Real Words

Almost all writers are in love with quotes. Some of us are drawn to the most famous quotes that always crop up in literary circles. Others of us like to find our own top quotes every time that we read. We share them with other writers in our blogs, letters, emails and social media accounts. But, most importantly, many of us post them where we can see them on a regular basis.

Why Post Quotes

There are many great reasons to post quotes. For example:

• Quotes inspire our lives.
• Quotes inspire our writing.
• Quotes help remind us of our goals.
• Quotes celebrate the hard work of other authors.
• Quotes celebrate what we love - WORDS.

Bringing you a fresh guest post about making your writing more persuasive …

Writers face a daily challenge in persuading people to change their mind about a product or debate. A simple description of a product or an assertion of the correctness of a point of view will usually not be enough to persuade someone to make a decision favorable to you. You need to actively further your cause through your writing in ways that will close sales and garner support.

Use these 10 clever techniques that make your writing more persuasive:

1. Repetition: Express your argument in several different ways to improve the chances of communicating it effectively. Reinforce your direct statements with quotes, stories, facts and examples. The more ways you can communicate to your readers what you want them to do or believe, the more persuasive your writing will be.

2. Reasons: People seem to like to know why they should act or believe the way you want them too. “Just because” rarely will provide that incentive. Take the time to explain why you believe the way you do and then give your readers reasons why they should believe the same way.

3. Rapport: Communicate with your audience with familiar style and terms. People will more readily receive your message if it comes in a format that they find natural and easy to understand. You want to treat every audience with respect, so try to use words and arguments that each one will understand.

4. Credibility: Establish yourself as a reliable source. Refer to your personal experiences, your training, and education as sources for your expertise. If you write a lot, refer back to all the times you were right about a product and an issue. Just give your audience reasons for why they should listen to you. Once you have done that, build credibility in your writing style by avoiding contradictions and inconsistencies in your thoughts. Also, make your writing grammatically and mechanically sound.

5. Create or Expose Pain: Help your readers understand how painful their lives are now and how that nothing will change unless they act. Show them how your products or views will help them turn their lives around or reach a new level of personal satisfaction. Most people do not like pain and will gladly buy a product if they believe it will give them relief.

6. Counter Arguments: As you write, you should acknowledge opposing viewpoints up front rather than relying solely on your ability to sell your idea or product on its own merit. Showing your awareness of arguments against your position builds your credibility and helps you win over people who already have their minds made up. This also gives you the opportunity to change your mind should you learn that other arguments make more sense than your own.

7. Make Emotional Appeals: Have you ever noticed that politicians will surround themselves with victims when they want to score political points for their agenda? You can do the same. Offer sob stories that illustrate why people should donate to your cause, purchase your product, or agree with your philosophy.

8. Use Testimonials: Let other people tell the story about how their beliefs were challenged by the arguments you present and how they were persuaded to join your point of view. This also helps the people in your audience understand that they can change their mind without being ashamed.

9. Join the Club: People seem to have a natural desire to be part of a group to the exclusion of others. By selling your product, service, or viewpoint as a vehicle that will get your readers into the groups of which they want to be a part, you can be more persuasive.

10. Find Common Ground: By finding a comparison or an argument that your readers agree with, you lay the foundation you need to build further agreement. As your readers get comfortable with feeling that you and they are on the same side, you build your power to persuade them in areas where you do not agree.

Your only chance to persuade people to buy your products or join your side of a debate comes with what you write, so now is a great time to use these clever techniques to make your writing more persuasive.

This is a guest post by James, a writer for a one of the leading online print cartridge suppliers where he reviews of products like the HP 300XL ink cartridge. In his spare time, James posts about design and media on their blog.

This is a guest post from Alexis Bonari, a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org, researching areas of online universities. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Recently, my life as a freelancer was turned upside down. Granted I had slightly over nine months to plan for this lifestyle change, but nothing quite prepares you for how your life will change when you have a child. If you’re a freelance writer, organizing your work schedule around the needs of a baby and keeping ahead of deadlines is a surprisingly challenging experience. While I’m sure I’ll have to update my strategy as my daughter grows (she’s only 3 months old and isn’t yet mobile) here are four helpful tips for transitioning your freelance career when you’ve just had a baby:

1. Take advantage of any help you can get from your partner.

Understandably, not everyone has a partner who can devote their weekend or evening to watching the baby so that work can be done. If you do have such a person in your life; take advantage of it. Nobody is an island. Freelancing for a living is a full-time job. So is taking care of a baby. Four hours of completely uninterrupted work in the evening, and some extra time on the weekend, can make a huge difference in your overall productivity.

2. Look into a childcare exchange with another freelancer or another mother who wants some time off.

There are many mothers who want part-time childcare and are unable to find it for a reasonable rate. Find another mother in a similar situation and offer to trade childcare. As I already mentioned, a few uninterrupted hours can make or break your project.

3. Work around the baby’s sleep schedule.

This may seem obvious, but it often isn’t. It is not uncommon to fall behind on housework and laundry when you first have a baby. This is even truer when you have both a baby and a full-time job. Resist the urge to clean or do other household chores when you have a deadline coming up. Even though you’re at home, you’re on the clock. Schedule specific times for any housekeeping/cooking and stick to them. Otherwise, try to get through as much work as possible while the baby is sleeping.

4. Accept that it will take time to adjust to your new schedule, and that’s okay!

Go easy on yourself. Your life just changed in a very real way. There are many advantages to working from home when you have young children. That said, it’s not as straightforward as working set hours with no interruption. Enjoy your baby and slowly increase the amount of work you take on until you find the perfect balance for your life.

A cute little post via Bits of Wisdom that highlights how punctuation can change the meaning of some sentences:

As a full-time writer/blogger, I spend most of my day working on a computer. Although I frequently hear reasons why I should work primarily on my desktop computer, I have to confess that I’m more likely to spend time on my laptop than at my desktop. This isn’t to say that I don’t use my desktop computer since it definitely has its benefits. It’s just to say that I think it’s worth it for full-time writers to invest in high-quality laptops since they can be so important to the work that we do.

Benefits of Laptops for Full-Time Writer

Some of the core reasons that I’m on my laptop more than my desktop are:

• Portability. Obviously a main benefit of the laptop is that you can take it anywhere. Since I work from home, I get stuck in the apartment a lot if I’m limited to my desktop. Conversely, I can throw the laptop into a laptop sleeve and head to the park or the coffee shop if I need to be around some life to work. And, of course, with a few of the right laptop accessories, I can easily work from anywhere in the world with my laptop which is definitely ideal.
• Comfort. I find it a lot more comfortable to work on my laptop than at my desktop. I do have a good desktop chair and the right setup for my keyboard and all that but frankly I don’t feel comfy sitting at a desk all day. I like to be able to curl up, move closer to a window, get under the blanket on my bed, etc. A desktop doesn’t provide that comfort.

Michelle Rafter recently wrote a terrific article offering ten suggestions for freelance writers who are interested in launching their own businesses. The suggestions range from the obvious (train others in what you do) to the truly creative (launch a customized wire service).

One core reason that these suggestions are so important is because entrepreneurs are making the money when other people aren’t. A couple of years ago, I wrote a very basic article on things you need to do if you’re looking for a job. The article has gained hundreds of comments from unemployed people who are desperately struggling to find work. While I can sympathize with their plight, I have to confess that there is a part of me that wants to suggest to these people that they try to find creative ways to launch their own businesses rather than waiting for someone to hire them.

In the recession, nearly all of the people I know who are managing to do decently for themselves financially are people who are going out there and making their own jobs. I know people who have gotten laid off and used that opportunity to launch photography businesses, grow their writing careers and work in foreign countries. I realize that not being able to find a traditional job in your field is terrible but going out and making those opportunities for yourself is a creative and productive approach to the problem.

Freelancers who are struggling to make ends meet with traditional writing jobs can take their already-independent way of working and really make it work for them. The suggestions in Michelle’s article are a great start for that. And of course getting creative and launching a fresh new idea of your own would be even better.

And even freelancers who aren’t struggling may want to consider making this type of business move. It keeps your work fresh. It stops you from stagnating. It allows you to explore your limits, push your boundaries and challenge yourself in the work that you are doing. You don’t have a boss to promote you so you really and truly have to promote from within!

Michelle’s article

A Better Woman : A Memoir of Motherhood is a book that I read in almost one sitting and a book that I’d recommend to any woman who writes. Now wait a minute, isn’t it supposed to be about motherhood and not about writing? Yes and no.

The book is the story of a woman who chose to have children later in life. She suffered some serious complications from the process and underwent some difficult times with her physical health as a result. That’s sort of what the tale is about.

However, what it’s really about is how this affected her writing. How motherhood affected her writing. How, as a writer, you are the mother to your creations and when you become a mother to a living being it greatly affects your ability to mother your creative works into being.

Author Susan Johnson has some poignant insights into what being a writer means and these are sprinkled all throughout the book. A few examples taken from her text:

“I believe now that I wrote myself into life. Before I learnt how to do it I lived as if blind, forever raging against the dark. Learning how to write illuminated life itself for me, letting me see fully for the first time its shape and dimensions. Before I learnt to write I did not know who I was.”

“I was forced to acknowledge all over again that writing is not life, or even truth, but merely fragments of both, imperfect reflections. There will always be moments and emotions which refuse to be caught, dark undertows which will never break the surface. Life will always exceed the writer’s inadequate grasp, no matter how radiant the genius.”

“All the while I have been writing, my story has been uncurling. Like your own, my story is still being told, and I am living the telling as I write it, breathing, trusting in the dark. I am writing backwards but I am living forwards, blind to my own end.”

Just a quick note here about a home decorating item that writers might be interested in: Gartenkulter’s book pots for plants. These are old hardcover books that have had their center removed and placed with a sealant that allows the book itself to serve as a pot for growing a plant at home.

Writers seem to have mixed feelings about this product. On the one hand, we love books and the idea of using them in home design isn’t new to many of us. Plus there’s a link between the growth that you get from books and the growing of a live plant. However, some writers hold books so dear that they don’t want to see them altered or defaced in this way.

I’m an altered book fan myself. I think books are great but I don’t think that they’re sacred. In fact, I think that writing in them and altering them and turning them into pots are all terrific ideas.

What do you think?

I almost didn’t get out of my pajamas on Friday. I lingered in bed for awhile, doing some of my work there from my laptop. I moved to the living room for awhile and worked on my computer. I went back to bed and did some reading that I was able to justify as research for an article that I was working on.

This is the kind of life that my friends say that they envy. They always say that if they could work from home like I do then they would never get out of their pajamas.

Usually, I disagree with them. I think there are a lot of good reasons for freelance writers to get up, out of bed, showered and dressed at the start of each day. Some of the reasons that I do that include:

• I feel better about myself. Maybe some folks feel comfy and cute in their pj’s. I prefer to wear cute clothes. I feel better about the way that I look if I’ve put on something besides what I slept in.
• I feel better emotionally. The days can really blend into one another too much if you don’t separate them with basic rituals like showering, dressing, changing into pj’s at night. When this happens, I just don’t feel good.
• Getting up marks the start of my work day. I do linger in bed each morning. It’s a luxury I enjoy. I read, I journal, I answer email. But when I actually get up, my day has begun. I’m ready to work. Or sometimes I’m not ready but getting up helps to signal my body and mind that it really is time.
• It’s good to be able to leave the house at the drop of the hat. There are times when you need to get out and interact with the world even if that means just doing your work at the local coffee shop or co-work space. It’s a lot easier to do that when you’re already ready to go.

I received a link to an interesting article about 10 Greatest Writers who Became Famous After Death. What an interesting topic! I’ve often thought about the people who became well-known as artists after they died. However, I hadn’t thought extensively about people who didn’t receive a lot of writing fame until after they had passed away.

If I had to think about it, only one of the names on the list would have come to mind. That name is Anne Frank. Her diary is so incredibly famous, as both a piece of writing and as a piece of history. Of course, it wasn’t something that she was famous for during her young lifetime.

Other names on the list became more obvious to me once I thought about them. Sylvia Plath is a good example. She is so widely known now for her poetry. Even people who don’t know a lot of poetry know her name. And yet, during her lifetime, she didn’t make nearly such a mark even though she was a published poet.

And then there are some folks on the list that I hadn’t even heard of before. I’m curious to check out their writing now since I don’t know them yet.

Can you think of any other writers who became famous post-humously?