Writing In Series for the Online Crowd - A New Way to Write for the Amazon or E-Book Reader

Not long ago, I was talking to an English teacher at Starbucks. He taught the advanced students at the local high school English, and he was busy grading papers still at 7 PM at night. We got to talking about how the students' writing was changing due to the information age, mobile technology, Twitter, and all the social networks. He said things just weren't the same anymore, and he had been teaching for well over 20 years. Yes, he's seen a lot of changes hasn't he?

We both agreed that this might be the last generation of fine literature, and that the vocabulary was becoming shallower, and new abbreviated words were entering the language and becoming acceptable due to text messaging. He also noted that the rules of grammar in society seem to be changing, and it's hard for him to keep up with it, or convince students that they need to do it the old and approved way. Nevertheless he is an English teacher, and he must teach them the legitimately accepted sentence structure, grammar, and spellings.

He's right, things are changing, and as an online article author with now over 27,500 articles, and almost 200 e-books, I am noticing the changes in my own writing online and in the digital age, wondering if the way forward is to allow this innovation and evolution to occur, or if we need to stop and do something about it. Those with e-readers are demanding their content at a faster rate, and those surfing the Internet don't spend more than 12 to 20 seconds scanning online articles. Apparently, the new age online article author and Internet writer needs to adapt or die, that's a scary thing for a writer - trust me.

Fast Company had an interesting article posted on September 7, 2012 titled; "Amazon Changed Reading. Now It Could Change Writing," by Sarah Kessler which in the subtitle asked a dubious question; "What if Dickens had analytics? Jeff Bezos's Kindle Serials might tell us," and then discussed fiction writers writing in series and watching their readers' interests to adjust the storyline, incidentally Amazon is allowing writers to post in series now.

Still, as great as this is for fiction writers posting a chapter or a few at a time for $.99 it seems to me that it is suited for non-fiction writers as well, such as college courses, textbooks, or someone that writes a series of columns for industry, or on a wide range of topics. For instance, I write about Future Concepts, so I could post 20 simple articles at a time for my readers and keep the price really, really low, as in$.99 and well, that might work for me personally, and thus, it could also work for non-fiction writers and not just fictional novelists you see?

Perhaps you can see by this simple example that things are changing, and it is not only the writers an online authors that are changing things, the readers are also demanding changes, and therefore everything is evolving, and if we don't adapt, we won't get read.

Now then, is this really a new development or a replay of how things once where? The Sherlock Holmes series used to appear in the newspaper, a chapter at a time. Science Fiction authors like Isaac Asimov put forth short stories, often in series in science magazines, many authors had also done similar back in the day. Well, it appears that the newest form of e-books is quite suited for this isn't it? Sure it is, so, history repeats, albeit in the digital age in a totally different form - do we dare call this innovation, evolution, and nuance, or should we just call it; about time? Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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How to Learn a Language the Correct Way

Learning a language can be hard, but it is possible. The problem with learners is that they easily give up. Everybody has the ability to learn a language. It requires passion, time, and effort.

Moving on, if you cannot afford a class or a tutor to learn a language, buy a book. Make sure that it is a good book, especially with an audio CD, and look on the Internet for good recommendations. The problem with a book is that it does not teach well enough. A good thing about having a class or a tutor is that everything is explained in detail, and that is very significant for language learning. Make sure you have something like this to help you.

After struggling with a book for months now, I have come with a solution. Everybody learns different, but you should consider this idea. What I do is I read the whole first chapter, and I look for important phrases that I think I should remember, and I memorize them. I memorize them by using my phone, and write down the words in the "notes" section. So wherever I go, I will have my phone with me at all times. If I'm sitting down on a bus or if I am out of my house, I can just look at my phone for a quick second, and it saves me from bringing my large book everywhere. Next, go over what is left of the book, most of it will be grammar. It makes you look at it more when you are away from home, you will see yourself looking at the words more often and making things a lot easier. You just have to be sure that you completed everything you needed to memorize.

What can clutter your head is if you try memorizing first, you still have to then try to figure out the grammar. What can happen is you don't focus enough on memorization, you will focus more on grammar, but the grammar won't help when you don't understand what words you are learning. So you should learn the words first, and then learn grammar and the depth of the language for that chapter.

Next, with time management, people say to study about 2 hours a week. That is wrong. What I do is I learn about one to two hours a day. What you do is you have to spread your time out. Learn 30 minutes in the morning and then 30 in the afternoon. That way you won't clutter your head and you will learn slowly and gradually. It will be easier to memorize words, for example.

Another strategy that I use when I'm learning words is I use the words in an everyday situation. I will list a few examples. One is, the word "street" in polish means "ulica" so whenever I am walking and I see a road, I don't think in my head "that is a road" I think "to jest ulica" (that is a street). So every time that I walk down a street I don't call it a street in my head anymore, I call it an ulica. In my second example I learned new words, one of them was "duzy" which means "big". So to help me memorize the word, I would grab something big and hold it in my hand, and I would say "duzy". The next time I would see something big, I would say "duzy". It sounds silly but it really works.

Next, pronunciation is very important, you need to make sure that you will understand it the correct way. I got lucky and on YouTube I found a video where each letter was given a sound, and you could hear it and understand it. I kept re-playing it until I knew that I understood it. Then the video showed two letters together like in English (ch, sh, th, ing). I learned pronunciation fairly quickly. It was very, very hard at first, but I got the hang of it. It's the only way to learn it, keep practicing. In your case, look on YouTube. There has to be something some pronunciation tutorials out there. If there isn't on YouTube, look on Google. You will find some there for sure. Listen a lot to people speaking their language by watching a movie or on the radio. You can find radio online that will speak in the language you are studying. Try meeting friends online who speak in the language you are learning, there are lots of forums out there that you can learn from natives of that language. My point, you can find a lot of ways to learn pronunciation quickly and easily.

Something that also people think of pronunciation is that they need to know every sound of every letter the exact correct way. In a way this is true, but not in the beginning. Keep learning and moving on with what you are doing. Make sure you have a basic understanding of how to say words. There will be some words that you won't know how to say, and that is fine. After reading lots of words, you will begin to understand how to say those harder words. You will know more about the letters and how they sound differently in different words. It all just comes after time.

These are just some examples and methods that I use to learn my language. I hope that you will try these and that they will be successful for you. I have a lot more of this material on my blog. You should really look at this, you will learn more and your language learning skills will increase.

Here is my blog: http://learnlanguagescorrectlyandswiftly.blogspot.co.uk/

Take care

Jonah

learnlanguagescorrectlyandswiftly.blogspot.co.uk

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How to Enjoy the Most Boring Conference Ever

A healthy share of conventions is always good for business, however many times these very important conferences have turned into really long, boring affairs that we just love to hate. In these instances, it is important to have a good action plan before attending the conference. I would suggest that you use the ideas below at your next convention to boost your overall experience;

Ensure that you interact with as many people from your industry as you can during breaks. Use their insights to start exciting discussions on your Facebook page. Encourage the discussion by adding your view on the subject and constantly update your wall with facts that come up from your interviews. At the very least, you shall have made helpful contacts for your business and remained relevant to your business.

Take pictures throughout the conference and upload them to your social networks with brief commentary on each photograph. Use the pictures to describe the conference and its importance to your industry. If you have taken pictures of the keynote speakers, make brief commentary on the topics they discussed and generate a buzz on the subjects. Ensure that you also get interviews with these speakers to add to the budding discussion.

Interview influential people in your industry at the conference. This extra information will come in handy for future use on your online platforms for many purposes, not least being company publications such as newsletters and blogs. A good quote from an influential person in your interview would also be a useful item to have handy for use on your company website, so make sure that you ask your interviewees for permission to publish their statements on your website.

In case the conference becomes too unbearable, you should take out your laptop and use the time to catch up on lost office time. Consider this the best time to catch up on emails, write-up reports and prepare for upcoming meetings. Basically, you should use this time to prepare for your inevitable return to the office.

Write stories for your blog during the most unproductive points of the conference. You could write about your overall experience in the meeting as well as your impression of the surrounding country, if the event is in a different state or district.

In conclusion, there will no longer be any reason to completely write off a convention as useless when you realize that every bit of information is crucial to the success of your business. This realization will free you to generously offer your customers as much material as you can glean from any opportunity.

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Don't Miss These 5 Essentials of Article Writing

I love to write; articles, short stories, poems, book reviews, novels or news reports. It's great fun to see your own work in print and always a bonus if you can get some income from it.

In this short note I want to think about some key points that should be included if you want your article to be noticed.

1. Love it! I believe this is an essential - have passion for what you're writing. There are two reasons for this. Firstly is that it is so much easier to write when you're writing about something you enjoy. Do you have a blog? Is it filled with things that keep you happy? Second is that readers can generally tell if you're writing from the heart - passion comes across! I believe that this is the core to all writing - love it and enjoy it. Even when you have an assigned piece of writing - remember you promised your friend you'd do a piece for him - do it from a point of enjoyment. This can mean putting humour into the article which can be successful if you know how to tell a joke; if you don't then forget it!

2. Grab a snappy title. Keep it short and have a bit of mystery in it or lead people in to the core. Make people want to read it. When I was a research Physicist I had to read so many scientific papers that it made my eyes bleed! The content was often excellent but the titles... Having this experience led me to a fun way to get school students to write Science papers; I would get them to write up their report as though they were a sensationalist journalist! Great stuff - and it inspired them to study Science further.

3. Lists. Everybody loves a list. How often do you click the link on a website when it says '10 ways to see if you have the right partner' or '7 ways to boost your sales' or '5 ways to meet more girls/boys'; or '50 ways to leave your lover' as Paul Simon said. (Who is singing this in their head right now?)

4. What is hot? Articles on current topics will get noticed. It could be about the latest fad in food, fashion, music or Science! Be careful though as these articles generally have a short shelf life.

5. Paragraphs. Keep it short - people skim read and it's easier for them to follow you if the paragraphs are short!

There are five ideas to work on. Did I follow my own guidelines? Let me know by writing to peter@writewithpeter.com

Write some more but enjoy it first!

For more free tips to help with writing articles and generating an income from them visit http://www.writewithpeter.com/

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On Writing Well - Unnecessary Information in a Narrative Bloats Text and Inhibits Pacing

Unnecessary Information in a Narrative

Editors routinely discuss transitioning with their clients, as the way a story hangs together is one of the most crucial aspects of writing fluent prose. Transitioning elements determine not only readability but everything from plot believability to story continuity. Often a single word, placed in the proper location, can create the ideal scene from the perspective of all the nuances I just discussed. But what determines what does and doesn't need to be included in a narrative?

Eschew What's Obvious to the Reader

I read a novel by a popular author who decided his readers needed to know when his protagonists went to the bathroom. I'm eternally thankful he spared us a discussion of the actual event, but we still received an account of each trip behind a bush. I'm not making this up, and I can only assume this writer was trying to make a sideways stab at humor, but because of the serious nature of his material otherwise, it didn't work for me.

Likewise, Don't Write About Issues That Have Nothing To Do With the Scene

Readers can assume a garage door was shut before the hero or heroine entered the house, as well as that the kitchen lights were turned off as a character leaves to enter another room. This is no different from answering the phone. Someone can simply write that "John answered the phone" and move on to the actual conversation.

Or the same activity could read like this: "John heard the harsh cacophony of the ringer inside the old, white, oblong phone hanging on the wall in his kitchen. He pushed himself up from his lounge chair in the living room and walked briskly to the grab the receiver, noting the location of the furniture along the way so he wouldn't bump into anything. As soon as he reached the phone, he placed his right hand firmly on the handset and removed it from the cradle, pulling upward and outward in one swift motion. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath, holding the speaker section directly below his mouth, but not so close that his chin would touch it. He wasn't at all concerned with whomever was on the line, so in a pleasant tone he said, "Hello."

Some Things Can and Should Be Taken for Granted

The same sort of laborious writing describing answering a phone can apply to almost any normal activity. I read a paragraph in a novel recently that was as silly as the one I just wrote, but in that instance it depicted a person entering a car. Instead of the character driving away from the scene of the crime, I was told how he got in the driver's-side door, placed the key in the ignition, started the engine, shifted the transmission in gear, and then pressed the accelerator. That really was more information than I needed to know, although I appreciated the tutorial, as I'm getting old and tend to forget how to get my own car going.

Some Aspects of a Scene Must Be Explained

Editors are paid to look for plot holes, and it's their responsibility to tell clients if Jill was in Chicago at the same time she was in Dallas or that Mike was drinking coffee when it was never established he was offered a cup. It's this sort of thing that can have writers scratching their heads as to why one issue is considered important and another trivial, but it relates to either scene transitioning or story continuity or both. And determining what's important and what isn't, and acting on this prudently, can make or break a story.

Robert L. Bacon, Founder
The Perfect Write®

Free Critique Service! The Perfect Write® is now providing a Free Opening-Chapter Critique and Line-Edit. Paste the first chapter of your manuscript (up to 5000 words) to theperfectwrite@aol.com (no attachments). In addition to the critique, The Perfect Write® will line-edit, if applicable, up to the first three-pages of your double-spaced material also at no charge.

Also Free! Receive The Perfect Write® Newsletters that feature articles on writing at a publishable level. Click here http://www.theperfectwrite.com/ and scroll to the bottom of The Perfect Write® Home Page for the simple two-step sign-up form.

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How to Write a Succesful Novel

First of all, writing a novel is not a difficult thing. Just ask Eminem. It's like keeping a diary from a godlike perspective. Pay attention to a few things which should get you started in no time.

One of them is planning. A novel starts as a project, just like a house does. You want to build it and sell it, then you need to plan it first. You can't put a flimsy foundation on a four storey just like you can't end a tragedy with a wedding taking place. So at first, plan your course of action. Decide what the end is before you start writing the beginning. Otherwise you'll just go with the flow, the main reason successful writers suddenly get blocked. Inspiration comes and goes, but rationale doesn't, as it's not based on momentum, but on a logical course of ideas. In this case, we're talking a fictional course of ideas. Begin with knowing where you start, where you go from there and when will it end.

Next step, characters. There's a reason writers like Hemingway or Mark Twain chose to build their characters based on themselves and friendlies: they're real, therefore plausible. It's hard, extremely hard I might add, to build plausible characters from scratch. That happens because of the difficulty one encounters when trying to be several people at once. A good 'fictional' character is one you are able to see and react to it, care about it. Think about Tom Sawyer for an instant.

Next comes coordination. Once you find the persons you want to build your characters around, find their connections. Of course, those are tightly related to your plot. By taking in consideration the psychology of your characters you need to find the best way they can relate with one another and with the plot for maximum of impact on the readers. Actually this is the hardest part. That's because you need to detach yourself emotionally from you brainchild and exploit its pieces to the limit. Once you get that done there's no turning back. You may have dozens of drafts written, but those will only affect the novel semantically or grammatically, the core itself will have been established.

I do not care to elaborate on certain novel rules and limitations. As far as modern writing goes, there are none. In the old times there had to be certain truths to be established, characters to be defined by the course of their or others actions. There are no such tedious requirements today. Everybody writes. But a weak novel is still weak, old rules or new. Before you write you have to think as a director. If you can manage that you're halfway there. The other half is pure luck.

Oana is an active user of Lacartes.com -a business network for people looking to connect with great services and meet people with similar interests and share photos, updates, reviews and more. In her spare time she likes to read books and write articles on different topics that interest her. Come join us for FREE. This article can only be reproduced in its entirety when the link to lacartes.com is live at all times.

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Is Sentimental Jewellery All Diamonds?

Buying jewellery is often a difficult task especially when you're looking for a piece of jewellery which is to last a long time and mean something. You can easily pick up a piece of costume jewellery which looks nice but it's not going to last long and so you don't want it to have too much sentimental value.
If you want a piece of jewellery to hold sentimental value then it needs to be something that will last and so it needs to be made of a real metal and not just be plated. A silver necklace will last much longer than a necklace which is silver plated.
Before you go out to buy a piece of jewellery you need to know what your budget is first. If you don't know your budget then you don't know what you can look at. You should make sure that you know what style of jewellery the person who will be receiving your gift likes, do they like simple delicate pieces or a large piece which stands out? You should also make note of what pieces of jewellery they wear, some people may wear a necklace on a daily basis, others may prefer a bracelet which they can slip on when the occasion calls for it.
When it comes to choosing that special piece of jewellery you must take your time, look at what is available in your local jewellery stores. You don't want to go out and buy the first piece of jewellery that you see, you should look all around the different stores, take note of which pieces you like and what it is that you like about them. You don't want to buy a piece which is simply something that you like, by taking your time you will be able to ensure that it a piece which the receiver will like too.
Many people think that a special piece of jewellery should include diamonds, but it doesn't have too, the important part about that piece of jewellery is that you've chosen it along with the reason behind giving that gift. If you want to give a silver heart shaped locket to your partner with pictures of you and your children inside on one of your anniversaries then you can do that. It is a gift which will be loved and will hold a lot of sentimental without the need for a diamond to be in sight.
You may decide that the right thing for you is to have a piece of jewellery made so that you can give a gift which is unique and unlike anything which someone else has. If you want to create your own piece of jewellery it is important that you think about what you want it to look like and maybe even draw out a simple sketch of a couple of ideas you've had. By drawing out your ideas the jeweller will be able to see what it is you like and will also be able to add their own suggestions to help you create your piece. If you are adding diamonds or other precious stones then you will be able to choose your very own. It is very important that your jeweller is aware of your budget so that they can ensure that they only show you the options which are available to you.
A piece of diamond jewellery will always be stunning but you don't need to have a piece of jewellery which is full of diamonds for it to be special. It is the reasons behind the choice in jewellery and the occasion which make it a truly special piece.

The Diamond Trade Centre is a well established in diamond jewellery Manchester can help you to find or create the perfect piece of jewellery to give as a gift.

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