Essay Online

While mulling over what to talk about in my last blog, my husband had a suggestion I found irresistible! More joking than serious, he said, “Why don’t you talk about the sex appeal of older men, and call it ‘Who’s Your Daddy’?”

He never thought I would take him seriously. Well, as you can see, I did. By older, I am specifically talking about men past fifty. Yes, I have an eye for young stud puppets, cut and lean sex machines! But many of those to die for men look that way to attract other men. Although nice to ogle, it’s rather like pressing your nose against the candy store window. Drooling over the goodies is as far as you get.

The rugged virility I am talking about in older men I know about first hand. Working in the shipping industry as long as I have, I know sailors. These are not Navy sailors, they are Merchant Mariners. They have spent a good part of their lives on commercial ships, sailing all over the world. Once they came ashore, they continued to work with ships in a variety of roles.

Because of the requirements of my job, I have to travel occasionally. I have been to Singapore, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Norway. In all of these places, I have met sailors. I’ve talked to them, drank with them and been accepted by them. They’ve told me stories that have made me laugh until the tears ran. In fact, I’m writing an anthology called Hello, Sailor which will be released sometime in 2008. It is a collection of three novellas based upon the stories I’ve been told by my sailor friends.

These men are career mariners. They are strong individuals, free wheeling, opinionated, wickedly funny, and sexy. Most of all &ndash God bless them &ndash they LOVE women! You might be surprised to hear that they not only love women, they respect women. Of course they tell dirty jokes! They’re sailors after all. But whenever I have socialized with them, individually or in a group, I am treated with such courtesy it borders on gallantry. Not even my husband (don’t tell him I said this!) is as courteous and mannerly as they are.

They aren’t pretty boys. Far from it. They carry themselves with an aura of masculinity that can only be achieved with years of self sufficiency. Being a sailor is not an easy life. Hard work and hard living show on their faces, rugged character etched in every line. Perhaps they wouldn’t be considered classically handsome. They are nonetheless attractive in their manliness, maturity and individuality.

In our youth oriented culture, it is a refreshing reminder to know that sex appeal doesn’t diminish as the birthday candles increase. Both men and women remain sexual beings for as long as the fire burns inside. I have every intention of keeping my fire stoked for many more years. I think my sailor friends feel the same way.

As a final note, the piece below eloquently summarizes how I feel about my life, and my writing.

In 1981, Lena Horne did a one woman Broadway show called “Lena Horne &ndash The Lady and her Music.” In the show, she referred to herself as a late bloomer. I find I am appreciating her comment more now than I ever have before.

Early in the show, she sang her signature song “Stormy Weather”, much like she sang it in the movie. Late in the show’s second half, she announced her next number by saying ‘’I had to grow into this song.’’

And then what does she do? She sings ‘’Stormy Weather’’ all over again. Only this time she sings it as if she had just grown into it, as if she had never sung it before. The words poured out of her, with a gospel fervor that covered her, and the audience, with sweat and tears.

I am growing into my song as Lena did hers, learning to sing it all over again, in a new way, with a new perspective. Who knew it could be this good!

Few people know that many of William Shakespeare’s plays were published posthumously. Virginia Fellows’ Shakespeare Code includes an intriguing discussion of works attributed to Shakespeare that appeared after his passing in 1616. Shakespeare had been dead for seven years when the First Folio of his collected works was published. This celebrated Folio edition contained 36 plays, half of which had never been seen before. According to Fellows, many of the previously unpublished plays “were entered into the Stationer’s Register on November 8, 1623, just in time for publication” a little later that same month.

More fascinating still, a number of plays published previously were altered. There were deletions as well as new additions. Fellows writes: “In the First Folio, The Merry Wives of Windsor has twelve hundred more lines than it had in 1602, Titus Andronicus has a whole new scene, and Henry V is double the length of the 1600 edition.”

Given the fact that Shakespeare was long gone and had left not a single manuscript behind, legitimate questions arise: Who edited the old plays? Where did the new plays come from, and why were they written?

Fellows, a firm supporter of the theory that Sir Francis Bacon rather than Will Shakespeare wrote the plays, looks to the field of cipher writing for an answer to these questions. She emphasizes a fact that may provide a plausible link between the works of Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare. In October 1623, a month before the release of the First Folio, Bacon published a new Latin edition of his 1605 treatise The Advancement of Learning. In this revised and expanded edition, entitled De Augmentis Scientiarum, he openly discussed a method of code writing, the Bi-Literal Cipher, which he had devised when still in his teens.

Coincidence? Bacon advocates don’t think so, and have used Bacon’s own Bi-Literal Cipher to hunt for hidden messages in Shakespeare’s works and a number of publications by several contemporaries that exhibited the same odd typesetting features as the First Folio. (For a detailed description of the Bi-Literal Cipher and quotations of deciphered materials on Bacon’s hidden life as the unrecognized oldest son of Queen Elizabeth I, see Fellows’ captivating book.)

Bacon’s Bi-Literal Cipher requires a substantial volume of text: it’s designed in such a way that for each encrypted letter, five “outer” letters are needed. Furthermore, cipher-sleuths such as Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup concluded, rightly or wrongly, that only italic letters were used in the bi-literal cipher believed to be embedded in Shakespeare’s works&ndashwhich would rapidly multiply the volume of outer or “enfolding” text needed to contain the hidden messages. Fellows reasons that this demand for extensive cover text could well account for the adding of sections to old plays and the production of new ones.

While this may be the case, I think it’s only one of several possible answers, and by no means the most important one. The quality of the outer texts&ndashthe plays themselves&ndashis simply too exquisite to have been produced merely for the benefit of hiding secret stories&ndashwhose quality, if the various decoded segments are correct, is often inferior to the outer text. Let me offer another explanation instead: I believe that the plays were essential to Bacon’s life work, which he summarized as The Great Instauration.

Early in his life, after much disappointment in the stultified state of learning he encountered at Trinity College, Bacon, the young genius, set himself to the monumental task of bringing about a scientific, literary and cultural revolution&ndashboth in England and in the world at large. All his future research and writings contributed in one way or another to this all-encompassing goal. In 1620 he finally disclosed this vision for a new golden age of peace, prosperity and enlightenment in The Great Instauration, and a few years later he painted an enticing picture of this new kind of society in his little book The New Atlantis.

The method he conceived of to bring about the Instauration consisted of six parts or steps. The three first steps were dedicated to an inventory of the state of knowledge and to employing a new scientific method&ndashthat of experimentation and inductive reasoning&ndashthat would replace the fruitless dialectical reasoning prevalent at the time. His various natural histories were examples as well as components of the inventory process, and his classic Novum Organon&ndashthe “New Method”&ndashexplained the methodology he devised for this huge and far-reaching endeavor.

The fourth step, which he called “The Ladder of the Intellect,” was the first in the next tier of the process&ndashthat of attaining philosophical illumination. Bacon described this step as demonstrating the various insights and principles found in the first three steps “before the eyes” so that people could understand and absorb them&ndashsuch as in art, literature and hands-on education. He wrote: “For I remember that in mathematics it is easy to follow the demonstration when you have a machine beside you, whereas without that help all appears involved and more subtle than it really is.”

Francis Bacon discovered the power of theatre when, at twelve years of age, he wrote and starred in a little play called The Philosopher King, performed before the Queen herself. He learned that drama was a moving, effective means by which philosophical and moral principles could be set “before the eyes” of rich and poor, educated and uneducated alike. Thus, some Baconian scholars have come to the conclusion that by writing the immortal plays published under the mask of Shakespeare, packed with their profound life lessons, he showed us a powerful way to implement Step 4 of his Great Instauration.

References

Bacon, Francis &ndashThe Advancement of Learning (1605); The Great Instauration (1620); De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623); The New Atlantis (1624)

Fellows, Virginia M. &ndash The Shakespeare Code (Snow Mountain Press, 2006)

Wells Gallup, Elizabeth &ndash The Biliteral Cypher of Sir Francis Bacon Discovered in his Works and Deciphered by Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup (1899)

For a brief overview of the many controversies surrounding the ciphers said to have been discovered in Shakespeare’s works, see my article entitled “Shakespeare Cipher Stories.”

The fifth step was dedicated to determining temporary or intermediate statements of truth, and the last one to arriving at the ultimate statements of truth regarding God, Nature and Man.

Writers live a solitary life. That’s a fact. You spend hours planning, writing, rewriting and editing your masterpieces, only to have them rejected by every agent or publisher you have the courage to show them to.

So wouldn’t it be fabulous to have an on-call writing mentor, a wise and experienced coach to guide you through your writer’s journey?

Well, you have! Here, captured in the timeless wisdom of one of the greatest mentors in storytelling history, the great Jedi Master, Yoda, are 10 simple tips guaranteed to transform you into a Jedi Knight of the Write!

“You must unlearn what you have learned.”

When commencing anything new, you need to arrive at the front door with an open mind and your judgment suspended. Most importantly, leave any old training and ingrained ideas about the topic you are learning, well and truly outside that door. Writing is absolutely no exception to this rule. I have found it much easier to teach complete novices, and those with open minds, than trained journalists or graduates of writing courses, especially when it comes to the basics of freeing the imagination for fiction. For those of you who think you need to write it perfectly the first time &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think you write with the logical, left side of your brain &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think that only a gifted few can write well &ndash unlearn that! And for those of you who think you can only write when touched by the muses &ndash unlearn that! If you can think and speak, then you can write. Period. No other prerequisites required.

“(What’s in there?) Only what you take with you.”

The world of fiction is the world of your experiences mixed with your imagination. As you venture into this world to retrieve the images, feelings, impressions and ideas in the way that is truly unique to you, you do indeed learn that the only things you can encounter there are the things that you take in with you. No one else on the planet, or in history for that matter, is where you are now, has been through what you’ve been through or has your own unique view of the world. Honour these views and experiences. Allow them to flow freely through your pen or fingers. It is only when you write truly that others will relate to your words. Readers can spot a fake a mile away.

“Try not, do or do not, there is no try.”

This may come as a surprise but you must never try to write well, or you will never write well. Don’t try, just do. In other words, capture first thoughts, keep the pen moving, let yourself write complete garbage. Just do it. Just write. It is only by sitting down every day and writing that one becomes a writer.

“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.”

Substitute the “Force” with the “Unconscious” or the “Imagination”, and you’ll have a better idea of what this Yoda-ism means. As a writer, your strength flows from your own unconscious, as this is where all your collective experiences, impressions and memories are buried, just waiting to be exhumed as challenges for your characters. The ability to exercise these creative muscles, keeping them strong and toned, is the fuel that will power your stories.

“There is no why.”

One of the greatest leaps you can make in your writing, and indeed in your life, is the ability to stop asking why! Do not seek the reason for anything you write. Do not seek the reason behind the images you see, the voices you hear, the impressions you get, the dialogue you write. It just is. And it is, because it’s you, and only you, who can write that at this time. As soon as you stop to ask why, you drop into an analytical frame of mind, and genius is lost. Creativity is stifled. Imagination cannot function. Let the critics ask why. That’s their job. Your only answer to the question of why? need be “because it was there.”

“You must complete the training.”

When it comes to writing, or any other art form, talent or genius actually count for very little. Writing is a craft, and like any other craft, the writer needs to work at it constantly, honing his skills and refining his technique. Study your craft, learn from many teachers, add to your skill set, it will make you a much better writer. And it was Michael Jordan who said, “the harder I trained, the luckier I became”. Keep studying. Always be in training. As a writer you are like an athlete. Footballer players don’t hang out at home all week, or spend their days surfing or playing golf. They train, they practice, they work out at the gym, and it is this that gives them the strength, skill and finesse to win games on the field. You are no different.

“Only different in your mind.”

Life is lived in the human mind. The advances in quantum physics have proven that the universe arose from thought, and that we can influence anything in our lives simply by the thought we put to it. The same goes for your writing. If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. If you think you can sell more books that JK Rowling, then you’ve got a much greater chance than someone who thinks they can’t. Anything is achievable for you as a writer, as long as you put the thought to it that you can and will succeed.

“Control. You must learn control.”

One of the most frustrating elements of being a writer is finding the time to write. If you hold down a full time job, run a business, or have a family to care for and an active social life, it can be tempting to say “I’ll write that novel next year/when the kids are grown/when I retire” etc. This is where self control is imperative to the success of your creative endeavours. You only need to write one scene a day, which can take as little as 20 minutes, and in a year you will have 365 scenes, which will be the best part of the first draft of a novel. Don’t wait. Learn to control your inner voice that says, “You can’t do it”, or “Don’t be so selfish”, or “The bathroom is dirty, go clean it”. Sit down and write every day. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.

“Nothing more will I teach you today.”

Take your writing lessons, and your writing sessions, in bite-sized pieces. When you are learning new writing techniques, take the lessons at a pace that keeps you stimulated, but not overwhelmed. Taking on too many new ideas or concepts at once can tend to muddy the creative and productive waters. It is best to learn a new technique, then practice it and integrate it before moving onto the next one.

“Pass on what you have learned.”

As you travel the writing path, take the time to teach others that which you have learned. Even if it’s only a simple word of encouragement or a tip that helped you when you were just starting out, keeping the flow of information alive is the greatest gift you can give to others. Pass on what you have learned.

So, as you can see, anytime you need him, Yoda will be there to help you through. And remember, the only failure is stopping, so keep on writing!

So you are now ready to join the college. But getting admission into the college of your choice won’t be that easy, as more and more pupils are applying for the limited slots every academic year. You are now facing the challenge of writing the most successful application essay for the eyes of admission officers; who would also be judging the essays of all the other applicants, probably with the same profiles, backgrounds and test scores as you have.

This 500-word application essay becomes the bases for the acceptance and rejection, as it is the only way admission officers can judge the worth of the applicant. It is very natural to feel concerned at this stage; standing out in a crowd is not an easy task and thus calls for extra care and preparation. But what ever the case may be, let not the essay stress you out, be very playful to gain utmost.

Follow the following while you write the essay:

Brainstorming; a crucial step:

The key to truly presenting an insightful and incisive application essay is to go through the exercise of brainstorming. It brings out the ideas and thoughts out on the paper that might not be consciously significant to you in the first place.

If you are finding it difficult you can always take help from your friends and family that knows you well. There point of view would be different and really revealing at times. If you have a role model, study his or her personality to discover yourself.

It would be better if you set out goals for the life ahead of you. Brainstorming sessions will help you go through it. It might give you a fresh outlook of what you really want out of life.

Prepare a rough, unedited initial draft and consider the following when pondering:

1. Note down your skills, aptitude and interests no matter how meager they seems to be, like wise accomplishments and ambitions.

2. Noticeable highlights of your life, which have changed your perspectives in anyway.

3. The struggles of your life and their outcomes; either positive or negative and how it has changed your life.

4. Your contributions towards the society through community services etc.

5. And most of all, brainstorm why you want to join the specific institute, what is compelling you to apply there and how will you proof commendable of it.

What to write; choosing the theme or topic of the essay:

The essay could be about anything, you can describe you in any way you desire. You can discuss any topic you wish on earth. But the challenge remains of using the essay up to the maximum. Remember it is the only way of proving your self to be outstanding.

Present your goals, ambitions and accomplishments of life. If you are not the high achiever explain why you are not so. Always keep the theme of the essay positive. Show yourself as a stronger person rather than a pitiable one. Present as if you the one who could work against all odds and can put up a good fight against obstacles. You must attempt writing on such topic that shows your individuality and promotes your desire to be the attendant of the college as well.

Choose a theme about which you have ample amount of knowledge. Difficult and tricky topics, merely to impress the readers will render you with nothing. More avoid the complex, controversial topics. Like politics and religious affairs, even if you choose to write about them, write down more about your point of view rather than commenting who is right and who wrong.

Final Draft: Tips for writing good essays:

1. It is quite advisable to visit the desired college or visit its website and read brochures and introductions. This way, you will have the insight of what the organization believes in and you can arrange the essay accordingly.

2. Take your time and understand what you are expected to write. Understand the questions you have been asked and the requirements you have to fulfill. Take about three or four weeks to ponder on the essay and the ideas you have in mind.

3. Analyzing other previously attempted application essays would help you a lot. Writing application must be a new task for you and going through the others gives you a good idea for writing your own.

4. Copying the style of others would not help, be original and be you. There would be experiences in your life that can set you apart from other people and similar actions. So be open to express yourself and your feeling about a topic you decide to write about.

5. Make an outline or a plan to follow through out the process and refer back continually. The paragraphs of the essay should relate to each other, follow the rules of logical flow in writing.

6. You could be creative in your presentation. Catchy openings can do much more then a dry, lengthy and uninteresting essay. Introduce yourself in the first paragraph as the readers are found to maintain the interest for first few minutes. Show off your self as captivating as you can for those few moments. Creating Mystery is one good idea of keeping the interest of the readers for the rest of the essay.

7. Show what have you achieved by using the action verbs and active voice. Describe your life by applying adjectives and descriptive nouns. It would be more impressive and will make a picture in the mind of the admission officers. Imagery presentations are like five-sense experience and eye catching. At the end of the day, after reading thousands of the essays, your way of presenting yourself will be in the minds of the admission officers.

8. Conclude your essay with caution. It might be the last chance of convincing your reader that you deserve to be in there.

9. Your essay should not be the repetition of your information given in the other parts of the application; it must discuss the dimensions of your personality that needs description.

10. Use different words to express yourself. Do not hesitate to use dictionary or thesaurus. It will give a good perspective to your essay. Remember too much of the repetition of the words would dull the essay and loss of interest on the part of the readers. But using thesaurus doesn’t mean complex words can impress the officers, it might rebound if you use them out of context and if simple and common words are better off.

11. Too many long or short the sentences makes the presentation monotonous and boring.

12. Take great care in using the language. Look out for the spelling mistakes and other common grammatical errors. These avoidable errors make the essay off-putting and the impact on the readers about your personality is ruinous. You might be assumed as careless person.

13. You can proof read the essay before submitting it. Revision is one of the most important key to a successful and custom written admission essay.

14. It would be better if you could leave the essay after writing for few days; and then get back to it. The fresh look might help you improve the essay.

We recently attended at blogging conference in Chicago, SOBCon07, and David Armano of Digitas was one of featured speakers. David implored us to “stop calling ourselves bloggers.” And he presented the point that the word blogger can have a negative meaning.

I think a blogger is someone who decides to launch a weblog , and it’s true, ANYONE can do that. Maybe we do need to separate ourselves somehow…Are they successful? Do they tire out? Is it interesting? Or boring? Are they someone who blogs with no real direction or mission or passion about what they are doing? Are they blogging in a vacuum?

A blog starts to take shape after the first 60 days. Then you start to have a good idea about what you can offer the blogosphere. Is this something you can stick with and are passionate about? Can you keep things interesting and attract readers. David Armano suggested perhaps PERSONAL PUBLISHER or even PRODUCER is a better, more fitting term for us who write/blog. As a personal publisher, we treat our blogs with respect. We handle them with great care. We put a lot of time, energy, and thought into every post. It’s a business. It’s a resume. It’s about relationships. It’s not just random posting and ranting. It’s actually a lot like a pizza! We could be compared to chef’s or pizza makers.

Think about the streets of New York City. Pizza by the slice everywhere! But who has the best pizza in New York City? Ask 10 New Yorkers, you’ll probably get 10 different answers. It’s all good, it’s a subjective question. Some people like it with a lot of cheese. Some like more sauce. Some like sweet sauce, some like a more salty sauce. But the point is, every pizza maker tries to deliver the “best” pizza possible. They research their ingredients and experiment until they feel they have the right combination. The point is, as a producer, as a personal publisher, we try to create something special people will like. A lot of love, sweat and tears go into a serious blog. By comparison, beginner bloggers don’t always do that.

We are so thankful and glad we attended the SOBCon07 event and can’t wait till next year! But most of all, we are thankful for destiny bringing us together with Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Blogs, for without meeting her, our life of Personal Producing would not have went down this road it’s on now. Thank you Liz!

Derrick Sorles

Michael Snell

Email is a wonderful tool, especially if used properly.

I’m part of a group of five or six friends, who “physically” get together most weekends (as opposed to virtually). We also email each other, usually every few days, to generally trade jokes, share news, and discuss scheduling problems to do with when we are next getting together. We are starting to talk on Messenger too.

One Monday a few weeks ago, our emailing rate suddenly spiked to more than thirty emails in about twelve hours. Unfortunately this was a few days after someone new had just joined our group. Luckily she didn’t flee in terror, and things calmed down.

Things really NEEDED to calm down because most of the thirty plus emails were coming from a fight between two of my friends. I’ll call them Katrina and Chris.

Hopefully, reading this article won’t restart the fight. (If it does I’ll expect an angry email or two saying, ‘I won’t be coming on Sunday…or ever again.’)

Let me repeat. Email is wonderful, if used right. After the fight cooled down a little, Chris even mentioned that the nature of sending and receiving emails allows one to think before you reply, if you take the time.

If someone emails you and says you are an idiot, you can safely write the scathing reply you want to, full of all manner of the foulest insults and bad language. I recommend you write just such a vicious answer.

But write it with a word processor program, rather than directly into a blank email. You get all kinds of help with spelling, editing, and punctuation. It is massively embarrassing to get an email saying that you are an idiot, and then have even one misspelled word in your (meant to be) derisive reply.

The more important reason to write your reply in a word processor is that you can’t click ‘send’ the moment you finish writing. You can’t fire it off without opening a new email and then ‘cut-and-pasting’ your acidic words into it, which gives you a minute to cool down.

Ideally, give yourself an hour or more to cool down in a situation as this. After half an hour, reread the email you are responding too. Did they say ‘you are an idiot’, or ‘you look like an idiot when you don’t spell check’?

If you hadn’t guessed already, Katrina and Chris didn’t take an hour, or even a few minutes to cool down before replying to each others emails. Usually, both are more sensible so maybe they just had an off-day on the same day. Or, maybe they had real and genuine complaints about each other that needed to be discussed and resolved.

Regardless of why they did it, they then traded a series of steadily more insulting emails, replying to each other without taking time to cool down. Our group received more than thirty emails. One email somehow got sent to ‘undisclosed recipients’, which sparked accusations of bizarre cover ups involving secretly sharing our private business with mysterious shadowy strangers.

Eventually they took their fight to a more private level, no longer ‘CC’ing their insults to the rest of us. In this private exchange I think the insults got even more vicious.

No longer getting ‘CC’ed emails, from either Chris to Katrina or Katrina to Chris, I thought that they both had calmed down and grown up. Then out of the blue, both of them emailed me offering to drop out of the group. We nearly lost them both because they couldn’t stand to be in the same room together after what they’d said in their rapid-fire emails. I spent days talking to them both on Messenger to sort it out. We did even lose Chris for a few weeks. However, I left the door open for him to return and eventually he did.

Email is a wonderful tool. But be careful, you can burn your bridges if you don’t use it with a cool head.

Humans are so dependant on other people’s opinions. Having been assessed positively we feel powerful, successful, intelligent and beautiful. We judge ourselves according to others’ comments on our actions. When being criticized or laughed at, we feel bad, depressed and nothing seems to make us happy anymore. This happens only because our ways are not accepted in the society. “Ego” cries for positivism, but none appears for you base your facts on the opinions of others. The truth is that you will never be in favor of everyone surrounding you. There will always be a group of people that will not positively assess everything you do. One thing that will help against criticism is self-confidence that one should grow within him/herself.

A student may be a perfect example. Since childhood people are likely to overestimate own possibilities and paint the picture of the future in pink colours. When working out a plan for future, we do not consider the majority of possible failures that might occur on the way to success. Perfectionism is a bad feature that is worth getting rid of. Nevertheless it is present in the back corner of a young student’s “ego”. Can you imagine a devastative consequence of a failure? The tutor praises the skills and intelligence. He feels like he is on top of the world and can do anything. You get used to good things easily. When the genius is recognized you start to think of yourself only as of a genius. And after everything goes smooth and bright there is a point when someone, even your beloved tutor, comes to criticize you and your work. Instead of an expected “A” you get an “F”. The perfect world falls apart because this error doesn’t fit into your plan. At this point you build a characteristic of your actions from the way your tutors, colleagues give you. This is the main error in your system of values and priorities. You tend to overlook the world from the point of view of other people. What one should do is to build up his or her own system of values and of course taking into consideration some of social priorities. But every final decision you take should be based on your decision. A failure should only stimulate to move forward and to overcome.

Interference of the society is unavoidable. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to close yourself in a world full of illusions. Hardships make a person more experienced, wiser, stronger. The more you hide and close into depression, the more time you loose to improve the situation. The reality is harsh but it is impossible to live beyond it.

When an author decides to write fiction one the primary methods of storytelling is through a first person perspective. For many writers this is the most comfortable manner of storytelling.

In a first person narrative the reader is allowed to relate to the story one dimensionally. The story is presented to the reader from the viewpoint of a character in the story. The narrator might be the main character attempting to relate their own story. The story might also be told from the perspective of a bystander who may not be overtly involved in the storyline.

In the movie, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, the story is narrated by a deeper male voice. It is only at the end that we discover the story was related by one of Willie Wonka’s Oompa Loompas. This is an example of first person storytelling.

This type of story telling is well used in cinema. Many early filmmakers used first person narrative to present their stories. The reason this type of format was used is primarily due to early filmmaking technology that required some help in the transition between scenes. Narration provided that transition. Film noir and other detective dramas relied heavily on first personal narratives to further their storylines.

Today’s authors are more adept at relating a story from other perspectives such as second or third person which will be dealt with in other articles.

A first person narrative allows you to understand the specific character of the narrator. You are likely to find yourself identifying with the storyteller in a variety of ways. You will either love or despise their mannerisms, but it is their character that provides the strongest connection to the storytelling process.

Because your narrator is finite they will never have all the details of the story they are unfolding for you. Sometimes this creates a unique perspective because the story can sometimes become more about the narrator (at least for awhile) then about the actual storyline. This can occasionally provide a comedic touch to the novel or at the very least some rabbit trails to follow just for the fun of it.

Interestingly some first person narratives are actually related from the perspective of a consortium. The premise is that a group of individuals are relating the story. This is identified by the use of ‘we’ or ‘us’ as part of the narration.

Many people claim that they want to write. Most won’t because of a giant monster called FEAR. It looms over individuals and paralyzes them. “What if I’m no good?” “ What if I’m wasting my time?” “What if…” “What if…” “What if…” Fear creates these never-ending questions, but fortunately the beast can be conquered. It’s conquered every day. Here are ten ways to get over fear and start writing:

1) Handwrite. There’s something informal about writing longhand. Just grab a piece of paper and jot notes down. They do not have to be anything brilliant. What you write could be something as simple as “I wish I had an idea about…” Don’t worry what your handwriting looks like, just fill the page with free thought.

2) Send yourself an email. An email isn’t “real writing” so use this format to jot a story down. You can write about an imaginary day or a neighborhood event. This is a great exercise to get in the storytelling mode and you don’t have to worry about the recipient &ndash it’s you!

3) Commit before you’re ready. Tell someone you’re a writer and let them give you an assignment. Anything from writing a menu to a libretto. There’s no grading involved and to encourage yourself to accept the challenge promise yourself that you get a prize when you start.

4) Write out the fears. I know it can be scary to face them, but you can’t defeat what you don’t acknowledge. List all your fears. After you’ve finished writing them down, come up with ways to get rid of them. For example if you wrote, “I’m afraid I’m no good.” You could counter this statement with “I don’t have to be. It’s only a rough draft.” Counter “My ideas are stupid.” with “No, I’m trying to be perfect and I don’t have to be.”

5) Pretend to be someone else. Write in a different style, say an 18th century writer or one of your favorite bestselling authors. Mimic their rhythms and patterns. It’s not for you to compare, just to experiment. Write your article as Mark Twain would. Or start a short story about a kitten, first in the style of a horror writer then as a literary one. As children most of us didn’t have a problem with make-believe, it works for us a adults too!

6) Find a postcard. Look at the image on the front and jot down ideas about it on the back. You don’t have to fill up the entire space, this exercise is about getting ideas flowing.

7) Come up with a mantra that allows bad writing. “I will succeed as long as I write.” “Bad stories can be rewritten. A blank page can’t.” Keep these mantras (you can have as many as you want) close by and say it/them out loud when fear raises its ugly head.

Remember you’re reading the finished product. When you’re reading a published book or article you’re rarely (if ever) reading someone’s first draft. The book or article has gone through who knows how many revisions, editorial review, copyedits, etc… Once your work is finished, it will go through the same process before it’s shared with the public. So relax, you don’t have to be perfect.

9) Fear means you care. Far too often a writer may become too egotistical and ignore the benefit of being fearful. Not to the extent of being paralyzed, but using fear as a guide. By caring about your work and being concerned that your readers like or accept it will help you make sure your work is the best that it can be.

10) Procrastinate. You can always worry later. Write now.

It usually takes 2 minutes for the employer to skip over your resume. After that you will either be invited for an interview or your resume will join a heap of fellow-sufferers in waste paper basket. Surely you are to spend much more time than your employer on the resume to win a chance to be asked for the interview. Unfortunately, competently written resume is a rare case. Some people just overlook the significant detail that make all the difference and that is why they are in constant search of the job. Such strategy won’t do.

Your resume should be effective and show you to the most advantage. If at college you never ordered custom term papers managing with the writing tasks yourself, then making a first rate resume will be of no difficulty for you. Otherwise you have to take pains to compose it or turn to professional resume writing service. With the unlimited access to” how to impress your employer” information, most people go to extremes and produce resumes that really impress the employer, but still they are left outside. With their superficial creativity and pretension to be the best of the best they achieve quite the opposite result. Human resource experts distinguish 6 basic approaches to creating a flop resume. See if you have written something of the kind and immediately correct it. Cri de Coeur or “An Appeal from the Shipwrecked” .The style of the resume and explanation of reasons for job hunting are very similar to beggar’s lamentation. After reading a few lines of such a resume the employer has the only desire to put it aside and switch over to something not so depressing. Absolute Chaos. “Is it another expository essay or an attempt to write a resume?” - the employee will think seeing such a masterpiece. Such resumes are distinguished by extreme inconsistency and incoherence of presented information. The writer jumps from one incomplete idea to another. He groups the information irrationally and arranges it with no logic at all. Because of the incorrect graphic presentation of the data it is impossible to sort out the essential information. Sometimes the objective position has nothing to do with the previous experience of the person. It is absurd to apply for a position of a Top Manager with a working experience as a Sales Representative. What is it all about? The information you provide your employer with must be as specific as possible. No generalities and avoid the usage of inadequate vocabulary. So why are you here? Resume comprises only achievements and rewards. That is great, I have nothing against it. But why is such a treasure still looking for a job? He might have been a dream of every employer. So, be fair to yourself. Mister X. It may be rather a good resume, but making haste or being careless, the writer forgot to include some important information like contact data or has misspelled it. The person describes his skills and knowledge, but does not reflect concrete work experience &ndash recent positions and responsibilities at each of them.

The employer may have liked your resume, but it is hard to find MR. X. “Museum