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Rambling Thoughts on Trusting Our Readers

Rambling Thoughts on Trusting Our Readers
 by: Harriet Silkwood

I’ve been thinking lately of trust. All of us presumably join a writer’s group to mingle with other writers and share thoughts on our work. We want to read and be read. We want to share our excitement when a piece is picked up and published, no matter how small the publisher may be. We want to be told when something isn’t working in our latest piece and we want to trust our readers to tell us the truth.

Do we trust our readers to tell us the truth as well as they can? Do we trust them when they say, “Your work is good,” but not when they say, “Your work needs work.” Or vice-versa.

I once gave a perfect rate and a ribbon to a piece I thought deserved it. To my mind, it was very good, finished and I would buy it. The author didn’t trust my opinion and so took away the joy I felt. My ego was hurt, but I think I understand, I’m trying to anyway. He didn’t respond so I have to guess. I came up with two possible reasons.

Quotations as Expressions in Life

Quotations are expressions, usually in the spoken form or in literature, which are referenced to by others. Usually, quotations are written within quotation marks, as a verbum dicendi, to indicate that it was an expression given by a particular person. Nowadays, quotations are usually referenced from sources such as literature, speeches, movie dialogues, interviews or even song lyrics.

Where are quotations used?

Quotations are used for many reasons. In the scientific arena, quotations are utilized to indicate a previous study that was conducted by another researcher, in which it is currently being referenced to. In the media, quotations are used to report on what has been said by politicians, scientists, entertainers as well as business people. Over in modern literature, ideas and thoughts are reinforced through the used of quotations that are revered to or regarded as respected. Certain quotations contain universal truths, which are elaborated to support a point to be made. These are also sometimes known as maxims.

Apart from that, there are also beautiful quotations which are thought to be artistic expressions of a certain language form. Sometimes these expressions can be found in poetry or old literature. Furthermore, some quotations are just used because they remind the writer of a memorable piece of work or movie.

How to Start a Screenplay: Treatment or Free Fall?

How to Start a Screenplay: Treatment or Free Fall?
 by: Gordy Hoffman

Starting a screenplay can sometimes be as hard as finishing one.

Impatient to pull up to the front door of a classic motion picture, I

want to get everything right so quickly. This impatience challenges my

trust in the work, the creative process of screenwriting. What exactly

does trust mean? If I don’t trust my writing, then what am I?

Frightened. This is the battle. If I’m scared that everything I’m

typing is worthless, then what? My hands find something else to do. So

trust is good and important and essential to beginning this journey,

alone, a trip that will eventually take what comes out of you into

millions of people. But it’s just you now. And your trust.

Now, does trusting your writing mean sitting down with no ideas,

opening a new document, and starting to type? Of course. And no. What I

need to do is make a decision and execute. And this decision often

Delivering Your Email Newsletter

After creating your email newsletter, you face the challenge of delivery. With a printed newsletter, there’s usually only one method of widespread distribution: the post office.

Fortunately, though, publishers of email newsletters have several choices. Let’s now work our way through this small jungle, and try to remember that although these choices force us to do extra research, they also give us many more options than we have with printed newsletters.

The first choice is between manual and automated mail management. The manual approach is how many, if not most, email newsletters get started. And, it’s a good system as long as the mailing list remains small, say something less than 100 or 200 names (depending on how efficient you are at managing your email program). You can do this with an email program like Outlook Express or Eudora.

But, if your list is growing, you’ll soon grow impatient with the amount of time it takes to manually add and remove subscribers, as well as to send the newsletter. For example, you might need to divide your list into parts, and send out a series of mailings rather than just one, to keep the size down.

Short Story Ideas - How To Have Them

Short Story Ideas - How To Have Them
 by: Steve Gillman

Hopefully, when you want short story ideas, you don’t sit there waiting for inspiration. It’s better to write anything, and do it right now. English writer Graham Green attributes much of his success to a simple habit: He forced himself to write at least 500 words daily, whether he felt like it or not. Perhaps creative inspiration can strike at any time, but it strikes more often when there is work instead of waiting.

What do you write though? Here are a couple new ideas for generating new short story ideas.

Explain This

I once created a car travel game called “Explain This.” Someone suggests an unusual scenario in a sentence or two, and then each player explains it in a plausible way. It’s an entertaining way to pass the miles, but also a great way to come up with short story ideas.

Just start with an odd scene, anything that pops into your head. You might start, for example, with “Todd handed out the dollar bills to the people as they walked by, trying to distribute as many as he could quickly, before the police could stop him.” Now explain that. Our minds insist on explaining things, so you’ll find an explanation if you try. If it’s interesting enough, you have your next short story.

Build Better Link Popularity with Syndicated Articles

There are many schools of thought on how to build strong backlinks to a Web site. Some webmasters build reciprocal links, while others register their site in many directories. Still others do both of those, and rent links as well. But one method used by a growing number of webmasters is that of building link popularity through the syndication of original articles. Syndicated articles are becoming increasingly popular because article syndication builds permanent links from many different, topically related, keyword rich pages. There are several steps one can take in order to ensure that an article is syndicated as much as possible, and that the links from those syndications are of the highest quality.

1) Write High Quality Articles

The amount of syndication an article receives is directly proportional to the demand for that type of article. Higher quality articles will prove more valuable to webmasters looking to reprint articles. Perfect spelling and grammar are requisite in order to ensure the widest syndication possible. Webmasters will be more inclined to reprint well-researched and well-written articles. Most articles are not of the highest quality, so a higher quality article will stand out significantly.

How To Structure Your Article To Get Published

How To Structure Your Article To Get Published
 by: Christine Anderssen

Writing articles is one of the best ways to promote your service or product since it establishes you as an expert in the field and you can get hundreds, if not thousands of links back to your website. But not all articles are created equal. In order to get the maximum benefit from your article writing they should have a consistent layout and structure. Follow these tips to give structure to your content and your articles will have a much bigger impact and stand a better chance of getting published.

For people whose literate capabilities extend to that last school essay that they handed in with a sigh of relief, writing an article is a daunting task and the end result often looks like a wasteland of grey text. A good article is written in such a way that it pulls the reader in and guides him through the content. Conforming to a standard format also makes it easier for article directories and sites that publish content to pick up your article and publish it. It also contributes to a professional image of you, the writer.

Finding Creativity and Imagery

Finding Creativity and Imagery
 by: Shaun Dollins

There was an idea and discussion I had with Cyndi, my wife, which seemed to stick. She told me that in order to be creative, I must think creative. Find associations to people, places, and things that are out of the loop of being normal.

You see, I’ve been struggling to get out a simple poem let alone some of my own blogging. The ideas and thoughts about my writing concepts have been just going blank. Call it an inactive muse if you will, but I think it’s much more than some made up fairy that tells an author what to write. I think in some ways, our own creativity and the ability to grasp odd imagery comes from life experiences and how we see the associations from one thing to another. I’m a communications design engineer by trade, and I find it a little hard to associate some imagery and creativity with squiggly lines all over a map, or the endless numbers and information I find within the database’s software. It’s a little hard to find imagery in fiber optics that people will understand and get the meaning I could try for. But I’m finding that it’s not my specific job functions that I can find creative beginnings or understandings. It’s with the people I work with, my family, friends, and whoever I come into contact with. It’s looking at something during my commute to work, and while it may seem normal, find a way to make it spectacular.

Five Ways to Energize Your Newsletter

Whether distributed via e-mail or printed and snail-mailed, newsletters are a great way for a business or an organization to keep in touch with employees, customers, prospects or association members in a cost-effective manner. The trick, however, is to come up with a strategy to keep readers engaged and the publication’s production and editorial adjustments in line with current budgets.

Here are five tactics that you can you can use to make your current newsletter more engaging and a must-read for your intended recipients. And while these strategies also work well for printed newsletters, we’re going to focus on electronic newsletters because they offer the most opportunity for generating fast feedback from readers. Incorporating even one of these tips will help ensure that your e- newsletter increases in value from the recipient’s point of view.

1. Boost interactivity through surveys

Media Events for Book Promotion

“How do I set up a media event?” — As a publisher, that’s a good question to have an answer for.

Media events and public appearances can fall into any number of categories and include any number of venues (book stores, radio interviews, television interviews, writing group speeches, presentations, chat room interviews, online book tours, public forums, and more).

A good place to identify possible media event locations is through local bookstore. Most bookstores carry event calendars or maintain a list of contact people who hold that information.

Browse the calendar listings and see if a certain book promotion fits with their plans. Sometimes it might be necessary to tailor a planned event for a particular occasion or holiday. If there is contact information available, make a note of it so you can pitch the appropriate person about your event.

Follow-up with prospective contacts who have not confirmed dates. Selling yourself and your book is a numbers game, and as any salesperson will tell you, the amount of contact is directly proportional to the amount of sales.

Be persistent without being annoying. If, after three or four attempts with a particular media contact, you are still unsuccessful move on to another prospect.

— Next Page »

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