Writing Inrochester

As we discussed in the previous article ‘why to write term papers’ that writing term papers help in learning how to filter information, developing a systematic approach and enhancing students analytical and writing skills for future career development.

Steps to Write a Term Paper

Choosing a Topic for the Term Paper

First and foremost is choosing a right topic for your term paper. Few things to keep in mind before finalizing on topic are -

You really feel passionate about the topic and want to explore more in the field.

It fulfills the paper assignment you are required to do.

It fulfills the length of the paper you are planning to do and have enough information to support your conclusion.

Starting Research on the Topic of Term Paper

Once you decide upon the topic, Secondary research has to kick in to define the scope of the paper. Once the scope is defined you can look forward to conduct some primary research to analyze the problem first hand.

Articulating the Term Paper

Once the research is done, a writer should first try to organize the paper for incisive articulation. A good term paper is supremely organized; ideas are well presented, correctly written in terms of grammar and incisively articulated to make the reader flow with the content and taking them to meaningful conclusion.

Editing of the Term Paper

Editing is as important as writing the paper itself. Once a student finishes his paper he should first try to edit himself and correct the errors. If one can find outside help or third person to edit the paper, nothing like it as the third person won’t understand the things which one so easily assumed while writing. I personally follow this approach as a third person is in much better position to ask questions regarding what he don’t comprehend from paper or if there is a lacunae in paper in terms of presenting sufficient information.

Term Paper Citation and References

All good term papers take advantage of work done before by various people in the field. If one doesn’t cite the correct references then the paper is intellectually dishonest. Another advantage of citing is that if the reader wants to further explore the subject he can take help of the citations in your paper.

Kathy is student consultant on writing communicative term papers at writetermpapers.com write term papers. She has vast experience in evaluating and editing writetermpapers.com term papers for college degree courses. You can contact her at writetermpapers.com writetermpapers.com

I got lucky. The month that I sold my novel was the same month that I started my newsletter, Living the Dream, for my coaching business. I had no idea that as my list of subscribers grew I would have a great platform from which to launch the book 18 months later. Thanks to that list, I was pre-selling my book long before it hit store shelves.

I was cultivating an audience without realizing it. But now I know that having a list is a goldmine, both for selling your book and for getting your book noticed by a publisher. These days if you can prove that you come to the table with a huge audience, a big advance may follow. But how do you get such a list? These tips will help you go from seed to harvest as you grow your group.

1. Start with who you know.

Most of us have some form of list already, either in your email system’s address book or your basic holiday card list that you use once a year. It may be as small as 10-25 or as big as 200-400. Start out by sending a general email letting the people on your list know that you’re getting organized and planning to send out regular notes, newsletters, whatever you plan to send. Give them the opportunity to opt out if they’re not interested. Most will probably stay on since your family and friends are interested in hearing about what you’re up to.

2. Whenever you meet new people, get permission to add them to your list.

At this point in your writing career, it’s essential that you’re out meeting people at least once a month. You can go to networking events, take classes or (and this is the best) do speaking engagements. Non-fiction authors especially should be speaking regularly because you want to establish your expertise in your topic or topics. You can collect business cards when you network or take classes and get people to sign in with their contact information at your event. Make sure you GET PERMISSION and let people know they will be hearing from you via newsletter, etc. It is truly poor form to put people on your mailing list without their knowledge. It’s also called spamming!

I know that signing people up is key because I’ve observed popular authors doing just that. I once attended a reading by E. Lynn Harris because I knew he had a huge–and faithful– readership and I wanted to glean some clues as to how he did it. Sure enough, the room was packed and every single person behaved as though they knew him personally. When it came time to sign books, he made an announcement: he would sign your book if you signed his! He made it clear you would be hearing from him via email, birthday and holiday cards. People were all too happy to sign the list. Brilliant!

3. Find a list service to maintain your list.

You’ll quickly learn, as your list grows, that your email account may not allow you to send mass messages to groups larger than 50-80. Also, it’s not a good idea to only have your list on your computer, you’ll want it backed up elsewhere. The solution: sign on for a list service. You’ll have your database expertly maintained, plus most list services will give you templates and allow you to send out really good looking HTML email messages to your list. You can also get code and links that allow people to sign themselves onto your list from your website. There are many you can try. I use both Constant Contact and 1 Shopping Cart. If you’re not selling products or services, you may not need a shopping cart so Constant Contact may be just the thing for you. Click here to try it for free for a couple of months.

Email List Manager - 60 Day Free Trial

4. Communicate to your list regularly.

You want to keep in touch with the people on your list so they don’t forget about you. The way you do it is up to you. As I said above, E. Lynn Harris sends notes and cards to his list. A colleague of mine sends daily inspirational quotes. I’m a big fan of email newsletters because you can provide news on your activities and useful content for your readers. When you provide content, such as tips for real estate investors, marketing ideas, or even cookbook recipes, you are establishing your expertise. You’re also giving people a good reason to stay on your list–they’re getting good stuff out of it. In the past I have offered discounts on my services, gift certificates for people to give out over the holidays and articles with career counseling and goal-achieving tips. And every issue of Living the Dream also features my book and the stellar reviews it’s received. You can see past issues by clicking here.

5. Generate excitement and anticipation with your list.

When your book is nearing publication, you’ll want to start letting your audience know that it’s coming. You can generate pre-sale orders, alert your list of book reviews as they come out and let your audience know where you’ll be appearing when you start speaking and doing book signings. My book was first listed on Amazon.com about six months before its publication date. I sent out a “special announcement” letting people know it was there and encouraging them to pre-order the book. On that glorious day my book ranked as high as 3,000 on Amazon′s list! I may not be J.K. Rowling, but I think that’s pretty good. Plus, that’s the kind of information that helps distributors sell your book to bookstores. They know you already have an awesome audience just waiting to buy!

© 2005 Sophfronia Scott

Author and Writing Coach Sophfronia Scott is “The Book Sistah″ TM. Get her FREE REPORT, “The 5 Big Mistakes Most Writers Make When Trying to Get Published” and her FREE online writing and book publishing tips at

Journalistic standards remain the same both in traditional print media and online. So if you need a good copy writer for your website, then hire an online journalist. Good online journalists can balance search engine optimization essentials and journalistic integrity to give you high-quality, well-researched articles that both read and rank well. Here are just some things you can expect from a good online journalist:

Better grammar and usage: Trained online journalists are able to express even the most complicated concepts into understandable bits fit for online publication. Hire a good online journalist and expect your web content to retain its editorial integrity even as it uses language that your website’s demographics find appealing.

Accurate, truthful, and well-researched articles: Good online journalists may charge more, but that is only because they spend more time researching for your website articles. Studies show that using inaccurate information on your website may give you a ‘sugar rush’ of traffic, but ultimately hurt your rankings. Falsehoods and exaggerations may cause your page to rank temporarily, but do not expect this rank to last. Anything deceptive is low-quality. Dependable online journalists never use conjectures and comments as if they were ‘established facts.’ Journalistic code of ethics is against distortion, falsification, and misrepresentation. If the online journalist you hire follows the code, you can expect him or her to write accurate content that will give your site more credibility in the long run.

Better optimization: Trained online journalists are able to craft descriptive page titles that are simple, relevant, and optimized for search engine crawlers. Google and Yahoo many be able to index your site better and serve it to you the people looking for you. Your website visitors are also able to quickly determine if your web page has what they are looking for. Finally, websites that want to link to your page are able to use your short and effective title. And because very good online journalists are trained to use language to communicate clearly, they are also able to integrate important keywords into your copy without making the piece sound redundant or awkward.

Scanable and reader-friendly content: Internet reading pattern is very different from print reading pattern. Most internet surfers only ‘scan’ and not ‘read.’ Trained online journalists understand this reading behavior and are able to optimize their articles so that your readers can quickly see stand-out sentences. Online journalists use sub-headlines to break up an otherwise (very) long piece.

High quality topics: If you want your website to be bookmarked and revisited again and again, then you need a good online journalist to constantly write relevant, compelling, and timely content. A journalist can infuse some tutorials and tips to entice your reader to add your site to his or her ‘favorites.’ If a visitor is pleased enough, he or she even start a viral campaign for you. The visitor can tell his or her friends about your site (perhaps by emailing an invitation). In the long run, this can double your traffic.

Johnathan Spencer is an experienced marketer who has written several articles on the subject. He is available to write press releases at ghostwriterexpress.com GhostWriterExpress, which provides article, press release and ebook writing services. He is currently available you a press release for your own business for a very reasonably price at ghostwriterexpress.com/pressreleaseservices.htm GhostWriterExpress.

If you’re having trouble finding the time to write, join the club. Time management is a huge issue for writers. Those who work outside the home, somehow have to squeeze in writing time around commuting, working, and (probably) housework. A writer who is the chief caregiver for young children or sick/aging parents, will sometimes feel that he or she needs to be cloned to get everything done. And even if you are lucky enough to be a full-time writer from home, your time can get eaten away by friends, family or endless trivia.

There is one simple yet very effective trick that can make all the difference in your life. Turn your thinking around. Instead of your writing time being the first thing to bite the dust if you′re busy, treat writing as a job. In short: employ yourself.

Suppose someone said to you: “I want to hire your services as a writer. I need you to work 10 hours a week. Can you manage that?”

It’s very likely that you would jump at the chance, even if you are already working a 38-hour week in outside employment. Think of all the ways you can divide up 10 hours of writing. Here are three examples:

- 2 hours a day, Monday to Friday

- 2 5-hour stints on Saturday and Sunday afternoons

- 1 hour a day Monday to Friday, and 1 afternoon at weekends

“But,” you say, “I’d know that I’m not REALLY being employed. It’s different if you have to meet deadlines for someone else or not get paid.”

Okay, so pay yourself. Decide that you will pay yourself $2, $10, $15 or $20 an hour for every hour you work - the amount is up to you. Put it in the kitty to save up for Christmas presents, a family holiday, a writing conference or books for your professional library. It doesn’t matter what you use it for - income is income. Don’t touch the money you earn - you need to be able to watch it grow. Paying yourself now will give you a mental boost.

Anyone starting up a new business knows that it takes a while to see the rewards. Many small businesses expect to run at a loss for the first year or so. If you’re writing fiction, it’s unlikely that you’ll see any income until you sign a contract… but you’re putting in the effort NOW, so why not begin paying yourself now?

As for deadlines: let’s get serious. An ability to meet a deadline is one of the most important competencies a writer can develop. A writer’s life is all about self-discipline. Unless you′re employed as a journalist, you′re probably NEVER going to have anyone demanding results. It’s likely that nobody except you really cares whether you make it as a writer. (Most non-writers can’t see why you don’t just go and get a ‘real job’.)

By setting yourself deadlines now, and employing yourself to work enough hours to meet those deadlines, you are establishing work habits that will be invaluable to you as you build your career.

o Employ yourself.

o Pay yourself.

o Get that book written!

For more help on getting that book written, you need The Writing4Success Tipsheet Library - five invaluable “How To” manuals, chock-a-block full of ideas to help you get published. Visit Writing4Success.com for instant access to
writing4success.com The Writing4Success Tipsheet Library.

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon – understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

· Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

· Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

· Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

One critical element of the hero’s journey is Refusal.

If the hero is willing, then refusal often comes in the form of an interdiction and / or warning. If the hero is naturally unwilling, then an unbearable antagonism often pushes the hero into the adventure.

Both of the above are seen in Star Wars (1977). Luke is willing but uncle Owen acts as the Interdictor, forbidding him to embark under threat of some punishment. After meeting Ben Kenobi, Luke decides that he cannot follow Ben to Alderran until he discovers his uncle and aunt have been murdered by Imperial Troops.

The above pattern can be seen in most of the successful stories and screenplays.

In Gladiator (Academy Award Winner Best Film 2000), Maximus declines Marcus Aurelius’ invitation to take his place as Emperor and “give Rome back to the people.” Although he decides to accept after consultation with his man servant, he is in fact pushed into his journey by the murder of Marcus Aurelius by Commodus.

In Million Dollar Baby (Academy Award Winner Best Film 2004), Frankie refuses to teach Maggie how to box, until Willie leaves him and a) Frankie is at a loose end and b) Maggie increasingly comes to represent his (lost) daughter.

The detailed, complete deconstruction and the Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and FREE 17 stage sample and other story structure templates can be found at managing-creativity.com/ managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at managing-creativity.com/ managing-creativity.com/

Okay, let’s take another step toward getting your book ready to write, publish and bring to the market.

The following steps are explained in detail in my subscription-based teleclasses on freelance writing Writers on Call. Let me remind you of the other steps we have been working with.

1. Know What Type of Book You Want to Write
2. Do a Market comparison
3. Complete a Title Search
4. Create an Outline
5. Write a Query letter
6. Start your Book proposal

Now, here is step 4 of my six preparatory steps to complete BEFORE starting your manuscript.

Step 4. Creating an Outline

You hated it in school and now I’m asking you to do it again! Coming up with an outline may not be much fun, but it will help you stay focused and organized as you work on your project.
There’s a big difference in writing a fiction book versus a non-fiction book and therefore, your outline will differ depending upon which you are writing.

Fiction - If you have a story line in mind it is a good idea to write out a time line to sequence the events in your story. Type a list of chapter titles that fit the time line of your fiction story into a Word document. Put Roman numerals by each one.

Write a short bio on each of the main characters. Now write a paragraph about the scenes/places you plan to create in your story. Keep these in a word document.

Non-fiction – Start with the main points you want to cover in your non-fiction book. Simply type them into a Word document and put Roman numerals by each one. If you know how to use the advanced features of Microsoft Word, you can use the outline tool.

Make sure all your main points reflect back to your title. Whenever I feel I am getting on a rabbit trail, I go back to my title and ask, “How does this information support my title?” Answering that question always gets me back on track and helps me decide if that chapter, quote, paragraph, or research data is necessary. Then I can go to my outline to see where the information will fit best.

Next, write a short summary of what each of those main points is about. One or two sentences are plenty.
Put these summaries or character/scene bios into your outline underneath the Roman numeral and hit your “tab” key. This will indent the text and put a letter “a.” in front of the paragraph if you have the bullet and list feature enabled in your Word program.

Your outline will need to be adjusted as you write your book, but at least you’ll have a working idea of what you want to accomplish while you are writing and researching.

I’ll be teaching a class on the advanced features of Microsoft Word program, so be sure to check my blog yvonneperry.blogspot.com for information on upcoming events. Now, go get step 5 of this article series posted at ezinearticles.com/?expert=Yvonne_Perry.

All six steps in this article series are explained in detail via my subscription-based teleclasses on freelance writing Writers on Call. You may order the entire CD audio set of all the classes in my 8-week course on “How to Write a Book” at yvonneperry.net/Writersoncall.htm .

ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Yvonne_Perry Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and editor who assists clients with any type of writing project. Yvonne is available to assist your with telling your story or writing your book. Her podcast yvonneperry.blogspot.com. Writers in the Sky is filled with information about the craft and business of writing. See yvonneperry.net yvonneperry.net for more information about her writing services, books, newsletter, podcast and blog.

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE & CHALLENGE OF GETTING INBOUND LINKS

With the advent of Google’s Link Popularity algorythms, people
began to aggressively hunt for the almighty inbound links.

It is hard to get links back to one’s site using freebie
strategies unless you want to spend your days posting comments
on guestbooks and setting up your own doorway pages on alternate
sites.

Google made this a bit tougher. Google started using a second
algorythm called PageRank. PageRank is a system that has been
designed with the intent of valuing the importance of a page in
the Link Popularity calculations. No longer does the sheer number
of links to a site matter. Instead, one must look at the quality
of the websites that link to their site.

This is the reason why posting comments on guestbooks barely gets
noticed. These are not quality links.

In this age of multiple domains on a single webserver, Google has
taken this into account too. If one has a hundred domains on the
same server, pointing back and forth to each other, this is of no
real value either as far as Google is concerned.

What is important to them is when sites that have been given a
PageRank of at least 4, and those sites point to another site
that does not reside on the same I.P. address or webserver. As
far as Google is concerned, this is usually another unrelated
person who is pointing to a valuable resource. That is why this
type of link has a better overall value to Google.

Anything else is looked upon as an attempt to skew the search
results without good cause.

Google realizes that we all have the need to promote ourselves,
and that we will do so with our own selfish interests at heart.
Our own selfish interests do not necessarily reflect the
interests of Google’s search users. So, Google works hard
to weed out our selfish attempts at shoddy self-promotion.

THE CONCEPT OF RECIPROCAL LINKING

When webmasters realized the complexities of the Google ranking
systems, they began to understand that they needed to go off of
their own server to find those all-important inbound links.

Always looking for the easy way, many webmasters turned to
reciprocal linking strategies. Those who are selling these
concepts are doing so on the premise that it is an easy and
inexpensive way to build inbound links.

To get the reciprocal link, you are supposed to go to the search
engines and find a site that looks like it has content similar to
yours, but not a direct competitor.

Next, you should check to see that the site you are looking at
has a PageRank of 4 or higher.

Then, you are to put a link to that site on your own domain.

Once you have completed the above steps, you are to contact the
webmaster that owns the site you just linked to and to tell them
nicely that you have placed a link to their site, and would they
be kind enough to put your link on their website?

TIP: My site clearly states that “I do not do reciprocal linking,
so do not ask.” Believe it or not, I get a half dozen requests
every week for reciprocal links. Not only do I know that they did
not read my policy on reciprocal links which is linked to from my
contact page, I also know that they did not look at my site when
they are telling me that my site is related to theirs.

Read the site policies at the web sites you visit, and you might
be able to save yourself some time.

A week after you have done your linking campaign, you must go
back to the sites you contacted to see if your link is on their
site. If it is not, then you take their link off of your site.

THE LIE OF RECIPROCAL LINKING STRATEGIES

The people who sold you on reciprocal linking policies have
usually done so in order to sell you an ebook or their services.
Often, they will tell you that it is a simple and inexpensive
way to improve your inbound links and link popularity.

They are selling a lie, and let me tell you why.

Most sites that will agree to exchange links with you will do so
only if they have a PageRank of less than 4, or if your PageRank
is equal to or higher than theirs.

If your site or their site has a PageRank of less than 4, then
the other has not really gained any real value from the exchange.

It takes a lot of time to find people who will link to you, and
it takes even more time to validate that the link remains active.

Google has caught onto the reciprocal linking schemes too and
has started to penalize sites that provide two-way links to each
other, although the penalty is not as drastic as other penalties
can be.

I still have a few two-way links on my own domains, but that is
fine, as they are not for the benefit of the search engines, but
for the benefit of my visitors.

Personally, my time is much too valuable to play the reciprocal
linking game. That is something that you should consider as well.

How long does it take you to score one reciprocal link of any
real value? How much is your time worth to you? How many dollars
do those link exchanges add to your bottom line?

In the end, it is about money, and how much money you are
generating for the time spent. After all, your time is worth
something too, right?

Treat yourself right. How much is your time worth? $10 an hour?
$20 an hour? $50 an hour? Now, calculate how many hours you have
spent on getting one reciprocal link that actually sent you one
visitor.

Let’s suppose that your time is worth $20 an hour. And let us
further suppose that it takes you 3 hours to get one quality link
to your website. That link has cost you $60. Now how much traffic
does that link send you?

If your reciprocal linking efforts cost more than they return,
then they are a fool-hearty adventure.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY

You should not be wasting your time generating reciprocal links.
Instead, you should be expending your time and resources
generating one-way inbound links.

Imagine this. Suppose you could send out an advertisement for
your business that had a link back to your website included in
it. And suppose you would not have to beg or pay big bucks to get
your ad published in ezines or on websites. And then suppose that
the publishers and webmasters who saw your ad would be clammoring
to put it into their ezines or on their websites, at no
additional cost to you.

Can you imagine that being possible?

Well, it is possible. And it happens everyday.

Consider this. You are reading this article right now because you
are hoping that I can teach you something about how to make your
business more profitable.

And, you are reading this article in an ezine or on a website
right now.

Here is the deal. I am attempting to teach you how to do
something or about something. It does not matter what I am
teaching, so long as the topic of the article appeals to your
interests right now, and it is of interest to the people who,
like you, are most likely to visit my site and buy my services.

The ezine publisher or the webmaster read this article and
felt that it could be helpful to you and your goals. So, they
published it and made it available to you for your review.

When you reach the end of this article, you will see a nine line
by 65 character wide advertisement for my own business. In short,
it is called the “Resource Box″ or the “About the Author
Information″.

If I did my job well by attracting the interest of publishers and
webmasters and selling them on the idea of publishing my article,
and then attracted your attention to this article, I will see the
benefits of this endeavor.

If at the conclusion of this article, you feel educated or
entertained, then you will be more likely to read my Resource Box
and visit my website. Perhaps, you might even decide that you
would like to use my services to promote your own business.

If the publisher or webmaster who printed this article is
following the rules of publication, then you will be able to
click on the link to my website in the Resource Box.

Please note that I have not included a single link in the body of
the article. Links inside an article should be directed only to
third-party websites that provide a resource that will support
the context of your article.

For example, my favorite location to be published is:
YourMembership.net It is one of the few ezines I read
weekly, and boy howdy, I am tickled everytime they publish an
article of mine. Especially when you stop and realize that their
subscriber base consists of more than 700,000 web marketers and
that it costs over $2800 to buy a full-run ad there. I was
published there again in April of 2005.

YOU CAN DO THIS TOO

I tell people all of the time that they can write articles too.
Many don’t believe me, but it is true. Everyone has something
that they can teach to someone else.

If you honestly feel that you cannot write your own articles,
then pay someone to write them for you. If you can write your
own basic and specialized knowledge down on paper, you can hire
others to edit it into an article that will be published.

When you have an article of good quality, you can either submit
it yourself to publishers and webmasters as a free-reprint
article, or you can pay someone who specializes in that activity
to do it for you.

IN THE END…

In the end, you will have your own articles in circulation that
will be published in ezines and on websites. Ezines can send you
a sudden flood of traffic, and websites can deliver the all-
important one-way inbound links that you need to grow your link
popularity and to bring potential customers to your website.

And guess what else? Once your article gets into circulation as a
free-reprint article, it can continue to be republished for years
to come, generating new traffic and sales for years to come.

Contrary to the results that are being generated from reciprocal
linking, free-reprint articles will actually permit you to earn
more money from your promotions than it will cost you to run your
promotions.

Copyright Bill Platt - All Rights Reserved. Reprints allowed with article and resource box unedited. If you post this article on a website, you must set the links up as hyperlinks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bill Platt is the owner of

Some research is usually involved in writing a non-fiction book. Whenever you borrow a quote or use information from references you need to correctly cite the source.

MLA or Modern Language Association style is most commonly used for literary works. However, if your document pertains to behavioral and social sciences, you would use APA or American Psychological Association format.

You can use many different sources to find material:

articles (both in print and online) audio recordings books emails journals letters and memos live performances music pamphlets and lectures personal interviews radio or television broadcasts videos works of art Each of these source types is noted in a slightly different manner in both your end/footnotes and bibliography. I suggest you purchase a style manual to keep on your desk that demonstrates the correct format for each type of source.

There are three ways to document your material: by using in-text quotations, end/footnotes, and works cited.

In-text Quotes:

Any time you borrow a quote from someone, it needs to be cited in the text at the point where the quote appears along with the page number if available (author name 72). It should also be included in your bibliography.

End/Footnotes:

Endnotes go at the end of a chapter as a mini-bibliography for all the works used in that chapter. Footnotes go at the bottom of the page where the cited text appears. Each gives complete information about where the material was found so anyone reading your document can find the article or book and read more.

Bibliography:

A works cited or bibliography page contains source information for all the material you used in your book.

When you correctly cite all your sources and give credit where it is due, you will avoid plagiarism and copyright violation issues. So, remember: if you cite, do it right!

ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Yvonne_Perry Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team of ghostwriters help clients all over the globe by offering quality writing on a variety of topics at an affordable price. Yvonne enjoys helping writers by offering useful information to improve writing skills. Get a complimentary eBook “Tips to Freelance Writing″ when you sign up for her free monthly writing newsletter at yvonneperry.net/Writers-in-the-Sky-Newsletter.html yvonneperry.net/Writers-in-the-Sky-Newsletter.html

yvonneperry.net yvonneperry.net

Is your writing smooth or bumpy? If it’s bumpy, readers are apt to bail out before they reach the end.

Sentence structure has a tremendous effect on where writing falls on the bumpy-to-smooth continuum, and sound sentence structure depends on sound word order. Here are three tips for keeping words under control and writing smooth sentences.

The Chasm
One of the most common causes of bumpy writing is the chasm, an unnecessary and disruptive gap between the beginning and end of a sentence:

“I’m not sure,” Pat said, “what you’re getting at, Linda.”

To smooth out this bump, simply unite the two parts of the quotation:

Pat said, “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Linda.”

The Runaway
The next example is a runon sentence, and in this case, the trouble begins with a chasm:

Peter, avoiding the old man’s shrewd glance, yanked open the door of the pickup and lurched onto the road, a slightly-built 14-year-old boy with curly blonde hair and dreamy grey eyes, burdened by a backpack big enough to carry provisions for a journey across the tundra.

How can you rein in this run on sentence? Fill in the chasm and apply a period as soon as possible:

Avoiding the old man’s shrewd glance, Peter yanked open the door of the pickup and lurched onto the road. A slightly-built 14-year-old with curly blond hair and dreamy grey eyes, Peter was burdened by a backpack big enough to carry provisions for a journey across the tundra.

The Flood
A few well-placed adjectives add color and interest to writing. But unleashing a flood of adjectives to describe someone disorients first the writer, then the reader:

Jim swung around. She was walking across the road from the improvised campsite, a tall, slim woman, probably in her thirties, wearing blue jeans and a red tee shirt, with long black hair that emphasized her intense dark eyes.

In this case, add a few more words and a couple more sentences to slow the flow and absorb the adjectives:

Swinging around, Jim saw a tall, slim woman wearing blue jeans and a red tee shirt. She was probably about thirty. As she walked across the road from the improvised campsite, Jim noticed that her long black hair emphasized her intense dark eyes.

Pay close attention to sentence structure and word order! It’s one of the most direct ways to improve your writing skills and keep readers reading.

For more writingtips.wordpress.com free writing tips, visit writingtips.wordpress.com writingtips.wordpress.com Improve your writing skills, writingtips.wordpress.com tip by tip.

Time management guru David Allen suggests that one of the best ways to handle procrastination has two simple steps. First, decide on the outcome you want (for example, “To have a finished article,” or “To have a query letter ready to send out”).

Then ask, “what is the next action I can take to get there?” Not all the steps, just the first one. Then do it.

Then figure out the next step, and do that one.

The secret to really making this work is to make the steps small enough that they don’t intimidate you. For instance, if you’re shy about making a follow-up call to an editor, on one day the step might be to look up and jot down her phone number. The next day the step might be to write down exactly what you want to say. On the third day you could even make the step, dial the number but hang up before they answer. (Usually, you will feel too silly hanging up and you’ll go ahead with the call; but if not, then following through with the call can be your step the next day.)

I’ve found the third step that makes the process more effective: write all this down, one step at a time.

At the top of the page, write the desired outcome. Let’s say it’s to write a query letter pitching an article. The steps you write down and achieve, one by one, could be:

* jot down all the key points to cover in the letter

*prioritize the points

* do a rough draft of the letter

*the next day, go over the letter and rewrite it

* have a trusted colleague look it over and incorporate any useful new ideas

* write the final draft and mail it

Each day do one of the steps, cross it off, and jot down the next step. If you feel motivated, do more than one step a day. Each time you cross off one of the tasks, you’ll feel you’re getting closer to the goal.

ACTION: What’s one thing about your writing that you are procrastinating about? Right now, write down your desired outcome and the first small step to its achievement, even if you can’t do the first step right now. Keep that piece of paper handy and the first moment you have free, do that first step and cross it off, and identify the next step and look forward to doing it. Make this a habit and your procrastination will be a thing of the past!

Your writing coach Jurgen Wolff shows you how to achieve writing success in his new book, YOUR WRITING COACH (published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing), available now from barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com and bookstores (find more information at yourwritingcoach.com yourwritingcoach.com). He has written more than 100 episodes of television, six non-fiction books, short stories, articles, and plays. He is also an international creativity and writing teacher coach. More tips and techniques are available at his website: timetowrite.com timetowrite.com, where you can also sign up for his free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Also see his blog at timetowrite.blogs.com timetowrite.blogs.com