Writing Inrochester

The fear of speaking in public is well-documented, often discussed, and probably overrated. The great news is that speaking in front of a group can be an entertaining and energizing experience for even the most fearsome among us.

Try these ideas to enjoy speaking and to sharpen your delivery:

1. Don’t “give a speech” — have a conversation. Thinking about “delivering a speech” sounds nerve-racking. Think about the difference between saying “I have to give a speech,’ as opposed to saying, “I’m talking to people.” You may not give speeches all the time, but you do “talk to people” all the time! If you do actually have a conversation, you’ll sound more natural and more interesting.

2. Read your ideas into a tape recorder. Having trouble sitting down to write your speech? Try reading your initial thoughts into a tape recorder. Don’t edit as you speak or worry about how you’re phrasing things. Just talk about your ideas. When you’re done, go back and transcribe your thoughts. You’ll sound much more natural than if you sit down and try to “write” a speech.

3. Do a quick evaluation. After your talk, review how you think it went and why. Remember that not all the factors influencing your talk are within your control. For example, dinner audiences are often harder to speak to, because they may be drinking alcohol and they’re often tired after a long day. Some people think they’re not good speakers, when the truth is they were speaking in a room with terrible sound qualities, or the audience is angry over something else, etc

4. Remember: Progress, not perfection. Don’t worry about becoming the world’s best speaker. Just try to feel a bit more confident each time you talk.

5. Write 1 objective for the talk. What do you want or need it to accomplish? Do you need to persuade them to vote your way? Are you simply delivering information? Cutting it down to the basics will help you feel less overwhelmed. If you achieve that objective, the speech is a success, no matter how many other things you may wish to have changed in retrospect.

6. Avoid topics that don’t move you. Many people do not enjoy speaking because they don’t enjoy the topic they’re asked to address. In some situations (at work, for instance) you may not be able to avoid speaking on a particular issue. In other circumstances, though, if you really, really don’t want to talk about a topic, you should really, really try not to do. If it’s not something you can feel enthusiastic in discussing, it’s going to be a tough sell to get the audience energized about it.

7. Have fun with it. Speaking in front of any group, on any topic, is a great honor — it means that what you have to say is so important that people want to hear it.

8. Realize that the audience is rooting for you. Unless you’re in a hostile situation (discussing a controversial issue, for instance) the audience wants you do to well. It’s not fun to watch a struggling or boring speaker. The audience wants to learn from you, and they want you to have fun. They’re on your side.

9. Take care of yourself. It’s hard to be energetic and enthusiastic when you don’t feel well. Get enough rest, eat well, drink water and exercise to give yourself the fuel you need to speak well.

10. Remember: You’re not the first. Whatever “dumb” or embarrassing mistake you make or fear is lurking on the horizon, someone else has already made it and lived through it.

Someone has already survived:

1) realizing after the talk that their pants were unzipped

2) going to the restroom and forgetting to turn off the cordless microphone they were using

3) leaving a drycleaning tag on their suit jacket cuffs

4) falling down while speaking

5) stumbling over words

6) forgetting what they were about to say

7) having their skirt get caught in the back of their panty hose, exposing their back side a little more than they would wish

infinite problems with slides, lighting, etc.

9) leaving a price tag on a new pair of pants

You name it, it’s already happened! In fact, mistakes often endear you to the audience, because it’s a good reminder that we’re all human.

The best part about having something go wrong? It makes you stronger at staying calm! Figure out how to fix it the next time, have a good laugh about it, and move on (and remember to write it down, because “screw-ups” often make great anecdotes for your next talk).

Shari Peace is an international speaker, an author, and the president of Peace Talks, a training and consulting firm. Her book, Crank It Out! How to Get More Done – At Work & In Your Life!, features tips for effectively managing time and boosting productivity. She can be reached at sharipeace.com sharipeace.com

There is a growing number of web site content writers earning a good living online, including this writer. It really isn’t as difficult as it may appear at first.

There are really only two key requirements;

To Be A Successful Web Site Content Writer You Must Be Able To Find Clients
There are two key methods I use to acquire clients. Both do not cost me a single cent. The first method I use is to place advertisements in popular classified ad sites. There are a number that enjoy very high traffic. There is for instance the freelancewriting.com site that has a section where writers can advertise their services, which enjoys pretty high traffic.

The second method I use is a site that receives a constant flow of article requests that are distributed to members. The same site also markets content that has already been written on behalf of members and sells license rights meaning that it is possible to sell a single article to several clients. More information on this site can be obtained at my blog (details in the resource box below).

You Must Be A Fast Writer
You will quickly notice that web site content writers do not get paid anywhere near the sort of rates that offline writers have enjoyed for many years. What this means is that to stand any chance of making a good living, you need to be a very fast writer. There is plenty of advice online on how to write fast and still write well. Use your favorite search engine to find it. And then practice constantly to increase your speed.

Find more details on how a content writer can make good living from freelance online writing assignments from my 100grandonlinewriters.blogspot.com/2006/10/web-site-content-writers-earn-good.html web site content writer tips blog.

Many folks like to write and some wish to become a writer, of course first they need to learn how to become a writer right? Yes, this is true, but when does an amateur writer become a professional writer? One would say by definition as soon as you actually sell something, but in reality it is the day you decide to try to sell something.

You see my fellow writer, you are a Writer or an Author when you reach the point that you know. No one can take that away from you and this “Professional” or “Legitimate Author” syndrome and the approval from another is bogus.

The day you feel you are a writer, You Are!!! And the day you get paid for your first article, eBook, short story, essay or whatever you are a Professional Writer or Author and once that happens you are indeed by Full Definition a Professional Writer.

Indeed, that is the truth of it. To take that away from anyone who writes articles online and submits them to one of the top online article websites or who works hard to author quality articles is not fair.

Currently, at just over 10,000 articles if I wish to call myself an Author, I have the right, without my other eBooks that have over a 3 million views each on my websites since 1999 or the co-Authored Franchise Book, published by Dearborn in 1998 and still available at Barnes and Noble today and god only knows how many of those have been sold.

Indeed if I wish to call myself a hobby writer in my retirement, I may do that too. It works both ways. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

“Lance Winslow” - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; WorldThinkTank.net/ WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for ourspokanemagazine.com/ Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

My first published work became a bestseller as soon as it hit the bookshelves back in 1995 and it has been topping the lists ever since. Lucky you, some might say.

By and large the content has remained unchanged (apart from essential updating) and although ten years is a fair old run, what goes up must eventually come down.

So with that in mind I approached my publishing house with a suggestion for a commemorative 10th anniversary edition; new chapters, new cover, new cosmetics, new typesetting.

They loved the idea but balked at producing a new edition per se.

“Why?” I said, “It will start the ball rolling all over again.”

“No it won’t,” they said, “It will kill the golden goose.”

And so instead the publisher opted for a reprint dressed up as a new edition: new imprint, new chapters, new cosmetics, new typesetting – but no new cover; only a subtle color change to preserve continuity.

I thought they were nuts but they were right of course; stop supplying bookstores with a bestseller for five months and you risk consigning it to oblivion for evermore. And a block on supply there must be to allow the trade to dispose of existing stock.

That’s the price you pay with every new edition.

My author copies arrived a few days ago. I was well pleased with the new production and contacted the publishing house to express my satisfaction, intimating only mild concern over the lack of a new cover design.

“Oh, there will be a new cover,” they said. “We’ll incorporate that on the next reprint of the reprint – now that the link has been maintained”.

My idea was good but I hadn’t thought it through.

The publisher house did.

The 4th edition of “Starting Your Own Business” (How To Books ISBN 1845280709) will be appearing in bookstores worldwide mid-April 2005.

Jim Green is a bestselling author with an ever-growing string of niche non-fiction titles to his credit. View his output at 1st-creative-writing-course.com 1st-creative-writing-course.com

The way you reach your customers and communicate to them is the most important thing in promoting your business. There are many ways of reaching to your customers but the best one is still the targeted sales letter writing. The sales letter offers the personal touch with the customers and brings in a sense of trust and reputation. Here are discusses three keys to make a profit with sales letter writing and the points that should be kept forward while writing a sales letter.

It should be well understood that now a days nobody has the time to search through the scrap and fish out the information. So the information you want to pass to your customer should be in the first few lines of the letter and not at the end. This will ensure that even if the reader does not scan your full letter he gets the point right there. Make the information very specific and to the point. Do not beat around the bush.

It is a good practice to include some offers or phrases that attract the attention of the reader and then you go with your communication straight and very precisely. It is like injecting the information in the readers head when he is paying the most attention to the letter.

Third step for targeted sales letter writing is to have the language of the letter as simple and lucid as possible. Nobody takes the pains to go the dictionary to see the meaning of the words you have inserted in your letter. To make your impression on the client, do not use difficult words, use the words and terms that are commonly used and still convey the message in one shot.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here:

FORWARD

The 188 stage Hero’s Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188 stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

THE 188 STAGE HERO’S JOURNEY:

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

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

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).

d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventure and the micro elements within.

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

(simply go to heros-journey.info/ heros-journey.info/ for full details)

*****Rewards of the Transformation*****

The rewards, should the Transformation be successful, are apparent before engagement on the Road of Trials and Transformation.

And they causes an emotional reaction. In Dances with Wolves (1990), the Indian village looks majestic. In The Godfather (1972), Michael Corleone sees Apollonia.

*****Transformation*****

The Hero’s Journey (also known as the Monomyth) should really be called the Hero’s Transformation. A story IS Transformation.

Every Hero goes on a Physical Journey, the purpose of which is to stimulate a Psychological Transformation. It is the undergoing of the Journey that gives the Hero the capacity to conquer those challenges that were previously unconquerable.

In the beginning of the Journey the Hero is an Ordinary Self and at the end of it a New Self. The New Self is demonstrated by a change in attitudes, norms, values, behaviour and clothing. In the beginning the Hero is dressed in one way and at the end another.

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at monomyth.info/ monomyth.info

188 stages of the Hero’s Journey can also be reached from story-structure.org/ story-structure.org

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, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Dear Creative Copywriting Maven,

Is there really any such thing as “free” advertising?

Signed,

Really Doubting It

* * *

Dear Doubting,

I always tell anyone who says they’re looking for inexpensive or free advertising to give article marketing a try. Have you tried it yet?

Article marketing doesn’t cost a single red cent. If you have some extra time and if you are consistent at it, you WILL get targeted traffic to your website, which ultimately leads to greater sales. But you have to be consistent.

I have written tons of articles and most of my clients hire me specifically to write articles for them to use for this purpose–because it works. One article directory in particular was recently informed that print magazines use articles in their magazine from her article directory. So not only are you getting free traffic from article directories, but in some cases, there is a possibility that you could be getting offline targeted advertising as well.

You can write and submit articles to complementary newsletters or websites, too. Just include a nice bio with a link to your website and tell them to leave that in tact, in lieu of paying for your article. Same as article marketing, just a different method.

As with any marketing method, nothing is totally “free.” It’s going to cost you in either time or money. Just try to think outside the box. I know article marketing works because I’ve used it personally to test websites. Like I said though, you have to be consistent.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can help you in any other way. My services and rates can be found on my website.

Sincerely,

Hope Wilbanks, Creative Copywriting Maven

P.S. Have you thought about adding some quality content to your website? Adding useful articles regarding your products could be helpful in keeping potential customers on your website, as well as help them make an informed decision and ultimately make a purchase.

P.P.S. Do you offer your customers/website visitors a free newsletter? That’s a good way to stay in touch with current customers, as well as potential customers who are only interested at first. It’s a good way to advertise yourself and your services/products for free, too. Not only that, but it will help you to build a solid rapport with your customers.

Is your copy all pooped out? I can help revive and refresh old copy or write all new copy for your business. I specialize in hopewrites.com creative copywriting: articles, tips lists, columns, blogs, newsletters and more. For more information on my

copywriting services, or to view my rates, visit hopewrites.com Hope Writes online at hopewrites.com hopewrites.com

Recently, I came across an article in one of the magazines I read for lawyers that mentioned a special place, part of I mansion or a historic building that has been turned into a haven for writers.

They showed a picture of it, along with the proprietor, an ex-lawyer, herself.

Its décor is San Francisco Victorian, lots of reds, wood, and big wing chairs, as I recall.

You might call it warm and chummy.

Anyway, the article suggests that business is booming. Writers pay a monthly fee to ensconce themselves there for several hours, so they can do their craft, in peace, free from the distractions of their offices, homes and families.

Recently, I was on a ski trip to Lake Tahoe, and I stayed at a cozy place that gave me a living room right on the lake. The place was relatively empty as it was the off-season, and almost perfectly quiet.

But I felt no compulsion to write.

Apparently, peace and quiet and beauty are not prerequisites for putting my fingers to the keyboard.

In fact, I don’t mind a certain amount of racket around me as I compose, and some of my best writing has been done at coffee houses, where there are innumerable distractions.

I think I may even enjoy having a certain amount of humanity around me as I write. It makes me feel less isolated.

All of which brings up this key question: Where do YOU like to write?

I think it’s an essential query, because if you know, you can be efficient and happily productive. Also, you can avoid the frustrations and the fish-out-of-water flailing that can overcome you when you try to do your thing in the wrong locale.

If we were perfect, we could write anywhere about anything. But we’re not.

So, experiment.

Try different locations, and use those that work for you, because the “ideal” writer’s spot is the one where you produce.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: mailto:gary@customersatisfaction.com gary@customersatisfaction.com.

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to: customersatisfaction.com customersatisfaction.com

If you’ve decided to publish your own book there’s one thing you better do, and you have to do it right now: get a website. I’m sure you want to promote your book on the web, but what you may not realize is the time it takes to build traffic for your site. If the web will be your biggest promotional tool, you’ll have to get your site up and drawing hits before you publish, unless you want your sales to languish through the months it may take to develop a significant number of visitors.

For the first time publisher-web developer, it may seem a relatively simple course of action. You build your website, register it with search engines and directories, then when someone does a search on Google or MSN your site pops up as one of the options.

Essentially, that is the way it works. What isn’t factored in is the time it will take the search engine’s web bot, or “spider″ as it is commonly called, to find your site and crawl it. The key to reducing this amount of time is to have links to your site on other people’s sites. The spider can then follow these strands of the web back to you.

The most common means of getting these links are to swap them with other websites. This reciprocal linking isn’t quite as good as a one way link, of the sort you can acquire by writing articles (like this one), and getting your website registered with every decent directory you can find. Of course, it does happen that another site will give you a link because your content would be of interest to their readers.

Even with a good number of links to your site, you may still rank low in the search results. The best remedy for this is to write keyword rich pages about your subject that inform the reader. Quality will rise to the top, particularly if your search term is featured throughout the page.

Michael Quarles is the author of “Building a PC for Beginners”. His website is monkeyseemonkeydobooks.com monkeyseemonkeydobooks.com

In the current job market, many editorial freelancers have turned to freelance work as a matter of survival. I receive many queries from applicants regarding this part of the market. Addressed here are the key building blocks necessary for a successful freelance career.

EXPERIENCE: You need a minimum of three years (five is ideal), preferably as a full-time employee. Clients will feel more comfortable in your knowledge and abilities if you can demonstrate that you’ve performed your duties in the past, full-time, at an established institution.

Each industry has its own “lingo”. Experience in an industry allows you to understand it and communicate effectively with your clients. As a proofreader, a potential client [eg, a reference book publisher] might say:

“I have 300 pages that need to be proofed. The footnotes and illos will be sent separately. Please make sure there’s a hole for each illo and that all footnotes run consecutive, beginning anew with each new chapter. The chapter title is the right running head, there is no left running head. How long do you think it will take to complete this job?”

With no experience in publishing, it would be difficult to begin to assess the job. Before giving an estimate, some questions you would ask are:

Is this typed or handwritten copy?

Are there inserts to the existing copy that need to be proofed?

What style of proofreading do you use?

Are changes to be made on disk or hard copy?

There may be four or five more questions that need to be asked before you can realistically assess how long it will take you to complete this job.

Experience in the industry allows you to have the necessary knowledge to ask the right questions to judge each project.

Knowledge of your industry will also enable you to decide how to charge for the job. Some jobs are billed on an hourly basis, others are billed on a project basis, and still others are billed as a page rate.

Again, if you know your industry, you will be able to effectively calculate how much time the job will take and what billing method to use.

EQUIPMENT: Working from home means you must to have all the necessary equipment. Minimally, a phone, computer and fax machine. Ideally, a [color] copier, modem, fast Internet access, scanner (if your field requires it) and separate work room in your home would complete the picture.

CONTACTS/REFERENCES: The most obvious place to start building your customer base is previous employers. Remember the saying, “Don’t burn your bridges.” It has never been more true than when trying to build a freelance career.

As companies cut back, employers like to use former employees because they already know the work, routines, and systems of the company. Therefore, very little, if any training is needed.

These same industry contacts also make great references as you continue to expand your customer base. There is no better assurance to a potential new client than an ex-employer who says: “I’d hire her back if I could. She does great work for us as a freelancer. One of the reasons we use her as a freelancer is because she did such excellent work as an employee.”

Wouldn’t you feel confident if you were a potential client?

SAVINGS: In utopia, six months expenses (rent, food, cleaners, credit card bills, student loans, travel expenses, etc.) will be in the bank before you embark on your freelance career. In our experience, it takes about two years to build a solid base of clients that will (hopefully) keep you busy.

If this is not possible, try to plan as much in advance as you can. The “fear of the first blues” [when rent is due] can be frightening if you have no income and no prospects on the horizon.

PART-TIME JOB: I suggest that instead of going from a full-time job into a freelance career, get a steady, part-time job for a while. This will allow you to: 1) transition between the two without taking the financial hit (especially if you haven’t planned); and 2) get a feel for how to organize as a freelancer.

Freelancing usually means intense periods of work, eg, four 12-hour days, and then maybe a week with “nothing” going on. Nothing is in quotation marks because as a freelancer, just because there’s no client project on your desk, does not mean that you should be idle.

During these down times is when you should be organizing your books, re-stocking supplies, prospecting for new clients, tracking advertising — in short, running your business. If you think of freelancing as a business and organize yourself accordingly from the beginning, it will make this existence infinitely easier (especially at tax time).

PERSONALITY: Freelancing is an enjoyable experience for some, a painful existence for others. Do a personality check to see if you can ride the roller coaster of this up-and-down existence. Do you like working alone; can you handle economic uncertainty; are you naturally motivated are you organized — all of these, plus other elements are key traits in successful freelancers.

If you don′t take one other thing from this article, remember this: No matter how talented you are, what your background is, or how well connected you are, there will come a time when work just seems to dry up. At this point you may start to question your abilities, seriously consider a full-time jobs, and/or wonder if freelancing is for you.

If this is the existence you’ve decided you want, stick with it. Continue to advertise, even when it seems that no one is interested. The average consumer has to see your advertisement at least 7-28 times (depending on what article you read) before they will act on it. So, be confident that if you advertise consistently, when they need a service/product that you offer, you will be at the forefront, rather than the hit-and-run advertisers.

After all, the quickest way not to succeed is to quit.

Good luck!

Original, copyrighted material. May be reprinted only if the following is included in full: Parts of this article are excerpted from the e-book, How to Really Make a Living as an Editorial Freelancer, by Yuwanda Black. It is available for immediate download at InkwellEditorial.com/bizguides.html” target=”_new InkwellEditorial.com/bizguides.html.

About The Author

Yuwanda Black owns Inkwell Editorial, an editorial temporary staffing agency in New York City. She is an entrepreneur, author and syndicated small business columnist. Yuwanda has been an entrepreneur for 11 years and has over 16 years experience in the editorial industry. Contact her at mailto:info@InkwellEditorial.com info@InkwellEditorial.com for interviews and/or a link to the book for review.