If there’s one important reason why you need to write effectively in the workplace, it is this: the quality of your writing imprints a lasting impression on the reader. This reader may be your boss, a client, or a person who is ready to make a billion dollar business deal with you.

Have you ever read a poorly-written document that made you lose interest right away? It was so poorly-written that you lost trust in the author and asked yourself why the author was wasting your time? How about those junk e-mails that sneak into your junk box like annoying cockroaches? You know the ones I’m referring to: the ones pitching vitamins, software, and sex aids. These e-mails are the biggest showcase of writing blunders, stricken to death with grammar mistakes, misspellings, and sloppy sentences. I doubt these e-mails pull a sale because their poor writing style immediately alienates the reader.

What impression does your writing leave on your boss, clients, or co-workers? Does your writing alienate readers, cause you to lose sales or clients, or cost you job promotions? Or does your writing build streams of loyal readers, increase sales for the company, and help you earn six figures a year at your job?

Whatever type of writing you do in the workplace, always know this reality: readers believe the quality of your writing reflects your skills, work ethics, and integrity as a person. If you write eloquently, clearly, and lively, the reader trusts you and you are able to build rapport quickly. If your writing is sloppy, disorganized, and riddled with errors, the reader assumes the rest of your work is flawed, your work ethics are flawed, and perhaps as a person you are flawed. Why should this reader waste his time reading the rest of your junk or even do business with you?

This article provides fail-safe strategies to help refine your writing and help you to communicate with clarity, simplicity, and impact so you will never write junk again. You will learn five masterful steps to guide you in planning, writing, and refining an article; and you will learn how to avoid common writing mistakes.

AIM! FIRE! FIRE!

To become a superb writer, your first task is to establish your aim.

Yiddish novelist, dramatist and essayist, Sholem Asch, once said, “Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.”

What message do you want to convey with your writing?

To establish your aim, ask yourself:

1) “Why am I writing this document?”

2) “What do I want to communicate?”

3) “Do I want to inform, educate, report, persuade, challenge, or entertain?”

Developing your aim will help you to adopt the best writing style for your reader. For example, an educational document will likely be more formal than one written for entertaining.

CONNECT WITH YOUR READERS

To write effectively, you need to connect strongly with your readers. Ask yourself:

1) “For whom am I writing this? Will I be writing for colleagues, my supervisor, my team of employees, or our clients?”

2) “How much information do my readers need?”

3) “How familiar are my readers with the topic?”

4) “How much time do my readers have? Would my readers prefer a short, succinct presentation of facts and statistics, or more narration and exposition?”

Knowing your audience will allow you to write content in a way that appeals to your readers.

SHAPE YOUR DOCUMENT

You know your aim. You know the people who will likely read your document. Now plan your document. What information will it contain? What information will most likely grab the reader and hold their interests? What points do you need to get across? Start with a rough outline of ideas. Then go through the outline and add more information and more detail. An outline will create the structure for your document. Soon enough your writing will come more easily, quickly, and with greater clarity.

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW BEST

At this stage, read over your outline and write the first draft. Establish the main idea of the document and support your argument throughout. If a blank white page glares back at you like headlights, just start writing on whatever topic you know best. According to American novelist Jack London, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Don’t worry about the sequence if the ideas come to you out of order. You can cut and paste later.

WORDY WEIGHT LOSS

If you have time, step away from the document. Come back to it later with a fresh mind. Now add material where needed. Trim away unnecessary sections. Refine the text to communicate what you want to say. Remember: less is more. Try not to repeat ideas. Repetition, unless necessary, is tiresome for the reader. Keep the piece moving along. Use a lively pace. Progress through your points efficiently.

The following sections address some of the most common writing problems. Use these tips to write more clearly, effectively, and lively.

I.) PUNCTUATION

a) Apostrophes

Do not use an apostrophe in the possessive form of “it.”

Incorrect: Our department submitted it’s reports for 2005 last week.

Correct: Our department submitted its reports for 2005 last week.

Do not use apostrophes in the possessive forms “his,” “hers,” and “ours.”

Incorrect: The window office is her’s.

Correct: The window office is hers.

Do not use apostrophes in plural nouns.

Incorrect: How many new computer’s are we getting?

Correct: How many new computers are we getting?

b) Commas

Do not connect two complete sentences with a comma.

Incorrect: The meeting was cancelled, I finished my work early.

Correct: The meeting was cancelled, so I finished my work early.

Correct: Since the meeting was cancelled, I finished my work early.

II.) MECHANICS

a) Split Infinitives

Do not insert words between “to” and the infinitive form of a verb.

Incorrect: I was told we needed to slightly tighten the deadline.

Correct: I was told we needed to tighten the deadline slightly.

III.) SPELLING

a) “A lot” is always two words.

Incorrect: I have alot of work to do.

Correct: I have a lot of work to do.

b) “To” is a function word often used before the infinitive form of a verb (to go).

c) “Too” is an adverb that means “excessively” (too difficult).

d) “Two” denotes the number 2.

Incorrect: This file cabinet is to heavy for me to move.

Correct: This file cabinet is too heavy for me to move.

e) “There” is an adverb indicating a place (over there).

f) “Their” is a possessive word that shows ownership (their computers).

g) “They’re” is the contraction form of “they are.”

Incorrect: There results for this quarter were excellent.

Correct: Their results for this quarter were excellent.

Incorrect: Their working very hard today.

Correct: They’re working very hard today.

IV.) STYLE

a) Sentence Variety

To write more lively, vary sentence structure. Use alternate ways of beginning, and combine short sentences to create different sentence lengths.

Before:

I organized the files for all the new accounts this week. Then I created a more efficient labeling system. I color-coded everything. I made sure all paper files had been documented electronically. I put these files in the empty file cabinet.

After:

This week I organized the files for the new accounts and created a more efficient color-coded labeling system. After I documented all paper files electronically, I put these files in the empty file cabinet.

V.) ACTIVE VOICE vs. PASSSIVE VOICE

The English language has two “voices”: active voice (the subject performs an action); and passive voice (the subject is acted upon). In business communication, all good writers write in active voice. Lazy writers write in passive voice. Writing in active voice shortens your sentences and makes your writing sound more direct and formal.

Examples:

PASSIVE: The recipe book is read by her.

ACTIVE: She reads the recipe book.

PASSIVE: The radio announcement should be listened to by everyone.

ACTIVE: Everyone should listen to the radio announcement.

PASSIVE: The photo is being taken by the photographer.

ACTIVE: The photographer is taking the photo.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

To learn more about fixing common writing mistakes, check out The Electronic Writing Course ( http://www.ElectronicWritingCourse.com ). It’s a program that teaches the basics of good writing and editing. If you want to check your document against 36,000 style and usage mistakes, check out StyleWriter ( http://www.StyleWriter-USA.com ). It’s a style and usage Plain English checker. If you want to write more lively and creatively, check out WhiteSmoke Software ( http://www.WhiteSmokeSoftware.com ). It’s a program that fixes and enriches your text.

If you follow these guidelines, you’ll stop yourself from writing lousy in the workplace. Your writing will be lively, clear, and concise, and you will build rapport with readers. Perhaps it’s now time to e-mail your boss a perfectly-written e-mail requesting a salary raise?

Do you have a book in you?

Well, I feel that everybody has a book in them. It’s just a matter of when you’re going to write it.

Do you have experience or expertise in some particular area? What about all your work/career experience, personal relationships, spiritual searching and studies, all the knowledge, all your life experience, the things that have helped you in life?

Perhaps you’re a computer programmer, you’re a single parent, you’ve been in sales, you know how to open a restaurant or a hairdressing salon. You know what NOT to do in relationships etc which mean you know what to do J! Right? Well, I feel that everybody has a book in them everyone has a story to tell or an experience to help people.

Perhaps you have a how-to book in you or it could be an audio program or video/DVD. It’s such an AWESOME way to help yourself have PR for your life’s work and/or business. Also having written a book will bring you 110% more credibility in the marketplace. So let’s begin ……………

How do we write a book Michele????

This process I am about to share with you is so simple and so much fun. My friend Wilma McIntyre and I wrote “Conversations on Money, Sex and Spirituality in just 3 days using my method. I have been using this method now for over 12 years. I made it up because when I wrote my first book I could not type. This process you can also use when you are going to create a motivational audio program or even a video. (Unless you can adlib to perfection. If you cannot adlib without um thrown in KEEP readingJ) As this method will help you become very clear and totally professional.

Even IF you do not think you have a book in you, writing out the following exercises will help you gain so much clarity on what you do want to do.

I have had MANY people complete this section at my live events, really not thinking they had a book in them and some ended up writing books very quickly with more enthusiasm and passion then they ever knew they had.

If you are reading this now because you DO wish to write a book, I have some GREAT and yet simple examples to help you get started OR to quickly improve the writing you are presently doing.

First of all, make a decision on what it is you choose to write about. For example, if I was in network marketing and I’d been in the business for a while and had success, I know that having a book on how to have a successful network marketing business would be tremendous for adding publicity and credibility about who I am. This can be handed out and also sold through your own Website, or other websites including Amazon.com, and through many other areas. If you do choose to self-publish your own book, which I believe is a wonderful, freeing way to begin a writing career, we’ll be covering that topic in another one of my articles on in the “How to Self-Publish.” For now let’s get the book written.

Further down, (print out the article) write down areas of experience in your life. List six areas of experience you have in life. For example:

· I have studied many spiritual books and been to many seminars and feel that I have a great metaphysical self-help book in me.

· I have experienced a great deal of success in sales, and would like to write a book on sales.

· I have a great deal of experience on how to bring up children as a single parent.

These are just a few examples to get you started, because starting is what it is all about. Go ahead and fill in six areas that you have experience in from career related experience to your personal and home life.

AREAS OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

Now that you have listed the areas of experience that you have, write the top three areas that you feel the most desire to write about.

TOP THREE LISTING FOR your Book, Audio Program, Product IDEA:

Next, pick your number one area.

NUMBER ONE AREA I WOULD LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT:

Okay, now you have the area you would like to write about. Whether it is fiction, non-fiction, a how- to – book, or a workbook, an audio program or even a video/DVD, next you are going to write down some ideas for your title. It makes it very, very easy so please do this with an open mind. Write down five ideas now, just off the top of your head. Don’t get too much into your left brain. Let the ideas flow through your right brain, and just write down anything you think of.

· How to Bring up Children as a Single Parent

· How to Increase Your Sales

· How to Eat a Healthy Diet in the Fast-Food Lane of Life.

Okay great!! So now you have some ideas! These are just working book title ideas; they are not in stone, they are not it yet. (Or one may beJ) This is just to get your juices/passion up and your creativity flowing. Later, you will come up with a great subtitle. These days, you can have quite an esoteric book title, but have your subtitle let the reader know what’s in it for them, what the benefits are.

For example, you will notice that all my MusiVation™ products have a very dynamic subtitle. In my audio program, Be Your Perfect Weight, the subtitle is Dynamic Psychological Breakthrough in Weight Control. As another example, the title of my 6-tape audio program is Affirmation Power, and the subtitle¾done as a top of the title subtitle¾is Be A Magnet to Success through [then the title] Affirmation Power. My best selling book I wrote with Rock Riddle How To Be A Magnet To Hollywood Success, is subtitled Your Complete Step-by-Step system to making it in Show Business. My book I co wrote with Wilma Conversations on Money, Sex, and Spirituality is subtitled How to Attract Multi-Dimensional Abundance in Your Life.

As you can see from these examples, if you show the people what’s in it for them through a well defined simple descriptive subtitle, then they know they are going to read a magnetic, powerful book before they’ve even started reading it.

Some of my titles are what’s in it for them, as well. For example one I wrote with Bob Proctor, Be A Magnet to Money is the title, so that’s basically telling them what’s in it for them. And then our subtitle is Dynamic Psychological Breakthrough in How to Attract Money. So having a double whammy in two very strong areas is very powerful.

Number one, your book title is telling them what’s in it for them, and Number two, your subtitle is telling them what’s in it for them.

However, that is simply your title. Now for the exciting part! You are now going to write out your table of contents.

I suggest you write ten areas, or ten chapters. This is a little more challenging if you’re writing fiction, however, I feel that just writing down ten ideas for your chapters or your book topics to start with helps tremendously in getting the juices flowing and keeps everything in Divine Order. You will see this clearly later on, after you write your ten topics.

Go ahead now and write ten topics on the next page. For example, if you were to write a book about sales, you could start your topics with:

· Is Money Everything?

· Love Your Customers

· Have a Positive Attitude

· How to Keep Keeping On

· Look Ahead, Not Behind

These are just a few ideas of book/product topic contents. Write down NOW ten- twelve areas. Sometimes people find such a great topic idea doing this that IT ends up being their new title, straight from their table of contents. Now go ahead and create your table of contents!

The next suggestion I’m going to share with you on how to write a book IS so SIMPLE. It came to me when I was working on my first book. I just find it so EASY to write a book or an audio program this way. What I do, is so very easy and fun (because remember, writing a book is FUN J)

Write ten questions for each topic. With these ten questions, ask a friend to interview you and treat it as if they are, someone who is a TV or radio show host (i.e., Oprah, Michele J) who is really interested in that particular topic in your table of contents, especially if it’s a how-to book or a non-fiction book. Simply write out the questions; these will be questions that you will answer for all areas that you already know about. Then, I suggest you start reading a lot of books about that particular topic and getting a lot of information into your mind.

You already have a lot of information in your sub-conscious mind that is just waiting to be released when it’s needed. With these questions, get a very good friend to interview you. Pretend it’s an interview show. Get a tape recorder, get them to ask you the questions, and then you just flow with it. Just answer the questions; don’t be nervous—no one’s out there listening to this! It’s just you! Ask your friend to please be very focused and not agree or disagree, or say, “Oh, yeah, that happened to me, too.” They are going to be a professional interviewer and simply be there, asking the questions. When you’re finished with one answer, they will ask you the next question. Do this for each topic; it’s so much fun! Next, type up what’s on the tape for each topic (or have someone type it for you). Finally, take out all of the questions; then just leave your answers. Then you have a whole chapter or topic for your table of contents done. Do this for all ten areas. Do not edit as you go, just take out the questions.

Once all ten topics have been done, go back and start typing. Add areas that you may not have had handy when answering the questions, for example, you may want to quote a particular person in your book. You may want to speak of the story of a successful person in your book. You can add that in later. What is very important to remember, whether you use this interview technique or simply go ahead and just write, is that you go ahead and just write! Every time you give yourself time to write, it doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you write. Don’t edit as you go. The editing can be done later. Too many people will never finish a book because they feel each area or every sentence has to be perfect as they go. Again, I repeat, DO NOT EDIT until you have finished and you have all the information written. Now you have your story/product written! Then edit later. Don’t even edit each chapter as you go. Just get every chapter written; finish that book. The editing can be done later, either by you or by a professional.

I also feel it’s wonderful, if it’s a non-fiction book, to write stories about how other people conquered those particular topics. Perhaps you can even interview some well-known celebrities. A lot of well-known, successful writers and entrepreneurs want extra publicity. And, it is free publicity for you. So, go ahead and contact these people. You’ll be surprised who knows whom. Email out to a whole group of friends, “Hey, does anybody know Richard Branson?” “Hey, does anybody know blah, blah, blah?” “Hey, does anyone know Melanie Griffith?” You’ll be surprised how many people will know someone who knows them. You know, they say, and I agree with this, you know who they are—they are us! They, which are us, say you are only four phone calls away from any person you would like to meet. And I do agree with this. Sometimes it may be five or six, but very rarely. Just take some action. That is part of networking, which is another chapter.

It is also a very good idea to write little example stories of the success of others or conduct a short interview with the actual people. You can mention on your book cover that these people are included. And then, at the end of the book, you can mention the person’s book and their Website and their contact information. People love this; it’s free publicity. I have been interviewed for many, other books. People always put my contact numbers; I love it! I would do it for anybody. If anyone wants to interview me, I do it. Anybody will do the same thing. It’s a very rare person who won’t do it. This way you also you get to be networking and meeting great people while you’re doing interviews. Priceless!!!! Call some people you’ve always loved to meet. It’s so good to always remember to be in the consciousness of the people who are already doing what you want to do.

If it’s a fictional book you’re writing, storyboard it. I suggest you create a mind map. Put a big circle in the middle and get all the characters written from that circle. For example, if it were Gone with the Wind, then “Gone with the Wind” would be in the circle in the middle. Then a little balloon off from that would be Main Character—Heroine. If you know you want a heroine, think of a name for your heroine. Offshoot that—what century is it written in? Is it Sci-Fi, or is it back in the history books of the 1400’s?

Storyboard all your characters. What type of characters they are, their characteristics, what type of personalities and looks? Allow the story to take on its own vision and flow. When you storyboard, mind map a fictional book, and put it up on the wall, it really gives you access to great ideas, because you’re mystically saying to the Universe, “This is what I want to write about—give me ideas.” And it will come to you!

Michele Blood
Musivation.com

Have you ever reached for a brownie when you were trying to lose weight? Or stayed in bed when you intended to go to the gym? Or put off paying bills because it was “too much of a hassle”?

There are lots of different ways in which we sabotage ourselves. This is true of life in general and also true of the writing life.

Writing depends not just on discipline but also on the complicated interplay between what we know and what we feel.

I’ve worked as an editor for just about 30 years (honest, I was really young when I started) and I’ve noticed there are five key negative feelings or thoughts that tend to shut down our writing—in much the same way that a circuit breaker shuts down electricity. BOOM and the lights go out.

Often, simply being aware of these thoughts is enough to take away their power. At other times, it’s important to challenge them head-on. So let’s see which ones are disrupting your writing (and therefore taking a bite of your income) and figure out what you can do about them.

1)I’m a lousy writer; I don’t have the talent to do this.

This is probably the most common negative thought of all. My theory is it’s usually born in high school when writing teachers single out one or two people in the class for praise and use their red pens too liberally with the rest. (To this day, when I’m editing, I make a point of never using red to make suggestions or corrections!) And too much of a focus on grammar and spelling in childhood often mean trouble for the adult writer.

But here’s the interesting truth: We’re all born lousy marketing writers. The people who become “good” are the ones who are prepared to do the following simple things:
– Read good writing and work to emulate it; – Write a lot—because writing is like exercise: the more you do, the better you get; – Spend double the time on self-editing that they spend on writing.

If you discover that you’re constantly bad-mouthing yourself as you write, replace the inner negative chatter with the following statement: “Writing is about practice. The more I do, the better I’ll get. When I finish this article (letter, report, etc.) I’ll have more experience and I’ll have improved.”

2) I don’t have the time to write

This is one of my favourite negative thoughts because it’s so common and sooo easy to blow out of the water. The writing world is littered with people who quit their day-jobs so they could work on their books. But here’s the secret: The published novelists and non-fiction writers are almost always the people who continue with their regular work and write in their spare time.

Just as the cactus thrives in a hot, dry environment, writing thrives in the absence of time. Yes, you read that correctly. Writing not only can be done quickly; it is better done quickly. That’s partly because, if you’re fast enough, you can usually out-run and out-write the negative chatter in your head.

People often make the mistake of trying to set aside huge chunks of time for writing (especially for reports). Me? I love writing in 10-minute bursts. Not only does this allow me to get ideas out of my head and onto paper when they are fresh, but it also gives me a big payback down the road. That’s because when I go back to the document I often discover my article is much further ahead than I’d realized. No blank page. It’s a great feeling.

I do like having a decent chunk of time to self-edit—a different task from writing—but I’m talking maybe 30 to 60 minutes. Not all day.

When you’re planning your writing time, think in small increments, not big chunks. Remember: If you write 300-350 words a day, you’ll have written a decent-length book by the end of a year.

3)I’d better do a really good job on this (article, report, letter) because my reputation/sales results hinge on it.

Of course you want your writing to be good. And of course certain pieces of work you do can be important to your business or career. But to understand why this negative line will do you in, it might help to think about professional sports. Take tennis for example.

Do you think Martina Navratilova won a record nine Wimbledon singles championships and 58 Grand Slam titles by telling herself, “I really need to win this game; if I don’t, I’m in trouble.” Of course not! I don’t know about Martina, but I do know many professional athletes work with psychologists precisely so they can learn to turn off this unhelpful chatter. After all, this sort of self-talk is more likely to cause them to choke than to win.

Similarly, when you’re writing, you need to shut down the tiny yet persistent voice that tells you how much you have riding on this job. Instead, do what the athletes do. Focus on the ball—in your case that means: focus on what you’re writing.

And if that doesn’t work, tell the voice that you don’t have time to listen to it while you’re writing, but you’ll attend to it when you’re editing the piece (when it can’t do so much damage.)

4)I need to write about this topic

Truth is, unless you’re a journalist or someone else who writes professionally, there are precious few topics that anyone is going to force you to cover. Sure you might need to write a pitch for a bank loan or sales letter to promote your product, but if you’re writing an article for your e-zine or website, don’t be bound by duty. Instead, focus on topics you feel passionate about.

Readers can smell disinterest the way lions can smell a steak. I’ve seen too many consultants who start an article by saying to themselves: “This is a hot topic in my industry right now.” Or, “I want the search engines to pick me up on this one.” Or, “People expect me to be an expert on this.” Yawn.

Instead, choose a topic that excites you and has you fairly bursting to write. Then think hard about how to make it relate to your business, your keywords or your target market. Your enthusiasm will not only captivate your readers, it will also inspire you to write quickly and fluently.

5)Writing is too hard

Let’s get something straight. Lifting bricks is hard; waiting tables is hard; telling someone they have cancer is hard. Writing is not hard. Writing is just writing.

There is a romantic notion—perpetuated by Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler and others—that writers must be tortured. In fact, writing is just a job. Sure, sometimes it’s more difficult than other times —just like it’s hard to return voicemail messages when you’re headachy and grumpy or hard to go for a run when you’re bone-tired.

But overall, writing is actually pretty cushy. You get to sit in a warm dry place. You can have a steaming cup of tea or coffee beside you. You don’t have to do any heavy lifting (with Spell check, you don’t even have to lift the dictionary!) And best of all, you get the privilege of sharing your thoughts—the ones inside your head—with other people.

So, dismiss the notion that writing is an onerous act. Writing is something we all can do. Sure, some of us are better at it that others than others. But that’s mostly because of practice. And if you write more, you too will improve.

Get at it.

Perhaps you have heard the adage “No news is good news.” In contrast, sometimes the news is bad. How are you going to communicate that bad news?

Your last employer fired you. You are writing a financial report to stakeholders, and the company is losing money. You were required to perform specific duties and meet objectives, but you didn’t. You have a job to do, and it’s taking longer than expected. You failed a class in your undergraduate program. You have to miss work—again. You need to raise taxes because your budget is too high. Too many patients are dying. Etcetera.

A. The Purpose of Spin

Now you have to put the bad news in writing. One benefit of writing is that you can craft your words very carefully to say what needs to be said, honestly, but in a manner that reduces the negative impact. You can tell the truth, but tell it in a way that gives a better impression than the news deserves. This is called “spin,” or “spinning,” the news.

Sometimes, good news is made to seem like bad news, and this is also spin. Here, however, we are going to discuss 5 strategies for making bad news seem less bad. These are strategies for hiding an unpleasant truth while being completely honest.

1. Replace disparaging terminology and descriptors with positive actions.

You could write, “The company is losing money.” Or you could spin this and write, “The company is reassessing weak revenue streams.” “Losing” is a negative term, but “reassessing” is a positive action.

Instead of writing, “I failed this class,” you could spin this and write “I am strategizing how to attain greater success next semester.” “Failed” is a negative term, but “strategizing” is a positive action.

2. Focus on what was achieved, not on how you failed.

You could write, “We didn’t meet expectations.” Or you could spin this and write, “We nearly met all expectations.” “Didn’t meet” is a sign of failure. “Nearly met” is a sign of progress.

Instead of writing, “18% of all patients died from hospital staff errors,” you could spin this and write, “82% of all patients successfully recovered while at the hospital.”

3. Downplay and disparage criticisms and critics.

You could write, “Harvard economists argue against our budget plan.” Or you could spin this and write, “While some Harvard economists reject our budget plan, others with more direct experience at the national level support our proposals.”

Instead of writing, “Our previous client was upset that we didn’t meet deadlines,” you could spin this and write, “Our previous client had difficulty understanding the time frame needed to produce high quality work.”

4. Understate negative characteristics by stating “not + [extreme positive term].”

You could write, “He thought our writing was awful.” Or you could spin this and write, “He was not completely satisfied with our writing.”

Instead of writing, “The professor was angry at me for arriving late so often,” you could spin this and write, “The professor was mostly, but not entirely, pleased with my attendance habits.”

5. Use big, undefined conceptual terms to minimize the complexity of a situation, uncertainty about the future, or the potential for opposing philosophical perspectives.

You could write, “We are going to require upper and middle class taxpayers to share an increasing percentage of the cost for health insurance for non-taxpayers.” Or you can spin this and write, “We are going to enact legislation to ensure that all citizens are healthy.” [“Healthy” is not defined, but because the focus is on “healthy,” readers may overlook the essential question: “How?”]

Instead of writing, “Our employees are encouraged to keep quiet about any alleged company wrong-doings and face termination without warning if they discredit the company in public,” you could spin this and write, “We encourage employee loyalty.” [The specific meaning of “loyalty” is not defined, though the company’s unspoken policies certainly will produce loyalty—from fear.]

B. Ethical Considerations of Spin

I cannot talk about spin without talking about ethics. Spinning the news may raise significant ethical questions, depending on your point of view. On one hand, you are telling the truth about situations and facts. None of the spin statements above are false. If the reader doesn’t ask questions or think about what you write, that is the reader’s fault, not yours.

On the other hand, you are intentionally attempting to make the reader have a false interpretation of the situation or facts. You want the reader to think more positively about a situation than he or she might otherwise. You aren’t deceiving the reader, but you are getting the reader to deceive himself.

You also need to think about the purpose you are trying to accomplish. Spin may or may not be appropriate. You might not need to spin the facts depending on who will receive the document, what the reader already knows, the impression you are trying to give, or your role.

This is the third in a series of articles with brain-tempting tips that will enable you to make your dream of authoring a book become your reality. Leaders today have a book. The best business decision you can make is to write a book as it provides you instant credibility.

Here are the final powerful secrets to infuse your brain with the write idea.

1. Making appointments with yourself in your personal planner or PDA will ensure you get some writing done. Often what gets written down gets done and your writing time is no exception.

2. Establish realistic time lines for long-range goals. View target dates with flexibility in mind. Be prepared to change direction temporarily if circumstances dictate it. Three thirty-minute writing sessions may be more realistic than one session of one and a half hours. Do not put undo pressure on yourself or you will act in a counter-productive manner and will find excuses not to write.

3. If you are watching television and the show is not really capturing your interest, take that time to write. If you have materials readily available and organized then shifting your attention to writing rather than watching won’t be a problem. This applies equally well to other activities that aren’t capturing your interest.

4. You write more effectively and efficiently by taking regular breaks during long writing sessions. Taking breaks is using your time wisely. The breaks allow the sub-conscious to take over and generate new ideas. Make sure you record these brilliant revelations!

5. Take one lunch hour per week. Eat a quickie lunch and use the time to write. Is there a library or quiet spot near your workplace where you can go? Is writing in your car out of the question? What about staying at your desk while others are away having lunch?

6. If you commute to work by train or bus or car pool, you can use that time to write. If you’re usually the driver, perhaps you can be a carpool passenger once or twice a week so you can write during the trip. Make sure your car-pooling partners are aware of what you want to do during the commute. On vacation trips or other long drives, write while your spouse drives. Drivers are usually content to watch the road and concentrate on driving, so they will not miss your conversation.

7. Be ready to pounce. If a window of opportunity presents itself to get some extra writing time, pounce on it. These unscheduled spontaneous writing sessions are often most productive. Appreciate the fact that you must be ready to take advantage of these situations. These are golden opportunities to do something you love to do. Go for it!

8. View your practical every-day writing as an opportunity to hone your writing skills. It’s attitude that’s important here. Those thank-you notes, staff memos, friendly letters, emails, journal entries and special reports are all writing exercises that give you an opportunity to work on the skills of written communication. You can learn a great deal by writing in all situations. There is always a carry-over to other writing circumstances.

9. Keep writing tools (pen and paper) handy at all times in all places where you just might get the opportunity to write.

10 Writing breeds more writing. The more writing becomes a habit the more it happens. Research says it takes 21 repetitions to break an old habit and establish a new one. Writing for 5-15 minutes per day for 21 consecutive days should establish this writing as a regular habit. So give yourself a reasonable target of 21 repetitions to establish new writing behaviors.

11. Write quickly. Write legibly. Write legible scribbling if necessary. Use abbreviations like w for with and acronyms and the first parts of longer words only. If the only person who is going to read your notes is you, you can take whatever liberties you want to in order to get your ideas on paper and keep the flow going. Scribble now and translate later.

12. As you are writing, put new ideas in the margin of the paper as soon as they come to you. You won’t interrupt the flow of your thoughts on the page because you already have some key words to help you and you have already been writing. Slow down to record your new ideas, but don’t stop!

13. Use the Cloze method of reading for your writing. One technique for teaching students to read is to provide a paragraph with words missing. Students have to fill in the blanks with words suggested by the context of the paragraph. Use this same method to speed up your writing. Insert a straight line in your writing for words that you will know by context when it comes to transcribing your draft copy. Put a _______ in your writing as a placeholder.

14. Use acronyms in your draft copy. You can use the authentic conventional acronyms or you can invent some of your own. For example, ataw could mean Awaken The Author Within or b for book.

15. Learn to cover the page. Think in terms of starting every page as if you are going to cover it with writing as quickly as possible with quality ideas. Thinking this way will help you accomplish more writing.

Implementing these tips will get you off to the WRITE start.

Writing anxiety and writing block are informal terms that are used to denote pessimistic and anxious feeling about writing. Researches showed that the majority of students exhibit unusually strong apprehension about writing. This debilitating condition forces students to avoid majors, jobs, and courses that require writing.

In fact, having some level of writing anxiety can help you concentrate, really your thoughts together, and devote all of them to writing. However, in excessive quantities it can become a hindrance; here is where the actual problem lies.

Some experienced writers claim that this feeling has the situational character and is not pervasive in person’s writing life. Others say that writing block and anxiety show up only during our most stressful deadline-driven periods, and stay until we find the way to show them the door.

Writing anxiety encroaches upon a writer, who doesn’t know what to write about, or simply doesn’t know where to start writing, and is usually accompanied by (1) continuous procrastination of the writing tasks, (2) becoming nervous because of the impossibility to write anything at all, (3) quickening heartbeat, and sweaty palms.

All in all, every writer, at least once in his life, experiences moments, which create anxiety. Surely, there is a great deal of variations among individuals; however, there are some common experiences that writers can find stressful.

Writing anxiety can be a result of a great variety of social, academic, and personal factors. Some of them are:

• Writing for readers that have previously been overly critical and demanding to the writer’s work.

• Working in limited or unstructured time.

• Adjusting to the new forms of writing that causes some troubles to the writer.

• Being preoccupied with college life and social issues.

• Professors that may seem intimidating and relentless.

• Fear to failure.

Such circumstances can increase the stress level of the writer and become an awful distraction. The good news is that there are ways to restore writing equilibrium and get down to writing. Here are some practical steps to help writers unlock their writing talents.

I. Brainstorming and organizing your ideas

Brainstorming and organizing your ideas are as important as the process of actual writing. As a matter of fact, it provides a guaranteed solution to overcome the writer’s block. This strategy is very simple.

You begin with a blank sheet of paper or a computer screen. You write your topic at the top, and, then, write everything you can about it. While brainstorming different ideas, you don’t care about grammar and editing, you simply brainstorm various approaches to the subject matter under consideration.

When you are completely out of ideas, you look at the list of the jotted ideas, and reconsider your topic, cutting down the ideas that stray away from it.

Then, you organize these ideas and find the central idea that gives a decent place to start the first draft, and states an essential truth about your topic. Since you have found the leading idea, try to arrange all the other points in the logical order that you’ll use in your essay.

II. Free writing

Free writing is one of the best ways around the writer’s block. Free writing is a non-stop writing designed to uncover ideas that has no rules and forms to follow. Focused free writing involves writing on a particular topic as a means to discover what you already know or think about it. It helps you write when you don’t feel like writing, loosens you up and gets you moving.

You write down the topic at the top of the page. Then, you set your clock for five or ten minutes, and put your pen to paper. The main idea is to write for a short, specified period of time, keeping your hand moving until your time is up. Remember that you are not allowed to stop, even if you have nothing to say, write first that occurs to your mind in the act of writing. And one more thing to remember is that you don’t form any judgments about what you are writing. When the time is up, you go back over the text, and identify ideas that should carry over your text.

III. Clustering

Like brainstorming and free associating, clustering allows you to start writing without any clear ideas. To begin to cluster choose the word, which is central to your assignment, write this word at the middle of the paper. All around it place the words that occur to you when you think about this word. In such a way you write down all the words that you associate with this concrete word. You write it quickly, circling each word, grouping them around your central word, and connecting the new words to the previous ones.

Clustering doesn’t have to be logically built and well-structured; it allows you to explore new insights without committing them to a particular order.

Hope that these options will help you handle your writing anxiety and forget about this mental deadlock once and for all!

“By the time students graduate high school, they should be able to produce more than disorganized self-expression or Internet chat,” said Marilyn Whirry, former national teacher of the year and a member of the board that oversees the national assessment.

In 2003, the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the results of the writing assessment test, which aimed at identification the level of writing proficiency and lexical competence of fourth-, eighth- and twelfth- graders. This report provided the information on how good students could write essays, communicate information and provide arguments.

The results showed that fourth- and eighth- graders have become better writers in comparison with the previous years, whilst, the level of twelfth-graders’ writing proficiency has significantly dropped, “the proportion of 12th-graders who reached at least the basic level dropped from 78 to 74 percent.” Undoubtedly, the declining performance among seniors reflected a deep problem, which every single English teacher faced as a serious challenge.

Perhaps, this situation has slightly changed in the recent years. Though, the bare fact that overwhelming majority of seniors can’t convey well-organized ideas remains. Therefore, the importance of good writing skills have not decreased lately, not to mention that with each year to come the significance of good writing and editing skills essentially augments. Now good writing skills are considered to be fundamental for success in college and the workplace.

This problem is especially acute for high school graduators who are going to apply to college and acquire higher education. No matter what faculty you have chosen, you have to be ready for writing-across-the curriculum. College professors and tutors suppose writing to be an indispensable part of thinking and learning. Technical reports, research papers, term papers, and essays will become your constant home assignments mainly in every subject. No wonder that at college good writing skills is a must until you don’t have a research paper guru who does all the rough work for you.

What is college writing all about?

Sure that the experience of a research paper writing etched indelibly into your memory from high school. However, at college it will significantly change and will be associated with: late nights before the paper is due, sitting in pale light in front of your computer, a huge stack of books propped next to your desk, drinking endless cups of coffee, and racking your brains on a good thesis statement appropriate for your paper.

Remember that a college education builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in early years. College writing and high-school writing have crucial differences, which every college applicant should be aware of. Indeed, the transition from high-school writing to college one is not always smooth, because standards at college are generally higher than in high school. It differs in several basic ways, at college you’ll be asked to analyze the reading, to make a worthwhile claim, to support your claim with good reasons that are organized to present your argument.

How to sharpen your writing skills and get ready for college

It is well-known that writing is an acquired skill that needs crafting. All you need to start writing and to write well is perseverance, passion, and a good sense of right and wrong. The bottom line here is never to think that writing is not your cup of tea. If you are armed with motivation, persistence, piles of paper, and a pen, consider you are quite ready for the writing process.

Remember what Alfred Kazin once said about writing: “In a very real sense, the writer writes in order to teach himself, understand himself…” Stick to this principle throughout your preparation for college writing and use these simple strategies to conform your writing to the established patterns.

• Acquire the technique of x-ray reading. Reading will improve your writing style, help you learn new vocabulary, teach you how to use punctuation marks properly, enrich you with fresh and interesting ideas that you can further use in your writing assignment, and broaden your general outlook.

You should read for both form and content. Whenever you try to take big steps in writing, you will start with reading. If you are going to write about World War II, start with reading magazines and books from the 1940s’.

Bear in mind that reading of readers varies greatly from reading of writers. Good writers have to acquire the technique of x-ray reading. X-ray reading helps you see through the texts of the stories; it is all about reading the newspaper in search of under-developed story ideas and experience online a variety of new storytelling forms. X-ray reader always has a pen at hand and makes notes in the margins extensively, mark up interesting passages, ask questions to the text, return to these passages, and reflect upon the techniques used by the author.

• Practice writing on a regular basis. Sure you have already heard of this piece of advice, however, it will never become obsolete: practice makes perfect. When you are in a habit of writing, essays and research papers won’t seem so difficult to you. The more you write, the more perfect your writing becomes. There are several ways, which you can consider for regular writing:

• Keep the journal of your thoughts and the events of the day.




• Write the letters to the magazine and newspapers you read.




• Start a zine with your friends that are interesting to you.

• Experience with rough drafting. Some writers write fast and free, accepting the imperfection of early drafts and multiple revisions. While other writers write with meticulous precision, paragraph by paragraph, combining drafting and revising steps.

A draft is a more complete version of writing assignment written in a paragraph form. You will have to bring your drafting skills to perfection in order to write your college essays effortlessly. Break every piece of writing that you compose into meaningful paragraphs that convey separate ideas. A draft is the first variant of your complete writing assignment, where you briefly blueprint the main ideas that you are going to cover in your paper. When you draft, you should remember that you create a first version of your writing assignment that will be further filled out and polished.

• Master the craft of revising and clarifying. The novelist Balzac wrote dozens upon dozens of revisions in the margins of a corrected proof. Henry James crossed out 20 lines out of a 25-lines manuscript page. So, revision is a very good way to bring your writing to perfection.

Overall, there are two ways of revising and clarifying: changes that alter the meaning of the text and changes that leave the meaning impact. Remember that revision is generally a modification of the written assignment, rather than complete rewriting of the written assignment. Always conduct revisions of your pieces of writing and make sure to analyze your mistakes properly.

This set of guides for preparation for college writing will help you feel comfortable about writing essays and research papers for your college classes and boost your confidence as a writer.

About the Author:

Linda Correli is a staff writer of http://www.CustomResearchPapers.us/ and an author of the popular online tutorial for students “What Teachers Want: Master the Art of Essay Writing in 10 Days”, available at http://www.Go2Essay.com/ Visit Linda’s web log at

http://custom-research-papers.blogspot.com/

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So you have always wanted to write…right? What makes you think you can write? If you believe you can write…you are write, I mean right. Pre-historic man used symbols etched on the wall with rocks to convey information and communicate to others the story of their lives and let others know who roamed the land and where food was. Today most of us learn to write by age six or seven, some of us by five. We usually pick up our first crayons by age three and make a mess, but as the years go by we learn to stay in the lines. If you are reading this, I will assume that you can stay in the lines and have the ability to read and write.

So how does one start writing? First you must decide why you want to write, are you writing just to write or would you like others to read what it is that you are writing. Who do you want to read your writing and why do you want them to read it. Decide who your target audience is and what do you want them to be thinking when they are finished reading you writing? Are you informing, entertaining, or trying to make behavior and attitude changes? As long as you believe that you can add credible information to the topic in which you are writing, you have earned the right to write on that topic.

Next, you must realize that you have always had the ability to write, you have only decided to do other things with your time. Many of us have had the limiting belief that “I am just not a writer,” or “I am just not creative.” I invite you to consider that was true up until now. If you decide that you are now a writer and what you write is creative, you will suddenly become a creative writer. Success is not achieved overnight (usually not…but who knows?), but if you practice your new belief as a creative writer, you will as time goes by, become a very creative writer…maybe one of the best. So you must rid your negative belief about your ability and accept that you do have the ability to be a writer (I now anoint you as a creative writer).

So now that you have been anointed as a creative writer, you must practice saying “I am a writer” and “I am writing a ______ (insert what ever you are writing, book, poem, article, journal, essay, short story…etc.). Feels different…doesn’t it? That’s OK, because the more you say it the better it begins to feel. So if you have wanted to write in the past, but were doing other things, what would you rather not do and write? Confused? OK, say that instead of wasting you time watching television, you decided to write. Practice saying “when I feel like watching television, I write.” This way you will break your bad habit and replace it with a productive, relaxing and fun habit.

You’ve decided to write, you know your audience, you’ve been anointed a writer and now you’re ready to write…now what? Jump on in, the water is just fine. You can write anywhere at any time. The finest thought runs the risk of being irrevocably forgotten if we do not write it down. Most of you best writing will be done when you are inspired. Always carry paper so you can write when you are inspired. If someone asks why you are carrying paper, you can practice saying “I always need paper because I am writing a _____(insert what you are writing).” You will write more because you will always have paper with you. Look forward to writing and be thankful that you can, because there are those who can not. Anytime you have free time is also an excellent time to write. You can even schedule time in your day to write once a week to everyday.

You begin writing and hit a wall. Write down your ideas, they do not have to be full sentences or grammatically correct, the important thing is that the pen is to the paper and you just keep writing no matter how much you think what you are writing does not matter. Keep writing like you talk, don’t worry about errors, just write. You can organize your ideas and concepts later and file as you are getting words on paper, the important thing is quantity, not quality. You will have a chance to clean up what you wrote later.

What do you do with all these words on your paper? Take what it is you are writing on, and create an outline of the basic ideas you will want to include in your final draft. Put the information you have under each heading of that out line and put into logical, grammatically correct order. If you think that this job will never be done, relax and take one step at a time, and keep going until the end. Remember the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. When you are reading there are no visuals, so put the visuals that you see in your mind into words. Put the sounds that you want the reader to hear into words. The same goes for the smells, feelings and tastes.

You have the ingredients and tools, and you know how to use them. The only thing left to do now is to start writing. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are most masterpieces, but you sure can put a lot of words on paper in a short amount of time. The challenge is being able to arrange these words so they eloquently communicate the message you are wanting to convey to the reader. Specifically now that you have the knowledge, it is up to you to take action. I feel blessed that I have the freedom to write about anything that my heart desires and I believe you should too. You can carry a pen and paper always and the more people that you tell you are a writer to, the more you are held accountable to become a writer and likely to become one. I look forward to reading your next masterpiece and if “you think it…Ink it.”

Louis Lautman, he is a business consultant, life coach and peak performance expert. He is the president of International Sales University, a sales training company based in Miami FL. He runs extraordinary public and private seminars to create breakthroughs and transform your life. Louis can be contacted at 813-380-7467 or louis@InternationalSalesU.com. Check his website at louis@InternationalSalesU.com.

There are many popular casino-style games, but nothing matches the growth and popularity of poker and how poker influences society. Poker writing covers limitless topics in the gaming world; and poker writing can be a blend of journalism, feature writing, sports writing, entertainment writing, travel writing, food writing, technical writing, and so on, depending on what you choose to write.

WHAT DOES FREELANCE POKER WRITING INCLUDE?

You might think “freelance poker writing” is exactly that: writing about poker games. You might also think poker writing is about writing for one specific market: poker magazines. This might have been true years ago, but not so today. The expanding market of online and offline poker and gaming magazines is one small fragment, out of dozens of paying markets, to find freelance work. The Internet has spawned many online writing opportunities, such as blogging, writing for poker and gaming websites, self-publishing, and writing SEO articles for companies and affiliates. And “poker writing” is more than writing about the games of poker. Poker writing encompasses the influences of poker, such as entertainment, technology, psychology, law, lifestyle, money, travel, and so on. Writing about poker and gaming, along with their influences on society, is limitless.

Many successful freelance writers tap into an arsenal of online and offline media outlets to sell their work, not just to poker and gaming magazines. Their recipe for success is simple: they write varied topics related to poker and gaming that don’t just fit into a specific poker magazine, but also fit (with some reslanting) into many other non-poker magazines and media outlets (i.e. trade magazines, regional magazines, newsletters, tourism guides, newspapers, websites, blogs, ebooks, etc.) that cover varied subjects (such as gambling, gaming, professional sports, sports betting, travel, lifestyle, women’s issues, money, finance, real estate, hobbies, and so on).

WHY POKER IS ON THE MINDS OF SO MANY PEOPLE

To write about poker, you need to know why it is on the minds of so many people. Why all the excitement? What do players see in a little game of cards? Many people fall in love with playing poker because it challenges the mind; poker games are thrilling and competitive; and let’s face it, we love the winnings. The winnings in poker games, even online, can trail with many zeros. What other game can you play with a $40 entry fee and win a couple of hundred thousand dollars, or as with WSOP winners, several million? It’s what lures the crowds to the game. Once players begin to play, everyone is a legend in their own mind. The enticement and excitement of winning drives players to want to play more. Typically, players just play more and more once they discover Texas Hold’em.

Even if you aren’t playing poker for the money, you will quickly become aware of the jackpots of money that poker players play for online and offline. Many people play poker because of the great challenges of the mind. Amarillo Slim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarillo_Slim), another legendary poker player once said, “Poker is a game of people….It’s not the hand I hold, it’s the people that I play with.” Most of the older players do play with dollar signs glinting in their eyes. On the other hand, if you read some of the articles written about Slim in the past, you’ll discover he enjoyed beating his opponents as much as anyone else.

Guru.com, CraigsList.com and Elance.com showcase job postings for many different freelance opportunities. If you have the skills to write on gambling, specifically poker, then you’ll never be short on writing gigs.

In fact, a search on a handful of job boards produced many writing opportunities, from blog posting, to writing articles on poker games and strategies.

POKER WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

If you want to write about poker and gaming, the opportunities are there. If you are educated about poker and you can write well, the opportunities will be endless. However, you have to be better than average to earn a decent income as freelance poker writer. You must know your “stuff” in this field.

Writing about poker and its players requires you to learn about the games of poker and about the players whom people want to read. For instance, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo “Slim” Preston are two old timers who many consider two of the last living legends of the game. However, Brunson pulls a crowd more so than Preston. People look for articles, books and information on Doyle Brunson because he is still an active player in Las Vegas. Furthermore, Brunson lives where poker rooms are on every corner, whereas Amarillo Slim lives in, well, you guessed it-Texas!

A freelance poker writer has many opportunities. For starters, a poker writer can write from home because of the online games and tournaments. The online poker rooms (the ones offering the large satellite tournaments) are newsworthy as are many of the sit and go tournaments that offer large purses. Writers find ample topics and stories to pull from in this capacity alone. People want to read what’s going on in the online poker rooms. As a new writer, you need to write as much as you can on the subject of poker no matter where people play it.

In addition to the newsworthy opportunities online, web content is a huge marketplace for freelance writers. Writers who can write content-rich articles related to poker and gambling are in high demand.

To succeed as a poker writer, you will need to find your niche. However, you don’t necessarily have to stay within your niche market. Many writers will write on poker and cover online and offline games. They’ll cover the World Poker Tour for an offline gambling magazine one day and write an informative “How to Spot a Poker Cheat” article the next day for an online website. Poker writers like the ability to remain diverse but it pays to have a niche.

For example, there are several writers on Elance.com who write web content for gaming websites but still pick up a couple of writing gigs offline in magazines and for newspaper articles. Respectively, several notorious authors and professional poker players write primarily as book authors and authorities on their game but occasionally they will snatch a writing column for an online poker website.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking the gigs you have online will allow the offline writing jobs to fall in your lap. You have to keep your options open. You will need to apply for most of the work you get, even after you become well-known within the industry. However, if you’re good, you’ll very seldom face competition for the writing jobs you want.

When you become established in your niche, clients, editors and colleagues will willingly generate referrals for you. In fact, if you are well-informed and can stand out as a leading authority on poker, you can create your own jobs if jobs don’t randomly come your way. You’ll be able to query an editor with ideas and convince the editor to publish your articles. You may be able to query a book publisher with a manuscript idea and have it accepted for publication.

In addition, the offline writing jobs on assignment are often lucrative. Most of the writing jobs on assignment will allow you to live like a high roller, or at the very least, a low roller with some great perks. Poker writers normally stay where the action takes place, which is commonly in a casino. If you’re covering a World Poker Tour event, you’ll likely stay in upgraded casino accommodations; after all, the casino knows you are writing on the event and they’ll likely want you to plug their plush rooms and their many amenities.

On assignment writing jobs will enable you to eat in marvelous dining restaurants, stay among the upper echelon of poker players in suites or upgraded rooms and enjoy hosted parties among poker players. Writing on assignment as a poker writer enables writers to stay in some of the most elegant resorts in the world while enjoying the lifestyle of the pampered poker player. And trust it when you see it in magazines and hear about it online, these professional players are pampered.

Before you obtain your first job assignment as a poker writer, you need to learn all you can about poker. Read everything there is to read. Listen to everything and anything you can on the subject. Flip on the TV set and watch some live game coverage and learn the terminology. Poker tournaments and poker coverage are constantly on TV, especially in the evenings and on weekends.

PERKS OF A FREELANCE POKER WRITER

Poker writers who travel to some of the casino destinations hosting world events such as the WSOP (http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com) or the WPT (World Poker Tour – http://www.worldpokertour.com ) find they can enjoy a lifestyle many freelance writers dream about. Not every freelance writer can endure the schedule of these writers. However, if you are a writer who can face the unpredictable scheduling of events in the World Series of Poker, have a great personality and excellent people skills, then your chances to live a jet-set lifestyle in the world of poker is better than what many writers might think.

Life is better as a poker writer than it is in most areas of writing. You will be rubbing shoulders with people in Sin City and many other casino destinations where money is no object. Remember, money is no object to a great number of poker players. Stakes are always high. With that in mind, remember who you are and where you are. Remember to capture the story, and not the party.

You will get a free ride pass as a poker writer if you can achieve a name for yourself in the poker world. You will have the things only high rollers can get just because the right people want YOU to remember their name. Naturally, this will only happen after you become recognized as a poker authority. If you strive to achieve it, you will know what the inside of the suites at the MGM and Paris Las Vegas look like because you’ll be staying in them. You won’t walk or hail a cab in Vegas. You’ll be riding in a limo, free of charge. Best of all, when you are on a job, you will drink and eat what you want and never see a bill. Welcome to success. Revel in it and know you’ve worked hard for it.