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Archive for August, 2006

regarding truth and the accuracy of our memories

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

This outline is adapted from a handout I give to my life-writing students. The points made here apply to writing in general as well as to writing our life stories in particular. This outline is adapted from a handout I give to my life-writing students. The points made here apply to writing in general as well as to writing our life stories in particular. I. Why should we write? A. Frank McCord in Writer’s Digest, Feb. ’99, p. 19: “But now I realize that everyone has a story. Nothing is significant until you make it significant. It’s not what happens to you, but how you look at it.” B. Frank P. Thomas, How to Write the Story of Your Life: “God created people because He loves stories.” “Humans are happiest when we are creating.” There is a revival of activity today in search of our roots and family history. C. Stunk & White, The Elements of Style: Writing is a way to go about thinking. D. Rick DeMarinis, The Art and Craft of the Short Story: Storytelling is how we make sense of the world. E. Robin Hemley, Turning Life Into Fiction: Writing is a discovery process. Part of the fun is learning why you wrote what you wrote. F. Writer’s Digest, Aug. ’00, pp. 20-21: You might find that the greatest rewards of writing…evolve during the process of bringing your ideas to the page. As you reveal more of yourself on the page, you might notice patterns in the way you think, behave, react to people and situations. This self-awareness can help you make better decisions, understand difficult situations, sort through feelings. It is a powerful way to find answers to some of your most difficult questions. And it can remind you that there are no easy answers

ways to increase traffic by writing articles

Monday, August 28th, 2006

Writing articles is the fastest and easiest way to get a stampede of people to your website that recognize your name by your signature and adhere to what you recommend. Most people reason that finding information in articles, forums, and discussion groups is a primary method of getting good information, and odds are that they were somewhat of an expert on that subject, and if they were experts then products and services they sold or recommended were likely to be good. You should always include a signature with your article, a few lines about your business, your website URL and/or email address. You will be amazed at the targeted traffic it will generate for you. If you are having trouble getting started I understand, and can tell you that writing is hard work. But once you write the first article it seems to get much easier. In fact, you may discover that you have a hard time stopping! 6 Ways to get started writing articles: 1. Get a notepad and pen, or use a word processor or computer, and just brainstorm ideas for articles. The best source for an article is usually from experience, or knowledge you have acquired in the past. If you are at a total loss, go and read some articles in other’s e-zines or websites. Once you get started you will come up with many ideas. Write each one down. If you think of a good title that includes a keyword about the article, write that down too, and include the keyword in the first sentence, or paragraph. 2. There are several ways writers work, depending on their personalities. You may like to order and organize your points first by making an outline of the information you plan to include or the points you intend to make. Then all you have to do is go back and “flesh out” the points, adding useful facts or links to more information. Or, you may be a natural teacher, and write just as though you are explaining the subject to the reader in person. Either method is fine, just do what is comfortable for you. One method may work best for one kind of article and the other for another kind. 3. Add “personality” to your writing. Share some of yourself with your readers, make your writing uniquely your own. It’s fine to read e-zines and others’ articles to see what people may be interested in and spark your own ideas, but don’t pattern yourself after someone else. People want to feel that they know You - Your knowledge and personality. This is what builds loyalty. If it fits with your subject, don’t be afraid to mention your product or service and give the URL or email address, but DON’T write a “glorified ad” and call it an article! That can offend a publisher so that they won’t even consider articles from you in the future. 4. After you’ve finished writing your article, read it through aloud, preferably to someone else who will ask questions if they don’t understand some point. 5. Run a spell checker! If you own Microsoft Word or something similar, run the grammar checker also. Have someone else proofread it for you. Even professional proofreaders will tell you that they try to have someone else proofread their own writing, because it is next to impossible to catch your own mistakes. 6. When you have finished your article and make the necessary changes, you will need to submit it to as many article directories as you can. Search the web for article directories to submit your article for free. There are also, paid services and software that will do the submissions for you, but you may want to wait until you have successfully written a few articles before you choose to pay. .allfreereports.com

how software for english writing and grammar checker can help us

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

A precise English writing and grammar checking tool is mandatory to bring a touch of sense and style to your work. English writing and grammar checking software provides advanced technological solution for our basic writing, editing and proofreading needs. In this global environment where most of the daily communication takes place on the web by writing e-mails, memos or reports, we notice an increasing trend in use of advanced language writing, editing and processing tools. Needless to say, for ever changing environment and severity of situations each instance requires a unique well deliberated and well versed communication mix to convey right words in correct construction to send across a right message in persuasive manner. Web based tools and their downloadable versions have completely transformed the whole perspective of learning, by making it easy to get your write up checked online for grammatical errors through a grammar check service. Further you have the option of downloading a variety of templates. All of this helps in building compositions, correct use of phrases, and rephrasing our English sentences to make an accurate, clear, and fluent communication piece. The sophisticated language processing technology has recently made a significant progress. Now, it has plenty to offer: such as suggesting corrections for common grammar and punctuation problems, spell checking, and suggesting ways to enrich your text. Similarly there are many paid programs that have a claimed reputation of delivering value in return to your investment. These are mostly preferred because these are easy to use; all you need to do is copy and paste your text at a specified area of the window to check for errors. Online checking software doesn’t require installation of any program locally and it is a lot faster, easier and time saving proposition with no squandering of time involved in waiting for the installation to be over and done. English writing software provide a wide array of services including checking for errors in spellings, grammar, punctuation, composition and also suggesting alternatives to better writing. However, these software have certain limitations. Since there are a number of expressions that have multiple meanings, context and usage of word that directly affect the tone of a sentence. So it is almost impossible right now to say that any software can read author’s mind and make contextual corrections but still it enables user in identifying sentence construction problems that may have been missed during manual proofreading. Now let’s have a quick review of some highly acclaimed software in the art of editing, style and grammar check, available on the World Wide Web. Software like StyleWriter, White Smoke, Pro-Grammar, Grammar Expert etc. teaches how to cut the waffle, and how to turn a draft into clear and concise English by persuading users to change their deep-seated style. It persuades writers to produce prose that helps readers - effectively and briefly. StyleWriter has a mechanism of analyzing the writings for 35,000 known styles and common usage faults. It also highlights complex words and suggests simpler alternatives; it draws attention to abstract words, confused and misused words that can cause grammatical errors. At the end of this article, I’d like to share to share cool website with more information on topics like software for English writing and online grammar checker . Visit for more details.

key word analysisdirectory submissionlink buildingarticle marketingseo reporting seo processs

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

At creative labs , our SEO experts team follow a properly planned strategy which would then be used to implement various other steps required to attain top rankings and would help your website to maximize its performance in search engines. Our process and strategy will vary from each industry and specialization area depending upon your nature of your business. Have a look at the process of Search Engine Optimization being followed at creative labs. Key Word Analysis: The key word analysis and selection phase of search engine optimization process is designed to identify targeted & relevant key words to ensure that the most searchers will find the specific pages within your website that contain the subject matter they are looking for. The search terms data will provide a complete overview on how Internet users search for these specific keywords across all major search engines. Competition Analysis : The competitive analysis phase of the search engine optimization process will help you size up your competition and provide you with the tools necessary to achieve and maintain your rightful position at the top of the search engines. After establishing the most effective key words for your website. New Delhi Digital Works will prepare a comprehensive competitive analysis and positioning report showing exactly where your website stands relative to your competitors for these key words. Website Review : The next step in the process of search engine optimization involves the identification of spider stoppers like broken links, Non-optimized titles, missing tags, non-optimized link structure among other factors. Web Page Optimization : Once effective key words have been discovered & a strategy has been formulated for outperforming your competitors, we perform the content enhancement phase of the search engine optimization process for your website. This involves the changes in the current placement of existing content, generating the meta tags for selected key word/phrases, adding new content or remove existing content if required. We ensure that the appropriate key words are incorporated in your web site in an appropriate manner. Simply including these keywords into your content is not enough. Directory Submission : The next step in the search engine optimization process is to make sure that each page of your newly optimized website is manually included in the indexes of all the relevant search engines and directories, such as Yahoo and Open Directory Project. Directory submission requires both effective copy writing & complete understanding of search engines. Our SEO Experts ensure that the listings are as keyword rich and relevant as possible. Manual directory submission is critical for search engine success. Link Building : seo analyst india works with you to help increase the number, quality and manner in which external sites are linked to your website. A good link building campaign is the key to achieving good rankings for competitive keywords. works with you to identify relevant sources for links, where they should direct traffic to, and how they link. Article Marketing : Article marketing by writing about your subject and submission to the top article websites like Ezine gets your website recognized in the business circles, getting you links, hits and enquiries about your services or products. Analysis and Tweaking : Our comprehensive search engine optimization packages involve continuous fine tuning of the website based on traffic trends and ranking trends. Search engines often change their algorithms, To maintain top ranking, SEO Company must evaluate the results and make tactical modifications based on performance observations. SEO Campaign Tracking : Our web analytics software helps track the traffic as well as the conversion rates and ROI of your search engine optimization and other web marketing campaigns. Our campaign tracks ranking trends for each key-phrase optimized in the website. Comprehensive SEO Reporting : Our comprehensive SEO reporting helps you keep track of the exact schedule and process that is followed for the search engine optimization of your website. We offer periodic comprehensive ranking, link exchange and schedule reports.

7 turbo writing tips for ebook publishers

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006

Are you an article writer or an e-book writer? If so, how long does it take you to write? Do you wish that you could write quicker, but without having to compromise the quality of your work? If so, you can. There are a number of different methods that you can use to write quicker, while keeping the quality of your work the same or even improving it. Just a few of these methods, seven to be exact, are outlined below. (1) Comfort

bob hopes joke formulas that he developed for 80 years

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006

good manners and cell phones

Sunday, August 20th, 2006

While technology develops at light speed and humans manners at no speed, I find a great black hole between the two. Take Cell phones. These artifacts -in all kinds of advanced development-dominate our lives today. Not only are they ubiquitous in day and night, but they have also become a nightmare. Last week, being in between classes, I decided to enjoy a moment of leisure in our faculty lounge. Here you can find colleagues, who in no time engage you in quiet urbane conversations (sometimes serious discussions), and all in a peaceful, well-mannered setting. Then along came the cell phone. With the gadget in their ear, the well-mannered professors show their dark sides: some shout, others growl, many curse, and worst of all, the faculty lounge turns into mayhem, pandemonium, and chaos all at once. So I headed toward the staff-faculty cafeteria where one find kindred souls with whom to chat, swap stories, or maybe engage in low-level-non-vicious gossip. Right in the middle of ordering my lunch, the waitress’s cell phone rings. Of course, she takes a moment to answer. Never mind that I had to listen to her problems about getting rid of her free-loading sister-in-law. As I returned home on the Q32 bus, and once on the 59th Street Bridge, the bus started to move at snail pace: ten minutes per each square foot. As if in a chorus the passengers pulled their phones and started notifying their alleged-loved ones that they would be late due to heavy traffic. After this initial choreographed wave, a second one ensued. Incoming calls started. One conversation caught my attention; a young man is begging his father to pay the last installment of his tuition bill: “It’s only seven hundred dollars, dad.” “I know you gave me the $700 bucks. But I used it for the tattoo you see on my neck.” “I agree I should tattoo things on my brain rather than on my neck, but this tattoo is my soul and it will stay with me forever.” “You know I’ll pay you back when I graduate.” “A check is fine. Okay, dad. I promise–no more tattoos. Thanks, man. Love you dad.” As I debarked from the bus, I turned around to thank the driver, but I changed my mind since the man had the darn garget plugged in to his left ear. At least, the good soul, had the common sense not to use it while driving. That same night, Mary Patricia (my wife) attended a concert at Carnegie Hall. A nice young man came on the stage and –in the most cordial tone– asked the audience to turn off their cell phones. A tsunami of gadgets twittered off–at least until the concert break. Oh boy–was I wrong! Ten minutes into the concert my own cell phone went off, lifting me a foot off my seat with embarrassment. I’ve since removed the ring tones on my phone, and I’ve learned to text. If my mother was alive she would add to her age-old adages: “Never put anything in your ear that is smaller than an eggplant–no iPods, no cell phones, and no tattoos.” Retired. Former investment banker, Columbia University-educated, Vietnam Vet (67-68). For the writing techniques I use, see Mary Duffy’s e-book: Sentence Openers. To read my book reviews of the Classics visit my blog: Writing To Live

say no to 1 per article fees

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Last year an email arrived asking if I would ever consider writing articles for a dating website and what would the cost be per article. My reply was as follows: “Yes I do, but it depends on the content. As long as it’s not sexual in nature, I can write the articles. For all rights, a 500 word article is $150. This means you own the article. I cannot resell it. You can use it anywhere and as many times as you like without ever paying a reprint fee. Your byline would accompany the article. For one-time rights, a 500 word article is $50. This means that I own the article. You are buying the rights to publish the article one time on your site and can archive it indefinitely. But if you wanted to use the same article in print, in a newsletter, or in any other manner, you’d have to pay a reprint fee. It also means my byline accompanies the article.” The reply I received back was, “How about $50 for all rights per article. If you don’t want to accept this offer, don’t even bother emailing me back.” ERRR! First of all, those are FAIR rates

the need for quality technical writing

Thursday, August 17th, 2006

The need for Quality Technical Writing Written by Natalie Harris, .QualityTechnicalWriting.com People in all fields, especially technical ones, have the need to express their ideas clearly and in layman’s terms. Technical jargon confuses the average user. Technical employees, such as engineers and IT developers, spend much of their time communicating in some way or another, but it is not always effective if the person on the receiving end of the conversation doesn’t understand them. The rewards are high for those who can communicate effectively in professional recognition, advancement, self-satisfaction and salary. However, can these professional write clear and concise software user documentation? The answer many times is no. This is where a quality technical writer comes into play. Technical writers are those in the field of effective communications. They can take technical jargon and magically turn it into understandable manuals and step by step guides and instructions for the user. They are people who specialize in an industry and know a better way to explain complicated areas of the industry. They know just how to “break it down” to a lower level, but not where the user is made to feel stupid. If you work in business and industry, no matter what the size of your organization, my guess is that you have a need for updated documentation, whether that is in the form of installation guides, users manuals,requirement documents, specification documents or training. Sometimes hiring full time employees is not in the budget. Maybe you just have a small project that you need documentation written for in order to be compliant with industry standards. If you are seeking quality technical writing professionals, check out .qualitytechnicalwriting.com for superior sevices in the technical writing field. Remember, quality documentation can create and maintain credibility in the users and the way the system functions. The users perception of your software is what counts. Make sure to provide them with quality documentation.

the euphony and lyrics that defend the babies nerves euphony from disney

Tuesday, August 15th, 2006

Disney is the arbiter and the generator of everything that children enjoy today. And while its predominate pooh-pooh during the last breaks of this decennary, we are currently living its re-outgrowth over again, gives thanks to a number of primary films, indicates, and films it has discharged the few days. Rap it on Hannah Montana and High School Musical