Writing Inrochester

Presentation, presentation, presentation is the name of the Public Speaking game!

You may be the most knowledgeable person in the world on a given subject, you may be a PHD with clusters, but if your presentation of the presentation does not have presentation skills your presentation will fail! “Now that was fun!”

Have you gone to a seminar you were really excited about and if you made it to the end, got nothing out of it? Let’s take a look. When the presentation started this is what your heard; Welcooome toooday. . . . . . we will talk abouuut . . . . . .blah de blah, blah blah, blahblahblah. “Monotone, I hate monotone!”, “Drives me absolutely crazy!” Standing in one spot, like a mannequin and has the excitement of watching ice melt. Got the picture?

Continuing the series of “So You Want To Become A Public Speaker?” we are going to dive into Presentation. Not to be confused with the presentation itself, but how it’s presented.

Remember, a presentation is a performance, like an actor. Always bring your “A” game. No “B” movie acting here! How you are being perceived is critical to your longevity in this business.

Dress properly for the occasion. As stated in a previously published article in this series; you can always dress down, but not up.

If your topic is serious, be serious, but not stiff. Present the desired image to your audience. Be enthusiastic, confident, carry yourself with pride, but not cocky. Remain calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Remember the duck story; calm and collected on top of the water, even though your feet are going like heck below the surface.

Speak slowly, articulate clearly, and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. But don’t be phony your audience will pick up on that immediately. Take the time to connect with your audience. (Refer back to “Public Speaking Pre Preparation” in the area of “know your audience”.) Speak to the person furthest away from you to make sure your voice is heard from back of the room. It’s okay and encouraged to ask that furthest person in the back if you can be heard. Fluctuate the tone of your voice and dramatize if necessary. If sound equipment is required, as was determined during your pre preparation, adjust accordingly. DO NOT TALK MONOTONE!

I was taught to speak with conviction as if I really believed in what I was saying. Throughout my public speaking career I have changed that teaching to, “Speak with conviction as I truly believe in what I’m saying!”

The material you present verbally should have the same structure as a written research paper, i.e. INTRODUCTION to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state intro, summarize, and a logical conclusion) with a verbal presentation, add a questions and answer period.

Body language is critical. Standing, walking and moving around using appropriate hand gestures is a MUST. Never present a presentation sitting down or standing still, reading from a prepared presentation. I encourage you not to use a lectern. “Here, check this out” American Heritage Dictionary - lec·tern (lěk’tərn) A stand that serves as a support for the notes or books of a speaker. Now here’s my definition - “A lectern is a crutch for the unprepared speaker.”

Audio-visual aids are okay; don’t torment your audience by creating a lengthy overhead presentation and reading it out to them. You will loose your audience for sure and most importantly your credibility.

Do not read from notes. It’s okay to glance at your notes, but personally I don’t use them. However, I do use overhead presentations so if I loose my place I can glance up, adjust and continue on. Know your subject! If you make an error, correct it, inject some humor and continue.

Add humor when appropriate. Keep your audience interested and relaxed throughout the entire presentation. Caution; don’t be a clown! Humor is great to get your audience relaxed and at the same time relax you the presenter. Don’t open with a joke. This is a bad practice. Trust me there will be plenty of time and opportunities for humor during your presentation. Remember that an interesting presentation makes time go by fast, but a boring presentation is always too long to bear even if the presentation length is the same.

Maintain good eye contact with your audience. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and once in a while glance at the whole audience while speaking.

Maintain a constant visual on your audience. Their body language will tell you if you need to adjust your presentation. Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt on the fly.

Your presentation of the presentation (gotta love it) is critical to your public speaking career. Voice tone, eye contact, humor, body language, subject matter knowledge, visual-aids and structure are items you must understand and implement. As stated in previous sessions, “You’re a walking billboard for your Public Speaking career and these are some of the tools in your toolbox of success. Good luck and see you at the next session.

Mr. Simmons has been public speaking since 1973. Mr. Simmons has presented hundreds of public speaking presentations from business concepts to motivational. Mr. Dale Simmons, known as the “WHY” man, is a interactive motivational and “self-help” public speaker.

I have been reading recently about the benefits of article marketing. A recent post to the ezinearticles blog asked if writing articles was worth wasting time over. I have been writing articles for quite a long time and in my opinion it certainly is. I will explain why I think it is in this article.

Around a year ago I wrote my first article and posted it to ezinearticles, which many people regard as the best article directory/website. Looking back I have to admit that I did not really know what I was doing, and in truth the article was not that impressive. I continued to write more articles and continued to make mistakes.

Unlike other directories who seem to accept any old article, ezinearticles check what you are submitting. In these early days a guy called Wally would regularly e-mail me with advice on how I could improve my articles. At that stage my articles were too short, not thought out, and basically rushed. I did not realise the value of writing articles and did not make the required time available for this form of web promotion.

I found it difficult to keep thinking of new material and fell into another trap of re-submitting articles I had already written. I would change a few words or would re-word paragraphs. I was not aware that this was against their guidelines, however Wally soon informed me that it was. Tip, always read the guidelines.

I am now spending a lot more time when I write the articles and feel that they have gradually improved, this has been confirmed by Wally himself I am pleased to report.

As for the benefits of writing articles and is it worth your time and effort? I have had e-mails from all around the world from people who have enjoyed reading my articles, maybe I am a bit sad but this gives me a little buzz. Some of these people have included the article in their blog or on their website, thus creating an additional backward link to my website/s.

The people who read the article are potential visitors to your site, a visitor you would not have had, had you not written the article. That visitor could of course turn into a client or purchaser of your product/s.

For me search engines are going down the path of seeing one-way backward links as by far the most powerful form of link. Many people are offering link exchanges with other websites to boost their page rank or search engine position. There are many automated link building programs which make link exchanges even easier to obtain. Search engines have realised that this is taking place and place a much lower value on these type of links. One way links are not as easy to obtain, however writing articles has the potential of creating many one way backward links to you site and therefore is a must for any serious webmaster.

I have now written nearly two hundred articles and have seen huge increases in traffic to my websites as well as increases in their page rank.

People may disagree with my belief that article marketing is worth the time and effort, I do not really care as it works for me.

Stephen Hill helps to promote a number of websites including:

stammering-stuttering.co.uk stuttering

ringtoneshelp.contentdeskblogs.com/blog very cheap ringtones

blog.alglas.com/blog aviation cleaning solutions

From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters at clickok.co.uk/

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

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

and more…

Sample Movie Deconstructed: The Matrix (1999)

• Voiceover introducing context [similar to Scarface which uses visuals and text or Star Wars which just uses text].

• Introduce the antagonism [Smith pursues Trinity].

• Introduce the hero in his Ordinary World [Neo on his computer]. Led into the adventure by an animal [White Rabbit]. Foreshadow of the Ordeal [reference to the Matrix].

• Hero led to the herald [punky friends invite Neo to the party]. Unusual as the herald usually travels to the hero.

• Herald gives the Call to Adventure [Trinity tells Neo he is really looking for the Matrix]. Herald knows about the hero but the hero doesn’t recognize the herald.

• Hero refuses the call to adventure [Neo refuses to jump; drops the cell phone].

• Punishment for refusing the call to adventure [Smith inserts the squid inside Neo]. References to the mentor / supernatural aid (Morpheus). Enhance the character of the antagonist.

• Hero commits to the journey to the mentor [Neo says “yes” to Morpheus on the phone].

• Hero travels to the mentor in the dead of night and in the rain and thunder. Danger / conflict on the way to the journey to the mentor [Trinity removes the squid from Neo's stomach].

• The power of the mentor indicated [Trinity warns Neo that Morpheus knows more than he can imagine, outside the door].

• Hero meets the mentor. The mentor knows and has been searching and watching the hero – a surprise to the hero.

• Mentor provides hero with spiritual advice. Hero consciously decides to journey on the adventure [Neo takes the red pill].

• Hero journeys to the First Threshold [“it means buckle your seat Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye bye”].

• There is danger in the crossing to the First Threshold[Neo goes into arrest].

• Hero crosses into the First Threshold [Neo wakes up in the pod]. This world is completely different form that from which he has come].

• Strange and magical creatures inhabit the First Threshold [one of the machines unplugs and releases Neo].

• Belly of the Whale . Hero makes a physical break from his Old World [needles, rebuilding muscles, using his eyes for the first time].

• Road of Trials . Hero begins learning about this new world – taught by the mentor ; spiritual lessons by the mentor[Neo learns the year (2199), the ship (Nebuchadnezzar)., introduced to allies (Tank et al), enters the matrix, learns of the real world; learns of the enemy (AI machines), learns of the antagonism (humans are power cells).

• Resistance to the rules of this New World [Neo wants out].

• Impossibility of the return [Neo can't go back]. The destiny and superior nature of the hero is referenced.

• Hero told of the magical place at the end of the Ordeal (end of the ye.llow brick road). Loyal ally introduced.

• Hero begins to grow stronger [simulated](training begins). Hero has natural abilities, as is normal for the superior being.

• Hero grows stronger [practical, training, guided by the mentor]. Hero resists. And grows. Until he matches the mentor. Again, his superior skills are noted.

• Real World test. Hero shows the possibilities. Doves present. Hero fails. The final step will be the apotheosis [Neo fails the jump off the building].

• The Shape Shifter is introduced. Conflicts with the hero.

• Mentor teaches the hero about the antagonist. The magnitude of the power of the antagonist is referenced. Foreshadow of the conflict between the hero and the antagonist.

• Significant attack of the antagonist. Through wisdom, hero diverts the attack.

• Develop the Shifter . Hero interacts with the hero. Shifters motivations referenced. Shifter warns the hero of the antagonist.

• Shifter’s true nature revealed. His deal with the antagonist and further motivations for it.

• Interaction with allies. We get to know the other characters in the story.

• Journey to the Goddess . Hero et al journey to meet the goddess.

• Separation . Hero and some allies detach.

• Hero marvels at the new world. Hero and romantic interest interaction.

• The wisdom of seώrching for the Goddess is referenced.

• Hero meets others searching for similar insights.

• Meeting with the Goddess . Hero encounters a value that is outside his normal frame of reference and behavior and one that he will sacrifice himself for – the Sword[save himself or save the mentor, Morpheus].

• Reattachment . Hero rejoins allies.

• Hero led into the Ordeal by an animal [Neo notices a black cat].

• Antagonist captures Mentor (Sword) [Morheus sacrifices himself to save Neo, Smith et al capture Morpheus, antagonism far superior in strength than the mentor].

• Escape from the antagonism is dangerous [Shape shifter attacks hero et al, shifter's motivations enhanced; shifter destroyed].

• Threat of the antagonist enhanced. Mentor referenced.

• Time pressure. Limited time for hero to act [they have to kill Morpheus before he gives up the codes to Zion].

• Threat of the antagonist enhanced.

• Hero decides to Seize the Sword [rescue Morpheus]. Resistance, impossibility and danger of seizing the sword is referenced by Doves (it’s suicide). Hero persuades allies.

• Antagonism increases.

• Hero prepared for the journey to seize the sword[Neo tools up].

• Antagonism increases. More time pressure.

• Hero breaches the outer chamber. Conflict with Guardians of the Sword. Hero overpowers the Guardian.

• Antagonist alerted to the attempt to capture the Sword.

• Rebirth through death [Neo nearly dies].

• Comedic section before seizing the sword [can Trinity “fly that thing – not yet”].

• Hero confronts Inner Guardians of the Sword and seizes the Sword – making a sacrifice.

• Woman as Temptress . Hero led downwards [Trinity loses control of the ‘copter].

• Rebirth through death. Neo and Trinity both almost die.

• Reward. [” Do you believe it now, Trinity.,” Neo is the one].

• Antagonist pursues hero et al. Time pressure [“they're not out yet.”]

• Atonement with the father. Neo battles Smith. Hand-to-hand battle.

• Apotheosis [Neo believes that his destiny is not inevitable, that he will not die”].

• Ultimate Boon . Inner resolve. [“my name is Neo”]. Neo knows what to do and throws Smith under the train.

• Time pressure [sentinels coming].

• Refusal of the Return [Neo pursued].

• Time pressure. Sentinals approaching.

• Crossing the Return Threshold. Smith shoots Neo.

• Time Pressure.

• Help from Without [Trinity helps revive Neo – the kiss].

• Master of the Two Worlds. Hero can cross both worlds [Neo stops the bullets and easily destroys Smith].

• Mentor electrocutes sentinels (second catharsis).

• Freedom to Live . An extended reward – the kiss. Neo flies.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at clickok.co.uk/ clickok.co.uk/

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

Kal Bishop

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

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 clickok.co.uk/ clickok.co.uk/

As you enter a dance floor, you enjoy the rhythm and beating of a popular song. You start nodding your head in unison with the music. As you enjoy and listen to the lyrics of the song, you miss a beat, then another beat. Now you understand the song by listening to the beating, still you continue to miss beats the more you pay close attention to the music. Why is this happening to you?

Can you tell why you are missing the beat the more you pay attention to the lyrics? You have proper comprehension of the lyrics, yet you are missing the beat (meaning). How does this affect speed reading you may ask? Well, it has everything to do in nearly all we do in life.

In speed reading, you must be fully absorbed in what you are reading. You should be able to feel and read between the lines to derive meaning other than the exact expressions you are seeing in the written text. I will explain with the following real life illustration in music because i started with a music illustration at the beginning of this article.

You may know about the popular song “Good-bye Earl,” this song was compose and written by the Dixie Chicks. If you know the story, you will remember that this song caused serious chaos in the world arena. People who have watched the clip responded bitterly because of misunderstanding of true intentions and meaning of this music. The true meaning of this music was the need for the society to stop violence. However, the world misunderstood the whole concept because in the video, it seems that these girls who sang this song killed Earl and tried to conceal the body. What these ladies actually meant or was implying was that violence should be put away. They used this in a figurative way, but the majority of the world misunderstood them. What a way for the world to understand an an innocent intention that these women have.

So it goes with speed reading! Let’s consider the following statement to further clarify my point.

Test exercise:

Geek: The geeks are amazing type of people. When they learn, they learn meaning from bits of information gathered from different sources. They bring this details together to form a whole meaning to them. Geeks use insight and wisdom to discover hidden facts that are otherwise unnoticeable.

What do you understand from the above.

True meaning of test exercise:
Geek: A person who is able to assemble puzzles together to form a whole. Someone willing and able to collate facts and make a meaning out of those facts. This person makes uses of all his five senses to decode information to make meaning to him.

Do you understand what i’m trying to let you comprehend? Do you get my point? If you don’t, go back and reread this article till you get my drift. What i’m saying is your ability to comprehend depends on your ability to put information together and get a meaning from it.

Do not allow people’s opinion to decide your understanding of any particular event. Make judgements from the facts available to you and decide your comprehension from these information. Look beyond what you see to grasp the meaning of material and events. It is an art you must learn if you will be successful in speed reading. That way, your speed reading skills will be maximally improved.

Joe Okoro writes about Speed Reading in his free reports. You can sign up for his courses and get additional information by visiting: speedreadingguideonline.com speedreadingguideonline.com

Content is King! shout the search engines. That’s what the search engines love. We also love the non-reciprocal links that we get for our websites when our articles are published on other peoples’ sites with our resource boxes dutifully appended below them.

To create a well written article takes time and effort. We have to get everything right: it has to be of relevance to the reader in that subject field; it has to be well researched; all spelling, punctuation and grammar must be correction; it has to be a genuine contribution to that particular area of specialization, and so interesting that the editor will jump at the chance of publishing it. And, oh yes, all the right keywords have to be there, of the right density and in the correct proportions.

The well-crafted article must satisfy both the reader and the bot; both the aesthetics of the eye and the strictures of the code. So those of us who try and be at least a little bit serious about things know that a second draft is always necessary, and then a third. Then it’s best to sleep on it. Even after that, we know that we have to forget about it for a few days until we are able to come back to it again with a freshly critical mind. You prune it and nurture it. You take off the sharp edges and you tighten it up. If necessary you know when you have to tear it up and start over again.

Only after we have got it absolutely right - and then after spending many hours submitting to directories, editors of ezines, article announcement sites and individual webmasters - are we rewarded, perhaps, with those hard-won non-reciprocal inbound live hyperlinks.

But wait. There seems to be a problem. It appears that an increasing number of people are quite happy to simply copy and paste our work onto their own sites without a link back. Or they don’t bother to check if the link is ‘live’.

That would be bad enough. But there are other people who print our articles and then don’t even bother to name the person who wrote it.

But there’s far worse: those people who print our article and then announce to the world that they wrote it themselves! Some of those even have the temerity to add the copyright sign next to their name!

I may be being a bit too harsh. Perhaps these people don’t realize that they’re doing anything wrong. After all, the Internet was originally conceived as ownerless and based upon free and open source information. And I can think of nothing more Public Domain, in fact or in spirit, than the World Wide Web.

Yet just consider what it is these people are doing. They are stealing other peoples′ work and passing it off as their own. They are effectively also stealing the web traffic that goes with it, the traffic that our labours should be rewarding our websites with, and diverting it to their own. This is blatant plagiarism. It just should not happen. Theft is theft, in whatever medium.

I wrote an article a few months ago on Internet marketing for small businesses. A search for the title of that article on Google now returns 10,800 pages, so at least the title itself has been reproduced that number of times and in that number of different places. A search for a chunk of text from the middle of the article returns 536 pages, which suggests that the article text has been published in its entirety no fewer than 536 times. Great! So now I have 536 inbound links from that one article! Wrong.

I looked at individual entries of the article and in a surprising number of cases there were no backlinks at all. Also surprising - and somewhat sickening - was the number of individuals who wantonly attached their own names to my work.

I recently posted the same article to a fresh source of publishers. I was astonished at the response of one editor of a well-known directory who had rejected the article on the grounds that it was not mine! She had seen the same piece on many other websites under different names, she said, and it was not her policy to publish work that had been produced using “cookie cutter” techniques. I wrote back saying that it really was my own work, citing the URL of SitePro News where it originally aired as that day’s headline feature. She apologized and was even good enough to supply me with a list of names of people and sites who had published it as their own. I′m so tempted to publish their names here (perhaps I will on my blog so watch out!) but have decided that discretion should rule. For the moment, at least.

But I think there is a clear message here. The fashion for article writing and publishing for content and backlinks is going through the roof at the moment. It’s like a mini Internet boom all of its own. And like any other boom it has attracted its own inevitable pack of rat-racers, chancers, charlatans and cheats shysters who go for the shortcuts every time, while remaining quite happy for other people to do their work for them.

For the record, the convention is this: distribute and publish the article freely by all means. But it must be published in its entirety and unedited, and MUST include the resource box with a live hyperlink back to the author’s site (or wherever the author wants, for that matter).

Hey, now even my lawyer understands!

Next time I will publish their names gleefully, and be damned.

Gordon Goodfellow is an Internet marketing practitioner who lives and works in London, UK. He finds his efforts taken in spreading the word have been hugely reduced with the help of this applied-web-marketing.com/aa.htm useful article publishing tool.

So now we have established that you are not article marketing for traffic. You are article marketing for the relationship. The relationship is what you are building.

I would far rather have 100 lifelong customers than 10,000 one time sales.

Think about this.

Your sales funnel:

1) $10 ebook

2) $47 ebook

3) $97 ebook

4) $497 course

5) $5000 event

6) $5000 per year in coaching for life (say $50,000 – 10 years)

If 100 people get into that sales funnel, and go all the way – you make $55,561 per customer – which is $5,556,100 as the lifetime value of just 100 customers.

If you sold 10,000 people your $97 product up front – you only make $970,000. Do you see the difference?

And that is what you do with most traffic, with most systems. But with article marketing, you are building a relationship – and that is the important part.

So the article marketing funnel looks like this (even before they buy anything – remember, I do not even want a sale right away, I want the relationship).

1) The read your articles

2) They like your articles

3) They become hooked on your articles, and stop reading anyone else’s articles.

4) They click through to your link

5) Instead of more articles – they find a free offer to download a free book from you

6) That is irresistible to them – so they ‘buy’ the free gift (they are exchanging their name and email for the gift).

7) Now they are a customer, and not a visitor. This is the important part. The average person who visits a sales page cold buys at the rate of less than 1%, right (don’t believe me, check your visitors for last month and your sales). The average buyer on your list buys at between 10% and 20%.

Now you have to deliver the best sales funnel on earth – and get them to demand that you give them lifetime coaching for $5000 per month.

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).

…..further details at www.clickok.co.uk

ABRIDGED TIPS AND EXAMPLES:

*****Push to the Final Conflict*****

Between the Magic Flight and the Crossing of the Return Threshold, a hell of a lot happens that is, incredibly, rarely given mention. Here the Hero and Allies rest in No Mans Land; the Antagonist prepares to incite the Hero toward the Final Conflict. In Star Wars (1977), the Empire finds and comes after the rebel planet. In Robocop (1987), Clarence and his gang hunt Robocop and Lewis.

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at clickok.co.uk/ clickok.co.uk/

The Managing Creativity and Innovation MBA dissertation, DIY creativity Audit, Powerpoint presentation and Good Idea generator software 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, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Your query letter can be a deal maker or a deal breaker. So, if your query letter just lies there, you’ve killed the sale immediately or your story or novel immediately. If you want that story — your baby — to be read, reach out of that query letter, grab the publisher, editor or literary agent by the neck and say, “Hey, you absolutely have to have this story!”
Query letters that begin with “Hello, My name is. . .” have as much chance of selling as vacation trips to Baghdad. Remember, your query is like a résumé’s cover letter, and if you’re in a competitive industry, that cover will sell you far more than the resume will. So, you have to grab the reader with your first sentence. To do this, make him believe that he desperately needs what you’re selling. Following are a few tips on how to do it.

First, begin by saying why your story will be easy to sell. Publishers have to sell books, so this is their first priority. Remember, though, you have to do it gracefully. Don’t come off sounding arrogant. When I was selling my novel, The League, I started my query with I have a novel that has a target audience of over 15 millions rabid fans. This audience is people who play fantasy football, but I didn’t reveal this until a few sentences into the letter. I wanted to pull the publisher or editor in, the same way I lead my suspense reader forward in my novel (throw out something fantastic, then slow down and build to your next exciting piece).
Once I get to the part about how every fantasy football fan will race to buy my book, I follow up by saying that it is the first-ever published work with a plot that surrounds this exciting game. I also throw in that in addition to these 15 million fans, all sports and suspense fans will want to read it because of how unique it is.

Next, toss in a few key parts of your synopsis, reminding the reader that the entire synopsis is included or attached, if you’re e-mailing your query, which is almost always acceptable today. Note, what you decide to include should be hot, making the reader say, Wow.

Finally, finish your query by telling the person how willing you are to be involved in the promotion of your story. Don’t oversell; just tell her that you will do whatever it takes to make your book successful. When signing, don’t forget a polite closing and all of your contact information.
Remember, no matter how good your story and your query are, it’s still a game of sales. Send out dozens of queries at a time. It won’t be long before people start asking for your story or novel.

Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, the first work of fiction, based on fantasy football. He is also an investment real estate and home loan finance expert. Learn more about his suspense thriller at sportsnovels.com sportsnovels.com. Get his free mortgage finance course at winningthemortgagegame.com winningthemortgagegame.com

Years ago, I read great advice in a Writer’s Digest article. If you want to be a writer, write a book. The author of the article didn’t have patience with people who had ideas for books—with good reason. Until you write that book, you won’t be a novelist or best-selling author. As with many things, wanting something doesn’t make it happen. You make it happen.

Maybe you are where I was in 1998. I hated my job, and every other aspect of my life hurt. For two years, I had a great idea, actually two, for books. During the drive to college, I listened to the same songs over and over, seeing scenes of the novels before my eyes. Not that it happened on paper. Nothing happened on paper, because I didn’t make it happen.

In 1992, I went to a book fair, which is great inspiration for writers, where I met Carolyn See, author of _Making a Literary Life_. She told me to write my book, in its entirety, and then attend book fairs and writers’ conferences to meet editors in person and ask them to review my book. At that point, I realized that I had to get those ideas on paper.

At first, I admit sitting in front of the computer was not easy going. I had a million reasons not to sit in front of the computer. We all have those other things that keep us too busy to do some of what matters the most to us. Finally, with Carolyn See’s advice in mind, I forced myself to write.

I’m sure I went about it the wrong way. My first novel (not counting the handwritten mystery novela that I was too ashamed to push) was a Science Fiction/Fantasy novel. Generally, that type of novel benefits from storyboard graphic planning, where you map out the world you’re writing about and other details that are foreign to our world. Not knowing what I should have been doing, I just dove into it.

The first week trudged along; sometimes, I wrote a page or two, maybe four. One day, I stopped counting the pages and the story flew. Impatiently, I stopped writing and raced to the computer. What would my characters say next? All of the details on the way amazed me. Falling in love with your own writing thrills you like eating popcorn at a newly released horror film on opening night. There are oodles of ways to get high on life, but nothing beats that legal thrill of undertaking and completing a monumental accomplishment and enjoying the process.

Incidentally, and I’ve found this to be true twice, it took about 30 pages for my story to take over from me. At that point, the characters began living their parts and I was no longer the puppeteer in control I was merely a spectator who happened to know the ending.

Think of it. You are 30 pages away from an unstoppable novel or book. Just 30 pages. Right now, or should I say, “Write now,” you are probably seated at your computer, not even inches away from accomplishing your dreams. What’s stopping you? I can′t think of a thing!

Go ahead, be a Jack of Genre. Write it all!

By Chris Goebel, Editor of _Humdinger_ Literary E-zine

Pen to Paper~
Chris Goebel
Editor, _Humdinger_ Literary E-zine
humdingerzine.com humdingerzine.com

Subscribe to Chris Goebel’s newsletter, Jack of Genre: Newsletter for Writers, at:
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Would you like to use this article in your e-zine or on your website? Just include the author’s blurb (above) with the article. Make sure not to change the article in any way and to keep the entire blurb intact.

Writing articles is the fastest and easiest way to get a stampede of people to your website who recognize your name by your signature and adhere to what you recommend.

Most people reason that finding information in articles, forums, and discussion groups is a primary method of getting good information, and odds are that they were somewhat of an expert on that subject, and if they were experts then products and services they sold or recommended were likely to be good.

You should always include a signature with your article, a few lines about your business, your website URL and/or email address. You will be amazed at the targeted traffic it will generate for you.

If you are having trouble getting started I understand, and can tell you that writing is hard work. But once you write the first article it seems to get much easier. In fact, you may discover that you have a hard time stopping!

6 Ways to get started writing articles:

1. Get a notepad and pen, or use a word processor or computer, and just brainstorm ideas for articles. The best source for an article is usually from experience, or knowledge you have acquired in the past. If you are at a total loss, go and read some articles in other’s e-zines or websites. Once you get started you will come up with many ideas. Write each one down. If you think of a good title that includes a keyword about the article, write that down too, and include the keyword in the first sentence, or paragraph.

2. There are several ways writers work, depending on their personalities. You may like to order and organize your points first by making an outline of the information you plan to include or the points you intend to make. Then all you have to do is go back and “flesh out″ the points, adding useful facts or links to more information.

Or, you may be a natural teacher, and write just as though you are explaining the subject to the reader in person. Either method is fine, just do what is comfortable for you. One method may work best for one kind of article and the other for another kind.

3. Add “personality” to your writing. Share some of yourself with your readers, make your writing uniquely your own. It’s fine to read e-zines and others’ articles to see what people may be interested in and spark your own ideas, but don′t pattern yourself after someone else. People want to feel that they know You - Your knowledge and personality. This is what builds loyalty.

If it fits with your subject, don′t be afraid to mention your product or service and give the URL or email address, but DON’T write a “glorified ad” and call it an article! That can offend a publisher so that they won′t even consider articles from you in the future.

4. After you’ve finished writing your article, read it through aloud, preferably to someone else who will ask questions if they don’t understand some point.

5. Run a spell checker! If you own Microsoft Word or something similar, run the grammar checker also. Have someone else proofread it for you. Even professional proofreaders will tell you that they try to have someone else proofread their own writing, because it is next to impossible to catch your own mistakes.

6. When you have finished your article and make the necessary changes, you will need to submit it to as many article directories as you can. Search the web for article directories to submit your article for free. There are also, paid services and software that will do the submissions for you, but you may want to wait until you have successfully written a few articles before you choose to pay.

Chet Holcomb of internetpromotions.biz internetpromotions.biz is a successful marketing expert providing advice for web marketers and webmasters on how to promote your website, or product using marketing tools that work. His numerous articles provide a wonderfully researched resource of interesting and relevant information.