by: Steven Barnes
Years ago at a presentation at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, I promised an audience to teach them to conquer this beast once and for all. Later, another instructor approached me and said “why did you say that to those people? It’s not possible.”
Poor woman. All she was saying is that SHE cannot break writer’s block, which told me all I need to know about her career. In all likelihood a promising beginning, perhaps an award-winning poem or book…and then pain.
It is not only possible to end writer’s block forever, but you can actually use it to your advantage!
First, let us define it in some useful way: Writer’s block is the inability to
1) Produce new text.
2) Edit and polish existing text
3) Finish projects on a reasonable schedule
4) Send those projects out for editorial judgment.
5) Continue sending them out until they are sold.
Accepting the above, I’m going to give you a definition of the root cause of Writer’s Block that will actually help you in every arena of your life.
“Writer’s Block is nothing more than a confusion of two different states of mind: the Flow state, where you produce new text, and the Editing state, where you evaluate and polish what you have written.”
WB is such a killer because most of us have done far more reading than we have writing, and spend far more time in critical analysis of finished, polished work of the masters than in experiencing our own early drafts. So when we try to create text, we measure our first draft efforts against the polished work of the world’s great writers. Immediately, that “this is garbage!” voice goes off in your head, and you have a block.
It is said that novice writers must work through a million words of garbage before reaching their true voice. How in the world will you ever get through it if you constantly judge every word? If you will learn to turn that voice off, you will learn a massive and important lesson about the structure of the human psyche.
But what exactly is “Flow”? It is the psychological state where time seems to vanish, where you “fall into the page”, where the rest of the world floats away as you concentrate. This is similar to the “hypnogogic” state experienced just prior to sleep, and the first thing in the morning. It is experienced in distance running, dancing (remember the lyrics to “Flashdance”? “She’s moved into the danger zone, where the dancer becomes the dance”) and, to be perfectly frank, it is experienced during sexual relations in the moments just prior to orgasm. It is the dissolution of the subject-object relationship sought by numerous schools of meditation.
1) Alternate days (or work sessions) between flow and editing. If necessary, wear different hats, or sit in different chairs for each. NEVER DO BOTH IN THE SAME SESSION
2) Set yourself a daily output that will get you to your goal of one million words in less than 5 years. 1000 words a day will do it in three years. That’s roughly comparable to earning an AA degree. Not too shabby!
3) Explore and specifically study “Flow State” as a discipline. Do your internet searches and find a physical or mental activity (running, dancing, meditation, Tai chi, yoga, etc.) that opens a doorway to this inner world.
4) Listen to largo rhythm, sixty-beat per minute string music. Vivaldi is perfect for this, and induces “Alpha” (flow) state rapidly and effectively. Stay away from music with lyrics, but soft jazz is also terrific.
5) Practice making pictures in your mind, and then writing down what you see WITHOUT judging the quality of your descriptions. You want to enhance the connection between your deep consciousness and your typing or writing.
6) If you can’t find a good meditation technique, just sit and “listen” to your own heartbeat for 15-30 minutes a day.
There are many other ideas, but these will get you started. The most valuable thing you will learn is to “turn off” or ignore the negative voices in your head. And an artist who learns to do this on demand is on the way to integration of the deep levels of the unconscious…and greater joy in the act of creation.
About The Author
Steven Barnes
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction, been nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, and wrote the Emmy-winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of the Outer Limits. He is the creator of the Lifewriting™ high performance system for writers. Get a free daily Lifewriting tip at: http://www.lifewriting.biz
Saturday, June 23, 2007
How to Write Search Relevant Ezine Articles That Gets Published
by: David Petrich
A good ezine writer can become a star in their field when widely published. Those who provide great content and who make it easy to publish can escalate their writing careers. Organizations who publish quality content in trade for publicity can achieve maximum exposure if they follow some simple guidelines.
As an ezine editor, my job is to filter and present interesting and compelling content to our visitors. I frequently visit the free article web sites and find a wide variety of article ideas. Often, I am disappointed. - Many articles have sound merits, but are either poorly written or formatted in a manner that is not compatible with our page layout." The latter is the most frustrating reason to reject articles. - "It may have been a great piece of writing, but the author chose to clutter it up with excessive self-serving ad copy and URLs."
A good article is one that takes an objective view of a subject. This approach will better engage the reader, as it possesses a higher degree of believability. Just like in verbal conversation, the listener (reader) backs away in a defensive posture when someone is being pushy. The reader is less likely to believe all that is said because they detect an ulterior motive of the author. For example, biased, one-sided reporting has less value to the reader than detailing a rational argument addressing both sides of an issue. -Even if the author is clearly biased, they can still address the subject from the reader's point of view.
The reason why most profit-based ezines will publish your article is to build traffic. Just like print magazines, readership drives the business model. - The more readers, the more advertisement exposure. Most ezines are in business to provide a service to advertisers. This is widely true with most print magazines and newspapers as well.
Ezines generally hope that your article will have a ready made answer for someone conducting a specific internet search on Google, Yahoo, MSN or other search engines. The text of your article will be indexed into these search engines so that the public can find your article. With Google, their page order ranking system is forever changing. The Google system for instance, (today fielding the majority of Internet searches) is based on "degree of relevance". Google measures relevance not only by the specific content in your article, but also by the related subject matter on the host ezine web site, as well as the number of links pointing to the page and host site. That’s why your article may rank higher on one site over another based on the specific search criteria. Just remember that the search engines are getting smarter every year. They are getting better at detecting quality over quantity.
Here Are Some Do's and Don'ts From a Ezine Content Editor's Perspective:
Write a Good Lead-in:
Make sure the first two lines of your first paragraph are very appropriate to your subject. Write catchy descriptive titles: no more than 65 characters. - (You will notice that there are about 65 characters that show up on the title line of a Google search result page). Try to write like a news writer. - Most important information up front, with the supportive data towards the end. Your whole article should be generally written with this rule in mind as well.
Be Original.
Have a unique perspective on your topic. Too often I see very general subjects that will never stand out from the sea of content on the Internet. - And thus never come up when searched. If you are going to spend the time to write something, try to narrow the focus and answer a specific topic for a specific reader. This approach will allow you to "work and turn" or tweak the article with a different angle and different audience with little effort. - Resulting in more exposure with less work.
Don't Write a Blatant "Advertorial".
Don't write overtly self-serving advertorials unless you just want your articles to only appear on the come-get-your-free-content web sites. Remember, your articles will have the best chance of being seen if it is associated with other similar content.
We all know the reason why most people are writing and distributing free content, but don't make it so obvious that you loose credibility with the reader. Intelligent readers will know when they are being "sold to" and will stop reading before they get to the end of your article. Most quality ezines (ones that readers respect and come back to), don't want to publish a pushy sales pitch. -It will just make their readers not want to come back. There are a lot of ways a good writer can cleverly disguise their motives. The easiest way is to be complete, truthful and objective so that you gain the trust of the reader. Put your sales pitch on the your page link in your byline. This way, readers will be more ready to accept your sales pitch since they specifically requested information about your product or service.
Don't Write About Something You Don't Know
Put some meat into your article. The reader should walk away with something useful. I see a lot of articles that are simply a regurgitation of widely known information. As a publisher, I will remember your name and avoid your work if it is sub-standard, inaccurate, or immature. Expect excellence in yourself. If you are writing about something you don't know, do the research and become an expert. Your goal should be to give the reader something they probably did not previously know about.
Don't Overstate Your Keywords.
Redundancy can be boring to read. I often review articles that make such an obvious attempt to repeat specific keywords or key phrases that the writing is almost useless in conveying the subject matter. Search engines will detect and reject this belligerent abuse of the Internet and so will most readers. It is best not to make a conscious effort to boost keyword count in your article. Your subject is what it is. It will be recognized as relevant when your keywords and phrases are found in a natural, common and organic manner.
Don't Write Over the Top of Your Readers.
Write in plain English (or French, German, Japanese, etc.) so that your target audience will quickly understand what you are saying. If you are presenting a highly technical subject, work from the lowest common denominator. If your lowest common denominator is a lawyer from Harvard, then your writing can be a bit more complex than if your audience includes high-school dropouts. However, technical people enjoy easy reading too.
Please Check Your Spelling.
If I see blatant spelling errors, I will also assume that the author is not credible and reject the article. If I get to know your name as a writer who does not check spelling and grammar, I will avoid looking at your articles. Most editors don't want to waste time and spell check your work. More importantly, some of the free article distribution sites specifically state that the articles cannot be altered. Don't let bad spelling and grammar keep you from getting your work published.
Keep you Bio Brief and to the Point.
You want your bio to be short and to the point. Your URL link should be aimed at a specific page that supports the purpose of your article. I reject a lot of articles because the bio reads like an in-your-face advertisement. This is fine if you do not want to see you work on high quality sites. It is best to keep the URL's to a minimum (no more than three). You can always make a special destination page for your article and place all the copy and URL's you want. Eliminate redundant copy such as "come visit our web site" or "click here for more information" And don't make clever formatting like "F-R-E-E N-E-W-S-L-E-T-T-E-R" or "LOWEST PRICES!!!" unless you only want your article to appear in low end ezines and spam sites.
I once had an e-mail complaint from an irate writer who wanted their article formatted with a lot of "all caps" statements and to stand out from other writers. I quickly e-mailed her back with a short note: "No problem. It's fixed!". She emailed later complaining that she could no longer find any of her articles on our web site. My point is that there are a lot of cooperative writers out there and it should be looked as a cooperative effort between the writer, publisher (and yes, sponsors) to deliver compelling and worthwhile content to the reader.
I review countless great articles with incompatible bylines; as a publisher, I want to respect the wishes of each writer by including all information they provide. Too often, I reject articles because the writer feels it necessary to include excessive information about their services or products. The worst thing is pushy sales pitches and cute call-to-action statements that were all the rage in those 1970's marketing seminars. As a reader, I find this barrage of ad spam to be confusing clutter that is a distraction and worse, a way to discredit the article information I had just read.
In the long run, you will find your efforts to have the most value if they are published on web sites offering cohesive and quality subject matter to a specific audience. When your article is published along with other articles within the same subject grouping, it stands a much better chance of being found and read. It is important for you to get good quality links from your ezine articles so that it builds relevance for your target web site and cause. Make it easy on us editors by making your great writing easy to publish!
About The Author
David Petrich is senior editor for http://www.JustChange.net -an ezine dedicated to helping people to accomplish positive changes in their lives. He is also a copywriter for http://www.JDEZ.com - a manufacturer of chic yoga apparel for men and women. David has more than 25 years experience in helping businesses with market communication strategies. (c) 2005 D. Petrich. (This article may be freely published on your web site provided it is left unchanged including the authors bio with clickable URLs. This article may not be used in conjunction with SPAM email.)
A good ezine writer can become a star in their field when widely published. Those who provide great content and who make it easy to publish can escalate their writing careers. Organizations who publish quality content in trade for publicity can achieve maximum exposure if they follow some simple guidelines.
As an ezine editor, my job is to filter and present interesting and compelling content to our visitors. I frequently visit the free article web sites and find a wide variety of article ideas. Often, I am disappointed. - Many articles have sound merits, but are either poorly written or formatted in a manner that is not compatible with our page layout." The latter is the most frustrating reason to reject articles. - "It may have been a great piece of writing, but the author chose to clutter it up with excessive self-serving ad copy and URLs."
A good article is one that takes an objective view of a subject. This approach will better engage the reader, as it possesses a higher degree of believability. Just like in verbal conversation, the listener (reader) backs away in a defensive posture when someone is being pushy. The reader is less likely to believe all that is said because they detect an ulterior motive of the author. For example, biased, one-sided reporting has less value to the reader than detailing a rational argument addressing both sides of an issue. -Even if the author is clearly biased, they can still address the subject from the reader's point of view.
The reason why most profit-based ezines will publish your article is to build traffic. Just like print magazines, readership drives the business model. - The more readers, the more advertisement exposure. Most ezines are in business to provide a service to advertisers. This is widely true with most print magazines and newspapers as well.
Ezines generally hope that your article will have a ready made answer for someone conducting a specific internet search on Google, Yahoo, MSN or other search engines. The text of your article will be indexed into these search engines so that the public can find your article. With Google, their page order ranking system is forever changing. The Google system for instance, (today fielding the majority of Internet searches) is based on "degree of relevance". Google measures relevance not only by the specific content in your article, but also by the related subject matter on the host ezine web site, as well as the number of links pointing to the page and host site. That’s why your article may rank higher on one site over another based on the specific search criteria. Just remember that the search engines are getting smarter every year. They are getting better at detecting quality over quantity.
Here Are Some Do's and Don'ts From a Ezine Content Editor's Perspective:
Write a Good Lead-in:
Make sure the first two lines of your first paragraph are very appropriate to your subject. Write catchy descriptive titles: no more than 65 characters. - (You will notice that there are about 65 characters that show up on the title line of a Google search result page). Try to write like a news writer. - Most important information up front, with the supportive data towards the end. Your whole article should be generally written with this rule in mind as well.
Be Original.
Have a unique perspective on your topic. Too often I see very general subjects that will never stand out from the sea of content on the Internet. - And thus never come up when searched. If you are going to spend the time to write something, try to narrow the focus and answer a specific topic for a specific reader. This approach will allow you to "work and turn" or tweak the article with a different angle and different audience with little effort. - Resulting in more exposure with less work.
Don't Write a Blatant "Advertorial".
Don't write overtly self-serving advertorials unless you just want your articles to only appear on the come-get-your-free-content web sites. Remember, your articles will have the best chance of being seen if it is associated with other similar content.
We all know the reason why most people are writing and distributing free content, but don't make it so obvious that you loose credibility with the reader. Intelligent readers will know when they are being "sold to" and will stop reading before they get to the end of your article. Most quality ezines (ones that readers respect and come back to), don't want to publish a pushy sales pitch. -It will just make their readers not want to come back. There are a lot of ways a good writer can cleverly disguise their motives. The easiest way is to be complete, truthful and objective so that you gain the trust of the reader. Put your sales pitch on the your page link in your byline. This way, readers will be more ready to accept your sales pitch since they specifically requested information about your product or service.
Don't Write About Something You Don't Know
Put some meat into your article. The reader should walk away with something useful. I see a lot of articles that are simply a regurgitation of widely known information. As a publisher, I will remember your name and avoid your work if it is sub-standard, inaccurate, or immature. Expect excellence in yourself. If you are writing about something you don't know, do the research and become an expert. Your goal should be to give the reader something they probably did not previously know about.
Don't Overstate Your Keywords.
Redundancy can be boring to read. I often review articles that make such an obvious attempt to repeat specific keywords or key phrases that the writing is almost useless in conveying the subject matter. Search engines will detect and reject this belligerent abuse of the Internet and so will most readers. It is best not to make a conscious effort to boost keyword count in your article. Your subject is what it is. It will be recognized as relevant when your keywords and phrases are found in a natural, common and organic manner.
Don't Write Over the Top of Your Readers.
Write in plain English (or French, German, Japanese, etc.) so that your target audience will quickly understand what you are saying. If you are presenting a highly technical subject, work from the lowest common denominator. If your lowest common denominator is a lawyer from Harvard, then your writing can be a bit more complex than if your audience includes high-school dropouts. However, technical people enjoy easy reading too.
Please Check Your Spelling.
If I see blatant spelling errors, I will also assume that the author is not credible and reject the article. If I get to know your name as a writer who does not check spelling and grammar, I will avoid looking at your articles. Most editors don't want to waste time and spell check your work. More importantly, some of the free article distribution sites specifically state that the articles cannot be altered. Don't let bad spelling and grammar keep you from getting your work published.
Keep you Bio Brief and to the Point.
You want your bio to be short and to the point. Your URL link should be aimed at a specific page that supports the purpose of your article. I reject a lot of articles because the bio reads like an in-your-face advertisement. This is fine if you do not want to see you work on high quality sites. It is best to keep the URL's to a minimum (no more than three). You can always make a special destination page for your article and place all the copy and URL's you want. Eliminate redundant copy such as "come visit our web site" or "click here for more information" And don't make clever formatting like "F-R-E-E N-E-W-S-L-E-T-T-E-R" or "LOWEST PRICES!!!" unless you only want your article to appear in low end ezines and spam sites.
I once had an e-mail complaint from an irate writer who wanted their article formatted with a lot of "all caps" statements and to stand out from other writers. I quickly e-mailed her back with a short note: "No problem. It's fixed!". She emailed later complaining that she could no longer find any of her articles on our web site. My point is that there are a lot of cooperative writers out there and it should be looked as a cooperative effort between the writer, publisher (and yes, sponsors) to deliver compelling and worthwhile content to the reader.
I review countless great articles with incompatible bylines; as a publisher, I want to respect the wishes of each writer by including all information they provide. Too often, I reject articles because the writer feels it necessary to include excessive information about their services or products. The worst thing is pushy sales pitches and cute call-to-action statements that were all the rage in those 1970's marketing seminars. As a reader, I find this barrage of ad spam to be confusing clutter that is a distraction and worse, a way to discredit the article information I had just read.
In the long run, you will find your efforts to have the most value if they are published on web sites offering cohesive and quality subject matter to a specific audience. When your article is published along with other articles within the same subject grouping, it stands a much better chance of being found and read. It is important for you to get good quality links from your ezine articles so that it builds relevance for your target web site and cause. Make it easy on us editors by making your great writing easy to publish!
About The Author
David Petrich is senior editor for http://www.JustChange.net -an ezine dedicated to helping people to accomplish positive changes in their lives. He is also a copywriter for http://www.JDEZ.com - a manufacturer of chic yoga apparel for men and women. David has more than 25 years experience in helping businesses with market communication strategies. (c) 2005 D. Petrich. (This article may be freely published on your web site provided it is left unchanged including the authors bio with clickable URLs. This article may not be used in conjunction with SPAM email.)
Monsters And Other Creatures
by: Kenneth J. McCormick
What was it, that legend states, that was killed by two cowboys in Arizona in 1890? According to the local stories, a creature was in the desert in Arizona when a couple of cow pokes happened to come across it. At first they were frozen with fear because the creature was like nothing they had ever seen before. It was a huge creature and it could fly. It's body looked more like a snake than a bird and it had fearsome claws. The face of the creature looked like that of an alligator or crocodile and it's wings were huge. This was definitely a case of shoot first and ask what it was later. To give you an idea of the size of the creature, it is said that the wingspan was over 160 ft. I am sure that this measurement grew as the years passed as these things often do.
So why has this story flourished to this day? Could it have been because a photo was supposedly published of the monster, in the Tombstone Epitaph in 1886? What I find most amazing is the fact that the photo was supposed to have been published four years before the event! Had the bird monster been sighted before the event while it was in the wild, by a photographer? Because of numerous inquiries, newspapers all over the area began a search for a back issue containing a photograph of the creature, but none could be found. Did the creature really exist or was it just a tale to be told over a beer at the local Arizona bar?
So what is up with the Mongolian Death Worm? Yep Mongolian Death Worm. I bet we could make a movie about this, we already have a title worthy of a cheesy movie, we could call it "Revenge of the Mongolian Death Worm" or something like that. The Mongolian Death Worm is supposed to be a creature that lives in the Gobi Desert and is about five feet long. It is said to be red in color and called allghai khorkhai by the tribesmen of that country. People that have claimed to have seen it say it resembles the intestine of a cow. Can you imagine something that looks like this crawling into your tent one night? So what supposedly makes this worm dangerous? The story goes that this worm not only sprays acid at its victims but carries a deadly electric shock. It is sort of an acidic electric eel on land.
One monster legend that seems to surely have a basis in fact is the legend of the giant squid. A news program reported that a Japanese science expedition actually recorded the existence of a live one. We have all seen the drawings of sailing ships that were entangled by these monsters and even broken in half and sunk. While it doesn't seem that the one the Japanese saw would be capable of this, since it was only about 5 car lengths in size, who knows if there are bigger creatures lurking at the bottom of the ocean just waiting to attack?
Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water lake in the world. It is located in Russia. Along with the distinction of being the biggest fresh water body comes the distinction of having a monster in the lake. Over a period of many years, people have reported seeing this creature. Chinese scientists have decided to try and find the creature They say that they have carefully studied all the descriptions of it that they have collected and have come to the conclusion that the thing is a mammal. Not only is it a mammal., they state that this mammal. is not know to man yet. Could they be right? Could this be some unknown type of creature that might have survived from eons ago? I guess that we will just have to wait and see if it gets captured to find the answer to that question.
Have you ever heard about creatures that turn from man to wolf when the full moon is out? I am referring to werewolves and supposedly they are waiting for you in the woods around Quebec in Canada. The French Canadians call these creatures loup-garou. Supposedly there is a man in these woods, he is a lone trapper and hunter but he is also carrying around a terrible secret. Yep you guessed it, he is also a werewolf. So you can still go into the woods around Quebec, just don't be in them at night when there is a full moon.
What was it that a group of indians found in 1914 near Lake Okanagan? For many years there had been reports of a monster in the lake. Supposedly a carcass was found, a very strange carcass. It was about 6 feet long and about 400 pounds in weight. It was said to have four flippers and a tail. The head of the creature was missing. Many of you have seen the drawings that depict lake monsters as having flippers and a tail. Was this the corpse of a baby Ogopogo? Ogopogo is the name for the monster that is said to inhabit Lake Okanagan where sightings still take place to this day.
What creature would be more fitting to close this article with than the Tasmanian Globster? A carcass was found in 1960 in Tasmania. It was said to be about 20 feet long and 18 feet wide. It had a hump that was estimated to be about 4 feet high and the weight of the whole thing was said to be about 16,000 pounds or more. Quite a huge creature indeed. No one could identify what it was. Two years later, when it had floated out to sea it was examined by experts who found it had gills and maybe a head, but no eyes were found. The government then sent out their own team which contradicted most of the first team's findings and concluded that it was nothing more than a hunk of blubber. What couldn't be explained was the fact that tissue samples had been taken by the first team and they didn't show that it was any type of known animal.
About The Author
Kenneth J. McCormick
Copyright © 2005 by About Facts Net and its licensors. All rights reserved
Ken is the webmaster of About Facts Net, an interesting, free Internet Magazine. The magazine is suitable for the entire family and many of the articles are accompanied by photographs, video and/or audio.
http://aboutfacts.net
What was it, that legend states, that was killed by two cowboys in Arizona in 1890? According to the local stories, a creature was in the desert in Arizona when a couple of cow pokes happened to come across it. At first they were frozen with fear because the creature was like nothing they had ever seen before. It was a huge creature and it could fly. It's body looked more like a snake than a bird and it had fearsome claws. The face of the creature looked like that of an alligator or crocodile and it's wings were huge. This was definitely a case of shoot first and ask what it was later. To give you an idea of the size of the creature, it is said that the wingspan was over 160 ft. I am sure that this measurement grew as the years passed as these things often do.
So why has this story flourished to this day? Could it have been because a photo was supposedly published of the monster, in the Tombstone Epitaph in 1886? What I find most amazing is the fact that the photo was supposed to have been published four years before the event! Had the bird monster been sighted before the event while it was in the wild, by a photographer? Because of numerous inquiries, newspapers all over the area began a search for a back issue containing a photograph of the creature, but none could be found. Did the creature really exist or was it just a tale to be told over a beer at the local Arizona bar?
So what is up with the Mongolian Death Worm? Yep Mongolian Death Worm. I bet we could make a movie about this, we already have a title worthy of a cheesy movie, we could call it "Revenge of the Mongolian Death Worm" or something like that. The Mongolian Death Worm is supposed to be a creature that lives in the Gobi Desert and is about five feet long. It is said to be red in color and called allghai khorkhai by the tribesmen of that country. People that have claimed to have seen it say it resembles the intestine of a cow. Can you imagine something that looks like this crawling into your tent one night? So what supposedly makes this worm dangerous? The story goes that this worm not only sprays acid at its victims but carries a deadly electric shock. It is sort of an acidic electric eel on land.
One monster legend that seems to surely have a basis in fact is the legend of the giant squid. A news program reported that a Japanese science expedition actually recorded the existence of a live one. We have all seen the drawings of sailing ships that were entangled by these monsters and even broken in half and sunk. While it doesn't seem that the one the Japanese saw would be capable of this, since it was only about 5 car lengths in size, who knows if there are bigger creatures lurking at the bottom of the ocean just waiting to attack?
Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water lake in the world. It is located in Russia. Along with the distinction of being the biggest fresh water body comes the distinction of having a monster in the lake. Over a period of many years, people have reported seeing this creature. Chinese scientists have decided to try and find the creature They say that they have carefully studied all the descriptions of it that they have collected and have come to the conclusion that the thing is a mammal. Not only is it a mammal., they state that this mammal. is not know to man yet. Could they be right? Could this be some unknown type of creature that might have survived from eons ago? I guess that we will just have to wait and see if it gets captured to find the answer to that question.
Have you ever heard about creatures that turn from man to wolf when the full moon is out? I am referring to werewolves and supposedly they are waiting for you in the woods around Quebec in Canada. The French Canadians call these creatures loup-garou. Supposedly there is a man in these woods, he is a lone trapper and hunter but he is also carrying around a terrible secret. Yep you guessed it, he is also a werewolf. So you can still go into the woods around Quebec, just don't be in them at night when there is a full moon.
What was it that a group of indians found in 1914 near Lake Okanagan? For many years there had been reports of a monster in the lake. Supposedly a carcass was found, a very strange carcass. It was about 6 feet long and about 400 pounds in weight. It was said to have four flippers and a tail. The head of the creature was missing. Many of you have seen the drawings that depict lake monsters as having flippers and a tail. Was this the corpse of a baby Ogopogo? Ogopogo is the name for the monster that is said to inhabit Lake Okanagan where sightings still take place to this day.
What creature would be more fitting to close this article with than the Tasmanian Globster? A carcass was found in 1960 in Tasmania. It was said to be about 20 feet long and 18 feet wide. It had a hump that was estimated to be about 4 feet high and the weight of the whole thing was said to be about 16,000 pounds or more. Quite a huge creature indeed. No one could identify what it was. Two years later, when it had floated out to sea it was examined by experts who found it had gills and maybe a head, but no eyes were found. The government then sent out their own team which contradicted most of the first team's findings and concluded that it was nothing more than a hunk of blubber. What couldn't be explained was the fact that tissue samples had been taken by the first team and they didn't show that it was any type of known animal.
About The Author
Kenneth J. McCormick
Copyright © 2005 by About Facts Net and its licensors. All rights reserved
Ken is the webmaster of About Facts Net, an interesting, free Internet Magazine. The magazine is suitable for the entire family and many of the articles are accompanied by photographs, video and/or audio.
http://aboutfacts.net
A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Articles
by: Halstatt Pires
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s my rant and what you can do to change my mind.
Don’t Send Me Your Articles
First of all, don’t send me articles. I only take them from directories. The purpose of this article is to give you a better idea of what I’m looking for in articles. It is not to create an assault on my email account.
You’re Killing Me
Okay, "hate" is strong word and I probably shouldn’t use it. It is, however, the word that comes to mind when I blow an hour in an article directory trying to find usable articles!
As an Internet marketing firm, we beef up client sites by adding article content. This means I handle the article sections of more sites than I wish to admit. Because of this, I spend most of my time hunting for good articles. By "good articles," I am talking about articles that are formatted and arranged in a manner that makes them ready for publishing. I am NOT talking about what you write, just how you organize and format it.
Building article pages on sites is a tedious process. If dealing with your article is going to require me to make a lot of modifications, I will not publish it. More so, I will NEVER look at your articles again. Despite your captivating headline, I will simply bypass it as soon as I see your name. Whether you realize it or not, you have a reputation with webmasters, publishers and editors.
But I Need You
I hunt through article directories because I need your content. New content equals happy visitors for the sites I work on. With the exception of a few of you, however, I loath the very ground you walk on because you make my job miserable. Yes, miserable. The problem I have with your articles is you create them in a style and format that makes my teeth grind. Again, I am not talking about WHAT you write about, just HOW you put it together.
When I look for articles every two days, I am trying to find something I can slap onto the sites as quickly as possible. This means your article should be formatted to make meta tagging and hyperlinking as easy as humanly possible. Keep in mind that I am publishing hundreds of articles a day, not one or two. Time is at a premium. If you make the job easy for me, I will snap up articles as fast as you can post them.
Why Should You Care
You should care about my gripe because many of my peers feel the same way. When we get together, bitching about your articles is a popular subject. That hurts you from both a readership and link building perspective. You want to get publicity from your articles and we want to give it to you. Comply with our demands and we will paste you all over the net. Don’t and you can watch the proverbial tumbleweed continue to roll by your site.
Now, you’re probably thinking none of this applies to you. In truth, I suspect it applies to 90 percent of the authors publishing in directories. Yes, this is even true for the authors publishing hundreds of articles.
I am going to publish a series of articles on this subject all at once. These articles will cover in detail what I want to see in each section of your article. I pray that you will read them and ease the misery of all of us lowly publishers.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s my rant and what you can do to change my mind.
Don’t Send Me Your Articles
First of all, don’t send me articles. I only take them from directories. The purpose of this article is to give you a better idea of what I’m looking for in articles. It is not to create an assault on my email account.
You’re Killing Me
Okay, "hate" is strong word and I probably shouldn’t use it. It is, however, the word that comes to mind when I blow an hour in an article directory trying to find usable articles!
As an Internet marketing firm, we beef up client sites by adding article content. This means I handle the article sections of more sites than I wish to admit. Because of this, I spend most of my time hunting for good articles. By "good articles," I am talking about articles that are formatted and arranged in a manner that makes them ready for publishing. I am NOT talking about what you write, just how you organize and format it.
Building article pages on sites is a tedious process. If dealing with your article is going to require me to make a lot of modifications, I will not publish it. More so, I will NEVER look at your articles again. Despite your captivating headline, I will simply bypass it as soon as I see your name. Whether you realize it or not, you have a reputation with webmasters, publishers and editors.
But I Need You
I hunt through article directories because I need your content. New content equals happy visitors for the sites I work on. With the exception of a few of you, however, I loath the very ground you walk on because you make my job miserable. Yes, miserable. The problem I have with your articles is you create them in a style and format that makes my teeth grind. Again, I am not talking about WHAT you write about, just HOW you put it together.
When I look for articles every two days, I am trying to find something I can slap onto the sites as quickly as possible. This means your article should be formatted to make meta tagging and hyperlinking as easy as humanly possible. Keep in mind that I am publishing hundreds of articles a day, not one or two. Time is at a premium. If you make the job easy for me, I will snap up articles as fast as you can post them.
Why Should You Care
You should care about my gripe because many of my peers feel the same way. When we get together, bitching about your articles is a popular subject. That hurts you from both a readership and link building perspective. You want to get publicity from your articles and we want to give it to you. Comply with our demands and we will paste you all over the net. Don’t and you can watch the proverbial tumbleweed continue to roll by your site.
Now, you’re probably thinking none of this applies to you. In truth, I suspect it applies to 90 percent of the authors publishing in directories. Yes, this is even true for the authors publishing hundreds of articles.
I am going to publish a series of articles on this subject all at once. These articles will cover in detail what I want to see in each section of your article. I pray that you will read them and ease the misery of all of us lowly publishers.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate The Body of Your Article
by: Halstatt Pires
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.
You’re Giving Me A Headache
Let’s cut to the chase on this issue. I really don’t care what you write about. As long as it isn’t an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.
I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don’t try to cram it all into one article.
One Sentence Paragraphs
Don’t. For the love of God, just don’t write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can write one for dramatic impact, but try to stay away from these.
Loooonggg Sentences
Even in our capitalist society, punctuation is free. This “.” is a period. The period is your friend. For some of you, it is a long lost friend.
Sentences should be relatively short. If you write articles through the stream of consciousness method, good for you. When the masterpiece is done, read it out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Perhaps you should do something with the 10-line sentence?
Linking In The Body
Why, why, why do you do this? I absolutely refuse to publish any article with links in the body. In truth, I don’t have anything against such links. My bitch is that you’re making me take extra steps to hyperlink the damn things when I publish them on sites. If you think I am going to spend extra time on your article, you’re wrong. Chant with me, “I will put all links in the byline.”
Spelling
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t care if you misspell words. I can’t spell worth a damn and assume you can’t either. I will run your article through spell check programs. In fact, I’ll run them through two spell check programs. Spelling is not a big issue with me.
Body Headlines
Using headlines in the body of your article is a very good idea. I love them and will view you in a more favorable light. The only thing I ask is that you CAPITALIZE the first letter of each word. Remember, I am lazy.
The Last Paragraph
The last paragraph should summarize the point you made in the article. The last paragraph is not a place to put links, hints about your site or your biography. I will not publish your article if you do such things. You can cover all of these items in your byline.
When it comes to the body of your article, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind these pet peeves.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.
You’re Giving Me A Headache
Let’s cut to the chase on this issue. I really don’t care what you write about. As long as it isn’t an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.
I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don’t try to cram it all into one article.
One Sentence Paragraphs
Don’t. For the love of God, just don’t write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can write one for dramatic impact, but try to stay away from these.
Loooonggg Sentences
Even in our capitalist society, punctuation is free. This “.” is a period. The period is your friend. For some of you, it is a long lost friend.
Sentences should be relatively short. If you write articles through the stream of consciousness method, good for you. When the masterpiece is done, read it out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Perhaps you should do something with the 10-line sentence?
Linking In The Body
Why, why, why do you do this? I absolutely refuse to publish any article with links in the body. In truth, I don’t have anything against such links. My bitch is that you’re making me take extra steps to hyperlink the damn things when I publish them on sites. If you think I am going to spend extra time on your article, you’re wrong. Chant with me, “I will put all links in the byline.”
Spelling
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t care if you misspell words. I can’t spell worth a damn and assume you can’t either. I will run your article through spell check programs. In fact, I’ll run them through two spell check programs. Spelling is not a big issue with me.
Body Headlines
Using headlines in the body of your article is a very good idea. I love them and will view you in a more favorable light. The only thing I ask is that you CAPITALIZE the first letter of each word. Remember, I am lazy.
The Last Paragraph
The last paragraph should summarize the point you made in the article. The last paragraph is not a place to put links, hints about your site or your biography. I will not publish your article if you do such things. You can cover all of these items in your byline.
When it comes to the body of your article, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind these pet peeves.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your First Paragraph
by: Halstatt Pires
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.
A Biggie
First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.
The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.
Here is what I want:
1. No more than 38 words.
2. Preferably two sentences.
3. Your keywords in the first sentence.
Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.
Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.
Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, “publisher” and “first paragraph” are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.
Wham! Bamn! I’m off to the next article.
This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.
The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.
A Biggie
First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.
The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.
Here is what I want:
1. No more than 38 words.
2. Preferably two sentences.
3. Your keywords in the first sentence.
Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.
Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.
Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, “publisher” and “first paragraph” are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.
Wham! Bamn! I’m off to the next article.
This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.
The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Byline
by: Halstatt Pires
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the byline of your article and what you can do about it.
Bylines
The byline of an article is your chance to pimp your site and yourself. I don’t really care what you write. There only time I would forgo using an article because of the byline would be if you’re one of those people that writes seven or eight lines of text. Please try to keep it to three lines or less.
Something To Consider
If you’re writing articles, you undoubtedly know it is a great way to build the link count for a site. Assume you put two links in the byline of an article. Assume further that 60 sites publish your article. You have effectively generated 120 links for your site, a number that would take forever if you were pursuing reciprocal link trades.
Article links are also valued highly by search engines because they are inbound only links. In the “minds” of a search engine, inbound links are far more valuable than reciprocal links. Inbound links are interpreted as an indication the site in question has highly relevant information and should be ranked high in search engine results. If you don’t believe me, give some thought to the IRS.
The IRS has an excellent site covering every tax topic you could possible imagine. The IRS doesn’t link to anyone, yet it ranks at or near the top of the search rankings for practically every tax keyword phrase. Why? Roughly 971,000 sites link to the IRS. These sites include CPA firms, newspapers and so on. All of the links are inbound. Get it?
Keywords and Bylines
When writing your byline, don’t just blabber on about how great you are and so on. You are wasting the links when you do so. If you need an ego boost, go talk to yourself in front of a mirror. Instead, the byline should contain the keywords you emphasize on your site. If you do this, the search engines will associate the links with the keywords and move the appropriate pages of your site up in the rankings.
Assume you’ve written an e-book on how to lose weight and have a site. Assume further that your primary keyword phrase on the home page of your site is “how to lose weight”. Your byline should read something like:
“Halstatt is with http://www.domainname… - teaching people how to lose weight permanently. Dropping pounds is easy to do once you learn how to lose weight.”
You’ve now correlated your inbound link increases to the keyword phrase you are trying to get ranked under. Rankings are sure to follow if you keep pounding articles.
Unfortunately, most people write bylines such as:
“Halstatt was a fat slob until he had a moment of enlightenment after eating bad sushi. While spending a miserable night in the bathroom, he found that food poising was an effective way to regain his self-respect and get washboard abs. Visit http:www.domainname to read more.”
Do you see the difference? The first byline is going to move you up the search engine rankings quickly. The sushi byline isn’t going to help nearly as much. It doesn’t even include the correct keyword phrase!
Again, I rarely discard an article because of a byline unless it is over four lines. Many of you, however, could get better mileage out of yours.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the byline of your article and what you can do about it.
Bylines
The byline of an article is your chance to pimp your site and yourself. I don’t really care what you write. There only time I would forgo using an article because of the byline would be if you’re one of those people that writes seven or eight lines of text. Please try to keep it to three lines or less.
Something To Consider
If you’re writing articles, you undoubtedly know it is a great way to build the link count for a site. Assume you put two links in the byline of an article. Assume further that 60 sites publish your article. You have effectively generated 120 links for your site, a number that would take forever if you were pursuing reciprocal link trades.
Article links are also valued highly by search engines because they are inbound only links. In the “minds” of a search engine, inbound links are far more valuable than reciprocal links. Inbound links are interpreted as an indication the site in question has highly relevant information and should be ranked high in search engine results. If you don’t believe me, give some thought to the IRS.
The IRS has an excellent site covering every tax topic you could possible imagine. The IRS doesn’t link to anyone, yet it ranks at or near the top of the search rankings for practically every tax keyword phrase. Why? Roughly 971,000 sites link to the IRS. These sites include CPA firms, newspapers and so on. All of the links are inbound. Get it?
Keywords and Bylines
When writing your byline, don’t just blabber on about how great you are and so on. You are wasting the links when you do so. If you need an ego boost, go talk to yourself in front of a mirror. Instead, the byline should contain the keywords you emphasize on your site. If you do this, the search engines will associate the links with the keywords and move the appropriate pages of your site up in the rankings.
Assume you’ve written an e-book on how to lose weight and have a site. Assume further that your primary keyword phrase on the home page of your site is “how to lose weight”. Your byline should read something like:
“Halstatt is with http://www.domainname… - teaching people how to lose weight permanently. Dropping pounds is easy to do once you learn how to lose weight.”
You’ve now correlated your inbound link increases to the keyword phrase you are trying to get ranked under. Rankings are sure to follow if you keep pounding articles.
Unfortunately, most people write bylines such as:
“Halstatt was a fat slob until he had a moment of enlightenment after eating bad sushi. While spending a miserable night in the bathroom, he found that food poising was an effective way to regain his self-respect and get washboard abs. Visit http:www.domainname to read more.”
Do you see the difference? The first byline is going to move you up the search engine rankings quickly. The sushi byline isn’t going to help nearly as much. It doesn’t even include the correct keyword phrase!
Again, I rarely discard an article because of a byline unless it is over four lines. Many of you, however, could get better mileage out of yours.
About The Author
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company.
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