Write Until You Get It Right!

We have heard so many wonderful success stories about writers who never gave up. We all have it in us to make our dreams come true and accomplish the goals we set for ourselves. I came across an article that really set well with me. I felt inspired and ready to conquer the world after I read it. It’s short sweet and to the point about persistence. Let me know your thoughts.

The Dirty Little Secret Of Overnight Successes

BY EXPERT BLOGGER JOSH LINKNER | 04-03-2012 | 11:30 AM

This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

As Chris Dixon pointed out in a recent blog post, Angry Birds, the incredibly popular game, was software maker Rovio’s 52nd attempt. They spent eight years and nearly went bankruptbefore finally creating their massive hit.

James Dyson failed in 5,126 prototypes before perfecting his revolutionary vacuum cleaner. Groupon was put on life support and nearly shut down at one point in its meteoric rise.

When looking at the most successful people and organizations, we often imagine geniuses with a smooth journey straight to the promised land. But when you really examine nearly every success story, they are filled with crushing defeats, near-death experiences, and countless setbacks.

We often celebrate companies and individuals once they’ve achieved undeniable success, but shun their disruptive thinking before reaching such a pinnacle. Before Oprah was Oprah, before Jobs was Jobs, they were labeled as misguided dreamers rather than future captains of industry.

In your life, you’ve probably had a setback or two. When you stumble, it’s tempting the throw in the towel and accept defeat. There’s always an attractive excuse waiting eagerly, hoping you’ll take the easy way out. But the most successful people forge ahead. They realize that mistakes are simply data, providing new information to adjust your approach going forward.

The ubiquitous WD-40 lubricant got its name because the first 39 experiments failed. WD-40 literally stands for “Water Displacement–40th Attempt.” If they gave up early on like most of us do, we’d sure have a lot more squeaky hinges in the world.

You have a mission to accomplish and an enormous impact to make. You will inevitably endure some “failures” along your journey, but you must realize that persistence and determination have always been primary ingredients in accomplishment.

Don’t cave to your mistakes, embrace them. In fact, mistakes are simply to the portals of discovery. There’s an old saying that “every bull’s-eye is the result of a hundred misses.” So the next time you feel the sting of failure, just realize you’re likely one shot closer to hitting your target.

And who knows? Maybe after a few dozen failures and months or years of hard work, you might just be that next “overnight” success.

For more insight on creativity and innovation, visit joshlinkner.com.

[Image: Flickr user Dillon Hinson]

Teach Children to Read Faster

Dennis Brooks, One-To-One Reading Teacher

The Automatic Reading Teacher

Title: Teach Children to Read Faster

Author: Dennis Brooks

Illustrator: N/A

Publisher: Lulu
ISBN: 9781105152313
Review:
Teaching someone to read can be a difficult task. For some individuals reading can be picked up quickly. For others who struggle with the sound of words and speech daily, learning to read can be cumbersome. As a result, the enthusiasm for learning to read is non-existent. Dennis Brooks has created a fun way to teach reading with simple phonetics.

In the 1930’s schools were introduced to the “Dick and Jane” reading series. New words were easy to learn and were taught through diacritical markings or the teaching of phonics through spelling. By the time the 80’s and 90’s came around, institutions were using the “Whole Language” method which incorporated word recognition by sight not necessarily by sound. The debate continues as to which method is the best for teaching students to read.

Instead of waiting around to see who will decide which method works best, do it yourself. Dennis Brooks has created a quick, easy and fun workbook to help anyone learn to read quickly and comprehend and pronounce words. This guide can be utilized by a teacher, parent or tutor. Students and adults who have difficulty learning to read will reap the benefits of this easy to use learning tool. The books opening chapter introduces readers to the “say-spell-say” approach. An example of this is:

1. To start, have students read, study, and learn only the phonetic words: shep.
2. Next, have them study the alphabetic words with the say-spell-say drill: shep –s.h.e.p – shep.

Sounds like this: (shep=es.ach.e.pe=shep)

1. Then, teach the students to read the phonetic words on their own without help. If necessary, have them use their finger as a point to help read the sounds of the words.
2. Next, teach the students to read and spell the alphabetic words: sheep.
3. Use both versions of the words to teach t hem to associate the phonetic words with the alphabetic words. 

There are a few more steps with this lesson along with a list of practice words with lessons and instructions to help readers learn and understand phonetic pronunciations.

The Fonikz Teacher/Student Training section covers the phonetic and rhyming pronunciation patterns. The importance of blending sounds and practicing reading short sentences is incorporated into this section as well. Some examples are:

Early sentences:

I want to play now.

The ball is in the yard.

I see you, Mommy.

Daddy is going bye-bye.

Overall, this is the book I plan to utilize as a part of my advocacy for reading and writing at Kristi’s Book Nook and The Neophyte Writer. This is a great way to introduce the structure of reading and writing for anyone one whether they are a student who is having difficulties or an adult who never had the opportunity to learn to read.

About the author:

Dennis put all study-words on lists and arranged them from smallest to largest and did the same thing with the poems and short stories. This made the reading program a self-teaching course for most students. Those who have a high aptitude for languages, regardless of their age, can teach themselves to read without constant one-to-one tutoring. Those who struggle with learning to read simply need basic instructions and reading assignments, which can be given as homework. At some point, students will learn to recognize the phonetic core of the common words and use those skills to sound out and read many of the 600,000 words that make up the English language.

Dennis has dyslexia and has used the program to improve his reading skills as well. Since dyslexia hindered his ability to read, write, and spell; developing, teaching, and testing this program took place over a span of 20 years. Nevertheless, since developing and testing the program, he has more than quadrupled his reading speed.

To purchase this book please find it at: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dennisbrooks

Make Way for the Energy of Spring!

Make Way for the Energy of Spring!

5 Tips For Energetic Spring Clearing

By Elaine Seiler

As spring comes to the winter climates, we humans seem to come alive with vitality. We are suddenly driven to plant flowers, tidy our yards, and clean, clean, clean. As you clean out your closets, pack up your woolens and bring your spring clothes out of their storage places, remember it is important to clear the energies from those spaces as well. 

Every person who entered that closet, every physical item that was stored in the closet, has an energy that left a residue or shadow in that space. Spring cleaning from an energetic perspective means clearing those old energies as much as it means tidying, dusting, folding and sweeping.

How do you do that? Here are some ideas:

1. Burn an incense stick with sage or frankincense to clear and rebalance the old energies that were in the closets, in the nooks and crannies deposited there from the emotions you held in the past.
2. Put a quartz crystal or amethyst geode in the corners of your home or closets and infuse them with a sincere prayer that they hold a positive energy throughout the spring and summer.
3. Visualize a pyramid of clear bright white light coming down from the other dimensions and settling perfectly over the closet or over your entire house. Do this exercise in your mind’s eye, knowing and trusting that when the pyramid settles over the area of your focus that it will clear, balance, renew and refresh the energies within it. Then, in the weeks to come, whenever you think of it, refill the pyramid with clean, clear energy. Ask your Guides or angels or the Beings of Light to keep the energies clear and as harmonious as possible to best support your process.
4. You can also use your body to clear and clean the energies in the space on which you are working. Imagine your body is an energetic vacuum cleaner or giant filtration device. Open up to the energies of the other dimensions; allow them to flow down through your crown charka, or the crown of your head, and pass through your body like a pulsating screen. Allow those vibrations to pass through your body and out into the field around you. The energies coming from the other dimensions are too fast to be utilized on earth, but our bodies have the ability to step the energy down to a rate or pulsation that is useable by us here on earth. The energy passes through our bodies and out into the field, changing or transforming the field and clearing it just as if it were a filter or vacuum as mentioned above. You can raise the energies if they seem too slow and dense. You can dampen them down if they feel too fast and intense. You can anchor them if they feel too wild and erratic. You can tuck them if they are too stretched out. Just use your imagination to play with and adjust the energies and trust that what you imagine is actually able to unfold. You more powerful than you ever imagined.
5. For the energies around you to be clear, YOU must be clear. Therefore spring cleaning means clearing and cleaning, balancing and harmonizing the energy in and around you. You can:

• Use sage or frankincense or another incense to clear the energies around you just as you used it to clear your closets.
• Use a crystal to clear your personal field just as you did your closets.
• Use color to shift the energies in your immediate field. Visualize yourself bathed in whatever color you intuitively feel you need, to either clean the field or to balance it. You might then feel the need for a second color infusion to bring you the frequencies you need after the space has been cleared.
• Use sound to clear, balance and refresh the field on which you are working – the sound of the human voice in an “Om,” the sound of a Tibetan bell ringing pure and clear, the sound of a crystal bowl, humming with vibration. 

Any or all of these tools will assist your clearing process. So as spring comes knocking at your door, don’t let it knock you over. Face the March winds and spring flowers knowing that you can cope with whatever comes your way physically and energetically. You are in charge of your reality. 

—————————————————————————————————————————

About the Author: Author and energetics expert Elaine Seiler (SAY Sigh-ler) is at the forefront of explaining humanity’s “energetic evolution” and how we can cope and thrive in the face of rapid change. Elaine is a life and career coach, researcher, mother and grandmother. In 1992, after 20 years of work as a career consultant and life coach, she discovered energetics, the study and use of multi-dimensional energies and their interplay with life on earth. She is the author of Multi-Dimensional You: Exploring Energetic Evolution and Your Multi-Dimensional Workbook: Exercises for Energetic Awakening. Learn more at www.transformationenergetics.com and www.multi-dimensionalyou.com. Contact Elaine at Elaine@transformationenergetics.com.

Do Writers Need Rules?

In this world there are rules. Plain and simple. When we are born we learn to crawl, walk and speak. Doctors learn procedures, ditch diggers learn to hold shovels and writers learn how to tell stories. If there were no rules or methods of learning we would all be sitting around with our thumbs up our rears. Harsh, but true. Larry Brooks wrote a wonderful article on the subject of writing fundamentals. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

The Learning Curve That Keeps On Curving

Larry Brooks has written 434 posts on Storyfix.com.You can follow Larry on Twitter, or Google+.

 Email the author

by LARRY BROOKS on MARCH 19, 2012

In all my years as a writer, writing teacher and blogger, I’ve never run into anybody who claims to knoweverything there is to know about storytelling.

That’s because the more you know, the more you realize how complex and deep it all can be.  Stories are like people, no two are completely alike, and therefore each needs to be regarded, analyzed, appreciated and repaired separately.

That said, certain fundamental principles and physics apply. 

Just like they do to people.  And they can be learned.

And yet, while nobody is claiming to know it all, I have run into writers who claim they don’t need to pay attention to those pesky fundamental principles and storytelling physics.  They say something like this:

“Don’t over-think it, just sit down and do it, let the story flow, trust your instinct, do whatever the hell you want, keep working on it and it’ll turn out like it’s supposed to. There are no rules.”

Not long ago I flew into Salt Lake to give a keynote and writing workshop at a major conference.  The young writer who picked me up at the airport was curious about my book (which is all about writing fundamentals and storytelling physics), and in the course of our conversation told me that one of writers who would be attending the conference – an older guy who had been writing for years – said my book was ridiculous, that there are only three things a writer needs to ultimately know, the rest is just hot air: the beginning, the middle and the end.

That’s it?  Who knew.  All these years, I’ve missed that one on the writing shelf.  This is the same guy who claims all he needs in life is “three hots and a cot.”

I asked now many books this guy had published.  The answer was none.

Interesting.  While I have run into writers who line up behind this simplistic belief system, none of them – zero – have been published.

Coincidence?  I think not.

And when it does happen – and I’m sure it does – it isn’t proof of the theory.  Rather, it’s the writer not understanding what just happened.

There are a few Big Names out there who claim to be listening to some muse, that they simply sit down and channel it.  But the truth (IMO) is one of three things: this is a transparent stab at modesty, they have a great editor, or they’re truly clueless and therefore just lucky to be where they are.

I don’t think the last two are it.  Such writers probably write organically, on instinct… but what is instinct if not the expression of something that has been learned?

In essence these writers are saying that they’re some kind of genius.

Diana Gabaldon comes to mind.  As does Stephen King, who is a genius, but in talking about “how to write” laughably discounts the fact he’s published hundreds of stories over many decades, which by definition means he’s learned something along the way, which again by definition means if something can be learned, it can be sought-out and it can be taught, if nothing else through acknowledgement.

Just because you haven’t filed a flight plan, it doesn’t mean you don’t know how to fly the airplane.  No,that part you have to learn. Read more here.

Book Reviewer Stacie Theis

Writers often wonder where they should go to get their books reviewed. I personally love to review books that are informational to writers as well as books that are fun to read by authors who reach out to me. I recently started following Stacie Theis at Beach Bound Books. Stacie has a passion for reading and is intrigued by the authors who write books. I wanted to share Stacie’s story here and introduce you to someone who loves promoting authors and reviewing books. Help me welcome Stacie Theis!

TNW: Stacie, please introduce yourself to everyone.

ST: My name is Stacie Theis. I am the mother of 4 and live with my husband and 3 youngest children in San Diego, CA. I am the Volunteer Coordinator for the art program at my youngest daughter’s school and recently started my author interview and book review website www.beachboundbooks.com.

TNW: How did you get started reviewing books?

ST: I was contacted by Lynette Hoy of Firetalker PR. She asked if I would review one of her client’s new books and interview him for the blog I had at the time. Her request gave me the idea to create a website and seek out authors to interview. Several of the authors I contacted also requested a review of their book(s) so www.beachboundbooks.com was born.

TNW: Do you have a genre preference? If so why/why not?

ST: I do not have a genre preference, although most of the people who have contacted me are children’s authors.

TNW: Are you are writer? If so, published/genre, etc.

ST: I have written two children’s book, but at the present time they remain unpublished.

TNW: What can authors expect when they visit your site?

ST: My site has numerous author interview pages as well as book recommendations. My book review page “Blogging About Books” is also on the same site. Authors may fill out a request form (located on the Home page) for an author interview, book review or both.

TNW: How do you promote yourself/blog/website?

ST: Currently, I promote my website and blog through social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, as well as several author groups also on LinkedIn.

TNW: Is there anything specific authors should know before they request a review?

ST: I prefer to do interviews via email as it has proven to be easiest. Authors are given the opportunity to answer at their own convenience and more able to think through the questions than having to answer on the spot.

TNW: Will you except ebooks?

ST: Yes, I accept eBooks, PDF files and traditional books.

TNW: How much time does it take to review a book?

ST: Typically, a review takes 3-5 days, but may take longer depending on the length of the book.

TNW: How else can authors connect with you?

ST: Authors can contact me through my website www.beachboundbooks.com, via email at beachboundbooks@yahoo.com, on Twitter (@beachboundbook) and on Facebook by searching ‘beachboundbooks.’

Thanks so much for taking the time to share information with us Stacie. I look forward to sharing your tweets and more about you.