by creating tabs for different sections you use and it can be displayed all on one page.19. If you intend to use Twitting for marketing be sure to follow these simple rules:i) Know your product.ii) Understand what type of information is needed that relates to your product.iii) Be positive in your Tweets. If someone is negative towards you or your product hold back on your response and do not let emotion get the better of you. More often fellow Tweeters also hate negativity and may respond for you. If this happens or you feel a response is necessary, just say ‘thank you, your opinion has been noted‘. A positive attitude can shut down most forms of belligerence.iv) Do not over promote yourself on a single topic as you will just loose followers. Use your Tweets for various products or services you offer and even talk about company achievements.20. Although you can Tweet about almost anything remember the ‘Golden Rule’ amongst these social sites; ‘NEVER SPAM’. If you spam not only do you run the risk of loosing your followers, you also run the risk in some cases of loosing your account.This information will give you a good idea of where you’re going to start or maybe update your existing twitting methods. All the information provided is from a community of user groups; the most important choice is for you. Use the tools that you feel comfortable with and work best with your current system specification. Join forums where fellow Twitters talk and interact to upgrade your knowledge. SIDEinc LLP - SEO Strategy for the SME Market

While I do not recall all the grammar I learned in school, I do remember that the preposition was viewed as a lowly part of speech. I personally think that it is a very important part of speech because it shows relationship. In more recent times, I have often been faced with several games that trainers play to further reinforce the unimportance of the preposition. One game is a neatly-typed paragraph on an overhead slide with “of” at the end of one line and repeated at the beginning of the next line, with the question coming from the trainer, “what’s wrong with this paragraph?” Another game also includes a paragraph, with the trainer asking how many words are in the paragraph, hoping that most people will skip over most or all the prepositions. Well, I write a lot. And I have to tell you that I often try multiple prepositions to find just the right one to convey my meaning. In a Guided Meditation CD (”Confidence of Feeling Good”) that I recently produced, I played with prepositions to guide listeners to focus on their breath. Here’s an excerpt: Relax, once again, into your breath. …… Give your full attention to your breath. …… Feel yourself moving with your breath, …… flowing in, flowing out. …… Breathing in, breathing out. …… Notice whatever you notice about your breath. ….. I am not going to ask you to count all the prepositions, I promise. A preposition usually indicates the time, space or logical relationship of its object to something else in the sentence. In the above example, we notice the relationship of you and your breath. In my view, relationship is very important. The most common prepositions are about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, without. You may have learned, as I did, that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. Although a remedy is often easy, the results sometimes produce a clumsy sentence. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill’s rejoinder: “That is nonsense up with which I shall not put.” And you may also have heard the child’s complaint: “What did you bring that book that I don’t like to be read to out of up for?” So, today, what are you about? Copyright © 2006 Marshall House Jeanie Marshall, Empowerment Consultant and Coach with Marshall House, produces Guided Meditations on CD albums and MP3 downloads and writes extensively on subjects related to personal development and empowerment. Voice of Jeanie Marshall, .jmvoice.com

All’s fair in love and war in a new book that fires up the battle between the sexes. Men, do you think you understand the feminine psyche? The rivalry between women and men seems to be eternal. We all tend to imagine for a moment that one of these days a winner will be declared, and the discussion will be finally over. But of course we know that each generation will take this debate to a new level. dash Media Networks recently announced the release of Circular Motion, a book of four short plays, a one act play and a screenplay. The book by first time author David Ashe highlights struggles of culture and gender. The one act play that the book Circular Motion is titled after was first performed at a reading at the Moving Arts Theatre in Silverlake, CA. Circular Motion is a collection of scenes, plays and a screenplay. It’s a book that takes a slice of life look at some little and sometimes not so little conflicts of sex, power and culture that go on every day. Conflicts that everyone sees and experiences but aren’t exposed or discussed. It’s a delectable clash of class and gender. A timeless battle of the sexes with a mix of influence, ambition and desire. When asked what he wanted readers to take away from Circular Motion, the books’ author David Ashe noted, “First I would, of course, want to people to be entertained, but more than that, if people really looked at the interactions they have with others and experienced them in a way that increase the level of civility and humanity that would be ideal. If nothing else, I would hope to move a reader to think more deeply about experiences they can relate to in the book. I also wanted to explore the dynamics of women’s interpersonal relationships and the struggle involved with creating and maintaining those relationships, both with men and with other women.” Below is an interview with the author done for the book’s website at .circularmotion.net. Q: What is “Circular Motion” about? A: Circular Motion is a collection of scenes, plays and a screenplay that I wrote over the course of a few years during the early and mid ninities. At that time I believed that I was better able to express myself creatively through the written word. Q: How did you start writing? A: I started my career at Orion Pictures at an entry level position and I had the opportunity to read a number of scripts that passed through the studio for consideration. This was during the period when Orion produced films like Dances With Wolves and a number of other hit movies, so the atmosphere there was very optimistic and creative. As I read some of the screenplays, most of which were pretty bad, I naturally assumed I could come up with something better. Of course after further investigation I realized there was a real art to writing for the screen and that there were other, possibly better ways of communicating ideas to an audience. A friend of mine at work read some of my scenes and encouraged me to take a play writing workshop, and I began to look at writing from a different perspective. Q: Where did you get the idea for “Circular Motion”? How did you come with the characters in Circular Motion? A: Some of the material is topical from that time period, and some are based on situations I’ve read about or witnessed first hand. Once the characters begin to speak they really take on a life of their own and there’s a flow that occurs. Q: What kind of a book is “Circular Motion”? A: It’s a book that takes a slice of life look at some little and sometimes not so little clashes of sex, power and culture that go on every day that everyone sees and experiences but doesn’t get discussed in any intelligent way in larger media arenas. Q: A number of the main characters in the “Circular Motion” are women. Why is that? A: In most cases I wanted to explore the dynamics of women’s interpersonal relationships and the struggle involved with creating and maintaining those relationships, both with men and with other women. Q: What do you want people to take away from “Circular Motion”? A: First I would, of course, want to people to be entertained, but more than that, if people really looked at the interactions they have with others and experienced them in a way that increase the level of civilty and humanity that would be ideal. If nothing else, I would hope to move a reader to think more deeply about experences they can relate to in the book. Q: When will “Circular Motion” be released? A: It’s coming out on Tuesday July 10th 2007. Look for it on all the major online booksellers such as Lulu.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and Borders.com.

Ever use someone else to get your message out? For example, big, multi-location companies sometimes make important announcements through local plant or office managers, rather than at head office. Another example: advocacy groups that ask their members to individually write or call politicians. Both examples illustrate what’s called a two-step communication strategy - getting extra mileage out of communication by selectively using other people to pass on messages. It’s so common we often don’t think of it as a distinct strategy. But, it is, and offers many benefits, including: borrowed legitimacy, extended networks, speedy distribution, and unofficial status. Let’s review those benefits in more detail, and as we do so, ask yourself how you could apply them. Borrowed legitimacy: The example of the advocacy group illustrates how you can use third parties (in this case individual voters/members) to give greater credence to a message. It also explains the testimonials you see and hear in advertising. And, book publishers commonly use several forms of two-step communication, including testimonials, prefaces by well-known or well-respected persons, and book reviews. In your workplace, some people probably have more influence than others. If you send out a message to the people with influence and ask them to pass it on to others in the organization, the message may carry more weight. If you’re a sales person, you know the value of referrals. Again, this applies the two-step process to borrow legitimacy. Extended networks: The two-step process can extend personal reach. It’s like an old-boys’ network that allows us to greatly expand the number of people we ‘know’. Some publishers of free electronic newsletters ask subscribers to pass on copies to friends and colleagues. It’s a way for publishers to reach potential subscribers, with an implied or explicit endorsement. Speed of distribution: Some messages can’t be sent out in mass, they need to be delivered individually and personally, but still need to go out quickly. The two-step process can do that. For example, some associations use phoning trees. Simply sending written notices of meetings may not be enough to get a good turnout. So, one person phones three other members, and those members each phone three other members and so on. If everyone cooperates, phone trees are very effective (in my experience, though, ‘if’ is the key word here). Unofficial status: Sometimes, organizations use what politicians call trial balloons, which is to say, they want reaction to an initiative before officially announcing it. For example, a politician might test the feasibility of an idea by leaking it to the media. If a news story refers to ‘unnamed sources,’ you may be seeing the two-step strategy at work. It allows the politician to get a reading on the public’s mood without making a commitment. In summary, the two-step process refers to the idea of using third parties to pass on important messages. Conscious, creative use of the process can extend your reach and give your message more impact. That makes it a useful addition to your communication toolbox. Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott’s Communication Letter. Learn how you can use communication to help achieve your goals, by reading articles or subscribing to this ad-supported newsletter. An excellent resource for leaders and managers, at: .communication-newsletter.com

Being a parent is on of the most challenging yet rewarding job a person could ever do. You have the responsability of raising your child(ren) to be a productive member of society God fearing with the ability to earn a living, care for personal needs, care for the families they create. What happens when you have a child that because of a Genetic defect may not grow up to fit that criteria. In 93 my husband and I gave birth to our second child, after having two misscarriages. I couldn’t believe the love and happiness and joy I had in my heart. My fairy tale family was complete. I had a daughter and finally a son. My happiness was short lived. my son stopped taking his milk,became unresponsive when we tried to stir him to feed. we called an ambulance and he was rushed to the pediatric ER. My son had a genetic disorder called Methylmalonic Acidemia. He died 5 days after his birth. I thought I would never recover from such a devestating loss. It took a lot of time and prayer and family support but I finally started to live again. I had another child in 98, a daughter. She was checked out and was fine.My surprise came in 2002,another daughter,who has MMA.It has been a challenge but I think were going to make it. kenyaslove5.net

This article will walk you through a simple process for writing a eulogy. If you are given the sacred task of writing an eulogy, you really want to do a good job - if nothing, do it well to show respect for the one who has crossed over to the other side. Usually, before you even start, all sorts of unnecessary thoughts may be flowing through your mind. How can you write an inspirational eulogy? What does an inspirational eulogy look like? Is there even such as thing as the perfect eulogy? Such thoughts may cause undue worry and stress. So perhaps this article can help alleviate some of this stress. While there is nothing cast in stone that says an eulogy must be written in a specific manner to be classed as good, there is still such as thing as good writing and bad writing. So the first thing to keep in mind, is to get the basics right. That means paying extra attention to the overall format of the speech, get the grammar right, and allow the speech to flow. That sounds like a lot in one sentence, so let’s break it down a little. The overall format of the speech refers to having a proper introduction, a few sub topics, and a conclusion. In the introduction of the speech, tell everyone how you get the ideas for the speech. Give as much background information as you can about the deceased, so that everyone knows where you are coming from. That will lead you nicely into the sub topics of the speech. Keep your speech well organized with a few sub topics. Make each sub topic highly relevant to the main theme, and use real life examples and stories to make your speech interesting. Your audience will connect better with what you are trying to say when you use simple words to communicate clearly what you want to say. It’s still a matter of basics here. When it comes to the conclusion, repeat quickly the key messages of your speech. Highlight the important ones if you want to. But since it’s the concluding stage, never beat about the bush. The important thing here is to remember that the goal of the speech is to let the audience remember the deceased in a way that he or she wants to be remembered. As a person close to the deceased, this is something that require a bit of sensitivity. For example, ask yourself if the deceased wanted to be remembered as a loving mother, a dutiful husband, or an adventurous person? These questions will give you very strong clues on how write, and eventually end your eulogy. Finally, know that there is no need to speak untruths about anything. A simple speech, written with concise messages is much better than a flowery speech aiming just to flatter. After all, the primary purpose of an eulogy is to allow others to remember the deceased as someone who has led the life he or she wanted while still alive. Anything that deviates from this purpose would have been a great injustice. For more tips on how to write a eulogy, please visit our eulogy writing website - founded by Margaret Marquisi, retired novelist and full time grandmother.

Sailors had it for years. Great explorers had it as well. If you go on an expedition to an ancient Aztec mound, more than likely the archaeologist will have one too - so, why shouldn’t you own one? No, I’m not speaking of the scurvy that plagued the sailors! No, I’m not speaking of the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot, whom explorers claimed to have seen in snowy Manitoba winters. Nor am I speaking of a lost city, which was never truly lost, but simply buried under mounds of earth and recently dug up by an archaeologist. I’m speaking of journals. Journals? Yes! Keeping a journal can be just as much of an adventure as sailing the high seas, exploring unknown Canadian wilderness or digging in the dirt to find buried treasure. Journals have been a source of reflection for centuries. My suggestion is to look at your writing career as if you’re an explorer analyzing new-found land; an archaeologist digging up new artifacts and renaming them and so on… How can you do this? Well, view your journal as a logbook and document your daily happenings. Here is a suggested format for keeping your captain’s log. Divide your journal entries into sections: Date, Weather, Mood, Events and Freewrite 1. Date: This is the obvious one (for some people). Write the month, day and the year. Also write which day of the week it is (i.e., December 17, 2001; Monday). 2. Weather: Make note of the temperature outside. Is it 100 degrees? Or perhaps it’s only 20 degrees? Is it raining and 35 degrees? Snowing and 110 degrees? Raining cats and dogs? (Don’t step in a poodle….) 3. Mood: What’s going on in your head? Did you just get off the phone with your ex-lover who ruined your day and sank you into the depths of depression? Write about it. Did you manage to pull off some wondrous passive-aggressive revenge against said ex-lover? Write about that too and how it made you feel. 4. Events: Here’s where things get a bit complicated - for some. You have to do your homework. Watch television, read the newspaper and write a few lines about what’s going on in your city, state, country or the world in general. 5. Freewrite: Here’s your chance to shine. Since we’re all writers, we should leave a section for freewriting. Allow yourself some space to simply write aimlessly without direction. But, here’s the challenge - try to limit yourself to a certain number of lines. When you keep these entries for a week, two weeks or a longer period of time, it can be extremely beneficial. Comparing and contrasting the Mondays or Tuesdays could be a surprising learning experience. Many times I’ve written stories and wanted to “know” what 78 degrees felt like, so I went to my journal and found an entry, read my mood descriptions and weather descriptions and was easily informed from my own documentation. Keep in mind, a good writer documents everything - whether it be on paper or just in the mind’s filing cabinet. But, to keep things in order, try to keep your documentation on paper - or at least saved to disk.

If you are interested in success in eBook writing, there are five easy steps to keep in mind in regard to great eBook writing in this day and age. Through this article, you are provided with these five steps towards great eBook writing. Armed with this information, you’ll be well on your way to eBook writing success. The first step that you need to keep in mind when it comes to eBook writing is to write on a topic for which you have knowledge. The second step associated with eBook writing is to make sure that you write it on a topic in which you have an interest. There’s nothing worse than trying to write about a topic that has no interest to you at all. The third step connected with great eBook writing is making sure that you revise your initial draft. You need to keep in mind that the revision process really is one of the most important aspects of eBook writing. Along those same lines, you will want to make sure that you thoroughly and completely edit your eBook, a great number of the book’s end up on the market that are poorly edited. There’s nothing worse than a consumer getting his or her hands on an eBook that has been poorly edited and filled with many mistakes. Finally, when it comes to eBook writing, you want to develop a marketing plan to make sure that consumers know of your work. While it is all well and good to write an ebook but your ultimate goal is to get people to want to read it.. By following these five easy steps, you’ll be well on your way to eBook writing success. Indeed, in a very short amount of time, you will be able to join other people who have made a good deal of money writing and marketing eBooks. In addition you will find it to be a very satisfying endeavour. About the author: John Tulley is an article writer for the Internet Marketing Business resource web site. Please visit our web site for more information and advice on Ebook writing.