Write to free Christmas music December 13, 2009

A quick poll at our house revealed that three out of four PC users prefer to listen to music while they amuse themselves/work/avoid housework at their PC. I am the odd one out, as I need silence when I am trying to think. Keeping that in mind, I downloaded this week’s free download from iTunes for the times when thinking is not important.

I was surprised at the great mix of Christmas music on this album, and especially at how much I enjoyed David Archuleta’s voice and Meaghan Smith’s song “It Snowed.”                                                                 

Amazon is also feeling musically generous. Called “The Twenty-Five Days of Christmas,” Amazon is giving away one free download of Christmas music per day.

For those of you who love to support new artists, Free Christmas Music also has a list of twenty-six songs you can download legally.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Make a simple flyer with Word. December 8, 2009

There comes a time for most writers when they wish they could do simple design work. A simple flyer, a brochure—couldn’t be too hard . . . could it?

If you want to do graphic work, you must have graphic software, and most writers only have Microsoft Word 2003. So what can you do? Use Microsoft Word.

Directions for making a simple flyer
Open a new Word page.
Write the text you would like for your flyer.
Block your text from beginning to end with the mouse.
Click on “Format” in the top line of buttons on your screen.
Click on “Borders and Shading.”

Those tabs
Borders is for a border around the text you block.
Page border puts a border around the entire Word page.
Shading shades in the space you have blocked.

Borders and page border
The left column helps you decide on the type of border you’d like.
The middle/style column helps you to pick out the border width, color, line thickness.
The right column asks you if you want a border around all of the text or just one side of it.

Shading
Click on the color you would like your box to be filled with. There are more than the colors you see to choose from—click on “More colors.”
The “style” button is for choosing how solid or see-through you’d like the color to be.

You can use your new image in your documents. So far, I have not been able to save it as a useable image with any other program, but I know it has something to do with saving the image as a PDF first.

Keep in mind that this flyer will only be a low-quality printed work, but knowing how to do this can give you the confidence to break into higher-tech learning in the future.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

7 tips to finding paid writing work December 4, 2009

                                                                 
Over the last few days I have continued on my quest. To be honest, I feel like Don Quixote with Sancho Panza on my shoulder. Nevertheless . . .
                                                                                                                                
More things you can do to get in line for paid writing.

• DON”T follow all the bunny trails leading to articles on SEO optimization, blog analytics, etc. You end up with too many questions seeming to ask you if you really can reach your goal of finding paid work.

• Sign up for HARO (Help a Reporter Out). You can sign up as a writer/reporter and as a possible source for reporters’ questions. This will help your platform and help you discover a wealth of helpful information for your own articles.

• Take a look at AppBank. You can write quizzes for them and earn some income when people use them.

• Don’t automatically assume that you can’t blog for companies. Despite the fact that you may not know a whole lot about real estate or kitchen cabinets, the internet is now your knowledge source. Just be sure to verify the information you read. Look for blogging jobs on ProBlogger.

• If you have any technical writing skills, Your Writing Department might be interested in helping you break through the gates into bigger and better jobs.

• Subscribe to “About Freelance Writing.” Anne posts a list of freelance writing jobs 2-3 times a week, and not all of the jobs are for writers with ten years of experience behind them.

• Check Freelance Job Openings daily.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

How to write academic sentences November 20, 2009

For those of you who like to sound as if you are from an elite group of academia, here is a handy-dandy tool to help you out.

                                                               
                                                               
Make you own academic sentence.

Simply choose from four drop-down boxes to create your next sentence of genius.

If you don’t like the way it sounds, you can change it or edit it, or simply start over.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sound boring smart, you can teach yourself here.
                                                               
                                                               

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Find a concept for your novel October 21, 2009

Concept
For my last novel and the one my mind is currently cooking up, I got the basic idea from quotes. Last time around, I found the following quote:

“We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.” ~ Blaise Pascal

I had spent some time around a friend who had once been a sniper, and he talked a lot about the secrecy and mental stress of the job. I then formed my novel around those two things. It’s called We Know the Truth and is currently with an agent. Here’s hoping!

Find the right quote
This time around (because of gearing up for NaNoWriMo), I went looking for the right quote again. My story begins with a girl who gets pregnant at seventeen and her mother is not impressed, to say the least. I specifically went in search of baby quotes and found a perfect quote that I can use part of as my title.

My basic concept is that the girl runs off to America with the aid of a rich man, but there are strings attached. Eventually she hears of her mother’s cancer and returns home to heal the relationship. This idea is still sorely lacking, though, because there is nothing to carry the story. I need a plot, a theme; novels based on daughters reuniting with their mothers don’t really sell in droves.

What if . . .
What if she falls for the older rich man? What if she still pines for her boyfriend? What if that boyfriend is a player? What if the child dies? What if she gives her up for adoption only to change her mind when the child is two because the father wants to marry her? What if the child is kidnapped? All these questions depend on which genre I want to write in, but no matter which one I choose, the reader must want to keep turning the pages to find out information.

What genre?
I could do some paranormal thing—she could discover a gift of mind reading and cause a lot of damage. Perhaps she gets into astral projection and visits her ex to torment him about impregnating her. I could make it a love story and a hunk of burning love shows up and she is in love in three days (although I hate the absurdness of that)l; I could take the suspense angle and have the child kidnapped, I could write Christian fiction and save them all in the process of love/suspense/paranormal activity.

What’s the goal?
So what if the child dies and the MC really loves kids and really wanted this baby once she was settled? What if the rich guy wants kids with her but she does not want them brought up by him? What if her biggest goal is to have kids and he is the chief antagonist to her having them? What if no publisher in the world will touch a novel with the chief goal of the protagonist being to have babies?

This, my friends, is the way a writer’s mind works. If you have any helpful suggestions that will turn me into a multi-millionaire, um, an inspiring writer, please let me know. In the meantime, see what you can come up with based on quotes you find.

All the best with your own search for a concept and plot-driven theme.

brainyquote.com
quotegarden.com
quotationspage.com
quoteland.com
thinkexist.com

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

What Is NaNoWriMo? October 19, 2009

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

How do I sign up?
Fill in the details on this form.

How much does it cost?
NaNoWriMo is free to everyone BUT, naturally, these things cost money. Here is a list of expenses the NaNoWriMo team incurs, so even if you can only contribute five bucks, it will make a difference.

What do I do once I’ve signed up?
Wait for the e-mail to confirm your participation.
Read the forums to get a feel of what the heck it’s all about.
With some writing friends (or on the forums) plot your novel.
Download a word count widget for your blog, forums signature, etc.
Add a web badge to any public web page you own.
                                                                 
And then what?
Start writing on November 1. You’ll need to write close to 2,000 words a day, but it doesn’t matter if all you write is total trash. All that matters is the word count, and the whole point of this exercise is not to write something perfect and stunning; it’s to just write. It’s an exceptionally good project for the perfectionists among us, and face it, most writers tend to lean on the side of perfectionism.

The time for editing and going over mistakes and dumb writing is not November; it’s after the first draft is complete. Most novelists never get beyond their first chapter because they keep going over and over and over the same few sentences. You may as well quit as a writer if that’s all you’re ever going to do. To be a writer you have to WRITE!

I took part in this in 2007, and I now have the results (after quite a few edits and rewrites) in the hands of an agent. It’s called We Know The Truth. I don’t know if I would have ever finished the first draft had it not been for NaNoWriMo.

Some things you can expect if you participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo
A lot of time away from other daily activities and loved ones
Frustration
Bad writing
Headaches
Feeling like a total failure

Some good things you can expect
The beginnings of a finished novel
A sense of accomplishment
The thought that perhaps you can be a writer after all
A greater appreciation for your computer and writing software

The goal
To have a novel that is eventually good enough to submit to an agent or publishing house

If you’re under eighteen, and the thought of writing with a bunch of old fogies is a huge turn off, NaNoWriMo has a page just for you. It’s also a big help to teachers who would like to have their students go through the writing meat grinder, um, I mean, enjoy the delectable process of writing a novel.

I’d like to be more involved in this
If you’re one of those project-oriented people who loves to help the world, you can print off NaNoWriMo flyers and put them in bookstores.

If you’re the competitive type, you can check your area’s word count against those of other states or cities.

Take advantage of the discounts for Schrivener, Writer’s Digest Shop, and Alphasmart NEO that are available to NaNoWriMo participants.

Subscribe to the NaNoWriMo blog.

There is more fun to be found on the NaNoWriMo site, but rather than spoil it all for you, I’ll leave you to look around for yourself. Once the last day of November comes around, I hope to see many certificates posted on your sites for the world to see. It’s a huge accomplishment to be able to write 50,000 words of anything.

Carpe diem!

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Testimonials and endorsements—new laws for bloggers October 7, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission has recently passed an adoption of revised guidelines for bloggers and other forms of media advertisements. These new additions will become effective on December 1, 2009.

Why the new rules?
The FTC is worried that we, the American people, cannot figure out who is paid for a review or endorsement v. who is doing it out of the kindness of his/her heart. The review talks about celebrities being paid to promote products they never even use, and there is worry we might be duped into believing that the celebrity actually cares about the item he/she endorses. In the same way, there are many bloggers who receive free products to review, and if Johnny Moolah gets a free Xbox 360, we need to know about that before we read his stunning review (in which he may smarm up to the givers of such toys).
                                                                 

What does this mean for bloggers?
If you are paid to endorse a product, you must reveal that fact.
If you get a free book/product to review, you must disclose that.
If you simply review something you bought with your own money and want to tell the world how horrible/fantastic it was, you can do whatever you want.

“Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the course of their
endorsements.”
(This is only if you make claims about the product that are untrue, e.g. you will lose forty lbs. in two weeks with no exercise if you drink Disappear sodas.)

Is it all on me to disclose what I earn/get for free out of my review?
“The manufacturer should advise him (Johnny Moolah) at the time it provides the gaming system (or car or book etc.) that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor his postings for compliance.”

The summary?
Basically you have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, even if you think your readers can’t handle the truth. You cannot claim that reading my collection of flash fiction made your hair grow, or that reading it in the restroom gave you rabies—stuff like that.

“Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser.”
                                                                 
                                                                 
Isn’t this all a bit silly?
Well . . . yes, in my opinion. As school is mandatory, and every child is taught some kind of basic education, I can’t see how necessary this really is. With the clichéd “dumbing down of America,” perhaps we now need a whole load of newer laws to cover our newer levels of stupidity. And now, I will shut my mouth. (And no, I was not paid to do that, although all monetary offers to do so will be gratefully received.)

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Writing the one-page synopsis, or not September 6, 2009

I want to share with you one of my favorite sites of all time, Angry Alien Productions, “The 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library … in which a troupe of bunnies parodies a collection of movies by re-enacting them in 30 seconds, more or less.”

If there was any movie you never bothered to watch, you can get the whole thing in thirty funny seconds and no one will ever know the difference.
Watch Casablanca’s sad love
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 

or some deliverance in The Exorcist
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 

or nerdy power in Napoleon Dynamite.
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 
                                                                 

It is all in your hands now. The classics of cinematography await your click.

Angryalien.com

P.S. If you’re wondering what on earth this has to do with writing, now and then you just need a good laugh, you know? For those of you having a hard time doing that, use these reenactments as an example of how to squeeze your masterpiece into a one-page synopsis.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Do it all well September 2, 2009

There is always a constant question in my head that I believe sweeps the same dirt into the heads of others: Am I doing everything I can?

A mother wants to recreate every touching moment she has seen on TV, a teacher wants his students to respond in the same way he saw the inner-city teens respond in a movie, a firefighter wants his marriage to be as strong as the one he read about, a kid wants to change the world the way she saw it happen on YouTube. We all have the deep desire inside us, not necessarily to make a difference, but to do all things well; and that’s where our problems lie, because we only have ourselves to do them.

As a writer, it’s not so much that I want to have my name known; it’s that I want people to have something open inside them to more when they read the noodle of words I put together. If I write a helpful article, I want others to feel inspired to run to try what I’ve just told them they can do. If I write a short story, I want its readers to laugh and have a better day, or to cry because I’ve finally hit the spot they couldn’t reach, or to think more deeply about how their lives affect others. I said above that I didn’t necessarily want to make a difference. I lied. I do, but I want to make a difference on the inside of private hearts, not in the outer glimmer and sheen of my life.

Wanting to do all things well can be overwhelming. I can have my checklist so long that it never gets done, even on a good writing day with no one else around. I lie in bed thinking about the number of words I could have written, how far ahead I’d be in my novel if I’d only gotten off Facebook earlier, what I’ll write about on my blog tomorrow.

So how can I fix myself?
The only thing I can do is try to copy the most perfect man ever so I have to ask myself What would Jesus do? Cliché, I know, but very practical.
Would he be on FaceBook? Absolutely! He loves people.
Would he write up his blog every two to three days to keep subscriptions and visitors coming? Dunno. He did go out every day to talk with people.
Would he have a target word count for his novel? I think he got other people to write for him. He was more of a story-teller.
Would he lie awake at night feeling like he’d shortchanged himself and others? No, he got his to-do list in the morning and just did that for the rest of the day.

Jesus lived in the moment and everyone thought he was perfect. Well, he was, but that’s neither here nor there for this discussion in my head. He enjoyed who he was; he enjoyed each person that came his way; he was ready for all the interruptions (even welcoming them as opportunities to love); and he had no worries about the next day, let alone the next year. He didn’t have a house. He had no income. He spoke his mind. He knew he had a lot to give.

Could my life be that way, too? What if I got up in the morning and made my list then? What if the only thing on it was to write my blog and the rest of the day was an adventure? What if I didn’t even have a list? Would I feel safe, secure in knowing that everything that should be done would get done? Would I end up loving others more once they were no longer mentally treated as an interruption to my list?

I think so, and I say that because I’ve tried it recently. Before I even get out of bed I ask what I should do first. Then I do it. I wait again and think about what to do after that. Then I do it. Surprisingly, much more has been done these days, and I have more time for people. I think it’s because I’m living in the moment instead of trying to be perfect.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Exacerbate the fears and make millions August 19, 2009

So we’ve seen how writers and sales people can capitalize on the four basic fears of others, but we only delved into two fears. Let’s continue. . . .

Example #3
You are afraid that you don’t matter to anyone, that you are not pretty enough/good enough/smart enough.

Sales pitch: Are you small? Would you like to be bigger? Being bigger would take care of all the problems in your life. No more will people overlook you when filling job positions. No more will people not notice that cute mole on your right cheek. No more will others not listen to your opinions. We want to give you, yes, give you, NoMoreShrinkage, because at this price, we’re practically giving away attention. NoMoreShrinkage works in such a unique way that you will not even feel it happening, and after your one hundred and thirty-five easy payments, you can walk tall.

Story: She stood in front of him, her eyes wide. He knew what she was thinking. Was there anything in there, behind those glassy gray eyes? She looked deeper, her pupils rushing from fleck to fleck in desperation. He held his own, hands in his back pockets, acting as calm as Tom Cruise on a dead motorbike. He just wished he had the shades. Her shoulders heaved, her eyes filled, and her body moved a step back. It was true. He was as dumb as a deaf, blind and mangy monkey, and there was nothing he could do about it, except, maybe, go buy those sunglasses now.

Example #4
You are afraid that you are irredeemable. You have messed up so much and so often that James Frey has nothing on you. You own the corner of the market on sin, and if you remind yourself enough (like, minute by minute) of what a loser you are, it will spur you to achieve incredible leaps of perfection (despite the fact that your dad tried that and it obviously didn’t work).

Sales pitch: Do you feel like cr*p? Have you failed again? Will you ever get it right? We have the answer! The Shoulda Button is attached to this tiny electrical wire that is attached to your neck that is drilled through your thick skull that is embedded in your brain. Every time you feel as if you should push yourself more, press this button and deliver 14 amps of electrical messages to your brain, saying such things like, “You shoulda not said that, you shoulda said this, you shoulda been witty, you shoulda smashed their face in.” Guaranteed for life, this only adds to the messages your brain already delivers, but we all know, it’s never enough. Exacerbate the pain, and maybe, some day, you’ll feel enough like the crud you really are to climb the highest mountains, drink milk with a moustache, and live your STD-filled life to the fullest.

Story: Grunt sat on the gritty floor of the granite cave grunting. Dadgrunt was out stoning bison, just like he did every day, only today he had asked Grunt to go along with him. Grunt grunted. He’d never be a stoner. His arm was too short, his aim was too high, his low was too low, but he couldn’t tell his dad that. Dadgrunt was the region’s top stoner. He’d never understand. Grunt lay on the gritty floor, and began to cry.

So it’s all quite simple really. Imagine the worst, write it down, and make your millions. Oh, and by the way, if you try and sue me because your writing career suddenly finds itself in the toilet, your worst fear might come true. Just think about that. Selah.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM