How to Use a Thesaurus When Writing

When writing any sort of piece, whether it be an article or a report, using the right words can mean the difference between a compelling read and a tedious bore. Unnecessarily repeating words, even when they bear the correct meaning, can leave your writing bland and wanting in quality.

Take this paragraph as an example:

Gadget freaks, rejoice! The company has announced that the gadget will shoot videos in native HD resolution, which you can then stream to your HD-ready TV sets for full HD enjoyment.

Contrast it to this, which replaces repeated words across the text:

Gadget freaks, rejoice! The company has announced that the device will shoot videos in native 1080p resolution, which you can then stream to your HD-ready TV sets for a complete high-def viewing experience.

How many times can you repeat a word? Generally, avoiding use of the same word within the same sentence or the one immediately after it can endow your piece with added readability. In its place, you can use a pronoun or another term that carries the same meaning.

When trying to find words that can express the same idea, there's no better tool to use than a thesaurus. Simply look for the word you're intending to substitute and look for a suitable replacement. Many English grammar software applications come with a built-in thesaurus that you can use as reference while writing your piece. The software will also likely recognize excessive repetition in your text and suggest replacements from it. This is the simple trick of avoiding the use of the same words over and over can facilitate tremendous improvements in your writing.

Watch how innovative Perfect English Writing Software instantly can improve your writings on a daily basis and learn how advanced NLP technology can help you to write even better English than your English teacher. Read more

Writing Fiction Can Put Real Money in Your Bank

Most writers dream of writing that big novel, and while many fictions writers may never see their book gracing the shelves of the local book store, they can make a bit of dough writing fiction online. If the goal of your writing is to make a living, and you cannot stand writing web copy then it is time to look for ways to write your fiction online for money.

Most aspiring fiction writers write their novels in their spare time, and spend their days doing copywriting, ghostwriting and blog writing to keep a roof over their head and food in their refrigerator. Their goal is eventually to write fiction fulltime but this takes time, sometimes years and in the meantime everybody has to eat!

In comes Story Mash, billed as the future of collaborative fiction, Story Mash pays you, the writer for your nonfiction stories. You can create new stories or contribute chapters to existing stories and once you publish them Story Mash pays you a percentage of the advertising revenue earned by your chapter. The Percentage starts at 50% and can go up from there depending on how much you have written and how popular it is.

Story Mash also runs contests; there are five rounds to every contest, with one round every two weeks. Each round represents one chapter in a story they specify, the prize for each chapter is $100 except for the final round which is $200.

Of course you can self publish your stories through a number of sites online like LuLu and there are a number of sites online that will sell your self-published book for you.

Another option is publish your short stories or novels in eBook form, using a program such as Adobe Acrobat, then sell them through your website or through Clickbank. If you choose this option you could even include a chapter for free on your website to get people hooked and then ask them to purchase your eBook to get the rest.

Finally you can publish your short stories on your personal website and use advertising to create your revenue, this does mean you will need to do a lot of marketing to get people to your website to read but if your writing is really good that should not be a problem.

Fiction writing does not have to be a dead end or a seemingly endless journey, with a bit of creative thought and effort you can turn your fiction writing into dough online.

If you need money now, like I mean in the next hour, try what I did. I am making more money now than in my old business and you can too, read the amazing, true story, in the link below. When I joined I was skeptical for just ten seconds before I realized what this was. I was smiling from ear to ear and you will too.

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SEO - A Writer's Perspective

One point that should probably be made clear is that SEO means something different to a writer than it does to other people. For a writer, every word is a possible keyword, and how the phrases link together is a complete road map of what they are trying to say. In my own work, I see it reflected and coming back around in everything I do online.

I write news spoofs when I have the time. I've learned to recognize which topics draw more readers, and have compiled a spoof news list of popular keywords. Surprisingly, people want to hear about Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and Peak Oil more than any other topics I've found. Political satire flashes briefly in the pan, and is then forgotten, but our modern world's most popular legends echo from coast to coast, and are quickly reprinted in nature blogs, or whatever genre they may apply. Bigfoot landed an article on the front page of Yellowstone news, and witchdoctors selling chocolate have graced respected pagan websites.

I use SEO to lesser degree at .modern Dislogic, But still lace each commentary with a spattering of what I hope are vital connections. Again, peak oil is a a popular topic, but gods and mythology are also well-liked. My problem is that this isn't the direction I wanted to go. In my zest for creating articles that centered around a particular subject, I've accidentally modified the basic keywords which identify my site, and that has cost readership rather than gaining more.

I have been online so long, and participated in so many writing projects and hobbies that my online nickname of Illusnist is itself a search term. Ideally, the company should have gotten this branding, but my online writing precedes my copywriting by so many years that it is easier to use my nickname to build relevance for the company. Either way, as long as the optimization for search engines is performed carefully, my relevance as a copywriter will grow along with the traffic brought in for my clients. Each new project I accept from some online project board will be another tile laid on the path to recognition as an accomplished writer of web content.

Such is the way for writers and search engine optimization. Our first goal is to get in front of readers, and our second is to focus those readers on the aspects we wish them to see. That I am a writer is apparent from simply Googling my name and looking at the search results, and the way they link back to me. It has been my decisions online that have shaped the way I appear to the world, not in some quick overnight frenzy, but through years of actually being focused in my niche, and participating in areas that highlight my talents.

Am I an SEO professional? Hardly. But guess what? That guy who wants to charge you hundreds of dollars for an easy SEO job isn't a professional either. The science is too new, the groundwork is still being laid, and the rules change every time search engine algorithms get updated. There are no guaranteed results, only guaranteed methods, and those can be had for free.

If you are interested in learning more about SEO, how it works, and how to implement it on your own website, please visit SEO Notepad, a free SEO tips and SEO articles blog

Making Money Writing a Good Proposal

If you are laid off or looking for a job and need some way of raking in money until you find a good job, then proposal writing is an excellent idea to look into. There are many small companies and start up business entrepreneurs who require proposals for many reasons.

The job needs only a computer and a printer, clear writing skills and business knowledge. If this is up your alley, you will find proposal writing a rewarding business both as a short term, part time business or to establish as a full time business at home.

Small and mid sized Businessmen need proposals for new projects, loan sanctions and for getting business from prospective costumers. Not for profit organizations need proposals written for government grants. You will need to draft a few sample proposals or proposals for grants using your imagination. You can then reply to the many jobs available on the internet calling for the services of a proposal writer.

Small entrepreneurs and not for profit organizations will be grateful for your skills. You should be flexible and make changes required by each employer. You need to set a time frame and try to keep your deadlines. Your fees for proposals should be competitive and as you grow in the business you can charge more.

There are many people out there willing to pay for your proposals to be written. Anyone with business savvy and clear writing skills and looking for a job opportunity should try proposal writing for part time success with full time benefits.

If you need money now, like I mean in the next hour, try what I did. I am making more money now than in my old business and you can too, read the amazing, true story, in the link below. When I joined I was skeptical for just ten seconds before I realized what this was. I was smiling from ear to ear and you will too.

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Easily Check Your Writing

Can an advanced Paragraph and Sentence Checker change the way we write English? Speaking a language is considered less formal and easier than writing; thus it requires us to keep our writing correct and professional. Let's take a look and see how recent technological improvements can help us on improving our writing skills.

Short overview

Auto proofreaders such as the following Paragraph and Sentence Checker easily help you to write proper English by identifying and correcting your most common grammar and punctuation errors. How can it correct your grammar? The idea is comparing your sentences with their own 'proper' sentences variations analyzed by a sophisticated algorithm. Grammar writing programs enable us to: quick analysis for proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and in some cases even text enrichment suggestions.

Main benefits

Let's summarize the main benefits and advantages:

* Enriching our English vocabulary.

* Saving on proofreading and editing costs such as hiring proofreading services or professional editors.

* Improving our word choices with synonyms, adjectives, and adverbs suited to our text.

Extra research on this solution would probably bring up additional benefits that aren't described in this article, as this advanced tool is constantly moving forward, bringing us fresh improvements that help us on improving our Grammar writing and proofreading skills.

Final words

To conclude this article: Paragraph and Sentence Checker focuses on one main goal - that is transforming complex grammar proofreading tasks automatic and accurate. It is important to keep in mind that this technology is not 100% perfect; however, it helps us dealing with most of our common writing problems. We can only expect this solution to further develop itself, for a single reason: writing is one of the most important tools that help us fulfill our daily assignments.

Watch how an advanced Paragraph and Sentence Checker analyzes text and learn more about innovative technologies that can help you transform your English writing correct, professional and creative.

Visit: http://www.englishsoftwareguide.com

Article Submission Tool

Expose your articles on the web with the help of an article submission tool. This tool is a vital component in successful article marketing. It can be either software or an online service which assures the exposure of your article to a greater number of readers online.

Article marketing involves getting articles to be seen by web surfers. This is no easy task as online advertising is much more complicated than it looks. There are a huge number of websites where you can submit and post your articles. However, depending on the website's popularity, your articles would probably receive only a limited amount of viewers. Using an article submission tool will help you place your articles in websites that matter most.

An article submission tool will help you build the credibility of your website. You might wonder how this works. First, the tool submits your articles to target sites where you will receive a lot of readers. When readers read your articles, they will see a back link to lead them to your website. The more readers you have for your articles, the more visitors your website will receive.

Having a large number of visitors to your website will increase your sales dramatically. You can thank the efforts of the article submission tool, for without it, you could take months to years trying to duplicate the effort it has made in an instant.

With article submission services, your articles will receive the much needed attention from readers. Consequently, you will receive lots of traffic to your site and you can generate a large amount of income from it. However, online article submission services require a certain amount of fees for you to avail of them.

An article submission tool or software is a prime alternative to article submission services online. There are software which can be bought at low costs and there are those which are free. This is a very good option to get that large number of reader's right where you want them to be, reading your articles.

An article submission tool is programmed to work by themselves with minimal supervision from the user. They can be set to do their tasks automatically or semi-automatically. You get to submit more articles and generate more back links with the help of these tools. You acquire more traffic to your website thereby boosting your sales. Most of all, you get to achieve all of these by just a few simple clicks.

Learn more about article marketing and which article submission tool is best for you by visiting my blog.

Read honest and detailed reviews of article submission service. Also, find out how article submission software can work for you.

Writing From the Road

There is a rather large contingency of traveling writers, article authors, and novelists that travel in motor coaches and write. I know, for seven years I myself traveled the country by motor coach and I often met them. Some were travel writers, others wrote magazine articles, and some were well known authors. This always fascinated me, and perhaps gave me the confidence to become a writer myself.

My motor coach "The Blitz Mobile" mobile command center has a trailer set up and the trailer section contains my personal library. Did anyone ever tell you how heavy books are? In this library I have all sorts of information and thus, I have all the references I need to write on the road, something I would recommend for any serious traveling writer. Other writers I have met have their own smaller reference library, they take with them. Many traveling writers have invited me into their motor homes and they'll have a small row of reference books. Books such as Travel Guides, Atlas, Dictionary, Almanacs, Thesaurus and other mini-Encyclopedia type books. In fact you can always tell a traveling writer by what is in their motor home.

And I also recommend having reliable Internet Access as well, this is why I set up a separate power source in the trailer and use the WiFi from the Internet Satellite Antenna from the Motor Coach part. If you are considering writing from the road you might wish to check out the MotoSat Mobile Systems available, they are not cheap, but they work very well.Some writers use the new 3G wireless access card for their laptop. Some older writers just wait until the find an Internet Cafe. Still others only stay at WiFi enabled RV Parks and there are more and more of them these days.

The great thing about being a writer is that you can write from virtually anywhere and with mobile technology what it is today, you can have instant access to the real world when you want it. When you don't turn it off and enjoy the inspiration from the scenic views or destination spots. Why not take your writing on the road, enjoy life, dump the stress and allow your creative juices to flow, your mind to roam and ride like the wind!

Lance Winslow is a public speaker and gives professional interviews to various news agencies and Internet Companies Lance Winslow. Lance Winslow is also available by appointment; http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/honeywebought/bossresources.html#lance ; PBS Special with Lance Winslow.

Book Review - "Reading Like a Writer," by Francine Prose

It may seem like ridiculously obvious advice, but its one of those bits of ridiculously obvious advice that bears repeating over and over again: In order to be a great, or even good, writer, you have to read. Read a lot. And read good writing. In Francine Proses recent bestseller Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them, she suggests going a step further and reading in a more careful, thoughtful way. After all, what good is recognizing that Virginia Woolf wrote beautifully complex sentences if you dont understand how she pulled them off?

Prose takes the reader chapter by chapter through various elements of writing that can be examined upon a close reading of a text. And theyre not all as simple or common as character arc or the use of active verbs. For example, how often have you thought about paragraph breaks? How does a paragraph break affect a reader, and how should you decide when to break them? I get the feeling that most writers, especially new writers, dont think about this at all. If they did, they might say something like they just break naturally or when a new thought begins.

But the point of Proses observations is that books and stories dont write themselves. Every letter and comma is the result of a decision by a writera decision that could have been made differently and changed the meaning of an entire sentence, passage, or story. Try taking a piece of your own writing and playing with the paragraph breaks. Free yourself from the constraints of your first draft; you can always restore it. See how breaking differently makes the text read differently. As Prose puts it, merely thinking about the paragraph puts us ahead of the game. She makes the following lovely analogy: The paragraph could be understood as a sort of literary respiration, with each paragraph as an extendedin some cases, very extendedbreath.

Its difficult to describe a book such as this by quoting its author, since her entire purpose is to convince you to read other authors. You may not see a paragraph as a breath; you may see it as a story or a question or a piece of information. But in order to discover what role paragraphs play in your own writing, its useful to read as many other writers as possible, and stop to see what paragraphs mean to their work.

Prose cites mostly older, classic works (though some are fairly obscure), and some more contemporary examples would have been nicebut they also would have caused a nightmarish situation in her publishers permissions department. The classics, of course, have plenty to teach, and studying them is less likely to make you think, But I dont want to copy [insert dead white male here]. But in the rather overwhelming Books To Be Read Immediately list at the end, youll find Denis Johnsons Jesus Son and Alice Munros Selected Stories alongside Austin and Hemingway.

Lets say youre writing a thriller, and the last thing you want to do is be seen as just another Dan Brown wanna-be, so youre staying as far away as possible from anything remotely related to The Da Vinci Code. That doesnt mean you cant attempt to emulate its page-turning style. Read it closely, and look at the paragraphs. The sentences. The chapter breaks. Read other thrillers you like as well, so youll feel less fear of copying one particular author but if you have your own story to tell, and your own style, that wont happen anyway. Good writers can learn from one anothers work without committing plagiarism or losing their own voices.

In the opening chapters of Reading Like a Writer, I found myself frustrated that Prose was bombarding me with examples without providing quite enough explanation of why she chose them. But, as she might have predicted, this bothered me less as I continued to readbecause I found myself more and more able to follow her advice and read carefully (a nice experience for someone whos used to rushing to finish a chapter before the next subway stop).

A few final notes:

• Learning to read carefully doesnt mean you have to do it all the time. You can and should still lose yourself in a good book without stopping to analyze the effectiveness of its use of gesture. But just as architects can both study the construction of great buildings and admire their beauty, writers can study the construction of great works, and apply some of the techniques they see to their own writing, without giving up the joy of reading. If you want only the latter, youre not willing to work hard enough to be a successful writer.
• As its subtitle suggests, Reading Like a Writer is not only a book for writers. Ive recommended it to friends who are avid readers, because people who read a lot and like to discuss what they read are also eager to understand why they like what they like. Proses writing is accessible and engaging, not pedantic or dry. Shes expressing, more than anything, her love of great literature, and thats not a feeling exclusive to writers.
• Francine Prose really, really likes Chekhovs short stories. She devotes an entire chapter to why she likes him so much, one reason being that he was skillful enough to break every rule shes ever heard of in writing, including some shes mentioned previously in her very own book. I agree that hes a master of the short story; you should find out for yourself. If you already know you arent a Chekhov fan, skip that chapter. But read the rest. And then go read all the books on that Books To Be Read Immediately list.

Lisa Silverman is a freelance book editor and works in the copyediting department at one of New York's most prestigious literary publishing houses. She has also worked as a ghostwriter and a literary agent representing both book authors and screenwriters. She founded BeYourOwnEditor.com in order to provide writers with free advice on both writing and the publishing business.

Six Tips to Improve Your Online Writing

Depending on who you ask, writing is either an arduous craft that takes years to develop, or something anyone with a keyboard can easily turn into a million-dollar enterprise. As it is with most controversies, so it is with writing: both sides are wrong.

Yes, you can start writing right now, and there are plenty of venues for doing so. Free web sites like Blogger.com will let you get started without even so much as an investment in a domain name. But unless you're an unusually gifted writer, you shouldn't worry too much about the risk that ladies will swoon over the stark beauty of your prose after a few minutes' work on your part.

The good news is that you don't have to be an off-the-cuff Chaucer or an out-of-the-box Hemingway. Writing is a skill that improves with time if you apply a few basic principles.

1. Write Something Every DayThere is something about writing that makes writing easier. I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that when I'm writing a lot, I find it easier to write even more. Ideas take shape. Connections form.
2. Writing is One Step, Editing Is AnotherIn general, your writing direction should be forward. Writing quickly helps you avoid the inner editor, who otherwise would want to wreak havoc on your brilliant ideas (that's just the kind of person your inner editor is). This is not to say you can't occasionally move back if you find a fatal phrase that simply cannot stand as it is, but make it a rule to try to save most of your edits until the end. Tell your inner editor you'll be happy to let him come out to work just as soon as you're finished playing.
3. Keep ScoreA wonderful writing exercise is to try to count your time and your words. Simply make note of when you start and stop, or use a stopwatch or stopwatch computer program. Many word processors and blogging tools have a word counter you can use. If all else fails, copy and paste the finished product into one that does. There's something like watching your word count every day that helps you stick to your writing schedule, and there's something about seeing the article or story count go up over a few weeks that really helps keep you motivated. Set up a simple spreadsheet in Excel and track your progress. (Hint; don't watch the clock as you're writing, when you're writing, write!)
4. Get a JournalEven though I spend my day at a keyboard, I find it helps to jot down the basic article ideas in an old fashioned paper journal. Also, sometimes I need to sketch something visually, and writing by hand seems to work better for doing this than a drawing program. You don't have to spend the day "journaling", just have a book where you can jot down a quick idea from time to time, because if you're writing often, you're going to have a lot of them.
5. Set Goals I find that when I set a specific goal for myself for the week ahead, and remind myself of my goal in the morning, I get more writing done. I try to make my goal just a little bit challenging, but not one that's realistically out of reach given my current numbers (remember, we're keeping score).
6. Be Gentle With Yourself No matter what profession you choose for yourself, life is going to happen to it. Physicians have to meet with Pharmaceutical salespeople, even if their big love is working with patients. Writers are no different. You'll still need to do your taxes, take the kids to school, and whatever else you need to do as part of the business of living. If you have a particularly grueling day of interruptions, don't try to stick to the same schedule as you would if you have a day clear for writing.

John Lockwood is a freelance Internet writer working in Sacramento. He realized one day he was a professional writer after the top-ranked web sites he'd written for his real estate business totalled more than 3,000 pages. He is the author of Inklit.com, an Internet Writer's Blog as well as many other web sites and blogs about real estate and Internet marketing.

This article is Copyright(c) 2008, John Lockwood Associates. Permission is given to copy this article, but users of this article must maintain the article and the author signature box in its original form. No other use is permitted.

7 Mistakes in Article Writing

The most important thing to remember about article marketing is building trust between you and your potential customers. Your primary concern is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche so every word, sentence and paragraph of your articles should subtly communicate this to your readers through quality writing.

Unfortunately, too many authors think it's all right to bang out article after article hoping that quantity will override quality. The opposite is true. If you cannot avoid the following 7 mistakes in your article writing, you will sabotage your own efforts at article marketing.

Article Writing Mistake #1: Poor title

This is your headline and it needs to catch your reader's attention as well as potential publishers. Try to work in keywords but don't overdo it. Of all places, don't misspell or have a grammatical error here as it only makes you look as if you don't care. If that's true, why should readers care to read any more of the article. Make sure the title accurately reflects what the article is about.

Article Writing Mistake #2: Badly written summary

Most article directories allow for a summary of your article but this is not the place to stuff your keywords or repeat a keyword phrase ten times. You would be surprised how many authors think this will help when all it does is get their article immediately rejected. Create a summary that expands upon the title and draws in the reader with a little more information and a possible tease that makes them think, "Yes, I need to read more about this." One to three sentences is all it takes. I tend to write my entire article first before coming back to the summary to make sure it's the best it can be.

Article Writing Mistake #3: Failure to edit

The following was the opening of an article submitted to my site:

"Instantly, let's start at the very starting out, what's the first thing you have to do before starting a..."

The author obviously wants to stress the importance of what is to come but failing to correct this rhetorical abuse through editing defeats the purpose entirely. Remember: First drafts never make good reading. Editing is what makes good writing.

Article Writing Mistake #4: If you hire a ghost writer, check their work

I see way too many articles where a ghost writer is hired and English is not their native language. There's nothing wrong with hiring someone to write articles for you but if you don't review and approve the results, then I have no sympathy for you. Turning over the entire process of writing and submitting articles on your behalf is a sure way to make your company look stupid.

Article Writing Mistake #5: Use the preview button

Article directories don't have any time to format your articles for you. If you can't take the time to properly format your article into paragraphs with spacing, don't count on getting your articles published very much. After pasting your article into the submission form, use the preview button to see if its properly formatted. If not, go back and make the corrections.

Article Writing Mistake #6: Writing in the passive voice

What separates great writing from the rest is writing in the active voice.

Passive: The boy was bitten by the dog.

Active: The dog bit the boy.

Eliminate words such as was, were, been, have, has, and had. Replace them with an active verb or direct voice. Your articles will stand out head and shoulders above the rest if you edit with this in mind.

Article Writing Mistake #7: Failure to deliver

Perhaps the most common, this mistake is surely the deadliest of all. Each part of a submitted article is designed to pull the reader further along a path of information that eventually leads to your website. The title grabs, the summary teases and the article body delivers. But if it doesn't, what makes you think the reader will click for more information? They won't if you fail to deliver on what was promised.

If you ignore the advice given in this article, I can guarantee mediocre results from your article marketing efforts. Will you take this article to heart and eliminate these mistakes from your article submissions? If so, you can be sure that your article marketing will achieve maximum results.

Charles Gregory is a freelance writer and owner of Ezine Article Exchange where submitting quality articles means free website advertising for you.

Writing a Friendly Letter

A friendly letter may be informal or casual, but it is still a letter. And as a general rule, letters should be clear, readable and organized. Otherwise, the recipient will have a hard time deciphering your message.

A readable letter can be scanned quickly to get the gist of the message. It has simple and direct sentences organized into several concise paragraphs. Like business letters, a friendly letter is also divided into seven parts: heading, salutation, introduction, body, conclusion, closing and signature. Some people deviate from this format, and that is okay with informal letters.

The heading usually consists of three lines. The first two lines bear the complete address of the recipient. The third line indicates the date the letter was written. Salutations are opening greetings. The most often used salutation is "Dear." But with informal and personal notes, salutations can take many forms. Sometimes people write "Dearest" or "Ever dearest."

The introduction gives an overview of the topic at hand. This section of the friendly letter is normally written in paragraph form.

The body is the bulk of the letter, consisting of several paragraphs. All paragraphs should be coherent to one another, all leading to the main message of the letter.

The conclusion sums up the topics offered on the body of the letter.

Closing is often made of one or two words like, "lovingly yours" or "sincerely yours." The first letter of the first word of the phrase must be written in capital letter.

Signature bears the name of the letter sender.

However, since this is an informal letter, a writer is allowed free verse. And the format is just suggestive but not strict. It can be altered at any point in time to make the personal letter more intimate and unique. Perhaps the only restriction imaginable is to keep the letter friendly. After all, there are still basic writing etiquette. Even in informal letters, we frown on expletives and derogatory remarks. Bad jokes are also not tolerated.

Below is a sample friendly letter. The name of each part is written in parenthesis before the significant sections of the friendly letter.

(Heading)
2527 CC Figueroa Street
Pasay City
December 3, 1969

(Salutation / greeting)
Dear Jade,

(Introduction)
How are you Jade? It's been a long time since we got away from each other due to our studies. Indeed, I miss you so much, my friend. However, the Christmas vacation is coming so we will have some time to see each other.

(Body)
In fact, I am planning to spend my Christmas vacation there. I am looking forward for that vacation because I am so excited to be with you again even for just a short period of time. I am just excited to share with you my beautiful experiences here.

Above all, I am really yearning for your companionship. I am missing all the things that we shared together before I got here for my study.

(Conclusion)
So see you soon Jade! I hope you will be looking forward for that, too. Until then. God bless Jade and take care always!

(Closing)
Lovingly yours

(Signature and printed name)
***
Sapphire

For more information on Sample of Intent Letter and Termination Letter Sample please visit our website.

A Children's Writer's Guide to Critiquing Manuscripts

If you've just joined or started a critique group for writers but no one seems to know what to do next, maybe this guide and checklist will help. If you aren't in a critique group, you can still use it to critique your own writing.

CRITIQUING MANUSCRIPTS (For Critique Groups)

Begin with some basic procedural guidelines for critiquing:

1) Start with something positive - Point out at least one thing that worked really well in the manuscript.

2) Be specific in your comments and suggestions - For example, saying "I liked your story" is flattering to the writer, but doesn't really mean much. Saying something like, "I felt the dialogue sounded exactly like something two teenagers would say and advanced the plot well" is more specific.

3) Use the checklist (below) - This will help you be more specific in your comments and suggestions. And, if you use the checklist to critique your own writing it will help you recognize weak points in your story before you share your work with anyone.

CHECKLIST FOR CRITIQUING MANUSCRIPTS

I. Character

__ Are my characters well-rounded? Do the major characters have both positive and negative traits?

__ Is my main character someone readers can care about? Does he/she want something important?

__ Have I revealed character through action?

__ Does my main character take action? Or is she too passive?

__ Is each character's voice distinctly his/her own?

__ Have I avoided stereotypes and stock characters?

__ Does my main character solve his/her own problem? Is he or she different in some way from how he or she was at the beginning of the story? (this doesn't always have to happen, but usually it means your story has some depth to it)

II. Point of View

__ Have I stayed with my POV character throughout the story?

__ Would the story be stronger if I switched from third person to first person or vice versa? Would the story be better told from a different character's point of view?

III. Plot

__ What is the basic conflict of my story?

Beginning

__ Do I introduce my characters and the conflict right away? Or do I take too much time revving up? Could I chop off the first paragraph and start with the second?

Middle

__ Have I put complications in the middle that get worse and worse and build to a climax?

__ Does my character have to work to reach his/her goal?

End

__ Does my main character solve his/her own problem?

__ Does the ending grow logically out of the rest of the story?

__ Is my ending satisfying without being predictable?

IV. Language

Description

__ Are my details specific, not generalized?

__ Have I bogged down the action with tedious passages of description? (One way to check this is to see how many "ing" words are used; very many usually means there is too much description)

__ Would that description work better if I wove it gradually into the story rather than presenting it as a block?

__ Have I described with more than one sense (i.e. sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)?

Action

__ Have I used strong and specific verbs and nouns?

__ Have I successfully avoided passive voice?

__ Can I cut out redundancies? Small talk? Clutter? Meaningless qualifiers such as "just" and "very"? Passages that bog down the action? Have I used too many different dialogue tags that attract attention?

Mechanics

__ Are there awkward or confusing sentences or scenes that need to be cleaned up?

__ When I read my story out loud, does the rhythm sound right? Is it choppy? Too wordy? Monotonous?

__ Are my transitions smooth?

__ Have I avoided clichs?

__ Does each sentence sparkle with my own voice? Is that voice strong and credible?

V. Purpose

__ 1. Does each character and action in the story have a definite purpose?

With these specific points to look for when critiquing a children's story, it should be much easier for you and your fellow writers to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each and every manuscript.

For more helpful tips for writers, visit http://www.workingwriterscoach.com and sign up for the mailing list. When you do, you'll receive a free ebook for writers, plus every weekday morning you'll get The Morning Nudge, a few words to motivate and inspire you to get a little writing done.

Visit the National Writing for Children Center at http://www.writingforchildrencenter.com and find out how you can learn to write for kids. Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, children's author, and founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center.

Before You Write

A writer writes, by definition. We often imagine that professional writers sit down and simply write, with beautiful strings of elegantly crafted words simply streaming onto the page or screen with an inhuman grace. Such a mental image couldnt be further from the truth. The reality of it is that writing is real work, a labor of care and love and obsession, with anything remotely graceful coming only after hour (if not days) of painstaking, plodding work. Even for most professionals, the art of writing is one filled with multiple drafts, numerous revisions and countless edits. Despite all of this, a few simple steps can reduce the time lost to labor and increase the speed with which completed articles go out the door.

The keys to efficient writing arent necessarily used when youre actually writing the article or polishing it for publication; instead, efficient writing begins before the writing even starts. The two keys to more efficient writing are planning and preparation. While such words may cause the artistic free spirit to balk, these two elements will often mean the difference between an extra week of writing the same article, or a fat paycheck for an article thats in under the deadline. The steps are simple, and just need to be followed.

Selecting a Topic Before you can write effective non-fiction, you must select a topic. Without a topic, you dont even have a direction in which to go. Very often, when a non-fiction writer speaks of writers block, that writer is really speaking about a lack of topic. Once a topic is chosen, fleshing it out is more a matter of cold logic than anything else.

Clarifying the Topic Once you have a topic, you have a broad, general direction to go in. While this may be enough to get you going, its rarely enough to base an article on. Often, our topics may be either too broad, encompassing too much information, losing any potential impact, or it may be too narrow, not leaving enough room for development. Ask yourself the following questions, with example answers given describing the article you're reading now:

- What is the general topic? (writing)

- What differentiates it from the rest of that topic (the pre-writing process)

- Who is my audience? (writers, mostly experienced amateurs, non-professionals)

- What is the purpose? (instruct writers on pre-writing)

- What does my audience need to know? (Details regarding the steps of the pre-writing process)

- What questions are there about the topic and the needed information?

Doing the Research Once you have clarified what your topic is, youll now have the beginnings of your information gathering. Continue asking yourself questions, looking at your topic from as many ways as possible. Looking at this list of questions, identify potential sources of information that you can turn to for answers. These may be individual experts, reference books, websites, and many more. As you answer the questions, look for additional questions that the audience wouldnt even know to ask, but still should know. As your information accumulates, you may find that some questions become unimportant, or unnecessary; other questions, like the original topic, may be either too broad or too narrow. Continue to research and revise until you are satisfied that every base has been covered.

Thinking and Planning Looking now at your clarified topic, your refined list of questions and the information youve accumulated through expert research, its time to think about your article. Bearing in mind both the intended audience for this article and the purpose, how might this information meet those needs? How should it be presented for maximum effect? How can this raw information be shaped into a marketable work of art? Now is the time to ponder these questions, and to find answers.

Making a List Finally, with all your prior work completed, make a list of the points that must be covered in your article. Sequence this list in the most effective manner you can so that it wont confuse readers or misrepresent your topic. List the points again, this time in sequence. Ta-da! You now have a step by step blue print for your article, with all of the necessary information laid out for you. Without a single visit from your muse or even one case of artistic distemper, youve built the majority of a great article, and youve done it quickly, and effectively.

Brian Westover is a freelance writer. In addition to writing articles for publication in standard print venues (such as magazines and newspapers), he is also a skilled copywriter, offering a variety of services to anyone who needs great online content, polished business writing in a professional format and editing and coaching to improve your own writing. In addition to his professional site, Brian also runs WriterSpot, a website dedicated to finding and organizing online resources for either the beginning writer or experienced writing professional.

A Writing Strategy For Premium Traffic

Have you ever played one of those "maze" strategy games where you have to move through a huge maze to reach the exit ... but every path you try seems to be a dead end? I'll bet there've been times in your professional life - maybe now - when you thought getting premium traffic to build a profitable online business was exactly like that.

I remember a unique demonstration I saw many years ago. Some scientist stuck a rat (not a writer) at the beginning of the maze. At the end was a desired reward - a piece of cheese. No matter how many dead ends that rat hit - and there were a lot - it never lost focus. It never got discouraged about its lack of keyword training. It never cried out to God for more inbound links, more joint venture partners, more clicks. It never blamed other rats who ran a frustrating content promotion affiliate program. Instead, this rat recognized how the maze distribution system worked. So each time it hit a dead end, it just turned around and made a new submission. And sooner, rather than later, that rat had his cheese.

If you're anything like me, you've hit a ton of dead ends while trying to generate traffic to a website. For a long time, even when something seemed to work, the traffic I got didn't convert to subscribers very well - if at all.

Then I figured it out. When I write articles that give great value, and then entice a few people in my target market to share my articles with others, I get a steady stream of real prospects in my niche. And they do convert. So the writing strategy to get premium traffic is to be sure you give your audience real value satisfaction each time you write. That works.

Only results count. Richard Dennis submitted 20 short articles in 10 days. Result? Google lists 18 of the 20 articles in its top 4 search results. In fact, 14 articles are #1 ... against many millions of competing pages. See the proof at http://ArticlesByRichard.com, and get your free step-by-step plan for how you can do the same.

Article Writing Tips to Do it Right the First Time

If you are using articles as a marketing tool there are a number of things that you can do to have your article published quickly and have it deliver traffic to your site.

1. Write original content that helps the reader in the area or topic that they are interested and provides value to the reader.

2. Make sure if you are referring the reader to your site with a URL that it actually works and your link is alive.

3. Ensure that you are not just submitting PLR content that has been produced in bulk and putting your own name on it. It should and will be rejected by most article directories and will not be of any benefit to you.

4. Ensure that the content you have in your article is helpful and not just regurgitated facts. Readers are looking for answers to their questions and if they are not satisfied they will move on along away from you quickly. Your articles also may not be accepted in article directories because of their quality.

5. Ensure that you do not stuff your article with keywords and that you keep the keywords you are using down to below 1% density or one keyword for every 100 words in the article.

6. Article Marketing is all about getting people to find out more about you. Remember not to put more than two links in your resource box and that the anchor text is under 3-4 words and uses your main keyword.

7. Prior to planning your article think about what your reader would be searching on and use the keywords and plan to find the specific part of your niche that you can serve best versus a broad keyword. For example if you are writing on cats don't go broad too much but drill down to the "long tail" keyword for example cat litter box behaviour.

If you follow these tips your articles should be approved and accepted faster by article directories such as EzineArticles and you will get the targeted traffic that you are looking for to help you in your endeavours.

I would like to know what questions you have about article marketing. I invite you to visit Article Writing Tips. Let me know and I will email you a link for your free mp3 on Article Marketing Secrets which you can listen to at your leisure.

6 Golden Rules For Fiction Writers

As an aspiring writer of novels you probably come across obstacles in your writing course on a daily basis. That is to be expected. Writing a novel is quite a long process and you are bound to have days when you have writer's block, lack of motivation, and are just feeling generally unproductive. Here are some fiction writing tips and golden rules for writers to get you back on track.

1. Write about subjects that are interesting to you. You may have a grand idea for a novel that you think will make you a millionaire, and in fact that may be the case. However, if it is a subject you have no interest in you are going to have a hard time staying motivated to complete an entire manuscript. If you're writing on a subject which is near and dear to your heart or at least something you are very interested in, you'll find the process of writing much easier. You'll also find you won't have to do as much research.

2. Don't let your mother look over your shoulder. A lot of writers subconsciously censor themselves because they begin to think about all the other people who might read their book should they get published. So instead of freely writing, they end up writing very stilted descriptions with the thought in mind of who is going to be reading it later. You must write without worrying about who will read your book.

3. Join a writer's group. This is important so that you can get constructive criticism that is objective. You may be showing your manuscript to your friends and family, but most of the time they are not going to give you very good criticism. Why? They don't want to hurt your feelings. But you need to hear what people actually think of your writing so that you will have a better chance of selling your work later. It's great to show your unfinished novel to your friends, but in your writers group you will get the best critiques.

4. Develop a thick skin. You must allow people to give you their honest opinion of your work. This is how you can improve. You also need to remember that you will probably get a lot of rejections for your work, and you will need to not take it personally. Learn from these rejections and improve your writing. Editors may sometimes include notes for you and these will be great fiction writing tips that you can apply.

5. Always read. Never stop reading books on writing, books in your genre, as well as a wide variety of other subjects. Become as well read as you possibly can.

6. Take classes. You may think that you already know all there is to know and that a class would only bore you, but you will find golden nuggets of crucial and invaluable information and fiction writing tips in each and every class, sometimes from your instructor and sometimes from other members of the class.

For more fiction writing tips and a step-by-step guide to write your novel, all you have to do is click here!

Learn how you can get your first novel started and finished easily with this step by step guide

A Children's Writer's Guide to Critiquing Manuscripts

If you've just joined or started a critique group for writers but no one seems to know what to do next, maybe this guide and checklist will help. If you aren't in a critique group, you can still use it to critique your own writing.

CRITIQUING MANUSCRIPTS (For Critique Groups)

Begin with some basic procedural guidelines for critiquing:

1) Start with something positive - Point out at least one thing that worked really well in the manuscript.

2) Be specific in your comments and suggestions - For example, saying "I liked your story" is flattering to the writer, but doesn't really mean much. Saying something like, "I felt the dialogue sounded exactly like something two teenagers would say and advanced the plot well" is more specific.

3) Use the checklist (below) - This will help you be more specific in your comments and suggestions. And, if you use the checklist to critique your own writing it will help you recognize weak points in your story before you share your work with anyone.

CHECKLIST FOR CRITIQUING MANUSCRIPTS

I. Character

__ Are my characters well-rounded? Do the major characters have both positive and negative traits?

__ Is my main character someone readers can care about? Does he/she want something important?

__ Have I revealed character through action?

__ Does my main character take action? Or is she too passive?

__ Is each character's voice distinctly his/her own?

__ Have I avoided stereotypes and stock characters?

__ Does my main character solve his/her own problem? Is he or she different in some way from how he or she was at the beginning of the story? (this doesn't always have to happen, but usually it means your story has some depth to it)

II. Point of View

__ Have I stayed with my POV character throughout the story?

__ Would the story be stronger if I switched from third person to first person or vice versa? Would the story be better told from a different character's point of view?

III. Plot

__ What is the basic conflict of my story?

Beginning

__ Do I introduce my characters and the conflict right away? Or do I take too much time revving up? Could I chop off the first paragraph and start with the second?

Middle

__ Have I put complications in the middle that get worse and worse and build to a climax?

__ Does my character have to work to reach his/her goal?

End

__ Does my main character solve his/her own problem?

__ Does the ending grow logically out of the rest of the story?

__ Is my ending satisfying without being predictable?

IV. Language

Description

__ Are my details specific, not generalized?

__ Have I bogged down the action with tedious passages of description? (One way to check this is to see how many "ing" words are used; very many usually means there is too much description)

__ Would that description work better if I wove it gradually into the story rather than presenting it as a block?

__ Have I described with more than one sense (i.e. sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)?

Action

__ Have I used strong and specific verbs and nouns?

__ Have I successfully avoided passive voice?

__ Can I cut out redundancies? Small talk? Clutter? Meaningless qualifiers such as "just" and "very"? Passages that bog down the action? Have I used too many different dialogue tags that attract attention?

Mechanics

__ Are there awkward or confusing sentences or scenes that need to be cleaned up?

__ When I read my story out loud, does the rhythm sound right? Is it choppy? Too wordy? Monotonous?

__ Are my transitions smooth?

__ Have I avoided clichs?

__ Does each sentence sparkle with my own voice? Is that voice strong and credible?

V. Purpose

__ 1. Does each character and action in the story have a definite purpose?

With these specific points to look for when critiquing a children's story, it should be much easier for you and your fellow writers to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each and every manuscript.

For more helpful tips for writers, visit http://www.workingwriterscoach.com and sign up for the mailing list. When you do, you'll receive a free ebook for writers, plus every weekday morning you'll get The Morning Nudge, a few words to motivate and inspire you to get a little writing done.

Visit the National Writing for Children Center at http://www.writingforchildrencenter.com and find out how you can learn to write for kids. Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, children's author, and founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center.

The Successful Freelance Writer

Back in the old days, it was quite easy to get freelance writing jobs. When our grandparents were still in their teens, they already had jobs at newspapers and magazines. Back then, they were also gutsier and were more resourceful. Perhaps it was because of the urgency during their time that they had no other choice but to excel and do their best.

These days, we have the comfort of technology. Writing does not require you to actually own a pen or a notebook (although other people find such practice more conducive to writing). Modern technologies like the Internet, television and even mobile phones have paved the way for more freelance writing jobs.

But how come only a few seem to have tapped into this new media (especially the internet)? After being in the business for quite some time now, I've come to realize that some people are just not aware. They think it's hard work looking for a gig online. I'm here to correct that notion.

It's not difficult to find writing assignments online and sustain it as long as you find your niche.

Freelance writing jobs start out with you looking for something you're comfortable writing about. At first, you might be given assignments you know next to nothing about. However, don't be dissuaded and give up.

Since you're already online anyway, why not try doing research? Research is a freelance writer's best friend. For example, I was once tasked to write about employee relations. Back then, I had no idea what I could write about. Instead of returning the assignment, I looked around for information and read other articles. Soon, I found myself understanding what it meant and I was able to come up with a great piece.

Freelance writing jobs will expose you to a wide range of topics. However, you will soon find yourself having a greater and easier time writing certain topics. At this stage, you have already found your niche and while you may still keep your old job, you can now begin looking for other opportunities that will focus on the topic of your interest.

There are plenty more tips for freelance writing jobs where this came from. Already unspoken rules, of course, include polishing your grammar and being responsible for your articles. Plagiarism is absolutely a no-no. The Internet might be an endless vast space but it's not that hard to bump into articles every now and then.

Want to earn a 5-figure monthly income through freelance writing jobs? Go to http://www.20daypersuasion.com/5figurewriter.htm and discover how to earn massive amounts of money by becoming a freelance writer

Why to Avoid Free Copywriting

Finding someone reliable to put your website text together can be hard and when you're on a budget it can be even harder. So, free copywriting can sound very tempting in some situations. However, it is important that you not only strive to get quality over quantity and affordability. You also need to be sure that you spend the right amount of time fleshing out the content and the writer who will put it together.

What You Get From Free Copywriting

Free copywriting doesn't pay. It's often poorly executed, or even generated by a machine rather than put together by a seasoned, well trained writer. It might be plagiarized or spun from other content and Google will almost certainly not accept it as a viable addition to your SEO efforts.

So, why do people seek free copywriting? They want to save money of course. But, if you really want to save money in the long run, go the extra mile and pay for quality in your text. It will save you money in advertising and efforts later by boosting organic SEO in the here and now.

What You Get From Paid Copywriting

Paid copywriting is a much better option than free copywriting because it provides you with a few things. First, you can find the writer that you like and interview them to be sure they know what they're doing. Second, you can review their credentials and tell them exactly how to write your text. Finally, you can build your plan and work with them to continually revise it. When you pay someone, they are much more willing to work with you on the final product.

The baseline is this - free copywriting doesn't pay. You need to spend a little to get a little and that will always hold true - no matter how much you want to save.

Read more from Anthony Chatfield and why free copywriting will only cost you more money in the long run by visiting his website at SeattleFreelance.com

Thought Leaders - Using Article Marketing To Entrench Yourself and Your Personal Brand

A "Thought Leader" is someone recognized as an authority in their field of expertise...also known as a visionary. Few people set out to become a "thought leader" or "guru," but there is good reason to not only establish yourself as an expert, but as a higher-level expert or "thought leader" for your market.

How can you become a "thought leader" for your niche or industry?

Besides risk-taking, leading a company that leads an industry, being vocal in your own blog and posting comments on other blogs & top industry forums within your niche... the easy answer to saturate the market is via the use of syndicated articles!

Here's a mini-course on how to get started to build your own "thought leadership" following via submissions of EzineArticles:

QUANTITY: You'll need more than 100 articles to really do this right, and as you approach the 500-1,000 article level, you'll be closer to reaching a saturation point that builds a buzz around your name, your ideas, your articles and your expert opinions.

Could you influence a market with 1 or 2 articles? Nope. Can you do it with 10-50 articles? Perhaps 10 years ago you could. Today's market is very competitive and as such, you need to do more than 'what everyone else does' if you want to stand out and get to the top, especially if you're in a niche that is very popular already.

QUALITY: You want to use your articles to communicate your single-minded focus as the expert of your niche. This means quality articles, very little babble, and 1 or 2 links in the resource box that must reinforce your expertise and personal brand. This is not the time to be an affiliate marketer.

Example: If you want people to take your Digital Photography business seriously, you can't post a Geocities, Tripod, etc. junk URL in your article resource box...but rather, you must post a domain name that you own that further solidifies the unity of your message. Also, leave out domains that you own that have nothing to do with the purpose of the article you're writing.

Note: Quality does not mean high word-count quantity. Best if you keep your word-count in the 250-500 words per article so that you can achieve a high article count. A 500-word article performs the same as a 5,000-word article, so why give the marketplace more than they can absorb in an easy reading? Today's reader "scans" rather than deliberately reading every word of your articles.

CONTROVERSY: Unlike other article writing reasons, when you write to achieve market "thought leadership" status, you must stir up the market by taking some gray issues and make them black and white. This is a good opportunity to take current events and provide your expert analysis and support reasons why certain issues are good or bad for the market, economy, world, etc.

CONSISTENCY: Using article marketing or putting your hundreds of articles into distribution is not a one-shot Charlie routine, but rather it's a drum you begin beating and every week for a few years you pound your article submission drums louder and louder.

It pays to create a burst of submissions (50-250) when you initially start, and then taper off to 10-100 new submissions per month until you reach a market saturation point that you feel puts your voice, your brand, your articles at the front of the pack.

PROMOTION: Once you put your articles into distribution via the various article directories, ezine publishers, and specialty web directories of your niche - the next step is to promote them further by using them to establish credibility as you participate in forums, blog comments, your own blog/online journal, and your email newsletter.

"Thought Leadership" via Syndicated Articles Conclusion:

It is possible to take the net by storm to position yourself as a 'thought leader' via putting hundreds and thousands of your articles into distribution. Within 6-18 months, you can become known as a "thought leader" in your niche if you'll do what no one else is doing and in a volume/quality that no one else had done to date for your niche. There is time and you can do it. Go for it! :-)

About The Author:

Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best quality original articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ expert author community. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links intact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/

(c) Copyright - Christopher M. Knight. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

The Moral of the Story

The means of conveying a moral specific theme in a fictional story is termed Moral Fiction. This designation may seem self-explanatory since you most likely grew up with stories that contained a moral lesson. So many classic children's stories were infused with value based story lines it may seem strange to think that is not the primary purpose of storytelling.

Today, however, Moral Fiction is a genre unto itself. Somewhere in an undefined part of literary history, new genres of fiction began to emerge with little claim to a moral objective. Today its clear there is a need for the term Moral Fiction.

With this genre, the story is essentially a creative vehicle whereby a moral lesson can be conveyed to a mass audience. That's not to indicate that Moral Fiction is preachy because it doesn't have to be, in fact, I would suggest it shouldn't be.

Writers need to be careful to remember the story has an ebb and flo that does not respond well to the use of a bully pulpit. If your reader views the story as a tool to bludgeon them with a moral imperative they will stay away from your work - in droves.

Julie Andrews delivers a song for the movie, "Marry Poppins" that is very appropriate when choosing this type of fiction, "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down." Too often readers view bad moral fiction as if they were being force-fed vinegar.

Moral fiction is very effective when the author uses the moral lesson as a single thread in a very large tapestry. The trouble often arises when the author views the moral lesson as the tapestry and the story as the thread. In one case it's a compliment to the storyline and in the other it is viewed as moral superiority.

As a writer you seek ways to connect with your reader. In Moral Fiction the goal is to allow the story to be as engaging as possible so the reader doesn't immediately disengage from the storyline because they weren't anticipating a sermon.

For writers who come at their work from a faith perspective it is expected that at least a good portion of the work produced will have a moral theme. Moral Fiction provides an effective vehicle to convey a Christian worldview in the much-loved genre of fiction.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects.

Make A Website in minutes with HighPowerSites or Build A Website with BuildAGreatSite.

Start your own ebook business and Resell Ebooks with BooksWealth.

20 Top Tips To Writing Effective Surveys

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you write more effective surveys.

1. What is the purpose of the survey?

Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey dont loose sight of its purpose.

2. Title the survey

The survey title is a golden opportunity to instantly summarise a survey's objective and grab the attention of invited respondents. Respondents are going to invest time in completing the survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.

3. Do not make the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Focus on need to know questions and minimise nice to know information.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, maintain consistency and dont ask questions that may result in ambiguous answers

Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question is not clear then there is every chance that respondents may interpret the question differently to that intended by the publisher making any analysis of the data meaningless or at the very least misleading.

5. Avoid long questions

Try to use short sentences wherever possible. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.

6. Ask one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like Do you like football and tennis?

7. Avoid influencing the answer

It is important not to load the question. Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to children be prosecuted? is unlikely to have any value.

8. Ensure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked

Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be less inclined to complete the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a Dont know, Cant say or similar response option.

9. At the same time that you compile the survey consider, when the survey is complete, how the compiled data is going be analysed

If a question is asked that allows a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping answers. For example How long have you worked here? - less than 1 year, between 1 and 3 years and more than 3.

10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows

When asking questions group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.

11. Target your respondents

In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you cant easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who dont fit your target profile.

12. Allow the respondent to expand or make comments

Allowing the respondent to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.

13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that your pledge is upheld

If you have assured the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any identifying information destroyed after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the benefits of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then appreciate that you will be unable to follow up or match pre or post surveys. However in some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Give careful consideration to the best response format

It is good practice to maintain a consistency in the format used for responses. Keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Give the respondent an idea of how much time the survey will take.

Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so the respondents can choose the best time to complete the survey.

17. Inform the respondents of the survey end date

Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advice respondents as to the surveys end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Pilot the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.

19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey several times

Check and check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.

20. Remember to say thank you

To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and should be thanked either in a covering letter, at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.

For more information please visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy. For more information please visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com

Top 10 Tips to Writing Great Candle Lighting Ceremony Poems

10. Get inspired.

Think about an anecdote or personal trait that makes this person special to you and write it down.

Example: For a bar mitzvah boy's grandfather who passed away very recently, the notes one could write about him are as follows:

He was Irish, Catholic, not Jewish. He was so proud of the man that David is becoming. He lived in Florida and he made David feel safe in Florida by telling him that his home was really David's Florida home, so David was never homesick in Florida. He was a baker, he used to make bread on the kitchen table without a bowl, he made a lake in the middle of the flour. There needs to be something about David remembering him making bread with the lake on the table. The candle will be lit by Grandpa's brother Uncle Frank and Aunt Marianne. This is the first family get together without him.

With a little work you can turn it into this:

My grandfather who I love so dear

Passed away recently, but I know he is near

His was my second home in Florida, of this I know

He told me how proud he was as he watched me grow

Grandpa was a baker and bread he would always make

With flour on the table, in the center he made a lake

This candle is to honor him, that has been my plan

Please come up to light it with me, Uncle Frank & Aunt Marianne

9. Make poems that are 4-8 lines.

Too few will be hard to convey your message and too many might bore your audience.

8. Try to keep each poem the same length.

You don't want Grandma to be upset that she got 4 lines when Uncle Bill got 8.

7. If you are having trouble finding a word to rhyme with another word, you can either pick a different word (like choosing "great" instead of "good" or "sweet" instead of "nice") or try going to http://www.rhymezone.com/

It is a great rhyming dictionary on-line that comes in handy for those tough to rhyme words.

6. Try to make the first line rhyme with the second line and the third line should rhyme with the fourth line.

It's an AABBCCDD pattern that makes it simpler to read and find a rhyming word.

5. If you know who you want to call up to light the candle, find a word that rhymes with their name

With you guys as family I am never alone... (and end the line with) Come on up Uncle Bill and Aunt Joan.

4. An easy method to use is to find a last line that rhymes with the number you are on.

For example:

Grandma's cooking always tastes like heaven,

So come on up to light candle number eleven.

3. There are a few catch phrases that you can use for any poem such as:

...I love you ...

Come light candle number two.

And...

"To my aunt and uncle whom I truly adore,

Please come up to light candle number four."

Here is an example of how you turn the notes you jot down into a poem. For Grandma & PopPop: Michael is their first and only grandchild, he has slept there every Friday the first 2 years of his life, and still sleeps over at times. They took him skiing for the first time when he was 4, they take him to movies, play cards, you name it, they do it for him!

Turn that into:

There are two special people here who I just love and adore

They introduced me to skiing when I was a boy of four

I have learned so much from both of them about being a good friend

Whether it's at the movies or playing cards, there's laughter without end

When I was little I stayed with them almost every Friday night

Grandma & PopPop it's number twelve, I'd love your help to light

2. If there is someone on the list that your family knows, but you don't know so well, be sure to speak to your family and get some insight into who they are and why they are special.

Example:

For a very dear friend of Mom and Dad's - JoAnn. Steven's mom has known JoAnn since they were 6 and of course JoAnn knows Steven since his birth. She helped the family a great deal when Mom and Dad were going through a divorce. She helped move them from Staten Island to NJ, she stayed there for 2 weeks to help them settle in. Always there for Mom, serious or fun...she is a lot of fun to be around.

Turn that into:

This next candle is for a family friend who's always there in a fix

She's known me since my birth and known Mom since they were six

From Staten Island to New Jersey, she helped us with our move

Two weeks she kept us company, till we got into a groove

Always fun to be around, that's why I'm such a fan

Please come up for candle eleven, mom's dear friend JoAnn

1. When in doubt, go to a professional who will write the poems for you and allow you to concentrate on all the other things you have to do when becoming a bar or bat mitzvah. Visit me at www.thepoemlady.com or email heymannyc@yahoo.com. I'll write candle lighting poems for you based on the information you provide. I also help pick out the songs and make the whole thing effort free. The poems are sweet and funny. You can even print them out and roll them up in a scroll and hand them to the candle-lighters as they come up so they can take their personalized poem home with them.

Most important, just remember to have fun and enjoy your special day

jill - the poem lady
http://www.thepoemlady.com

5 Tips On How To Position Yourself As An Expert

Writing articles will help you in many ways. You can build an online or offline business with your articles. You will also gain visibility and credibility when people see that you are an author. The word author come from the word authority, and it is this fact that will help you to position yourself as an expert in your field. Here are 5 tips on how to write articles that will build your business in a very short amount of time.

• Keep your articles short. No one wants to read a one thousand word article by someone they do not know. People reading online have a short attention span and want information in small chunks. Three hundred word articles will serve you best.
• Write in a conversational manner. Make it easy for the reader to understand what you are talking about and how it will help them.
• Give people useful information that they can put into action immediately after reading your article. There is so much fluff out there, people will appreciate and remember someone who honestly gives good, solid tips and suggestions in their articles.
• Show both sides of what you are writing about. Your readers need to know what will work for them and what will be a waste of their valuable time.
• Write as though you were talking to a prospect or client. If you learn to do this well enough, many of your readers will turn into clients.

Follow these five tips and you will position yourself as an expert in your field very quickly by writing articles for your business.

And now I invite you to join me for free weekly teleseminars that will teach you how to write, market, and sell your articles and ebook to increase your visibility, credibility and passive income by visiting http://www.EbookWritingandMarketingSecrets.com and download two free article writing templates at http://www.WriteArticlesWithJeffHerring.com to get started right away

Book Review For "Tales of Beedle the Bard"

Discover Harry Potter's wizarding world's unique fairy tales in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Filled with wizarding fables that invoke "Grimm's Fairy Tales," these five short stories carry messages of hope, morality, and virtue. Rowling expands Harry Potter's universe by sharing these magical fairy tales in a writing style that's easy to read and appeals not only to children, but adults as well.

The most compelling story is that of the three brothers. They encounter death as they cross a bridge. Death gives them each a gift - the elder wand, a stone that brings back the dead, and the cloak of invisibility. It is this story which is referenced in book seven of the Harry Potter series and it gives Voldemort's driving desire to possess these objects perspective, as Voldemort was trying to find a way to cheat death.

The other stories are just as interesting. In "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," a self-serving wizard refuses to share the hopping pot with the townsfolk. His refusal to help others leads the hopping pot to drive him crazy until he does. In Dumbledore's footnotes, Rowling cleverly ties in legends of our own history and talks about how the wizarding community and humans came to have separate societies.

"The Fountain of Fair Fortune" rebuilds trust between muggles and the magical. Three witches and a knight go on a quest and discover what they were looking for was more in their hearts than in their magic.

"The Warlock's Hairy Heart," tells what happens when a magician gives up his humanity by removing his heart. Its probably the most gory of the fairy tales - but its also one that captures the essence of the Grimm stories.

"Babbity Rabbitty and her Crackling Stump," is one of the first stories in Harry Potter's universe that deals with Animagi - those wizards and witches who can change into animals. In it, an arrogant king wants to be the only one who can do magic in the kingdom. A sly charlatan who can't do magic, fools the king into becoming the Grand Sorcerer. When the king puts the charlatan on the spot, he turns to Babbitty, an old witch, to help him fool the king.

All the stories have folksy, fairytale appeal. They read like we would expect a fairytale to. The use of magic in the story makes little difference to the moral of the story being told.

The book complements Rowling's Harry Potter series well. The writing is easy to understand. The stories are well paced. Rowling makes her characters appealing with little emotional touches reminiscent of the Harry Potter series. Overall, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," is a book all will enjoy.

"The Tales of Beedle The Bard"
Written by: JK Rowling
Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-545-12828-5
$12.99
5 Stars

StephB is an author who can be found at http://sgcardin.tripod.com.

In her spare time she likes to read many books and a variety of different genres. StephB is an author at http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writing.

20 Top Tips To Writing Effective Surveys

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you write more effective surveys.

1. What is the purpose of the survey?

Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey dont loose sight of its purpose.

2. Title the survey

The survey title is a golden opportunity to instantly summarise a survey's objective and grab the attention of invited respondents. Respondents are going to invest time in completing the survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.

3. Do not make the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Focus on need to know questions and minimise nice to know information.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, maintain consistency and dont ask questions that may result in ambiguous answers

Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question is not clear then there is every chance that respondents may interpret the question differently to that intended by the publisher making any analysis of the data meaningless or at the very least misleading.

5. Avoid long questions

Try to use short sentences wherever possible. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.

6. Ask one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like Do you like football and tennis?

7. Avoid influencing the answer

It is important not to load the question. Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to children be prosecuted? is unlikely to have any value.

8. Ensure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked

Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be less inclined to complete the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a Dont know, Cant say or similar response option.

9. At the same time that you compile the survey consider, when the survey is complete, how the compiled data is going be analysed

If a question is asked that allows a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping answers. For example How long have you worked here? - less than 1 year, between 1 and 3 years and more than 3.

10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows

When asking questions group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.

11. Target your respondents

In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you cant easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who dont fit your target profile.

12. Allow the respondent to expand or make comments

Allowing the respondent to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.

13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that your pledge is upheld

If you have assured the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times and any identifying information destroyed after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the benefits of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then appreciate that you will be unable to follow up or match pre or post surveys. However in some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Give careful consideration to the best response format

It is good practice to maintain a consistency in the format used for responses. Keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Give the respondent an idea of how much time the survey will take.

Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so the respondents can choose the best time to complete the survey.

17. Inform the respondents of the survey end date

Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advice respondents as to the surveys end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Pilot the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.

19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey several times

Check and check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.

20. Remember to say thank you

To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and should be thanked either in a covering letter, at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.

For more information please visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com

Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy. For more information please visit http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com

Creative Writing Exercises

Many of us who write will turn our noses up at the thought of writing exercises. We feel either that we're already a creative writer, so why would we need to do any exercises to learn how to be one. Or we associate exercises with bad memories of our school years, and being forced to do things we know we're not good at, the pressure of sitting exams, and so on.

If you have either of these trains of thought, it's completely understandable why you're not jumping around with eager excitement at the thought of trying some new writing exercises.

But the fact is, you're missing out. You're depriving yourself of the chance to enrich and expand your writing repertoire into new areas you may not even know exist.

Another concern that's often voiced is that by using the guidelines of someone else's exercise or prompt, the writing will not be your own. Why would you want to spend your precious creative time writing something that you don't feel you can claim as your own words at the end of it?

When you use a writing exercise, you're simply giving yourself a starting point.

It's like taking your car out on the road, pointing in a certain direction and saying: "I'm going to head for California (or Calgary, or Canberra or anywhere else specifically named) and I'm going to enjoy the sights along the way."

As opposed to sitting in your car on your front drive thinking about all the wonderful places you COULD drive to, but not even starting the engine.

Creative writing exercises give you the starting point and the direction. Beyond that, the writing is all yours.

Where you go, and how you get there is entirely up to you. The exciting thing is, you don't know where you'll end up, and you don't know how you'll get there.

After all, isn't that what writing is all about? Unfurling the adventures within you, that you didn't even know you had within you?

Right now the possibilities of what you could write about are so limitless they're overwhelming. But give yourself a little scenario or outline and notice how your creativity roars into life.

Imagine writing a letter to a male relative who left under emotional circumstances and you haven't seen for 5 years. Why did they leave? What do you feel about seeing them again?

Just this few lines of premise will trigger your creative mind into thinking about the possibilities. It's what it does best, you can't switch it off!

There's a girl in a red dress stood at the side of the road, clutching a doll with one arm and an tattered envelope. Why's she there? Where are her parents? What's in the envelope?

Notice again how your creative mind fills in the gaps and your curiosity kicks into action? Again, you're engine started!

Now get out on the road and have a wonderful creative writing adventure!

And to get started with some creative writing exercises and ideas right away, get your FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at http://www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com

From Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin

Easy Ways to Break Through Writer's Block and Land the Job You Want

Is it time to update your resume? Are you finding it hard to describe what you did in your most recent job? Are you trying to write a new resume, but don't know where to start? Writer's block happens to a lot of people writing their resume.

People who are currently working often face two difficulties when writing their resume. First, is seeing the forest through the trees. When there's so much detail about what you do, it can be very hard to step back and see the big picture. Second, if your job is boring, it's difficult to imagine that what you do is valuable and interesting to others.

If you're unemployed, it's natural to have conflicted or negative feelings about the job and the company. In that case, the struggle is to be positive about what you write.

Recent graduates may not have a lot of material to work with when writing their resume.

Here are some easy ways to overcome writer's block and write a powerful resume that will help you land the job you want:

1. JOT DOWN A FEW DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES.

Think about what needs to get done on a daily basis. What needs to get done weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly? These activities show that you have the requirements to do the job function, and work in the industry. Use words and phrases like "manage," "oversee," "understand," and "capable" in your resume.

2. WHAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE REQUIRED TO DO THE JOB?

If a brand new person, with no training at all, was put into your job, could they do it? Probably not. What skills, procedures, and systems would they need to learn? Most candidates know more than they think. Just because the skills, procedures and systems have become second nature to you doesn't make them less valuable to employers. Terms like "senior," "experienced," and "seasoned" will show that you have deep knowledge of the job and industry.

3. WHO WOULD COMPLAIN IF YOUR JOB DIDN'T GET DONE?

Remember the brand new person who tried to do your job in the previous paragraph? When that person fell short on the job, who would complain? The boss, customers, or coworkers? These are the people that rely on you. These are the benefits you bring to the table. Write something along the lines of "Provide _________ for_________ so they can _________." If you work with top decision makers, you can also say "Work closely with _________."

4. WHAT PROBLEMS DID YOU SOLVE?

There are two types of problems:

The first type of problem is a onetime problem that needs to be solved right now. It can be a problem that prevents the group/department/company from moving forward (a missed opportunity). Or, it could be a "meltdown" such as a computer crash or a lost delivery. In either case, there is a real sense of urgency.

The second type of problem is the recurring, nagging type. Did you build a better mouse trap? Did you face the same problem over and over? These are the problems that force businesses to lose time, money or energy because they are just plain frustrating.

Be straightforward in describing your problem-solving skills: "Resolved recurring issue of _________ resulting in _________." Or, "Overcame the _________ problem and saved the company for _________."

5. WHAT WERE YOU GREAT AT?

Were you recognized for being great at one or two things on the job? Is there anything you wanted to be recognized for? Even if your boss overlooked your strengths, you can highlight them on your resume. Describe yourself as an "expert _________"

6. NEW GRADUATES NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.

Apply the five tips described above toward your scholastic career, extracurricular activities, and hobbies. Remember, no one expects you to be a superstar straight out of school. Be bright, happy and responsible, and you'll be a valuable candidate.

Ready to learn more about how to write a resume?

Download my FREE 12-page report, "Anatomy of a Perfect Resume," at http://www.magneticresume.com so you can learn:

• The 4 most common deadly mistakes that people make and how to fix them!
• How to create the perfect Career Objective & Career Summary sections
• How to maximize your resume so you're the candidate your next boss wants to meet!

Scott Shane Holt has seen it all while hiring over 100 people on Wall Street, in good times and bad, and as an executive coach helping managers and other professionals accelerate their careers.