How to Write a Book in 2019 A Proven Guide From a Best Seller

How to Write a Book in 2019 A Proven Guide From a Best Seller How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps So you want to write a book. Becoming an author can change your life- not to mention give you the ability to impact thousands, even millions, of people. However, writing a book is no cakewalk. As a 21-time New York Times bestselling author, I can tell you: It’s far easier to quit than to finish. When you run out of ideas, when your own message bores you, or when you become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the task, you’re going to be tempted to give up. But what if you knew exactly: Where to start What each step entails How to overcome fear, procrastination, and writer’s block And how to keep from feeling overwhelmed? You can do this- and more quickly than you might think, because these days you have access to more writing tools than ever. The key is to follow a proven, straightforward, step-by-step plan. My goal here is to offer you that plan. I’ve used the techniques I outline below to write more than 190 books (including the Left Behind series) over the past 40 years. Yes, I realize averaging over four books per year is more than you may have thought humanly possible. But trust me- with a reliable blueprint, you can get unstuck and finish your book. This is my personal approach to how to write a book. I’m confident you’ll find something here that can change the game for you. So, let’s jump in. How to Write a Book From Start to Finish in 20 Steps Establish your writing space. Assemble your writing tools. Break the project into small pieces. Settle on your BIG idea. Construct your outline. Set a firm writing schedule. Establish a sacred deadline. Embrace procrastination (really!). Eliminate distractions. Conduct your research. Start calling yourself a writer. Think reader-first. Find your writing voice. Write a compelling opener. Fill your story with conflict and tension. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle. Write a resounding ending. Become a ferocious self-editor. Find a mentor. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Part One: Before You Begin You’ll never regret- in fact, you’ll thank yourself later- for investing the time necessary to prepare for such a monumental task. You wouldn’t set out to cut down a huge grove of trees with just an axe. You’d need a chain saw, perhaps more than one. Something to keep them sharp. Enough fuel to keep them running. You get the picture. Don’t shortcut this foundational part of the process. 1. Establish your writing space. To write your book, you don’t need a sanctuary. In fact, I started my career on my couch facing a typewriter perched on a plank of wood suspended by two kitchen chairs. What were you saying about your setup again?We do what we have to do. And those early days on that sagging couch were among the most productive of my career. Naturally, the nicer and more comfortable and private you can make your writing lair (I call mine my cave), the better. (If you dedicate a room solely to your writing, you can even write off a portion of your home mortgage, taxes, and insurance proportionate to that space.) Real writers can write anywhere. Some write in restaurants and coffee shops. My first fulltime job was at a newspaper where 40 of us clacked away on manual typewriters in one big room- no cubicles, no partitions, conversations hollered over the din, most of my colleagues smoking, teletype machines clattering. Cut your writing teeth in an environment like that, and anywhere else seems glorious. 2. Assemble your writing tools. In the newspaper business there was no time to handwrite our stuff and then type it for the layout guys. So I have always written at a keyboard. Most authors do, though some handwrite their first drafts and then keyboard them onto a computer or pay someone to do that. No publisher I know would even consider a typewritten manuscript, let alone one submitted in handwriting. The publishing industry runs on Microsoft Word, so you’ll need to submit Word document files. Whether you prefer a Mac or a PC, both will produce the kinds of files you need. And if you’re looking for a musclebound electronic organizing system, you can’t do better than Scrivener. It works well on both PCs and Macs, and it nicely interacts with Word files. Just remember, Scrivener has a steep learning curve, so familiarize yourself with it before you start writing. Scrivener users know that taking the time to learn the basics is well worth it. So, what else do you need? If you are one who handwrites your first drafts, don’t scrimp on paper, pencils, or erasers. Don’t shortchange yourself on a computer either. Even if someone else is keyboarding for you, you’ll need a computer for research and for communicating with potential agents, editors, publishers. Get the best computer you can afford, the latest, the one with the most capacity and speed. Try to imagine everything you’re going to need in addition to your desk or table, so you can equip yourself in advance and don’t have to keep interrupting your work to find things like: Staplers Paper clips Rulers Pencil holders Pencil sharpeners Note pads Printing paper Paperweight Tape dispensers Cork or bulletin boards Clocks Bookends Reference works Space heaters Fans Lamps Beverage mugs Napkins Tissues You name it Last, but most crucial, get the best, most ergonomic chair you can afford. If I were to start my career again with that typewriter on a plank, I would not sit on that couch. I’d grab another straight-backed kitchen chair or something similar and be proactive about my posture and maintaining a healthy spine. There’s nothing worse than trying to be creative and immerse yourself in writing while you’re in agony. The chair I work in today cost more than my first car! If you’ve never used some of the items I listed above and can’t imagine needing them, fine. But make a list of everything you know you’ll need so when the actual writing begins, you’re already equipped. As you grow as a writer and actually start making money at it, you can keep upgrading your writing space. Where I work now is light years from where I started. But the point is, I didn’t wait to start writing until I could have a great spot in which to do it. Part Two: How to Start Writing a Book 3. Break the project into small pieces. Writing a book feels like a colossal project, because it is! But your manuscript will be made up of many small parts. An old adage says that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Try to get your mind off your book as a 400-or-so-page monstrosity. It can’t be written all at once any more than that proverbial elephant could be eaten in a single sitting. See your book for what it is: a manuscript made up of sentences, paragraphs, pages. Those pages will begin to add up, and though after a week you may have barely accumulated double digits, a few months down the road you’ll be into your second hundred pages. So keep it simple. Start by distilling your big book idea from a page or so to a single sentence- your premise. The more specific that one-sentence premise, the more it will keep you focused while you’re writing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before you can turn your big idea into one sentence, which can then be expanded to an outline, you have to settle on exactly what that big idea is. 4. Settle on your BIG idea. To be book-worthy, your idea has to be killer. You need to write something about which you’re passionate, something that gets you up in the morning, draws you to the keyboard, and keeps you there. It should excite not only you, but also anyone you tell about it. I can’t overstate the importance of this. If you’ve tried and failed to finish your book before- maybe more than once- it could be that the basic premise was flawed. Maybe it was worth a blog post or an article but couldn’t carry an entire book. Think The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, or How to Win Friends and Influence People. The market is crowded, the competition fierce. There’s no more room for run-of-the-mill ideas. Your premise alone should make readers salivate. Go for the big concept book. How do you know you’ve got a winner? Does it have legs? In other words, does it stay in your mind, growing and developing every time you think of it? Run it past loved ones and others you trust. Does it raise eyebrows? Elicit Wows? Or does it result in awkward silences? The right concept simply works, and you’ll know it when you land on it. Most importantly, your idea must capture you in such a way that you’re compelled to write it. Otherwise you’ll lose interest halfway through and never finish. 5. Construct your outline. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Starting your writing without a clear vision of where you’re going will usually end in disaster. Even if you’re writing fiction and consider yourself a Pantser* as opposed to an Outliner, you need at least a basic structure. [*Those of us who write by the seat of our pants and, as Stephen King advises, put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens] You don’t have to call it an outline if that offends your sensibilities. But fashion some sort of a directional document that provides structure and also serves as a safety net. If you get out on that Pantser highwire and lose your balance, you’ll thank me for advising you to have this in place. Now if you’re writing a nonfiction book, there’s no substitute for an outline. Potential agents or publishers require this in your proposal. They want to know where you’re going, and they want to know that you know. What do you want your reader to learn from your book, and how will you ensure they learn it? Fiction or nonfiction, if you commonly lose interest in your book somewhere in what I call the Marathon of the Middle, you likely didn’t start with enough exciting ideas. That’s why and outline (or a basic framework) is essential. Don’t even start writing until you’re confident your structure will hold up through the end. You may recognize this novel structure illustration. Did you know it holds up- with only slight adaptations- for nonfiction books too? It’s self-explanatory for novelists; they list their plot twists and developments and arrange them in an order that best serves to increase tension. What separates great nonfiction from mediocre? The same structure! Arrange your points and evidence in the same way so you’re setting your reader up for a huge payoff, and then make sure you deliver. If your nonfiction book is a memoir, an autobiography, or a biography, structure it like a novel and you can’t go wrong. But even if it’s a straightforward how-to book, stay as close to this structure as possible, and you’ll see your manuscript come alive. Make promises early, triggering your reader to anticipate fresh ideas, secrets, inside information, something major that will make him thrilled with the finished product. While you may not have as much action or dialogueor character development as your novelist counterpart, your crises and tension can come from showing where people have failed before and how you’re going to ensure your reader will succeed. You can even make the how-to project look impossible until you pay off that setup with your unique solution. Keep your outline to a single page for now. But make sure every major point is represented, so you’ll always know where you’re going. And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten the basics of classic outlining or have never felt comfortable with the concept. Your outline must serve you. If that means Roman numerals and capital and lowercase letters and then Arabic numerals, you can certainly fashion it that way. But if you just want a list of sentences that synopsize your idea, that’s fine too. Simply start with your working title, then your premise, then- for fiction, list all the major scenes that fit into the rough structure above. For nonfiction, try to come up with chapter titles and a sentence or two of what each chapter will cover. Once you have your one-page outline, remember it is a fluid document meant to serve you and your book. Expand it, change it, play with it as you see fit- even during the writing process. 6.Set a firm writing schedule. Ideally, you want to schedule at least six hours per week to write. That may consist of three sessions of two hours each, two sessions of three hours, or six one-hour sessions- whatever works for you. I recommend a regular pattern (same times, same days) that can most easily become a habit. But if that’s impossible, just make sure you carve out at least six hours so you can see real progress. Having trouble finding the time to write a book? News flash- you won’t find the time. You have to make it. I used the phrase carve out above for a reason. That’s what it takes. Something in your calendar will likely have to be sacrificed in the interest of writing time. Make sure it’s not your family- they should always be your top priority. Never sacrifice your family on the altar of your writing career. But beyond that, the truth is that we all find time for what we really want to do. Many writers insist they have no time to write, but they always seem to catch the latest Netflix original series, or go to the next big Hollywood feature. They enjoy concerts, parties, ball games, whatever. How important is it to you to finally write your book? What will you cut from your calendar each week to ensure you give it the time it deserves? A favorite TV show? An hour of sleep per night? (Be careful with this one; rest is crucial to a writer.) A movie? A concert? A party? Successful writers make time to write. When writing becomes a habit, you’ll be on your way. 7. Establish a sacred deadline. Without deadlines, I rarely get anything done. I need that motivation. Admittedly, my deadlines are now established in my contracts from publishers. If you’re writing your first book, you probably don’t have a contract yet. To ensure you finish your book, set your own deadline- then consider it sacred. Tell your spouse or loved one or trusted friend. Ask that they hold you accountable. Now determine- and enter in your calendar- the number of pages you need to produce per writing session to meet your deadline. If it proves unrealistic, change the deadline now. If you have no idea how many pages or words you typically produce per session, you may have to experiment before you finalize those figures. Say you want to finish a 400-page manuscript by this time next year. Divide 400 by 50 weeks (accounting for two off-weeks), and you get eight pages per week. Divide that by your typical number of writing sessions per week and you’ll know how many pages you should finish per session. Now is the time to adjust these numbers,while setting your deadline and determining your pages per session. Maybe you’d rather schedule four off weeks over the next year. Or you know your book will be unusually long. Change the numbers to make it realistic and doable, and then lock it in. Remember, your deadline is sacred. 8. Embrace procrastination (really!). You read that right. Don’t fight it; embrace it. You wouldn’t guess it from my 190+ published books, but I’m the king of procrastinators. Surprised? Don’t be. So many authors are procrastinators that I’ve come to wonder if it’s a prerequisite. The secret is to accept it and, in fact, schedule it. I quit fretting and losing sleep over procrastinating when I realized it was inevitable and predictable, and also that it was productive. Sound like rationalization? Maybe it was at first. But I learned that while I’m putting off the writing, my subconscious is working on my book. It’s a part of the process. When you do start writing again, you’ll enjoy the surprises your subconscious reveals to you. So, knowing procrastination is coming, book it on your calendar. Take it into account when you’re determining your page quotas. If you have to go back in and increase the number of pages you need to produce per session, do that (I still do it all the time). But- and here’s the key- you must never let things get to where that number of pages per day exceeds your capacity. It’s one thing to ratchet up your output from two pages per session to three. But if you let it get out of hand, you’ve violated the sacredness of your deadline. How can I procrastinate and still meet more than 190 deadlines? Because I keep the deadlines sacred. 9. Eliminate distractions to stay focused. Are you as easily distracted as I am? Have you found yourself writing a sentence and then checking your email? Writing another and checking Facebook? Getting caught up in the come-ons for pictures of the 10 Sea Monsters You Wouldn’t Believe Actually Exist? Then you just have to check out that precious video from a talk show where the dad surprises the family by returning from the war. That leads to more and more of the same. Once I’m in, my writing is forgotten, and all of a sudden the day has gotten away from me. The answer to these insidious timewasters? Look into these apps that allow you to block your email, social media, browsers, game apps, whatever you wish during the hours you want to write. Some carry a modest fee, others are free. Freedom app. FocusWriter StayFocusd WriteRoom 10. Conduct your research. Yes, research is a vital part of the process, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Fiction means more than just making up a story. Your details and logic and technical and historical details must be right for your novel to be believable. And for nonfiction, even if you’re writing about a subject in which you’re an expert- as I’m doing here- you’ll be surprised how ensuring you get all the facts right will polish your finished product. In fact, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve researched a fact or two while writing this blog post alone. The last thing you want is even a small mistake due to your lack of proper research. Regardless the detail, trust me, you’ll hear from readers about it. Your credibility as an author and an expert hinges on creating trust with your reader. That dissolves in a hurry if you commit an error. My favorite research resources are: World Almanacs: These alone list almost everything you need for accurate prose: facts, data, government information, and more. For my novels, I often use these to come up with ethnically accurate character names. TheMerriam-Webster Thesaurus: The online version is great, because it’s lightning fast. You couldn’t turn the pages of a hard copy as quickly as you can get where you want to onscreen. One caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted a thesaurus. You’re not looking for the exotic word that jumps off the page. You’re looking for that common word that’s on the tip of your tongue. WorldAtlas.com: Here you’ll find nearly limitless information about any continent, country, region, city, town, or village. Names, monetary units, weather patterns, tourism info, and even facts you wouldn’t have thought to search for. I get ideas when I’m digging here, for both my novels and my nonfiction books. 11. Start calling yourself a writer. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Your inner voice may tell you, â€Å"You’re no writer and you never will be. What do you think you’re doing, trying to write a book? That may be why you’ve stalled at writing your book in the past. But if you’re working at writing, studying writing, practicing writing, that makes you a writer. Don’t wait till you reach some artificial level of accomplishment before calling yourself a writer. A cop in uniform and on duty is a cop whether he’s actively enforced the law yet or not. A carpenter is a carpenter whether he’s ever built a house. Self-identify as a writer now and you’ll silence that inner critic- who, of course, is really you. Talk back to yourself if you must. It may sound silly, but acknowledging yourself as a writer can give you the confidence to keep going and finish your book. Are you a writer? Say so. Part Three: The Writing Itself 12. Think reader-first. This is so important that that you should write it on a sticky note and affix it to your monitor so you’re reminded of it every time you write. Every decision you make about your manuscript must be run through this filter. Not you-first, not book-first, not editor-, agent-, or publisher-first. Certainly not your inner circle- or critics-first. Reader-first, last, and always. If every decision is based on the idea of reader-first, all those others benefit anyway. When fans tell me they were moved by one of my books, I think back to this adage and am grateful I maintained that posture during the writing. Does a scene bore you? If you’re thinking reader-first, it gets overhauled or deleted. Where to go, what to say, what to write next? Decide based on the reader as your priority. Whatever your gut tells you your reader would prefer, that’s your answer. Whatever will intrigue him, move him, keep him reading, those are your marching orders. So, naturally, you need to know your reader. Rough age? General interests? Loves? Hates? Attention span? When in doubt, look in the mirror. The surest way to please your reader is to please yourself. Write what you would want to read and trust there is a broad readership out there that agrees. 13. Find your writing voice. Discovering your voice is nowhere near as complicated as some make it out to be. You can find yours by answering these quick questions: What’s the coolest thing that ever happened to you? Who’s the most important person you told about it? What did you sound like when you did? That’s your writing voice. It should read the way you sound at your most engaged. That’s all there is to it. If you write fiction and the narrator of your book isn’t you, go through the three-question exercise on the narrator’s behalf- and you’ll quickly master the voice. Here’s a blog I posted that’ll walk you through the process. 14. Write a compelling opener. If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line, you’re not alone. And neither is your angst misplaced. This is not something you should put off and come back to once you’ve started on the rest of the first chapter. Oh, it can still change if the story dictates that. But settling on a good one will really get you off and running. It’s unlikely you’ll write a more important sentence than your first one, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Make sure you’re thrilled with it and then watch how your confidence- and momentum- soars. Most great first lines fall into one of these categories: Surprising Fiction: â€Å"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.† - George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four Nonfiction: â€Å"By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.† - Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man Dramatic Statement Fiction: â€Å"They shoot the white girl first.† - Toni Morrison, Paradise Nonfiction: â€Å"I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.† - Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand Philosophical Fiction: â€Å"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.† - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Nonfiction: â€Å"It’s not about you.† - Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life Poetic Fiction: â€Å"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. - James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss Nonfiction: â€Å"The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’† - Truman Capote, In Cold Blood Great opening lines from other classics may give you ideas for yours. Heres a list of famous openers. 15. Fill your story with conflict and tension. Your reader craves conflict, and yes, this applies to nonfiction readers as well. In a novel, if everything is going well and everyone is agreeing, your reader will soon lose interest and find something else to do- like watch paint dry. Are two of your characters talking at the dinner table? Have one say something that makes the other storm out. Some deep-seeded rift in their relationship has surfaced. Is it just a misunderstanding that has snowballed into an injustice? Thrust people into conflict with each other. That’ll keep your reader’s attention. Certain nonfiction genres won’t lend themselves to that kind of conflict, of course, but you can still inject tension by setting up your reader for a payoff in later chapters. Check out some of the current bestselling nonfiction works to see how writers accomplish this. Somehow they keep you turning those pages, even in a simple how-to title. Tension is the secret sauce that will propel your reader through to the end. And sometimes that’s as simple as implying something to come. 16. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft. Many of us are perfectionists and find it hard to get a first draft written- fiction or nonfiction- without feeling compelled to make every sentence exactly the way we want it. That voice in your head that questions every word, every phrase, every sentence, and makes you worry you’re being redundant or have allowed cliches to creep in- well, that’s just your editor alter ego. He or she needs to be told to shut up. This is not easy. Deep as I am into a long career, I still have to remind myself of this every writing day. I cannot be both creator and editor at the same time. That slows me to a crawl, and my first draft of even one brief chapter could take days. Our job when writing that first draft is to get down the story or the message or the teaching- depending on your genre. It helps me to view that rough draft as a slab of meat I will carve tomorrow. I can’t both produce that hunk and trim it at the same time. A cliche, a redundancy, a hackneyed phrase comes tumbling out of my keyboard, and I start wondering whether I’ve forgotten to engage the reader’s senses or aimed for his emotions. That’s when I have to chastise myself and say, â€Å"No! Don’t worry about that now! First thing tomorrow you get to tear this thing up and put it back together again to your heart’s content!† Imagine yourself wearing different hats for different tasks, if that helps- whatever works to keep you rolling on that rough draft. You don’t need to show it to your worst enemy or even your dearest love. This chore is about creating. Don’t let anything slow you down. Some like to write their entire first draft before attacking the revision. As I say, whatever works. Doing it that way would make me worry I’ve missed something major early that will cause a complete rewrite when I discover it months later. I alternate creating and revising. The first thing I do every morning is a heavy edit and rewrite of whatever I wrote the day before. If that’s ten pages, so be it. I put my perfectionist hat on and grab my paring knife and trim that slab of meat until I’m happy with every word. Then I switch hats, tell Perfectionist Me to take the rest of the day off, and I start producing rough pages again. So, for me, when I’ve finished the entire first draft, it’s actually a second draft because I have already revised and polished it in chunks every day. THEN I go back through the entire manuscript one more time, scouring it for anything I missed or omitted, being sure to engage the reader’s senses and heart, and making sure the whole thing holds together. I do not submit anything I’m not entirely thrilled with. I know there’s still an editing process it will will go through at the publisher, but my goal is to make my manuscript the absolute best I can before they see it. Compartmentalize your writing vs. your revising and you’ll find that frees you to create much more quickly. 17. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle. Most who fail at writing a book tell me they give up somewhere in what I like to call The Marathon of the Middle. That’s a particularly rough stretch for novelists who have a great concept, a stunning opener, and they can’t wait to get to the dramatic ending. But they bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the middle. They start padding, trying to add scenes just for the sake of bulk, but they’re soon bored and know readers will be too. This actually happens to nonfiction writers too. The solution there is in the outlining stage, being sure your middle points and chapters are every bit as valuable and magnetic as the first and last. If you strategize the progression of your points or steps in a process- depending on nonfiction genre- you should be able to eliminate the strain in the middle chapters. For novelists, know that every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. The shine wears off, keeping the pace and tension gets harder, and it’s easy to run out of steam. But that’s not the time to quit. Force yourself back to your structure, come up with a subplot if necessary, but do whatever you need to so your reader stays engaged. Fiction writer or nonfiction author, The Marathon of the Middle is when you must remember why you started this journey in the first place. It isn’t just that you want to be an author. You have something to say. You want to reach the masses with your message. Yes, it’s hard. It still is for me- every time. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like surrendering. Embrace the challenge of the middle as part of the process. If it were easy, anyone could do it. 18. Write a resounding ending. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. This is just as important for your nonfiction book as your novel. It may not be as dramatic or emotional, but it could be- especially if you’re writing a memoir. But even a how-to or self-help book needs to close with a resounding thud, the way a Broadway theater curtain meets the floor. How do you ensure your ending doesn’t fizzle? Don’t rush it. Give readers the payoff they’ve been promised. They’ve invested in you and your book the whole way. Take the time to make it satisfying. Never settle for close enough just because you’re eager to be finished. Wait till you’re thrilled with every word, and keep revising until you are. If it’s unpredictable, it had better be fair and logical so your reader doesn’t feel cheated. You want him to be delighted with the surprise, not tricked. If you have multiple ideas for how your book should end, go for the heart rather than the head, even in nonfiction. Readers most remember what moves them. Part Four: All Writing Is Rewriting 19. Become a ferocious self-editor. Agents and editors can tell within the first two pages whether your manuscript is worthy of further consideration. That sounds unfair, and maybe it is. But it’s also reality, so we writers need to face it. How can they often decide that quickly on something you’ve devoted months, maybe years, to? Because they can almost immediately envision how much editing would be required to make those first couple of pages publishable. If they decide the investment wouldn’t make economic sense for a 300-400-page manuscript, end of story. Your best bet to keep an agent or editor reading your manuscript? You must become a ferocious self-editor. That means: Omit needless words Choose the simple word over one that requires a dictionary Avoid subtle redundancies, like â€Å"He thought in his mind†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Where else would someone think?) Avoid hedging verbs like almost frowned, sort of jumped, etc. Generally remove the word that- use it only when absolutely necessary for clarity Give the reader credit and resist the urge to explain, as in, â€Å"She walked through the open door.† (Did we need to be told it was open?) Avoid too much stage direction (what every character is doing with every limb and digit) Avoid excessive adjectives Show, don’t tell And many more For my full list and how to use them, click here. (It’s free.) When do you know you’re finished revising? When you’ve gone from making your writing better to merely making it different. That’s not always easy to determine, but it’s what makes you an author. And Finally, the Quickest Way to Succeed 20. Find a mentor. Get help from someone who’s been where you want to be. Imagine engaging a mentor who can help you sidestep all the amateur pitfalls and shave years of painful trial-and-error off your learning curve. Just make sure it’s someone who really knows the writing and publishing world. Many masquerade as mentors and coaches but have never really succeeded themselves. Look for someone widely-published who knows how to work with agents, editors, and publishers. There are many helpful mentors online. I teach writers through this free site, as well as in my members-only Writers Guild. Want to save this definitive guide to read later?Click here or below to download a handy PDF version: Struggling with knowing how to write a book? Tell me in the comments and feel free to ask questions.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 29

Marketing - Essay Example Chinese culture is an apt example of a high-context culture. Business meetings in China revolve around group choices and the agreed upon decisions are mostly finalized in advance, courtesy the instinctive and listener responsible approach of group members (Browaeys & Price, 2008). The low-context cultures tend to be direct with the meaning inherent in any communication (Mead, 2004). They cherish individualism and are not very proficient in the non-verbal exchange of meaning and information (Mead, 2004). Low-context individuals predominantly rely on logic then on emotion to convey ideas (Mead, 2004). The communication patterns in low-context cultures are very structured with a preference for strategies that are rich in details (Mead, 2004). Low-context cultures value linear logic (Mead, 2004). US is a low-context culture where communications are direct and individualistic that are more targeted at specific situations and outcomes, rather than intending to communicate with the entire group (Browaeys & Price, 2008). Factor Analysis: Factor analysis tends to statistically determine variability amongst the observed variables, in relation to a small number of unobserved variables (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). Factor analysis can be suitably used in a situation when the data to be analyzed is quiet large (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). Cluster Analysis: Cluster analysis is ideally suitable for analyzing data having some natural groupings (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). It helps group raw data into clusters. This type of analysis helps determine similarities and variations between local and regional markets. Multidimensional Scaling: Multidimensional scaling is a statistical technique, which facilitates information visualization, thereby allowing for the sifting of similar and dissimilar patterns in a data (Grover & Vriens, 2006). This technique could be exploited, when a marketer is required to select between varied alternatives.

College Algebra Unit 3 DB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

College Algebra Unit 3 DB - Assignment Example In the underweight category, in which BMI is 18.5; the height is 69.6 inches. This is established as shown below: This is done to all categories. H in the normal BMI is 59.997 inches, in the overweight category, 54.75 inches, in the obese category the height is 54 inches, and below. The actual height of Angelina Jolie is 5 foot and 8 inches. This is equal to 68 inches since 1 foot is equal to 12 inches (Smith et al., 2005). This makes her placed under the category of underweight. This category ranges from 70 inches to 60 inches (after rounding off 69.6 and 59.997 to the nearest whole number). Her height should be ranging from 54.75 inches to 59.997 inches for her to fall under the normal weight status. The difference in calculations and actual figures may occur due to rounding off to the adjacent full number. The timing may also matter such that, she might have gained or lost some weight from the time the data was collected to now. In summary, Angelina Jolie falls in the category of underweight based on the facts and

How do you create a truly customer-centric islamic financial Essay

How do you create a truly customer-centric islamic financial institution - Essay Example More particularly, in case of retail banking range of bank networks, size is an important factor, in which they are seen to suffer heavily (Presley, 2013). Figure 1 Source: (Garbois et al., 2012) Therefore, the Islamic banks should focus on these two areas; firstly on other channels like phone banking and online banking in order to increase market share. Secondly, the Islamic banks should also look for establishing alternative branch model depending on the needs of the customers. The alternative branch model also offers other advantages like reduction in operating cost, set-up time and capital investment. When the Islamic banks are competing with the conventional banks, it signifies that they are attracting the customers, who give less significance to the Sharia compliance while conducting their financial deals and more importance is given to the efficient services and products that are offered by the banking market in large (Anon, 2010). The three key elements that are most importan t while targeting the right customers segment are; firstly, is the identification of the customers segment that is least open to the Islamic banks for their financial purposes. This step leads to identification of the exclusion. ... Designing strategies to attract these customers can make the Islamic banks much more competent to face the competition from the conventional banks. In order to achieve this objective, the banks need to identify broader set of customer’s requirement and remain at par with the conventional banks in regards to pricing and ease of use. In this context, product innovation should be given paramount importance. There are some products that can be offered in the new Islamic banking structure that are not in compliance with the Sharia law like the hedge fund, which are for the high net worth individuals and derivatives, that are for the corporate clients. Some Islamic banks are now seen to offer derivative products by going against the compliance law (Bock, 2010). Top tips for creating and maintaining a customer-centric organisation In order to create a customer centric image, the organization needs to emphasize on the environmental and social efforts and apart from these, ethical valu es should also be given importance. In order to incorporate those in the Islamic banks, the employees should be educated about the Islamic bank structure and products. Customers play a very important role in generating revenue and sales for the organization, whether it is financial or any non-financial institution. Studies have shown that customer focus is very low in Islamic banks. Therefore, in order to increase the revenue, customer satisfaction should be the top priority. Following should be done in order to focus on the customers: Whenever dealing with any product, the salesperson needs to be very well aware of the product and services they are offering. This awareness is seen to

Humor in the Workplace The Weighing the Pros and Cons Essay Example for Free

Humor in the Workplace The Weighing the Pros and Cons Essay Weighing the Pros Con sSubmitted to:Wilma ThomasonPrinciples of Management InstructorPrepared by:Successful Future ManagementKenya HardenSunday, June 28, 2009Humor in the WorkplaceWeighing the Pros ConsI.IntroductionA.Evaluating the problems in the workplace1.Poor productivity2.Lack of creativityII.Benefits of incorporating humor at workA.Improves healthB.Reduces stressIII.How stress effects companiesA.Increases possibility of mistakesB.Loss of money IV.ConclusionA.Companies encourage humor1.Set ground rules2.Know what is allowed Increase your companys earning potential by paying your employees to watch comedy shows and play games for thirty minutes a day! Reduce employee sick leave by establishing company playtime. These statements may sound asinine, but companies are discovering the benefits of incorporating enjoyment and laughter in the office. People spend at least forty hours a week in the workplace and about five or more of those hours are spent trying to think of a new idea, or trying to complete a project because they cant focus. Some employees are just drained and their minds are bombarded with thoughts of what they need to do at home. As a way to keep their employees focused and boost productivity, many companies are taking heed to the saying: Laughter is the best medicine. It is becoming a fast growing trend in businesses to find ways to allow their employees a period to loosen up and laugh. Laughter has been found to keep a person healthy and has several benefits; it lowers tension, causes one to relax, boosts the immune system and can even temporarily relieve pain (www.HelpGuide.org). Laugh and the world laughs with you, this seems true even in the workplace. It is important that various methods are available to help employees eliminate stress so that their work is not affected. Stress can have a very negative effect on employee performance and causes burn-out. A person that is stressed-out is often distracted and makes mistakes. This can cause a major financial loss to the company, as well as the employee, if injury occurs or a major project is delayed. Some companies consider that having fun or joking around on the job as  goofing off. Management in these types of companies feels that employees do not take their jobs seriously. Some employees are even labeled as adolescent, unprofessional and unproductive. This type of atmosphere creates tension and increases the risks of work related health problems in employees. It also costs the company money due to excessive downtime due to the lack of creativity. However, many companies have been encouraging employees to have fun at work and have even set-up special rooms for their employees to take breaks equipped with televisions and games. By allowing employees to enjoy themselves at work, companies are building better relationships and strengthening communication between management and employees. So why not put the low cost, (if not free) remedy of humor in place? Laughter is contagious. It can make the workplace more pleasurable by easing tension, reduce risk of employee burnout, improve productivity and creativity. The key to the success of implementing humor in the workplace is to make sure that no one oversteps boundaries or cause injury to anyone. It is crucial that no one is offended by joking; steer clear of religious, political, or personal topics. Everyone must be mindful of what is allowed and what is taboo. It is recommended that all business incorporate humor in the daily routines of their employees. The physical and mental health of employees is reflected in his or her performance. Allowing fun and relaxation on the job as a release will only improve productivity. The benefits of humor well out-weigh the risks. Works Cited Emotional Intelligence Central. Laughter is the Best Medicine: The HealthBenefits of Humor HelpGuide.org. 2001-2009. 24 June 2009 Levy. S. Working in Dilberts World. Newsweek 12 Aug 199623 June 2009 McGhee, P. Health, Healing on the Immune System: Humor as Survival Training. 23 June 2009University of Missouri-Columbia. Light Humor in the Workplace is a Good Thing,Review shows. ScienceDaily 1 November 2007. 24 June 2009http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071031130917.htmWood, Robert E., Beckmann, Nadin and Pavlakis, Fiona. Humor in Organizations: NoLaughing Matter Research Companion to the Dysfunctional Workplace. Ed. Langan-Fox, Janice, Cooper, Cary L. and Klimoski, Richaard J. Cheltenham,Glos, UK: Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2007 216-231

The Aftermath Of The Scramble For Africa History Essay

The Aftermath Of The Scramble For Africa History Essay Scramble for Africa, an expression used to explain the frantic demanding of African region by half a dozen European countries that happened in most of Africa becoming part of Europes colonial kingdoms. Africa, in the symbolic allegory of royal chauvinism, was a ripe melon awaiting carving in the late nineteenth century. Those who scrambled quick achieved the biggest portions and the legal means to devour at their free time the sweet, juicy flesh. Stragglers grasped only small servings or flavorless sections; Italians, for instance, discovered only sweet dishes on their serving dish. In this crazy instant of royal atavismin Schumpeterian conditions, the aimless temperament to unlimited boundary extensionno one expected that a structure of states was being formed. Colonial rule, considered by its initiators to be eternal, afterward verified to be a sheer intermission in the broader removal of African history; however, the steel gridiron of regional division that colonialism enforced se ems enduring. (Harlow, 2002) Aftermath of scramble of Africa has the mainly significant issue of colonial heritage. It is the compulsory position of departure for breakdown analysis of African international associations. The country systemwhich is, international vectors despite, the basic structural foundation of the worldwide empiresucceeds the colonial division. A few African states have a significant pre-colonial identity (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Botswana), but nearly all are goods of the aggressive subordination of Africamajority between 1875 and 1900by seven European powers like Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. (Kobia, 2001) The scramble for Africa started with an effort by King Leopold II of Belgium desiring to attain power of the region of the Congo Basin. Pressure occurred between the British and the French, because of the British attaining additional power over Egypt, which was the country they once had combined power over the finances of. France was also contending with Italy in northern Africa, so tensions were tough all over the place. Germany felt stressed by the other European nations who were attaining power over regions on Africa (Neumann, 2002). Bismarck, who happened to be leader at the time, acknowledged power over three regions in eastern and western Africa, which created even more damage between European states. Since the power for African regions occurred very rapidly, the Berlin Conference was arrange to talk about the strategies of demanding realm in Africa to avoid any more harsh competitions. The motives for Scramble in Africa are described extensively as: Capitalists may have seen the light over slavery, but they still wanted to exploit the continent new legitimate trade would be encouraged. Explorers located vast reserves of raw materials, they plotted the course of trade routes, navigated rivers, and identified population centers which could be a market for manufactured goods from Europe. (Boddy-Evans, http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/a/ScrambleWhy.htm) After some adventurers looked deeper into the heart of Africa, the Europeans shortly comprehended how reasonably significant this region was, and how much they could take benefit from it. After the completion of servitude in Africa, Europeans desired to extend their kingdoms for industrialization and business to ensure the movement of supplies and services. Economic, communal, and political atmosphere in Europe produced an awareness of urgency amid viable countries to bet demands in and separation of the Dark Continent. In an attempt to produce some organization throughout the scramble, the Berlin Congress was held and European countries sliced up the African countries like a cake, every country got a piece of the land. The major countries comprised in the colonization of Africa contained France, England, Portugal, Germany, Great Britain and Denmark. Great Britain was the ultimate supremacy on earth at the time, and throughout the Scramble for Africa, it was the British who did most of the grasping. (Robinson, 1961) The five key grounds for the imperialism were supposed to be political, military interests, charitable and religious objectives, ideological, investigative, and finally, but most significantly, economic interests. One case of the monetary interest was the Industrial manufacture. Fabrication was attaining such extreme stages, Europeans concerned about over-production and finding customers for all the supplies in Europe. Their financial system mainly rested on trade, and because colonies could be added as a structure of royal power, it only furthered and extended trade. England had trade accords with nations in Africa sometime before the scramble in progress. These accords were fresh and allowed trade to occur without any disturbance. The responsibility and significance of Africa to England shortly changed because of royal rivalry among countries. Beneath the antagonistic strategies of Bismarck, Germany also deployed to obtain prime positions in Africa. Similarly, France was hoping to strengthen an empire by attaining new control over region and increasing areas of power. All the political forces, such as the rivalry with France, the demand to keep the Suez Canal, and the media well-versed public, forced England toward Africa. England incurred heavy losses from Africa. They lost thousands of soldiers to the combats, in which they were beaten quite a few times before finally adjoining some people who disliked them. (Pinfold, 2007) Besides, they mislaid thousands of dollars managing governments of nations such as Egypt. However Englands involvement di d benefit certain divisions of Africa through the charitable assistance and finally ending the slave trade. The results of the European takeover on Africans were substantial. In the short term, the Scramble noticeably guided to Africans defeat of power of their own relationships. While it also brought huge difficulty to the majority of Africans. In addition to the deaths caused by the victory itself, numerous Africans died as a consequence of disturbed standard of living and activity of people and animals among different diseased surroundings. Africas inhabitants did not initiate to recover from the destruction caused by the Scramble and its aftermath until healthy into the 20th century. In the enduring, the Scramble was component of a larger development of bringing non-Western peoples into the world economyin the majority instances as exporters of agricultural goods or minerals and importers of contrived or processed supplies. Colonial governments levied their African matters and utilized the revenues to advance the colonys infrastructure: building roads, bridges, and ports that associate d remote locales to the outer world. In the meantime, institutions to get better peoples lives, for example hospitals and schools, seemed more gradually. Colonial rule also brought fundamentals of Western culturefrom the French and English languages and Western political models to Coca-Cola and automobiles. It was in response to European regulation that Africans developed an awareness of patriotism that would assist them attain freedom in the mid of the 20th century. Imperialism influenced colonized states in numerous customs particularly economically, politically, and culturally. There were frequently numerous positive and negative results of imperialism on the colonies that were taken over. The civilization and religion of the colonized citizens was frequently destined to attempt to contain the citizen move in the approach of the westerners. In Africa, economically, Africans created very modest profit off of the supplies they produced. All of the assets went to the Europeans. Also, earlier than colonization, Africans traded inside the continent, but this exercise was finished once the westerners became engaged in their associations. So if anything, the colonial era, was one of monetary corruption, rather than economic growth. Colonization in Africa was somewhat beneficial to the African inhabitants. The value of life was enhanced by better infrastructure including hospitals, a sewage structure, and sanitary conveniences and there was also a boost in employment openings. Western discoveries for example, the steam engine and other equipment were introduced to Africa. Christianity and Islam were extended and so was western education. Colonialism created a modification in the social structure of Africans as it permitted mobilization among the categories. Social category was not verified by birth, but by ones achievement independently. Behind all of the optimistic social consequences, there were numerous pessimistic ones. A larger separation was produced among those who lived in urban regions and those in rural regions. Western education had created the barrier among these people even larger. Colonization permitted the wealthy, white Europeans to get the entire fertile and productive lands and also to dominate in trade in Africa. Although there were educational institutions build, they were inefficient in education the poor and needy. There were still very huge illiteracy levels. Also, there was no emphasis on technical or industrial education, which would have been further functional. Racism was prevalent throughout imperialism in Africa and ran rampant for people in the lower echelon of society. ( ) Politically, colonialism in Africa produced a superior level of peace and constancy than there ever was before. There were specific limitations in Africa, which was an excellent call in conditions of organization. There was also an established patriotism that extended all over the continent. On the other hand, a lot of the political modifications were negative. Because of limitations constructed by the westerners, numerous cultural and religious groups were ragged separately, which influenced the existences of the citizens on an individual level and formed numerous arguments (Kerr-Ritchie, 2007). The borders also did not make certain that natural resources were dispersed evenly, which would act as a difficulty since the economy of Africans was reliant on what they could collect from their ground. Africans lost their freedom and were fundamentally governed by the white colonial leaders, who also possessed approximately all of their property. For a long time, the people of Africa had l ost their right of autonomy. The significance of the colonial history in shaping modern African worldwide associations is thus ahead of argument. At the same time, the colonial system acted-paradoxically as a pessimistic point of allusion for the African performance of states. The authenticity of the first generation of African governments was rooted in the governments successby take-over or negotiationof self-government. The two superior united main beliefs of the pan-African action from its beginning have been resistance to both colonialism and racism, problems that were amalgamated on the African continent. The autonomous states that accumulated to generate the OAU in 1963 were separated on numerous questions of philosophy and understanding of objectivity; a convention behind the battle to complete the freedom of Africa from colonial occupation and governments of white racial supremacy. Within their own local area, self-governing states faced an obligation to separate themselves from their colonial history, t o render noticeable the new position. The superficial representative trappings of independenceflags and postage stampsmight help for an instance. Africanization of the situation apparatus might assist as well, though over time, the awareness could take place that the actual benefits of this transform accumulated above all to state employees. (Schneider, 2009) The obligation for separation from the colonial history was forced by mental as well as political and economic aspects. Mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, the colonial period brought a broad-front physical attack upon African culture that was far inclusive than alike practices in the Middle East and Asia. The colonial state of affairs, to borrow Georges Balandiers suggestive notion, was drenched with racism. (Carton, 2003) African culture was, for nearly all part, regarded as containing little worth, and its religious aspectouter the sectors in which Islam was well implantedwas aimed to pulling up through exhaustive Christian evangelical exertions, which were frequently state-supported. European languages displaced native ones for the majority of states; for the colonial matter, communal flexibility, obligatory mastering the idiom of the colonizer. In countless customs, colonial suppression in Africa brought not only political domination and economic utilization but also deep mental disgr ace. In the nationalist reply to colonialism, psychological subjects are widespread to a level exclusive in Third World anti-imperialist consideration. Frantz Fanon, the Martinique analyst who provided so influential a voice to the Algerian rebellion, was only the most expressive such spokesperson. Such policies as negritude and African personality were central elements in nationalist consideration, declaring the legitimacy and worth of African culture. This aspect of African nationalism gave a particular touching rim to the postcolonial mission for separation, as well as to the passion of African state response to racism and colonialism. A last heritage of the colonial system is the sequence of local disasters it has left in its wake, mainly in southern Africa and the Horn. In southern Africa, the basis of disagreement can be finally traced to the disastrous British fault of conveying authority to a solely white government in South Africa in 1910. Royal security calculus at the instance focused solely upon the associations among the English and Afrikaner communities. Practically the only dispensation to African interests was the preservation of colonial dominance over the Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland protectorates. The terms of the Act of Union ultimately led to apartheid in South Africa. The year prior to the policy of paramount of local interests was announced for Kenya in 1924, Great Britain approved complete domestic autonomy to the white settlers in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a mistake that led to an expensive freedom war, prior to self-government stand upon equivalent rights for all Zimbabwean s was succeeded in 1980 (Cochran, 2000). When the moment of decolonization sounded somewhere else in Africa, South Africa, Rhodesia, and the Portuguese were in a situation to build a hard redoubt of white power, which left the subjugated no other options than the inert approval of enduring utilization or armed rebellion. The Scramble and its aftermath held huge sarcasm. While the take-over was going on, proceedings in Africa were of the utmost meaning in all over Europe. European rivalry for African area dominated captions, brought down governments, and approximately moved countries to war. For Europeans, the Scramble for Africa helped arrange the stage for World War I. Rivalry for African land boosted nationalist feelings and created pretentious awareness among Europeans that war was good for national character and not so taxing on financial plans and labour force. World War I quickly demolished these fantasies. Yet for Africa once the take-over was complete, Africa was mainly forgotten about and not acknowledged again until the movement for African freedom of the 1950s and 1960s. Thus, in different customs, the colonial heritage encroaches into post freedom African worldwide associations. More than half a century subsequent to the huge rush to freedom in 1960, the remnants of colonial shade still r emain. The intensity of the financial disaster and a broadening agreement that regional assimilation, which overpasses the old colonial separations is crucial to conquering them might guide to novelties in the state system that will start to rise above the colonial separation. The conclusion of apartheid in South Africa has shown hope of bringing harmony to a beleaguered area and authorizes movement beyond the harsh remainders of the colonial state of affairs. Even so, colonial inheritance at present continues to strongly form the African worldwide system.

Antigone Was Right Essay -- essays research papers

The story of Antigone deals with Antigone’s brother who’s body has been left unburied because of crimes against the state. The sight of her brother being unburied drives Antigone to take action against the state and bury her brother regardless of the consequences. The concept of the Greek afterlife was far more important and sacred than living life itself. Everything they did while they were alive was to please the many gods they worshipped. They built temples for their Gods, made statues to symbolize their Gods, and had a different God to explain things that we now say are an act of mother nature. Antigone percieved her actions to be courageous and valid, and Kreone, the King, percieved them as blasphemous. The entire story focuses on deciding who’s right. The question arises, "Did Antigone take proper action?" Was it right to go against her Uncle Kreon’s wishes and go ahead and bury her brother that was to be left out for the vultures? Would it have been better just to leave the situation how it was? The fact is, Antigone did the right thing. She was acting out of divine influence so to speak. Since divinity and humanity are shown to be colliding forces where divinity out weighs humanity in ancient Greece. Antigone was justified in her actions. Antigone was following divine laws, or walking with divine shoes, while Kreone followed the laws of the state. Her brother’s afterlife was so important to Antigone that she was willing to give up anything to ensure her b...