Writing Inrochester

As a fellow songwriter, I’m sure you’ve shared some of your songs with your family and friends. Without a doubt, you’ve also heard them say that your song is better than any of the songs they’re hearing on the radio. And you know what? They’re probably right.

Just because you’re an unpublished songwriter doesn’t mean that you aren’t good – or even great – at your craft. But, even if your song is destined to be a hit, it still might not be cut or even published.

Why? I’m glad you asked. This question weighed heavily on me for years. I was writing songs which I knew were good, my friends and family told me they were good, and professional songwriters and evaluators even validated that they were good. So why wasn’t I getting a cut?

I wasn’t getting a cut because I didn’t know anything about the music industry. I didn’t know who to talk to or how to present my package. I didn’t know that the music industry is a business – I just thought they were in the business of recording hit songs!

The reason I didn’t know anything about the industry is because it is a closed door industry. The reason why nobody told me the things you’ll learn in my book is because nobody wanted me to know! That’s right. The movers and shakers and their people don’t want you to know what it takes to write a hit song and get it recorded, because if they tell you…..

You then become competition.

Did you get that? Let me explain. There are thousands and thousands of songs out there waiting to find a home on somebody’s album. But, there’s only room for a handful of them. Those spots are usually going to be given to:

1. The singer/songwriter who is the recording artist. Then they will receive the songwriter’s royalties as well as their own!

2. Proven songwriters who’ve had major hits. A big investment is made in each song by the label – they don’t want to mess around with a high risk unknown songwriter!

3. Their buddies and relatives or anyone else they owe a favor to.

It’s sad, but it’s true. Your song could be better than any of those other songs, and it already has three strikes against it.

What can you do to turn those tables around? How can you get your foot in the door and be recognized for your talents?

By writing more and more, networking with everyone you can meet, and learning about the music industry.

Behind the smoke and mirrors of the music industry is a world full of corporate executives, managers, producers, and A and R staff who want hit songs. Their job depends on finding hit songs, but the odds are against them. So what do they do?

They look for what’s wrong in a song – not what’s right.

Confused? Don’t be. It really makes a great deal of sense. A and R reps listen to hundreds of demos a week. Anyone of them might be a hit song. But, making sure they do indeed find that hit song is vital to their job. So, they eliminate songs that have something wrong with them. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a small area of the song, if they can find something wrong with it – it’s gone.

How do you increase your chances? Make sure your song is perfect before you pitch it. Get feedback and evaluations on your song and rewrite it until it is just right. Learn how to write what record labels are looking for.

Another strike against unknown songwriters is they’re high risk. Record labels spend hundreds of thousands – even as much as a million – dollars on a song. That’s a huge investment. They need to make sure that it can recoup those costs in royalties. So, they prefer to stick with proven and successful songwriters who’ve already had hits, because they have a good track record and are a lower risk.

Does that mean you don’t have a chance? Of course not. You just need to know how to write a better song – you know, a song that they can’t possibly ignore and turn down. That’s where I come in.

I’ve been there – done that. I’ve paid my dues. In the music industry, this translates to five years – five years of writing songs without a cut – five years of rejection and frustration – five years of doing things the wrong way, instead of the right way. Then, I landed my first publishing contract.

Why does it take five years? Well, there are reasons why you don’t know about the music industry. They’re weeding you out. They’re making it so difficult to get a cut that songwriters eventually give up. The very minute you give up is the very minute you need to keep on! Five years of perseverance and persistence does help you to perfect your craft. It makes you a stronger person. Above all, it weeds out the amateurs. Only serious songwriters survive.

The music industry makes you prove you are serious about songwriting by paying your dues. If they’re going to make a huge investment in your song, they want to make sure that investing in you will pay off for years to come. They want someone who can and will continue to produce hits, not a one time wonder. Therefore, only the serious need apply.

All of that stuff works, but only if you really have a hit song. While paying my dues, I learned a lot about songwriting, what works, and what doesn’t. I learned that I can write tender love ballads, but if I want a cut, I’m going to have to write what Music Row is looking for right now. Today its up-tempo music – tomorrow, who knows?

One of things you’ll learn in my book, How to Become a Hit Songwriter, is that any song can get recorded. There’s room for fillers, also known as album cuts, on every artist’s album. But there’s a difference between writing an album cut and a hit song. A hit song has to address many areas:

1. Genre – yes, some genres make more money than others.

2. Audience – who will the artist be singing this song to? It does matter.

3. Lyrics – the all powerful lyric is more important in some genres than others. I’ll tell you when it needs to be strong, and when it should be downplayed.

4. Subject matter – some songs should be written because they have a message, but they’re more difficult to get recorded than others.

5. Melody – the melody really is more than just chords for the words

to dance on.

6. Structure – there are different ways to write your song, and my book will tell you the most common structures used in hit songs.

Those are just some of the things you have to consider if you want to be a hit songwriter. Every one of them and more are covered in detail in my book, How to Become a Hit Songwriter. I wrote it for you and encourage you to read it and pay attention. I paid my five year dues so you don’t have to pay yours.

Did you know that there really is a list of the most important qualities in a songwriter? There is, and that list was developed by publishers. It even goes so far as to list them in order of importance. With the Internet, it’s not as important as it used to be that songwriters live in a music city. It helps if they are a singer and a songwriter, but that isn’t even the most important trait. How to Become a Hit Songwriter gives you the full list, and tells you the number one quality that publishers look for in a songwriter. If you want to write a hit, that’s the quality you should work on the most.

Once your song is perfected, do you know how to pitch it? If not, you better learn fast, because pitching your song the wrong way can get expensive and is certain to be rejected usually before it even gets heard.

Rejection is a part of the game. Rejection is what also makes songwriters turn to outfits that make grand promises of instant stardom. Beware: there are no guarantees in this industry and if anyone tries to tell you there is, run – run as fast as you can. Take your money with you, because any publisher who asks a songwriter for money is a song shark. How to Become a Hit Songwriter tells you how to avoid being bitten by them.

Seek reputable publishers – there are many out there. Once you find them, use the lessons I’ve learned to professionally present yourself and your song. Publishers know how to spot an amateur songwriter. How to Become a Hit Songwriter will tell you how to market your song so they won’t be able to tell that you’re one. If you can get past this obstacle, you can get your foot in the door!

That’s only half of the game. The music industry is a business. Songwriting is a business, too, and the sooner you understand that and the business side of your craft, the sooner you’ll be accepted. There are many things you need to consider: timing, self-publishing or finding a publisher, and packaging and presentation. You’ll need to know the terminology used in the industry, and how to protect your copyright ownership. You should also be aware of the legal aspects of contracts, as well as how a songwriter gets paid for their songs. Tip: Never, ever use the words “sell a song” or ask someone to “buy your song”. That’ll raise red flags with every reputable person in the industry. It’s like a billboard screaming, “I’m an amateur!” Songwriters don’t sell songs – they write and own songs. These tips and more are included in my book.

As a songwriter, you are one of millions. The competition is fierce, and the door is hard to open. You need to even the playing field if you want to get in the game. Many hit songwriters are actually no better than you are. They just learned how to beat out the competition and open the door. Like them, you can become the next songwriter to land a publishing or recording contract.

That’s why I wrote How to Become a Hit Songwriter. I’ve succumbed to the song sharks, faced rejection, and made mistakes. I wrote great songs which never stood a chance, and I learned, listened, and preserved until I finally made it. Many times I thought it was unfair; many times I felt like giving up. But I’m glad I didn’t. I don’t want you to give up either. Learn how to become a hit songwriter today so I can hear your song on the radio tomorrow! Music really is the universal language; How to Become a Hit Songwriter is your crash course in understanding it. The sooner you read it, the sooner you’ll know the secret to becoming a hit songwriter!

Best of Success,

Corey Ledbetter
Author, How To Become A Hit Songwriter
howtobecomeahitsongwriter.com www.howtobecomeahitsongwriter.com

Award Winning Songwriter and Best Selling Author

The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Articles Are Rejected And Not Published
Writing and submitting articles is an effective strategy to advertise your website and increase traffic to your website. For ezine publishers and webmasters to re-print your articles, they must be of high quality.

Many internet marketers have their articles rejected and not published because of several mistakes. If you want your articles to be picked up and massively distributed, here are the common mistakes to avoid:

1. Lack of proofreading articles. Articles that are full of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors are not acceptable. You must proofread your article two or three times before you submit it. Make sure that your writing style is simple and your language is effective. There is no need to use complicated vocabulary. Say what you have to say in the most simple and effective terms. If you’re not good at proofreading, find someone to do that for you. An otherwise good and informative article can be rejected by publishers simply because it’s full of errors.

2. Articles full of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. In addition to making sure that your articles are free of grammatical errors, you may also want to be sure that you have clearly defined paragraphs. Nothing is worse than a big blob of text with 30 run-on sentences. Use a writing format that makes it easy for the reader to read. Write in short paragraphs, use bullets points or numbers. While browsing for content, readers are more likely to read an article which their eyes can quickly and easily skim from top to bottom.

3. Lack of useful content. Your articles must educate and inform readers. It is therefore important that your articles deliver useful information to the readers. Research what your reader wants to know by doing surveys with your own audience or do keyword search engine research to find what people are looking for. Avoid having fluff in your articles, and aim to deliver useful information.

4. Lack of focus. Your article must address a single issue or problem. Your article must not be too long, and the reader must be able to read it all in about 5 to 10 minutes. So you do not have enough space to waffle. You must avoid making your article too broad or superficial in content. It’s better to go in-depth on a narrow topic. Once you have identified the topic you want to write about; define it, explain it and explore it in as much as you can within a 600 word article, plus or minus. Be original in covering your topic as much as possible in a way that has not been done by others.

5. Lack of a headline that catches the readers’ attention. The headline is often the initial reason why someone might read your article or pass it over for another article. It is important that you entice readers to read more of your article by an interesting headline and introduction. Keep your headline simple and brief.

6. Duplicate content or articles. These days there are a lot of Private Label Rights article membership sites where hundreds of people get the same article. If you have these PLR articles, you must re-write them before you submit them to article directories. Article directories do not accept similar or duplicate content. If you can’t write your own articles and have to outsource them, get a ghostwriter to write them exclusively for you.

7. Too much hype, bragging and self-promotion. Don’t fill the body of the article with hype, excessive links to your site or blatant self-promotion. Your opportunity to promote yourself and your services is in the “Resource Box” or author’s biography where you can place a link to your website. A“Resource Box” is your pay-off for giving your article up for free reprints, but do not abuse that by including a dozen website addresses. Stick with one website URL or two at the most and you will find your article may find a higher distribution rate.

8. Too long and boring articles. There are other articles which readers can read besides yours. You must therefore make sure that your articles are not too long and boring. The length must be just right a reader must be able to read it in about 5 to 10 minutes. Your writing style must be engaging in order to keep the reader interested.

9. Articles with similar information to many other articles. The internet is full of other articles on the niche you are writing about. It is therefore important that you make your article stand out from the rest. Your article must provide some unique opinion, experience or solution. You must bring a fresh perspective to the topic you are writing about.

10. Uneconomical use of words. There is no need to use some complicated style in your writing. Keep it simple, and deliver the message you want to deliver in the most economical number of words.

If you avoid these ten common mistakes in article writing, your articles will get published by many e-zines and webmasters, resulting in a lot of traffic to your website.

Nikki Montgomery is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor. Nikki has over 15 years experience in researching and writing. Nikki is available to ghostwrite your articles, e-books or web content. Visit her site at onlineghostwriter.com/ onlineghostwriter.com and contact her today.

One of the reasons Great Britain is known all over the world owing to its powerful legal system. The British system of Law differs from the most of the systems of law due to not having a constitution. But this fact does not make the functioning of the legal system less productive and effective. The control over the legal system of the country is put on the shoulders of two main government departments: the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Home Office. They cope with their work with the help of other minor government agencies. As every country Great Britain has its very own court system. Britain’s court system is managed by one of the mentioned government departments – the Department for Constitutional Affairs. This Department is in charge of governing the whole court system of the country, including such procedures as the appointment of the judges.

It is a matter of common knowledge that there are two types of judges in Great Britain: inferior and superior judges. The main distinction between these two types of judges is the field of their jurisdiction separated with their position to the High Court. All the judges with the jurisdiction lower than the High Court are inferior judges. The person who is directly related to appointment of these judges is the Lord Chancellor. Basing on the type of judges he deals with, the Lord Chancellor plays either a direct or an indirect role in their appointment. Nevertheless, the distinction between the parts he plays in appointing superior or inferior judges are not exact antipodes.

The Lord Chancellor, the head of the House of Lords, directly appoints the inferior judges. He is the person who possesses the information about the activity of the candidates for the posts and provides this information to the Queen. Therefore as the role of Queen has a character of a formality his recommendations are the defining and the weightiest information for the appointment. Inferior judges include: Recorders and District and Circuit judges. The appointment of an inferior judge may be the result of a promotion or the sufficient practice of the professional in this field. All of these judges require 10 years of practice in the legal field if the appointment is not a promotion.

The Lord Chancellor also can dismiss an inferior judge at any time having information about any discipline violation. The candidates for becoming judges are selected from the data files of the Lord Chancellor and after being selected they pass through an interview to occupy the post. The Lord Chancellor can make academic lawyers candidates for the post if they have the correct number of years of experience. Inferior judges deal with the cases on fraud, negligence, libel, violation of contract, divorce, etc. Heavy violations of these sand other matters; of matter of a greater scale, become the jurisdiction of the superior judges.

Superior judges are judges with a jurisdiction within the High Court. Superior judges include: High Court Judges, Lord Justices of Appeal and Law Lords. To get the post it is required to have a 15 years practice in the legal field. It can be also a direct promotion, too. The main decision of appointing a superior judge is taken by the Prime Minister, the head of the House of Commons. Nevertheless this decision has a base in the opinion of the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor gives his recommendations and advice to the Prime Minister, who in his turn usually follows this advice rarely making any exceptions. The Primer Minister than performs the candidates to the Queen and the choice is made. An inferior judge can also become a superior judge, a High Court Judge in particular, having a 2-year practice being an inferior judge.

Lord Chancellor deals with every single judge appointment with a bigger or lesser influence. Though the decision of appointing a superior judge is not literally made by him, his recommendations are essential for the choice. This makes him the leading person in relation to the process of appointing judges of different levels. It must be said that this fact has always been highly criticized due to the insufficiency of the possible choices, because the people who chose are usually related to the selected candidates.

Of course it is obvious that this way of choosing is the result of a conviction in the high moral values and experience of the candidates, nevertheless it keeps the positions closed for another people working in the legal system. High quality of judiciary is to be obtained through a diversity of people who judge. In 1990 the Lord Chancellor approved The Courts and Legal Service Act, according to which academic lawyers could become inferior judges. But step to this high-quality judiciary was fully first made in 1994 with the Lord Chancellor removing the ban for lawyers to become judges. By these decisions a very important way was opened. It is the way of complete objectivity of judgment. As the majority of the judges have always been men it was a step to giving women career opportunities for women, too. The system stopped being a subject to the accusation of racism: it started being opened to the minorities. Also the introduction of the part-time judging gave a possibility to obtain the position of a fulltime judge after getting sufficient experience as a part-time judge.

The court system is becoming more flexible and after this changes it became dynamic. It is understood that judges over 55 can carry the values and views on law of completely different times that makes the objective judgment impossible. This diversity of judges is giving productive results making the judiciary system more qualified. Superior and inferior judges are the ones that create this quality; therefore, their right appointment is very important.

Analyzing the procedure of appointing both of them reveals that there is no principle difference between these two procedures. The difference lies only in the jurisdiction; the jurisdiction in its turn is the same but in a smaller of greater scale. The positions require different number years of practice. The Lord Chancellor basically manages the whole process of selection. The Lord Chancellor, sometimes with the approval of the Prime Minister, selects both of the groups of judges. Other words, the difference in the appointment of these judges is formal. They fulfill the same duties in from of the face of the court system of the Great Britain. Therefore there should not be even a formal difference between the way inferior and superior judges are appointed. Inferior judges are just a little step before the superior judges and are two parts of one integer. They both should possess the same combination of qualities and the level of knowledge to become a judge.
There is no further need for the maintenance of the distinction that exists. An inferior judge is to posses the same “luggage of knowledge” as a superior judge, but the only difference is the years and the practice thought which this knowledge is improved. The distinction in appointing inferior and superior judges is not principle and if the legal system takes it into account it may be the way of an even more dynamic court development. The juridical system of Great Britain is working hard on making the system more unadulterated and independent. Judicial independence, autonomy and objectivity still remain the primary goals of the British Law System.

custom-essay.net/dissertation.htm Buy Dissertation

custom-essay.net Custom Essays

proessay.com Term paper

Changes are always hard for any country, especially if we a talking about a country that respects monarchy and is a constitutional monarchy. Nevertheless, Britain’s legal system can be improved in order to achieve its most effective functioning.

Aaron is a professional freelance writer at custom essays writing service: custom-essay.net
He is also a technical writer, advertising copywriter, & website copywriter for Custom Essay Writing Service.

One of the goals of using article marketing to promote your website and your business is to utilize free links. When your article gets picked up by a blog or other information site, the link to your website is picked up along with it. These links add up when search engines search for your site or for sites that focus on your industry or area of expertise and they help create a popularity rating for you and your site. This popularity rating helps determine the ranking for your site on different search engines. The more sites with a link to your site, the more popular the search engines think you are.

Article Free Links on Link Farms

Avoid these at all costs. Search engines are getting smarter everyday and they do not like link farms at all. If your link is included on these, it will have a negative effect on your page ranking, pushing you to the bottom of the list or even getting you banned from listings altogether.

What is a link farm? A link farm is a website that lists tons of irrelevant links just to increase their popularity ratings. Those with links on these farms are required to list the other links on the site on THEIR webpage. It’s considered spamming by some search engines and will get you banned.

What is a good link? Good links occur when your link is found on a site that is relevant to the information, products, or services that you offer on your own site. For example, if you sell hardware supplies and your link is found on blogs about carpentry, lumber yard sites, and home improvement sites, then you have garnered some good links.

How To Get Good Links

When you write informative articles that include links to your website and submit them to free article directories like this one, the articles get picked up by sites that are relevant to yours. When this happens, you get free, relevant links back to your website. These links are calculated by search engines and give you a high page ranking. And high page rankings push your website listing to the top when prospective clients search for terms that relate to your business.

Writing Great Articles To Build Up Your Links

Securing good, relevant links to your website is as simple as creating articles about your area of expertise (your business!) and submitting them where they can be picked up by other webmasters interested in the same subject. When they pick them up, they get your helpful, informative articles and you get one more link to boost your page ranking on search engines, making you the first choice of those interested in what you have to sell! Everybody wins!

Jeff Wilson is the owner/webmaster of freearticles.com freearticles.com the only freearticles.com free article directory that offers platinum members (free after 10 approved articles) free editable hotspot ads for every article submitted. Don’t miss this unique and free advertising opportunity, freearticles.com/submit_your_articles.php submit your free articles now.

There are only 3 main uses for the apostrophe, yet using the apostrophe properly is a confusing task. This article describes the proper uses and improper uses, to help people improve their writing.

The beloved apostrophe is intended to do three main things: to show possession, to show omission, and to make plurals in rare, special cases.

Apostrophe’s purpose number one: apostrophes are excellent indicators of possession. There is an example of this at the beginning of this sentence. If I want to say I own the shoes, while my husband pays the bill, I would call them Angela’s shoes and Joe’s Manolo Blahnik bill.

In most cases, the apostrophe is placed right after the name of the person, place, or thing (a.k.a. noun) that owns it, and before the “s” that shows possession. Because the English language can describe various types of possession in glorious profusion, here are some helpful tips for common possession scenarios:

Your word already ends in “s”. Don’t add another ‘s’! Just let the apostrophe hang out there at the end of the word. For example: the horses’ bridles, a party at the Edwards’.

Two nouns own one thing. Give the apostrophe to the last noun. For example: Joe and Angela’s herb garden.

Two nouns own two things. Give each noun an apostrophe. For example: Jenny’s and Jessie’s dresses.

You use a pronoun that owns something. Please, don’t add an apostrophe. Just leave it alone. For example: We gave the cat its shots; the idea was yours.

Apostrophe’s second use: apostrophes show where letters have been removed in a word or words. This is the easiest part to remember – if you’ve lost letters, put an apostrophe where the letters should have been! For example: Cannot becomes can’t Four of the clock becomes four o’clock; 2007 becomes ’07.

Apostrophe’s third use: in some rare, very special cases, the apostrophe can show a plural. Use an apostrophe if you are talking about plurals of numbers or letters. For example: 1990’s; Ph.D.’s.

You can also add an apostrophe if you’re using words as words, where leaving out an apostrophe would cause confusion. For example: Rules are a list of do’s and don’ts (if there was no apostrophe after “do’s”, people might confuse it with the disk operating system acronym DOS).

Other apostrophe uses: apostrophes can also be used as a symbol for measurement in feet. Also, the apostrophe can be used to indicate a quote inside a quote. For example: She said, “The pastor told me, ‘Jesus wasn’t white’, and I was surprised!”

Understanding the proper rules for using the apostrophe will add a level of professionalism to your communications. Proper punctuation is a must for all writers. Still confused? Pearl Writing Services is a freelance writing business that can polish your writing and get your communications noticed!

Pearl Writing Services is a freelance writing company specializing in web content and articles, communications, press releases, and creative writing. Contact us at pearlwriting.com pearlwriting.com or mailto:awduea@sbcglobal.net awduea@sbcglobal.net.

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 screenplay-structure.com/ or story-structure.org/ for full details)

*****Antiheroes and Romantic Challenges*****

Where the Hero evolves, the Antihero devolves. So it is not unusual to find that the Antihero starts off with a close personal relationship that devolves (whereas the Hero most often starts off with a polarized Romantic Challenge that gradually evolves). In The Godfather (1972), Michael and Kay are initially close but their relationship devolves toward the end. In Scarface (1983) Tony and Elvira ultimately separate.

*****Ordinary Self*****

There are certain aspects of the Hero’s Ordinary Self that are commonly made explicit, including:

Status. Defining the Hero relationship to others is common: In Spiderman (2002), no one wants to sit next to Peter Parker on the bus. In Forrest Gump (1994), no one wants to sit next to Forrest on the bus. In Beverly Hills Cop (1984), other officers try to interact with Axel Foley - they follow him around.

Loyalty. It is not unusual to find that the Hero is the sort of person that inspires loyalty or not (antihero). This explains why others may or may not gravitate around him (or her). In Gladiator (2000), Maximus’ dog follows him in battle. In Raging Bull (1980), Joey hangs out with his older brother.

True Nature. We learn of the Hero’s True Nature (which if negative, may be an inner challenge). In Gladiator (2000), Maximus takes time to feel the tall grass.

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 heros-journey.info/ heros-journey.info/

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.

Imagine you have a piece of text that you’d like to quickly add to your documents no matter which document you are in, and regardless of what’s saved in your clipboard.

One solution is to assign that text to a new toolbar button as Autotext.

Here is how to do it:

1) Select Tools > Autocorrect Options from the main menu to display the Autocorrect dialog box.

2) Click and select the Autotext tab.

3) Paste (or type in) your text in the Enter Auto Text Entries Here field.

4) Click Add to have your text listed in the list box below.

5) Close the Autocorrect dialog box.

6) Select Tools > Customize to launch the Customize dialog box.

7) In the Commands tab, select Autotext from the Categories.

Find your text in the Commands pane.

9) Click Keyboard button to launch the Customize Keyboard dialog box.

10) Again select Autotext from the Categories and find your text in the Commands pane.

11) In the Press New Shortcut Key enter a new shortcut for this autotext.

Try not to use those shortcuts already in use. For example if you assign Ctrl V, you’ll be reassigning a very well know shortcut for pasting the content of the clipboard to pasting your custom text. That could lead to confusion.

12) Let’s assume you physically press Control key and then the K key. The shortcut “Ctrl K” is automatically added as your new shortcut.

13) Click the Assign button and close all windows.
Now, whenever you click Ctrl A, Word will enter your advisory test at the cursor. You don’t have to type it anymore.

Another method to retrieve your Autotext is to place it in the Toolbar:

In the Customize dialog box:

1) Click and DRAG your autotext to any TOOLBAR you wish.

The text will be inserted as a rectangle. Anytime you click on this rectangle, the associated autotext will be automatically inserted into your text.

However, you can replace this text-button with an icon as well.

2) Select the text-button and click the down-arrow at the end of its toolbar to display the pop-up menu.

3) Select Customize to display the Customize dialog box.

4) Select Autotext from the Categories and find your text in the Commands pane.

5) With the Customize dialog box still open, click the text-button on the toolbar to enable the Modify Selection button.

6) Click Modify Selection button and from the pop-up menu select Change Button Image to display the available icon images.

7) Select an image and then select Default Style option. Your text-button will be replaced by the icon you have chosen. Now every time you click that icon on the toolbar, your autotext will be inserted at where your cursor is.

To delete the icon from your toolbar, select Tools > Customize.

9) Click on the icon button and drag it out of the toolbar. This does not delete the autotext from the Customize screen but it’ll delete it from the toolbar.

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

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a senior writer and web content consultant with 20 years of experience.

Subscribe to his FREE “Weekly Success Update” newsletter today at writer111.com writer111.com

P.S. FREE BONUS “Writing and Marketing Tips” for new subscribers.

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

If you’re a freelance writer, yet you haven’t penned a series of best
selling novels, or written the script for a blockbuster movie, chances are
you could use a few additional streams of income each month. You
probably don’t want to write eight hours a day, seven days a week,
anyway. After all, most writers need time away from the keyboard to
recharge their creativity.

So don’t just write MORE to make MORE money. Instead, try a few
different ways to earn additional income from your writing experience.

1. Teach Writing - Many times, local colleges and universities look for
writing teachers who can teach part time. If you have a background in
teaching (and enjoy it) offer to teach a class or two in creative writing,
business writing, or whatever kind of writing you do, for a local school.

There are also various writing schools that offer correspondence
courses for writers. Students’ manuscripts from all over the world are
forwarded to you, so you can work in the comfort of your own home no
matter where you live. Check into teaching a writing correspondence
course if the idea of teaching from home appeals to you.

2. Speak at Writers’ Conferences - Authors are always in demand for
writers’ conferences. Develop at least a few presentations you can offer
at conferences. Speakers usually present in hour long sessions, so
make sure your presentations are well planned and you have enough
information to keep an audience interested for at least an hour (and
sometimes sessions last 1 1/2 hours, so be prepared for those too).

3. Make Author Visits to Schools & Other Organizations - Schools have
author days, career days, and other events (mostly in the spring or fall)
and they are always looking for published authors for these events. If
you’ve written at least one book, make sure schools in your area know
you’re available for author visits. Authors are sometimes hired to speak
at library events, at historical societies, or for small business
organizations, too. If you’ve written a book(s) that might be of interest to
any of these types of groups, get the word out so they know about your
book(s) and your availability as a speaker.

4. Mentor Other Writers - Offer weekly sessions to other writers who do
not have as much writing experience, or published credits as you do.
Help them with their ongoing writing projects by critiquing their work,
showing them how to write book proposals and captivating query letters.
Also, help them find appropriate markets for their writing.

5. Offer writing workshops - There is always a demand for writing
workshops. You can offer these through libraries, schools, or even
community centers. Put together a proposal for a short series of
workshops, then find a location where you can offer them. Next, get the
word out in your local newspapers, or make up flyers to post in coffee
shops, libraries, community centers, etc. so people know how to sign up
for your workshops.

It really isn′t very difficult to add to your freelance writing income once
you start thinking of other interesting ways to make use of your writing
experience and expertise. Plus, as you gain more writing experience
and publishing credits, you’ll have even more to offer the public as a
speaker, mentor, teacher, or workshop presenter.

Suzanne Lieurance is a children’s author and freelance writer. To learn
more about her children’s books visit her website at
suzannelieurance.com suzannelieurance.com or find out more about her freelance writing
services at lieurancegroup.blogspot.com lieurancegroup.blogspot.com

•Know Its Purpose: An elevator speech is not a sales tool. Nor is it intended to give an overview of what you do. Rather, it is designed to pique the interest of the other person by concisely giving him/her a clear understanding of the type of people with whom you work and how you can help them.

•It’s not all about you! When crafting your elevator speech, remember that people don’t really care about you, your job title or even your company name. And, they don’t want to hear a direct sales pitch (even if they make one themselves!).

•Problem-Solution. The first half of you elevator speech should identify a problem common to a unique group of people – your niche market. The second half of the speech positions you as a resource for solving that problem. And, remember: Stick to one problem and one solution. Saying too much causes your listener to “zone out” and not hear you.

•Write it out, then file it! Until you become totally at ease with developing and using the elevator speech, write it out. However, don’t attempt to memorize it. Instead, memorize the formula and get comfortable with filling in the blanks. Put your written version in a file folder for later review and updating.

•Practice! Practice! Practice! The only way to become comfortable with this tool is to use it as often as possible. Before you use it at networking events, take some time to practice with your coach or with peers. However, don’t strive for perfection. Once you feel reasonably confident, take it out into the real world.

•Be Flexible. One elevator speech will not fit all situations. So, create a repertoire of them. Select the one that best matches the networking event in which you are participating. You may even want to create a new one for each event.

•Be yourself. Learn to develop impromptu elevator speeches (again, just plug in to the formula) in order to avoid sounding “canned”. It’s far better to bumble the speech a bit than it is to be too perfect. Others will empathize and listen.

© 2005-2006. All rights reserved. Impact Coaching International™.

Copyright and bio paragraph must be included when reproducing this article.

Rosemary Hauschild is an innovation and creativity business coach serving individuals developing intellectual property. Impact Coaching International™ offers a year-long program showing creative individuals how to protect, promote and profit from their innovative ideas in less time and with more profits. Individual coaching services are also available. To learn more about how to protect and promote your intellectual property, you are invited to subscribe to the free e-zine, Creations Of The Mind™, by sending an email to mailto:subscribe@impactcoaching.biz subscribe@impactcoaching.biz with the following phrase in the subject line of your e-mail: subscribe creations list. To contact Rosemary directly, please email mailto:rosemary@impactcoaching.biz rosemary@impactcoaching.biz.

The hardest thing you’ll ever have to do is to ‘start’. When you want to travel, the hardest part is to just ‘go ahead and go’. But once you start, everything follows. The same goes with writing. I don’t know about you, but when I write, the first sentence in the article gets erased five times before one becomes permanent. But once you get through the first sentence, writing the whole article will be a breeze.

There are actually a lot of ways by which you could begin your article. You could start it with a quotation, a question, an anecdote, or you could go straight to the point. There is no exact formula for starting. You can start your article with any sentence, as long as it suits your purpose.

What’s the Purpose of the Article?

So think about why you’re writing that article. What is your purpose? Is it to entertain, to inspire, to persuade, or simply to inform? If you want to entertain, then a funny anecdote might do well. If you want to inspire, then a famous quote may do. If you want to persuade, then maybe you could start with a question. If you want to inform, then you could go straight to the point.

Let me give you a concrete example. Let’s say that your aim is to persuade people to buy your product. I mentioned that if you want to persuade, starting the article with a question might do the trick. Let’s say that your product is a water bed. Maybe you could start your article with a question like, “Have you ever had a night when you couldn’t sleep because of your lumpy mattress?” or “When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep?” This is a good strategy because you’re automatically creating a bond with your reader. If your reader answers “yes” to your question, he will be able to relate, and if he is able to relate, then he will be interested.

The First Line

But asking a question isn’t the only way to start an article. If you can make it work, then an anecdote might be perfect for your article. Maybe you could tell a story about a friend of yours who didn’t want to buy the bed at first but was persuaded to do so after a bit of prodding. And then give them a punch line. It has to be funny, or at the very least, unexpected. Maybe you could end your anecdote by saying that your friend went to your office, fuming. He kept on glaring at you so you asked him what was wrong. And then he answered, “I got into trouble at work because of your bed”. And so you ask him why and he answers that he woke up late because the bed was so comfortable. You’ll have showcased how comfortable your bed is and entertained your readers at the same time.

Again, there’s no exact formula for starting to write an article, just let your imagination run wild.

Eric Hartwell oversees “The World’s Best Homepage” intended to be a user-generated resource where YOUR opinion counts. Anybody can contribute and all are welcomed. Visit us to read, comment upon or share opinions on theworldsbesthomepage.com/blog/261/writers-resources/ writing resources and visit his associated site free-content-resource.com articles for free