Write What You Want
• Associated Content – At Associated Content, compose a well written article on any topic that you want. You upload your content to their site and after an editor reviews it, they will offer you an upfront payment for your work. After the piece is published, you can also earn money from how many people view your article. Posting your links in social networking sites, like Facebook, is a good way to increase your page views.
• Helium – Helium is similar to Associated Content, but it’s more difficult to earn money with. The amount of money you can earn is based on ratings that other writers give you. This is a cause of frustration for many because the ratings that you are given aren’t always fair.
• Constant Content – Constant Content is a place for more advanced authors. They are pickier when it comes to the quality of your submissions. It’s a great place to work if you can meet their requirements. At Constant Content, you get to decide how much to sell your articles for and what kind of licensing options to offer.

Write On Assigned Topics
• Textbroker – Textbroker is a great site. You’ll be ghost writing for people who need content for their websites and blogs. Textbroker only allows you to select one assignment at a time, but most of their work is easy to write. They have a low $10 minimum payout and you can earn that in just one day.
• Demand Studios – Demand Studios pays anywhere from $5 to $15 for articles. You can write as many articles a day as you want. It’s a wonderful place to start for beginners.
• Break Studios – Break Studios pays around $8 per piece and they have a lot of easy topics to choose from. You’ll mostly be writing for male-oriented websites, but you don’t have to be a man to sign up.
• eCopyWriters – eCopyWriters is much like Textbroker. You sign up and start taking assignments to write. If you decide to use eCopyWriters, you should be aware that they are slower than other sites. It takes more time for your work to get reviewed and there are fewer assignments available.

Freelance writing is a great way to earn money. You’ll need to really dedicate your time and efforts to writing, but you can earn a full-time income online. The opportunities are available for anyone willing to work at it.

Melissa Tamura writes about accredited online schools, higher education and distance learning for Zen College Life. She most recently ranked the best online schools in the USA.

Join the conversation and share your comments on 7 Places For Writers To Sell Content Online. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Activating the Creativity Area of Your Home or Office

It all begins with the bagua. Once you understand this simple Feng Shui tool, you can activate the energy (the chi) in the creativity segment of your home or office. When you lay out the Bagua in your home or apartment, you’ll see nine different sectors in your home, corresponding to various areas of your life. If you are looking into the room from the door, the children and creativity area is the section against the right wall, up to the center of the space. To enhance your creativity, you want to focus on the energy in this space.

You can also lay the bagua over your office floor plan or your desk, enhancing your creativity by focusing on that area of the bagua in any space.

Assess the Chi

When you enter the creativity area of the room where you write, how do you feel? Look around: What colors are dominant? What objects do you see? If you feel you have uplifting chi in that space, chances are your creativity isn’t suffering at all.

But if the area makes you feel down, depressed or simply “stuck,” this could explain why you are not having as much success as you should in your writing career. Your creativity may be suffering.

Enhance the Creativity Segment of the Room

The children and creativity segment of the ba gua corresponds with the element metal and the color white. Placing anything metal in that area, including creative sculptures made of metal or colorful artwork in metal frames, will enhance the chi in that corner.

Here are some other objects you can use the children/creativity area of the room to encourage the flow of uplifting chi:

• Metal windchimes or a bell. These objects not only represent the element of metal, but they increase “sound chi” with bright, lively chimes. Wind chimes also add movement to an area, helping the chi flow.
• Metal Toys. What can be more playful and creative than toys? Add fun metal toys — such as race cars or a fun metal toy that swings with kinetic energy — to your creativity area to add a sense of playfulness to your workday.
• White flowers. You can enhance a space with “living chi,” by adding objects such as plants or flowers. White plants, which correspond to the color of the element metal, work best in the creativity area of your home or office. Be sure to replace flowers as soon as they become wilted. Fresh flowers bring living chi to a space, but dead flowers should be removed immediately.

The Command Position

Whether you have a home office or work at your kitchen table, the place where you write should have you sitting in the command position of that room. http://www.kenlauher.com/feng-shui-tips/bid/8990/Feng-Shui-Your-Office-to-Advance-Your-Career-and-Make-More-Money The command position places you so you can see the door, but are not directly in line with it.

If you must sit with your back to the door, placing a mirror in front of you will help you avoid the feeling of “being stabbed in the back” by clients and people you work with.

Dress for Creativity

Along with organizing and decorating our workspace with objects designed to enhance our creativity and enhance the flow of chi, we can also dress in colors that raise our creative chi. White, as the color that corresponds with metal, is a good color for writers, as is bright blue and green. Green represents new hope and new ideas. You can also incorporate rainbow colors into your wardrobe to enhance your creativity.

Ken Lauher advises individuals, businesses and organizations on how to implement practical Feng Shui solutions to help achieve their goals and live a more fulfilling life.

His inspiring and transformational work with well-known actors, actresses, TV hosts, singers, songwriters, CEOs, businesses, and corporations has made him a sought-after speaker on feng shui and life enhancement. Ken recently appeared on NBC’s Weekend Today show and TLC’s Moving Up!

Based in New York City, Ken works with local, national and international clients. To learn more about Ken, to download your free Feng Shui Guide, or to schedule a Feng Shui consultation, please visit www.kenlauher.com.

Join the conversation and share your comments on Use Feng Shui to Build Your Creativity. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Parents today are often worried about their children’s reading. In part this is encouraged by schools, whose agenda of testing, leveling, and standardized scoring concerns many parents and leads them to fear that their children are somehow subnormal or failing.

In fact children learn to read at different ages, depending on their level of maturity. This does not mean that some children do not have problems reading, they do; however, many parents feel they need support to help develop their children’s reading skills.

What can you do, as a parent, to help your child with their reading?

Have many books in the house. It doesn’t matter whether your child is a baby or ten years old, the presence of books matters, because it gives children the opportunity to seek them out independently. It also creates an impression of the importance of books. Parents should also be members of the local library and take their children there as often as possible. Trips to bookshops and browsing book-selling websites are also helpful.

Parents should make time to read to their children. Some parents are surprised to find that children will enjoy this for many years – you should not stop simply because your child is an independent reader. Reading to them, and with them, encourages them to visualize stories and to ask questions about characters and situations. Try not to treat this time as a class: do not stop every page or so to ask the child “comprehension” questions, instead put on voices, change your tone, make the story come alive, and include your child as you read.

With older children who are reluctant to read, this time can be adapted into a story-CD time, giving them and you the space to listen to a book together. Many books for older children have been successfully adapted for CD. There is also no reason why parents should not share comics and magazines with their children. Some parents think that this is not “real” reading, but often the language used and sentence structures employed in magazines are as varied as many children’s books. Boys in particular may read sports magazines written for adults – this involves complex skills and should not be criticized.

Parents should be readers themselves. You should have a book “on the go” as much as possible, and you should be seen reading for your own pleasure or education. A parent is a model of behavior and this applies to reading as much as it does to table manners.

Parents should not agonize about their child’s choice of reading. If a child is reading and enjoying it, there is no such thing as a book that is “too easy”. Ignore the temptation to force books onto your child that they do not want or for which they are not ready. If you are cynical or critical of their reading, it will persuade them that they are not good at it, and it will discourage them.

Reading is a skill, but it is also a great pleasure of life. Children need every opportunity to develop this pleasure in their own time and in their own way. Let your child’s love of books blossom, and encourage them as much as you can. They will, certainly, thank you when they are older.

What memories of reading (and being read to) do you have from your childhood? As writer’s we often start as enthusiastic readers. How do (or could) you create similar memories for the children in your life?

Photo Credit: 10-22-07 © iofoto
Photo Credit: 03-30-09 © Damir Cudic
Photo Credit: 02-19-10 © Noam Armonn

Join the conversation and share your comments on Children and Reading. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

The way I see it, there are three major advantages of taking low paying writing gigs. The first – and perhaps the most important – is that you never run out of work. There are hundreds of opportunities posted every day for all kinds of writing so if you want to, keep as busy as you want to.

Gain experience/build skills

That’s also a driver of the second advantage of low paying writing gigs. Getting experience in all kinds of writing and building skills. Never mind about your feelings of working for nothing; it’s a great way to try out different types of writing and become proficient enough to charge more. In this case, writing for peanuts is a stepping stone to greater things because you will also …

Beef up your resume

… improve your writing resume, which means you can charge more for your services. The greater your offering to your clients, the more impressed they will be and the more likely to hire you. They will also be less likely to quibble at your new improved rates. You’ll be moving into a different client pool, where the overriding factor is quality rather than simply price.

Many disadvantages

Of course, there are many disadvantages to this kind of work, many of which have been discussed ad nauseam by both myself and my fellow writers. For one, if you are working longer hours for less money, what’s the point of having escaped the cubicle? Working on low paid writing jobs without having a good reason such as those listed above is senseless. That’s because you will need to work even harder than most to earn a decent income and will be sliding down the slippery slope to writer burnout.

Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional content writer and blogger. See more of her posts on writing at Get Paid To Write Online.

Is It Worth It?

Does that mean writing for peanuts must be avoided at all costs? Not at all. The trick is to have an exit strategy and work towards it from the moment you take your first gig. Once you feel confident in your niche, have built up some knowledge and can match client requirements without too much difficulty, it’s time to start trading up. You have nothing to lose by raising your rates a notch and – if the world doesn’t end when you do – raising them again when the time seems right. For new writers, taking low paid gigs can be their first step on the path to a lucrative writing career – it certainly worked that way for me.

What other pros and cons do you consider when asked to write for low or no pay?

Photo Credit: renwest

Join the conversation and share your comments on Writing For Peanuts – The Pros and Cons. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Encouraging children to read isn’t quite lost. Children often do read! They read comic books, they read Harry Potter novels … but more often than not they sit in front of the TV first. Television has hurt the amount of reading our entire society has done. Instead of short stories, we watch Television sitcoms. Instead of reading history books, we turn on the History Channel.

The front line of reading is children. If you want to create a love of reading within your child, here are some helpful tips.

Read to Them:

This may sound simple, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say often parents don’t instill the basics of reading in their children. They leave it to the schools to do it. So what can you do? One example is to simply read to them for ten minutes before putting them to bed.

Read Aloud:

Reading aloud to them is quite important. Some children take longer to read than others. It’s fun for both you and the child, and it helps them learn to read themselves (even the big words).

Buy Them Books:

Books are still around and still read. Millions sell every year. There are countless children’s fiction series, for example, while also many short history books. Some older children like to read scary stuff; it wasn’t too long ago the “Goosebumps” series by R.L. Stine was selling out. Try to see what they like in television and films, and apply that to buying them books. Often children’s books can be bought for pennies on the dollar at used book stores.

Take Them to Libraries:

Libraries are an even better option for parents. It gives the child the choice to pick out what they like. Make it a regular event to go to the local library on weekends or after work. Many libraries also have reading programs for children, some even use “bookmobiles” to travel to schools and let children get books.

Illustrations Help:

A picture can still say a thousand words, so don’t be shy about getting your child picture books. Sometimes even comic books are a good way to encourage reading for a child.

Make Reading Fun!

Reading should be fun and not a chore. Turn the TV off for a half-hour to an hour every night. Read to your child and instill a love of words in them. Tell them they can write their own stories, and even draw pictures of their favorite characters. Reading is an art, so let’s make sure it’s not a lost one.

Jacob Malewitz is a published author, professional web copywriter, marketing consultant, blogger, and ghost writer. He’s the author of over 600 articles, two ghost written eBooks, hundreds of pages of web text, several successful blogs, and a small press book on creative writing, coming soon. He specializes in many online business and web marketing topics such as SEO, social media, branding, and earning money from blogging.

Join the conversation and share your comments on 6 Tips To Create a Love of Reading in Children. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

It’s a job that everyone wants to do, because they think it’s easy as pie and the perks are great – you can work from the comfort of your home, at schedules that suit your convenience, and all you need as investment are a computer, word processing software, a good Internet connection, and some creativity with words. But being a freelance writer, especially one who is successful, is not exactly a bed of roses. Yes, the job is great if you want to choose writing as a profession, but before you take to freelancing, here are a few things you must know:

1. Procrastination never pays

When you’re a freelancer and able to set your own schedules and work at your own pace, you tend to put work off when you’re caught up in other activities. You convince yourself that you have all the time in the world, and then when your deadline looms closer, you find yourself rushing to complete the work in the little time that you have. When you do this once too often, you could end up compromising the quality of your work and losing valuable clients in the bargain. So avoid procrastination, and if you feel yourself delaying work for some reason or the other, nip the habit in the bud.

2. You must avoid distractions

When you work from home, there are numerous distractions to contend with – the television, your chores at home, children, visitors and family members taking up your time, and other diversions tend to take up your time if you’re not dedicated to work. And worst of all, the Internet is a very tempting and hard-to-avoid distraction if you work in an unsupervised environment and keep your own hours. Unless you make a concentrated effort to avoid distractions, you’re going to waste away the better part of the day.

3. Keeping commitments is important

A freelancer’s success is based on their regular clients perceive them – if they come across as writers who are always on schedule and continue to produce quality work time and again, it’s not going to be hard to find regular work. Unlike a regular job, a freelancer must work at getting each assignment, and the best way to establish themselves in the industry and gain regular gigs is to earn credibility as a responsible and skilled worker who honours commitments and also writes well.

4. Schedules help

Although you have the freedom to choose and set your own schedules when you work from home, it’s best to establish a regular schedule for work, just like those that are enforced in offices. This not only helps you avoid distractions but also reinforces to other people the fact that you’re working and should not be disturbed.

5. Maintaining connections is necessary

And finally, it’s important to stay connected to other people in the business and your clients so that you continue to get assignments on a regular basis. The best way to do this is to join forums for freelancers and also set up profiles on social networks through which you can connect to fellow professionals and potential clients. When you prove that you’re committed to your work, it’s easy to establish yourself as a successful freelance writer.

This guest post is contributed by Anna Miller, who writes on the topic of online degrees. She welcomes your comments at her email id: anna.miller009@gmail.com.

What are the most important things you think aspiring freelance writers should know?

Join the conversation and share your comments on 5 Things Aspiring Freelance Writers Must Know. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

You may be familiar with the phrase “Murder your Darlings.” This is the mantra repeated over and over again by teachers of the revision process. For many writers this is a painful ordeal that seems to take the life from a piece. Painful as it is, cutting out the parts that seem most precious to you is essential in polishing your work. Oftentimes when an editor will suggest that you cut a passage out of your story or novel, it’ll be one of your favorite sections–this is probably because you felt very good writing it. You were in the flow, and everything that fell onto the page just “felt right” to you. And now this editor wants you to cut it? To trash it as though it never existed? How could they be so cruel?

Is this the part of the writing process that you hate the most? Do hate the feeling that the passages that you had had so much pleasure writing will not see the light of day? I certainly did when I started out writing, but there are good reasons for cutting the fat. Although certain passages are beautifully written, they may do nothing to contribute to a story’s plot or give any insight to the characters. Exchanges of dialogue, though clever, may not really be important at all. The character that you snuck into chapter three was forced into the story just because you thought he or she was interesting. Lost in the flow of your writing, you might have spent two paragraphs describing a horse-carriage and not even know it. These passages simply don’t belong.

Instead of getting out your ax and murdering your darlings right then and there, however, why not consider dropping them off at the orphanage so that another story might be able to pick them up? Essentially you can create a database of written material that just didn’t make the cut for your other stories. Not only does this take some of the pain out of revision, but it also can give you a place to access characters, descriptions, and clever turns of phrases that simply didn’t fit in your other work. Whenever you feel writer’s block coming on, you can infuse some of the good stuff you didn’t use from your previous work into your new one.

To establish this orphanage, create a folder on your computer for your rescued darlings and then make sub-folders with names like “characters,” “descriptions,” “dialogues,” “settings,” and so on. Every time you cut a substantial part from your story, copy it and paste into a new document. Title the document in a way that you’ll be able to recognize it easily when you come back to it. Your “settings” folder would have documents titled “Roadside Cafe,” “African Village” and so on. The “Characters” folder could have documents with the character names, or just a short description like: “Nerdy Mobster” or, “Obsessive-Compulsive Stockbroker.”

Personally I find that I tend not to use too many of my rescued darlings in my new work. It’s comforting, however, to know that they’ll always be there waiting should you ever need them.

Kenji Crosland is a creative writing major who, scared of becoming a starving artist, became a corporate headhunter in Tokyo. Since then he’s regained his sanity, quit his job, and now blogs about creating an ideal career at unreadyandwilling.com. He is also developing a web application that just might change the internet. Follow him on Twitter: @KenjiCrosland.

Have you ever cut a part of your story that you really wished you’d kept? What do you do with the darlings you cut? Have you used a character or scene that didn’t make the cut in one story for another? What kinds of safety nets do you use when editing and revising your work?

Join the conversation and share your comments on Rescue your Darlings by Kenji Crosland. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Book industry insiders estimate that ghostwriters author 60% to 80% of books published each year. And with book ghostwriting fees range from $10,000 to $100,000 per project — $10,000 being the very low end and $100,000 usually paid to more established writers (“celebrity” ghostwriters earn $250,000+ per book) – more and more freelance writers are discovering that authoring books as a “hidden writer” or collaborator can be a viable and lucrative career.

Here are three secrets to help you create a successful career as a book ghostwriter:

1. Learn How To Capture The Client’s Voice

The ability to capture and convey the client’s voice is an essential component for a successful career as a ghostwriter. Being able to effectively structure content and manage a project are also necessary skills for ghosting, but the ability to mimic the client’s speaking style and make it come alive on paper is the skill that will land you recurring, high-paying projects. Carefully listen to the client during your interviews and conversations (and review any available audio – videos, podcasts, etc. – as well previously published material written by the client) to learn how he or she structures sentences. Listen for specific phrases, word patterns, vocabulary choices, and tone, texture, and energy – and then practice recreating it until your words and the client’s words blend seamlessly.

2. Position Yourself As One Of The Experts In Your Niche

Are you the go-to writer for women’s fitness and health? Do you mostly write narrative essays or opinion pieces? Are you the how-to article guy or the relationship advice guru? Are you a freelance writer with a background in accounting or experience in social media? Ghostwriters who specialize in specific genres (such as memoir, finance and investing, or women’s issues) tend to be more successful than those who generalize. Capitalize on your experience and expertise by focusing your ghostwriting in one to three areas of specialization. Use your portfolio and online presence (website, blog, social media profiles and interactions) to establish and build your platform. Consistently deliver quality content and exceptional customer service to solidify and maintain your status.

3. Connect With Literary Agents

Literary agents are one of the best referral sources for quality ghostwriting projects. Many experts, business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, actors, television celebrities, sports figures, chefs, doctors, professors, gurus, and media-darlings-of-the-moment, lack the necessary skills to write a compelling book. Literary agents need to match their clients with professional ghostwriters or collaborators. Connecting with literary agents, and growing and nurturing those relationships over time, is an invaluable element to a successful ghostwriting career. (You can download a free chapter on “Finding and Selecting an Agent” from my book The Complete Guide To Hiring A Literary Agent at GetALiteraryAgent.com)

Laura Cross is an author, screenwriter, ghostwriter, freelance book editor, and writing coach specializing in nonfiction books and script adaptation (book-to-film projects). She writes two popular blogs, NonfictionInk.com and AboutAScreenplay.com, and teaches online writing workshops.

Laura’s latest book is The Complete Guide To Hiring A Literary Agent: Everything You Need To Know To Become Successfully Published. You can download a free chapter, view the book trailer, read the full table of contents, and purchase the Book in electronic format at GetALiteraryAgent.com.

Have you every considered ghost writing? Are you in the process of finding a literary agent? Laura joins us today on her blog tour. You’re invited to ask questions in the comments. What would you like to know?

Join the conversation and share your comments on Three Secrets to a Successful Book Ghostwriting Career. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Ten years ago, when I began writing short humorous essays in earnest, I received a phone call from an editor at Woman’s Day. I’d sent her an 800-word piece about how my great-aunts purchased the front of a crazy-quilt at a thrift store, sewed a velvet backing on it and proceeded to exhibit it at county fairs, winning blue ribbons and cash prizes for a handicraft they’d contributed to only marginally. The New York editor struck me as elegantly brusque. “We’d like to publish your essay,” she said. “Will two thousand be acceptable?”

“Words?” I asked, already considering how to lengthen the piece.

She sighed with the world-weary patience of Manhattan confronting a country-mouse. “Dollars,” she said.

Thus I realized that an essay–penned in an hour over a mocha at my favorite coffeehouse and then revised in another hour a week later–could earn me a month’s income. Since then, I’ve sold short humorous essays to The Washington Post, The Advocate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, High Country News, and numerous other publications in a process that requires a quick burst of focused energy, a dedication to equally swift and relentless revision, and an understanding of the numerous magazines and newspapers that publish this genre.

But a few years ago, when my husband and I decided to adopt a toddler, I believed my writing career was over. I didn’t know how I could possibly concentrate while learning to care for a child. Finances mandated my continued work as a journalism teacher at the University of Oregon and a memoir teacher for U.C. Berkeley’s online extension program. Deeply in love with my husband, I wanted to remain devoted to hiking and traveling with him and our new daughter.

“There’s just no time to write!”

I wailed this to our long-suffering counselor at Eugene’s Artists’ Counseling Service. Peggy merely laughed and took out her giant pad of paper and a purple pen. “We’re going to break down each day into chunks,” she told my husband and me, pre-adoption. “You’ll see that Melissa gets several blocks of time each week to write, and Jonathan gets the same amount to devote to his photography.”

In theory, she was right. We looked at her seven-column grid and saw how we might structure each day so that we could spend time with our daughter, time with each other, write and/or photograph for a reasonable number of hours, and retain our day jobs. In actuality, once our daughter came home, I cringed at the thought of leaving her, even for two hours, to engage in something as indulgent as writing essays.

“Love, it’s your work.” My husband handed me my notebook. “Go get a mocha. All you have to do is produce a rough draft.”

I knew he was right. Reluctantly, I walked down to my favorite coffeehouse and sat there for an hour, staring dismally at the blank pages. I returned home an hour early. “Performance anxiety,” I explained.

After several false starts, I did begin to find my rhythm as a writer and mother, thanks to my practice in writing short essays. Now, I can whip out a rough draft between university classes. If I wake early, I sit up in bed and reach for my notebook and pen. If my daughter’s at preschool and I find myself inspired by a current event or trend or family memory, I sit down at the computer even if I have a stack of papers to grade, bills to pay, and the kitchen floor to mop.

I’m learning to view the chapters of my memoir-in-progress in the same manner as I approach short essays; I just have to remember that the chapters, longer and sometimes more literary, require multiple revisions.

These days, I receive enough editorial acceptance to keep up my confidence. But money earned from my essays and memoir represents a secondary reward. My husband is right–writing is my work, and I love the process of crafting essays and books almost as much as I adore my family.

It’s difficult to juggle my roles as wife and mother, teacher and writer. Sometimes, I collapse in exhaustion. I tell myself during those down-times that I could let the writing go . . . but then what would I be teaching my daughter?

Early Sunday mornings, she pads out to the living room to find me bent over my computer, much as my mother used to bend over the short stories composed on an electric typewriter. I hope that the sight of me writing–even if the dishes sit unwashed and the windows need scrubbing–will inspire my daughter to dedicate herself to a passion that, along with beloved family members and friends, makes life worth living.

Melissa Hart is a journalism teacher at the University of Oregon, and a memoir writing teacher for U.C. Berkeley’s online extension program. Her new memoir, Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood (Seal Press, 2009), is a coming-of-age story about growing up white, heterosexual and boring in multicultural Los Angeles with a lesbian mom, a brother with Down syndrome, and a deep desire to be a Latina.

The Oregonian notes, “Hart, who teaches writing at the University of Oregon, has crafted a well-balanced tale that forgoes blame in favor of poignancy.”

Booklist says, ” “LGBT families and immigrant kids will want it for the honesty, humor, and love. Every lively chapter ends with a detailed recipe that mixes food and feelings.”

Kirkus Reviews says of Gringa, “”The book is filled with detailed conversations and particulars of dress, mannerisms and facial expressions that give it the feeling of a novel. A quirky narrative of artfully reconstructed memories.”

Join the conversation and share your comments on Writing, Romance, and Child-Rearing: A Critical Balance. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.

Musicians do not appear on stage to perform without hours of previous practice. Dancers learn their choreography in the studio before they dance for the public. Singers do scales. Athletes stretch. Writers need to light their Creative Fires and maintain their Creative Flow too.
Writers need to write – often, regularly, for all kinds of reasons.

Last night I handed out the following list to my Write with Spirit class. I asked everyone to consider why they write. It helps to know. In fact setting your intention for writing with a specific purpose in mind harnesses the creative forces of the universe on your behalf. Often we are wishy-washy. We want to write to educate and we end up writing to soothe ourselves. Both are important and valuable – yet require different attention from us.

1. Write to Free Your Creativity – You want to live a creative life and writing is one way to do that.
2. Write for Wholeness – You want to develop, deepen and expand your connection with your Higher Self.
3. Write for Guidance – You want to receive guidance from your Higher Self.
4. Write for Insight and Understanding – You want to broaden your perspective and see through the eyes of Spirit
5. Write for Personal Growth – You want to experience more personal balance, alignment, and calm. You want to know your authentic feelings and needs better. You want to learn and grow
6. Write to Heal – You know writing offers you a path through confusion to clarity, through sadness, depression and fear into hope, appreciation and forgiveness.
7. Write for Relief – You want to step outside of your small mind, find comfort, soothe yourself.
8. Write for Joy – You write because it is fun and you love doing it! You reach for to experience the joy of “Dancing with the Universe.
9. Write to Deliver a Message – You have something to say and you want to teach, share, educate.
10. Write to Entertain – You want your words to provide delight, humor, intrigue, drama or fun for others
11. Write to Inspire – You want your words to help others to wake up to their own Magnificence.
12. Write to Connect, Move, Touch – You want to touch hearts, provide comfort, romance, ease, and hope.

The next time you sit down to write consider your intention before you begin:

• Do you seek inner guidance?
• Do you want to free your Self-Expression?
• Do you want to hone your writing skills?
• Do you want to give words to a message that wants to be born through you?

When you write with a destination in mind you are more likely to get where you are going. Just do not forget to include regular writing practice in your schedule. Writers do need to write.

Do you Love to Write? Join me for Write with Spirit classes from the comfort of your own home. Email me for a link to current events peri@creatorschoice.com

Enjoy my Write with Spirit Blog http://www.writewithspirit.blogspot.com/ and sign up at my website to receive my ezine http://www.creatorschoice.com

I’m all about celebrating your creative spirit with Writing Practice Tips, Positive Partnership Skills and anything else that inspires and engages hearts. I enjoy personal contact with my readers so feel free to contact me directly. Thanks for being YOU!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peri_Coeurtney_Enkin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Do-You-Write?&id=3264012

Do you need help discovering your passion, motivation, or true purpose? Perhaps you need a Date With Destiny. Join inspirational life coach, Tony Robbins, this December!

Join the conversation and share your comments on Why Do You Write? – Examine Your Motivation. I hope you enjoyed this post from Writer's Round-About. If you'd like to read more like this visit the site and subscribe to our RSS.

No related posts.