Menturion

When I was a kid, if you were to have told me that as an adult I would earn part of my income from public speaking, and enjoy it, I would have:

a: laughed in your face

b: puked on the floor.

I certainly remember doing b before speech class in 9th grade.

32 years later

Well, here we are 32 years later, and I’m earning part of my income from speaking and loving it.

They say that the two most common phobias are fear of flying and fear of public speaking. I wonder what would happen if you asked a person with both phobias to give a speech on a plane?

What I have discovered is that it is not the fear of speaking in public that terrifies people, it’s the fear of being up in front of all those people and not having anything to say.

Knowing what to say

Knowing what to say makes all the difference betweeen success and failure, fear and delight.

Whatever your area of expertise, I encourage you to come up with one or two presentations to start with, and find places to do them.

Eventually you will know the material so well that you could stand up right now and do the presentation.

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In the 7th grade I wanted to be an architect but it turns out math is involved. Who knew? My 8th grade English teacher talked me into working on the school newspaper and I was hooked. It seemed like easy lifting compared to architecture.

This quote from newspaper columnist Russell Baker sort of sums up how I felt about writing as a career:

“The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any.”

Baker and I, however, soon discovered that being an adequate writer is hard work, never mind being a great writer and doing it consistently. I thought that if I could speak the mother tongue that I could be a great writer. Wrong. But thank goodness Baker and I didn’t know that when we decided what we would do with our lives.

Luckily, I had a head start on the writing life. My Dad was a good example. He read all the time for pleasure, and he often read to me. My teachers drummed the fundamentals of English into me. At the time, it seemed tedious, but I now appreciate their effort. Otherwise, I would not be doing something I love and getting paid for it. Because, you see, there will always be a need for words and wordsmiths, stories and storytellers.

You have probably not been as lucky as me. How many of you routinely diagrammed sentences in grammar school English class? How many of you were drilled on the parts of speech, or on verb conjugation?

How many of you learned reading and writing through whole language instead of phonics? That’s like taking a 7-year-old who has never played basketball before and putting him in a game with the UNC Tar Heels and expecting the youngster to win the game.

How many of you play sports? What sports? How did you learn how to play?

You first learned the fundamentals. In basketball, you learn to dribble, pass and shoot. You work on it in the driveway. Then, you sign up for league play and take those skills into practice where the coach begins to explain the rules of the game. Next, you play and begin to improve your skills and your understanding of the game. You practice more. You watch great players to see what they do and you try to emulate them in practice and then in games. You push yourself by playing higher caliber opponents.

The same is true of writing. Vocabulary, sentence structure and punctuation are your skills. You move into the more advanced areas by learning about conjugating verbs and parts of speech. You learn the rules, and you begin to read the works of great writers to learn from them. And that is just the beginning.

Mark Twain says: “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”

How many of you love to read?

Hoover’s Writing Rule #1: if you don’t love to read recreationally, you will never be a good writer, much less a great one.

I read religiously as a child and still do. I have to read to stay abreast of my profession and to do research for articles I am writing, but I routinely read several books a month just for pleasure.

That recreational reading helps you see the world in a different way, or make connections you would not have made otherwise. This is helpful in developing story ideas that interest someone other than yourself.

Writing is both a very public and a very private occupation. No matter what type of writing you do, you must go out and experience life before you have anything worthwhile to write about. If you are a journalist, you must be able to walk right up and talk with people you often don’t know, or who have been through a tragedy. Then, you figuratively go into solitary confinement while you write. Once written, your work is placed on display for anyone to see and criticize.

So, you must understand your audience because ultimately they decide the fate of you and your writing. Writers are often more educated than their audience, but you can’t let the audience know that. You must write for them, in their vernacular so that your story gets through. This is particularly true in news writing. Keep opinions and bias on the sidelines.

In feature writing, the writer gets to intrude a little more, bringing his or her personality into the story. And in fiction, you get to make up your own world.

If you love to read and love to write, then I urge you to pursue your bliss. But just remember what science fiction writer Robert Heinlein said, “writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of - but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Bank of Commerce, Brent Dees Financial Planning, Bray Law, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, VELUX and Verbatim.

Strategies For Preparing Yourself To Become A Writing Ideas Generator!

First, before we start talking about the actual techniques you can use, let me intimate you with a thinking strategy I employ to make myself constantly able to generate interesting, and useful titles or topics to write about on a daily basis.

The truth is even if you start and finish writing it, if your chosen writing topic(and content) is not one that will interest and benefit readers, you are unlikely to get the positive exposure and resultant rise in credibility that you desire, in the mind of your target audience .

So, remember this at all times: You must continually analyse the activities you engage in(what you see, hear etc), to help you identify potential writing topics. In particular, look out for those issues you find you feel strongly about, which often make you wonder, “Can’t someone do something about this?” or “There’s got to be a better way to do this!” etc.

You can also write to share your discovery of a new way of doing something, or an experience you had - good or bad - which helped you learn something that turned out useful etc. You will be looking to write titles that relate to issues that you have a passion for, and which - if you were woken up in the middle of the night - you would be able to speak about, almost without having to think.

In my opinion, sometimes your subject does not even have to relate directly to your area of expertise. I believe that as a business person, one must demonstrate an awareness of his/her environment. Evidence of this would be demonstrated by an ability to write about current affairs or issues in society in a way, that enables you apply your professional expertise or specialised knowledge to contribute to development of people and society.

Make doing the above a habit, and you will be amazed at the speed with which you’ll subsequently be able to generate a constantly growing list of new topics. You would consequently have to work doubly hard to write content for each article topic, even as you spontaneously add more topics to the list. Believe me, this will happen!

Specific Actions For Preparation

The actions described below are to be done continually, till they become deeply ingrained habits.

1. Find/Use YOUR Best Time To Write. You may find that the best time to write will be during periods when your work demands have slowed down. That could be after close of work, if you are not too tired. Or it could be when business is actually slow! At this time, rather than dwell on that fact, you might want to do some writing and get your stuff out there for syndication - and more marketing exposure which could lead to new business.

2. Enlist The Support Of Trusted Others. Depending on how self-driven and disciplined you are, you may find it useful to deliberately enlist a trusted person, with empathy for what you wish to do, to periodically ask you about your progress. Could be your best friend, business partner, spouse or mentor. Agree a date or a specific interval when s/he will ask to know how far you have gone. You can also think up some “sanctions” s/he can impose on you if you do not “impress”.

3. Create Quiet Time For Deep Thinking. To ensure you really come up with an original piece of writing, you need to dig deep within yourself. Again, people differ. Some may not need to do this, but I have often found it useful to withdraw from people(even if only “mentally”), so as to reflect deeply about an issue or topic I consider of writing potential.

During this time, you are able to generate YOUR own ideas for discussing the subject and come up with original perspectives for analysis, solutions etc. Of course, if you have chosen a subject you have little knowledge about or experience in, you are unlikely to come up with much that would be of any use.

That’s why I said choose a subject you feel strongly about and/or have a passion for. Human beings are never at a loss for words when they have to contribute to discussions about issues they feel strongly about. Ever noticed that?

One more thing on this. Only AFTER doing this step(i.e. deep thinking on your own) should you pick up ANY previously written material by yourself or anyone else, to read on the subject you want to write about. It can take you days, weeks or even months, depending on the topic, to get enough ideas.

Remember, you write in order to make people believe you are credible/knowledgeable, and have something useful to offer, which your competition may not. If they read your writings and keep thinking, “Well he never seems to say anything that has not been said before”, you are unlikely to get much of what has been called “share of mind” amongst them!

4. Always Set A Target Date. Even though I touched on this when talking about your trusted “others”, it’s still worth mentioning again. This time I mean YOU setting specific target dates when you will finish writing say “ten(10) new articles”. For example, this article you are reading is one of over forty new ones I chose to begin uploading to my website from 1st April 2006. A few of them will also be submitted to other websites(like http://www.ezinarticles.com) to generate additional exposure for me.

5. Be Thorough - BUT Don’t Go Overboard! Spell-check with your word processor, then “eye-spell-check” it again. Don’t stop there. If possible, have someone proof-read it for you. For some reason, one or two naughty ones always “escape” getting caught by YOUR eyes, and only those other “helpers” just mentioned will save you!

It’s true that aiming for perfection can lead to work that never leaves the table. However, effort must be also made - constantly - to achieve certain standards of writing that will impress your readers enough to make them accept you as the authority you claim to be(or seek to become).

6. Constant Self-Development Work hard on yourself, so you can become a better writer. Read wide, and reflect often - deeply too - on what you read. Improve your vocabulary. Use a dictionary. To find words with similar meanings, use a thesaurus. All this should enable you intelligently spice up your writing with variations that keep your prose from becoming boring.

A WARNING! As they say, Keep It Simple. Avoid using needlessly complex words that could alienate some of your readers. A rule of thumb I am aware is well followed on the net, is to make sure a sixth grader can easily read and understand anything you write. That way, you can be sure majority of your readers will have little - if any - difficulty making sense of, and enjoying your writings.

Specific Writing Techniques You Can Use

In my experience, you may sometimes begin a writing project using one technique, and get stuck at one point(say, due to say “writer’s block”), only to pick up your pace again by switching to another technique, instead of having to wait till you can continue using the former technique. I provide practical examples as I progress.

1. Use A Mind Map

This is my number ONE tool! I use it every day to keep myself sane :-). As I mentioned earlier, you will - if you follow the advice offered here - likely get to a point where you are constantly battling to scribble down multiple suggestions of ideas and discussion points for different article titles in your head! I go through this every day.

Know this. If you fail to write them down YOU WILL FORGET most, if not all. Anytime that has happened to me, I always felt like I had lost a huge sum of money. Losing money gives a bad feeling. That bad feeling taught me over the years to ALWAYS remember to write them down.

The Mind Map is useful in doing all this, when you’re in your quiet time. Google the string “How to use a mind map” for useful resources that will teach you how to use that powerful thinking and learning tool. About two years ago, I helped out a client who had a phobia for speech writing by “Googling” the string “How to write a speech in five minutes using a Mind Map”. The results returned were most helpful to him! You can also read Tony Buzan’s books on Speed Reading and Mind Mapping, to learn how to use one.

I find the old fashioned method of sitting in a quiet corner with my pen on paper suits me best. Maybe that’s because I work in a country where electricity supply still remains quite erratic, making it necessary for me to improvise for those periods when I do not have access to the computer :-).

The best part of using the mind map however, is that it saves you having to write so much in order to put down another relevant thought. Yet when you look at the short phrase, keyword or acronym in the web-like mass of linked lines, you are still able to make sense of it, and even use it to generate additional ideas to develop the map further. As a speech writing(or speech making) tool therefore, it can be simply invaluable.

Even if you decide to discard everything else you read in this article MAKE SURE YOU HOLD ON TO THIS ONE. Becoming proficient at using Mind Maps for your thinking, learning and writing, will boost your productivity dramatically! This article you are reading was prepared using a Mind Map, about 48 hours before I wrote it. Believe me when I say Mind Mapping can make your writing feel effortless, and at the same time quite pleasurable!

2. Prepare A Dummy Presentation

Imagine you want to give a presentation to a very important group of people who are likely to use your performance as a key factor in deciding whether or not to hire you to execute a project for them in your area of expertise. Pretend you have to prepare a set of presentation slides based on their chosen topic. Let’s say you have only 20 to 30 minutes to speak, after which you will have to take questions.

Ask yourself the following questions:

a. What are the most important things you need to make sure you say that will show that you KNOW your subject and get you a standing ovation. Write those down.

b. What are the likely objections some members of your listening audience will have ? Write those down too.

c. What are the proposals you want to make for action the audience may need to take Write those down as well.

d. What is/are the most important lessons you want your audience to remember, AFTER they have departed fro the venue about YOU and YOUR presentation topic that will make them tell others ? Write those down too.

Go through the collection of bullet point ideas you have and arrange them in the logical order you would want to present them, if you had to speak. Now, sit down in front of your PC and use those notes you generated to type out a draft of your article. Polish and refine it, till you’re sure it’s done.

3. Develop And/Or Use A Writing Template

Although this technique is easily applicable for other purposes(like writing of articles/books), I have found it particularly useful for writing quick proposals in the workplace. Back in paid employment, I was a highly self-motivated employee who chose to function as a positive change agent.

In this regard, I was very much into the habit of writing proposals. In many cases, my proposals were written to senior management, sometimes resulting in changes being effected in the way things were being done. (Read my article titled Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent to learn how I used my proposals to influence positive changes in my last workplace.)

In writing my proposals, I had a format or template that I always started with, then modified to suit whatever my intended purpose was. The format I used was based on an understanding I had developed of my intended target audience: Senior Corporate Executives in the technical function. These were usually highly numerate individuals with prior lower management experience in the technical function they now oversaw. They were very busy people, and time was often not something they had in generous amounts.Such people therefore naturally lacked patience for lengthy proposals.

But I felt I had a few ideas I wanted them to consider, and which I was determined to have them respond to/take action on. So, I developed a format that enabled me present my entire proposal at anyone time on ONE A4 sheet of paper, in a straightforward manner, sticking only to relevant facts and/or notable exceptions. The top of the paper, always had the company name, date, my name, department etc. Next came the proposal topic. Then the body of the write up comprised the following sub-headings:

(a). The Current Situation (b). The Problem Identified (c). The Alternatives Proposed - or sometimes (d). The Solution Recommended

I would use the above sub-headings to highlight key technical issues in such a way that my proposed solutions would be easy to evaluate in terms of direct, and measurable benefits that could be derived.

The point of the foregoing is to suggest that you develop a format or template of your own that will stimulate your thinking better, so that you quickly generate an outline and content for your article topics.

4. Start A Series

This is probably the easiest technique anyone can successfully use to write and publish a book. I’ll narrate a true personal story to explain how it works. In May 2002, I began offering a FREE one-hour talk - Ten Ways You Can Use Self-Development To Create The Future You Want - to various organisations that fit my target audience profile as a means of marketing my Self-Development talks, seminars and coaching programs to them. After delivering this talk to a number of audiences for about three months, I decided(based on the good responses and high ratings in the completed speaker feedback forms returned to me by those who attended), to convert it to an Internet email autoresponder course.

My speaker notes were only bullet point outlines, so I knew I would practically have to write each of the Ten Ways(or lessons) the way I normally spoke about them to my audience. One afternoon I did that for the First Way, and set it up as the first of ten auto responder email course lessons accessible by activating my auto responder at http://www.getresponse.com. Next, I sent an email out to people already on my mailing list inviting them to sign up for the ecourse, requesting that they recommend it to others, if they liked what they read in the first one.

By the afternoon of the next day, I noticed about five people had signed up. Then I realised I was in trouble. Now I HAD TO make sure the lesson for week 2 of the course was ready before the autoresponder was due to send it out, else the subscribers would get nothing and I would look very bad. To cut the long story short, I found myself working very hard to write each week’s lesson well ahead, sometimes setting up lessons for two consecutive weeks in one week so as to buy myself some time to do other things .

By the time the ten weeks were over, and the e-course was completed by the first subscriber, I realized I had effectively written a complete book!

Today, I have purchased copies of the manual from one of my online stores located at http://www.lulu.com/sdaproducts - and even sent one out as a gift to a friend in another country. The experience I gained from doing it all opened my eyes to income generating opportunities via POD publishing.

I have narrated the above story to show you how I discovered that starting a writing “series” can help one start and finish writing a book. You could, for instance, write one article and publish it with a footnote or byline saying it is an excerpt from a forthcoming book. Then you would work hard to finish the book by writing more articles on a similar theme till you’re done. You’ll end up with a set of published articles, and a new book ready for publication. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

5. Prepare A Sales Advert

I once read an article in which the author proposed that to write a book, start by writing a sales advert for it. In order for the advert to be successful, it must contain details that will convince those who read it to buy the book (and hopefully not return it).

The above logic - though unusual - is easy enough to understand. Basically, you would use the advert you have written to decide what to say/write in the article - or better still, a book.

In your own sales ad, you could decide to write a dummy testimonial, in which a reader highlights useful value s/he got from reading your (yet to be written) book. That will then guide you to write content in the book that you expect will elicit responses close to that in your dummy testimonial.

It appears a bit clumsy, but given some thought and with practice, you might find it helps to think like this in generating ideas of what to say in your new book. Choose the topic. Then prepare the sales advert . Next write content that ensures readers of the finished book will agree, that its contents fully meet the expectations raised in the sales advert you wrote for it. If you are not sure you can do this objectively enough, get someone you know to look through it and give you some qualitative feedback.

Finally, it might be useful to ask yourself this question : If I saw this ad in a newspaper or on the net, would I feel an irresistible urge to purchase a copy of the book it describes? If you get a NO, then go back and RE-WORK IT.

6. Use Excerpts From Your Books

Books you have written (they may or may not have been published) in the past, could provide an excellent source of new writing topics and ideas.

Writing can be an interesting experience. Whenever I write, I have noticed that sometimes there are points I would love to discuss further or elaborate on a bit more. But when I look at the topic I am supposed to be focussed on, I decide it might be better to leave them as they are. What then happens is sometime in the future, I come across that part of the article, report or book I wrote, and realise some new experiences have given me even more ideas on it, that could make up a new article. Some days or weeks later, I would have written another article based on that insight.

Evidence that this happens is probably what is sometimes seen at the end of some articles. There the writer adds a heading such as “Related Articles”, with a listing of click-enabled article titles or URLs.

From a website usability and web marketing point of view, adding such related URL links at the end, or in the body of your writing is very likely to help you keep a visitor that fits your target audience profile on your website longer than if you had not used such techniques. And that may eventually lead to her becoming impressed enough to order a product or service from your site, or possibly contact you, thereby giving you a chance to close the sale.

Summary

The strategies and techniques I have described in this article require the user to apply them for his/her purposes with commitment, if s/he is to record the results described. That is why you MUST choose to write on topics that you have a natural interest in, and/or an enduring passion for.

Lastly, in writing this article, I will point out that I make no claims to having perfected the art of writing. What I have done here is to share with the reader, a number of ways by which I strive daily to become more proficient in my writing. I do so, based on my understanding of success in any endeavour as being a “never ending journey in the pursuit of excellence”(i.e. a process of continuous improvement) that any individual can choose to embark upon.

I wish you success.

This article is one of twenty-five contained in Tayo Solagbade’s Ebook titled “25 Articles/True Stories On Self-Development, Entrepeneuring & Web Marketing To Help You Succeed More Often”.

Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist - Tayo Solagbade - works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably. Download your copy of his 25 Articles Ebook from http://www.lulu.com/content/268555. You get full reprint rights for each article.

Cancer of the mesothelium is a rare cancer of the tissues that line people’s inside organs. Almost two thousand brand new instances are pinpointed every year in the whole United States. Out of these, nearly three out of four of instances involve the sac around the lungs, named the pleura. This type of cancer is called pleural mesothelioma. In almost 10 to 20 percent of instances, mesothelioma cancer may involve the tissue that encloses visceral organs, named the peritoneal membrane, causing what is then acknowledged as peritoneal mesothelioma.

Exposure to asbestos is absolutely the main influencing factor for this rare cancer. After asbestos exposure, the time to progression of the mesothelioma disease may be 2 to 4 decades. Due to occupational exposure, mesothelioma is about 3 times more likely in males, than in women. Due to the number of occurrences moves upward with your age, there are about 10 times more occurrences in the men more than age 64 than in the men in their midlife.

Being diagnosed with Cancer of the mesothelium is a serious sickness, that, at the moment, has a decidedly bad percentage of overall continuance. Although, if it is spotted quickly, care are then obtainable that will considerably extend the patient’s life. All new therapies continue to be and are being tested through the use of clinical trials.

When I informally ask aspiring writers who they prefer to review their manuscripts, answers range from professors to community college instructors to writing workshop coordinators. These responses are fine if you are writing for an audience of community college instructors, but this scenario is in fact quite rare.

I have a brother who is thoughtful, intelligent, pragmatic and by no means “artsy”. It is for these reasons that I value his feedback. I classify his reaction as a “real world” reaction to a manuscript. Is he bored? confused? lost? entertained? His feedback may reshape my writing.

Audience obviously plays a crucial role in writing. Any composition would benefit from review by members of the intended audience, whether the subject be professional, avocational, personal or a combination of the above. The process could even help identify the true audience for which you are writing.

Creative writing tends to widen the audience boundaries. If John Q. Public is a member of your target audience it is best to get a range of responses to your work. There is a large segment of the population who spend their days working in cubicles. How would they be impacted by your writing? Single moms struggling with the cost of daycare? Teenagers drinking cola from enormous containers at the convenience store? The plumber in your building or home?

If any of the individuals above are part of your intended audience, their opinions could be invaluable. There could also be a lot to learn from their “art”, be it a trade, a white collar profession, juggling an impossible budget, or finding rare songs on the Internet.

The next time you need a manuscript reviewed, show it to the usual suspects. Then offer your plumber a coffee or lunch in exchange for editorial comment.

©2006 Robert W. Mann

Robert Mann is a poet residing in California. His most recent work can be viewed at http://www.crickethymns.com, an ongoing blog of original poetry.

To learn more, you are advised to take a look at this superb page for signs of an enlarged prostate info

The healthcare profession call an enlarged prostate benign prostate hyperplasia, or BPH. In layman’s terms this actually means the prostate gland, a gland which encloses the urethra and lies beneath the bladder, swells and this can reduce and even block urinary flow. As males mature, the prostate gland grows and as a result can lead to different symptoms such as difficulty in passing urine, a weak flow, and even urinary retention. Frequent night time urination and infections of the urinary pathway may additionally be result from prostatic swelling. Prostatic Enlargement - What Does that Mean?

A swollen prostate is believed to be a common problem of men in their 60’s. Current recommendations are that males in their 50’s undergo examination by their personal doctors annually, regardless of the presentation of problems, to help sustain better prostate health. Seek medical intervention immediately if blood appears in the urine or if unable to pass water.

Solutions for an enlarged prostate can include surgery and the use of pharmaceuticals. However, erectile troubles and even inability to control urination can be experienced as a result of surgery. An alpha blocker or drugs which shrink the abnormal prostate gland are often given for better prostate gland wellness, however, medicine will frequently result in unwanted repercussions so what are some alternative therapies?

Swollen Prostate Symptoms? Find Alternative Answers to Gain a More Healthy Prostate: - To encourage better prostate gland health and also avoid the symptoms connected with an enlarged prostate gland, various holistic remedies may help. Swelling is significantly reduced by the herb Afican pygeum, bringing a reduction of any more annoying symptoms. A derivative of the fruit of a tree native to Africa, African pygeum has been employed extensively by the Europeans as a holistic formula for improved prostate health.

A reduction of dietary fat may provide relief, as well as increasing exercise, a higher frequency of ejaculations to relieve pressure in the prostate gland, it is also best to avoid sitting for a long period of time. Utilizing non prescription anti-histamines or decongestant medicines can exacerbate any symptoms of a swollen prostate gland, therefore consume them with care. Additional suggestions include to quit having any liquids near going to bed to cut down urination during the night, and reducing alcoholic drinks and caffeine intake can decrease the symptoms experienced.

There’s also a great selection of other holistic treatments being used to improve prostate health — such as saw palmetto extract, starflower oil, the chemical element selenium, and lycopene, a chemical obtained from tomatoes. Before commencing any which holistic treatment plan make sure to check with a doctor.

High School Diploma

One is awarded a high school diploma once they have successfully completed their high school. In most countries the high school diploma is regarded as the minimum requirement one can have in order to acquire a job. For people seeking employment therefore, it is advisable to acquire a high school diploma
since it will be an advantage in the competitive job market. In addition, a person who holds the diploma can go into the job market and seek higher positions within an organization or continue with their education at a higher level. They can therefore acquire more advanced diplomas such as honors diploma.

One can acquire a high school diploma online. This is most appropriate for students who must stay at home due to health reasons, persons who are unable to concentrate within the traditional setting and for people who desire to work at their own pace. Finding the online high school to enroll in can be a challenge. One is therefore advised to ensure that they schools they settle for are bona fide so that the diploma from such an institution has the embossed seal for authentication like diplomas that are issued conventionally. The diploma can therefore be acquired in a short duration with the least hassle.

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The rules are a little different when you’re researching an article on the set of a television or movie production. You don’t have the luxuries afforded during pre-arranged telephone interviews or in-person interviews where you can sit down and leisurely talk over cups of coffee. When you’re lucky enough to visit a set for an interview, try these suggestions for staying out of trouble, making friends with the unit publicist, and getting a great story.

1. Immediately upon arrival, meet with the unit publicist or director of publicity. Ask for the production schedule, background information, bio sheets, and photographs of the people you’ll be interviewing. Find out if other people will be available for interviews and, if you’re also a photographer, what photo restrictions they may have on the set.

2. Don’t expect the publicist to arrange lengthy interviews with the “stars.” In general, celebrities work on tight schedules, are eager to get the work finished and fly back home to their families, prefer to talk to representatives from major publications, and don’t necessarily give better interviews than the lesser known actors or the people behind the scenes.

3. Use the publicist’s information for background, but get quotations from other sources. Interview privately, away from the publicist, crew members, and other journalists, if possible.

4. Bring a note pad and tape recorder. Relying solely on a tape recorder is dangerous while on a television or movie set. There are many distractions such as background noises, playbacks, and music. Interviews may consist entirely of whispers between takes.

5. Be flexible. Plan to have constant interruptions and hours of waiting between interviews. Be prepared to set up your interview at a moment’s notice at a desk, on the set, or sitting on the floor in a dark corner. Also be on the lookout for stories you didn’t plan.

6. Don’t be a fan or a friend to a celebrity (or semi-celebrity) — be a professional. Never ask for home phone numbers or addresses; go through the publicist. (However, if stars offer their personal cards, grab them fast before they change their minds.) Rather than provide a gushing endorsement of a star’s work, a simple statement of appreciation is much more appropriate. If you put him on a pedestal, you won’t be on equal footing throughout the interview.

7. Obey the basic production rules: Don’t enter or exit when a light is on over the door; don’t say a word when you hear “Quiet on the set!” and NEVER sit in a chair that has someone’s name or title written on it (especially “Director”).

8. Follow-up with a thank you note or telephone call to the publicist, and be sure to send a tear sheet (copy of the published article).

Copyright 2006 Leslie Halpern

Central Florida-based entertainment writer Leslie Halpern has interviewed more than one hundred celebrities during her career. She is the author of “Dreams on Film. The Cinematic Struggle Between Art and Science” (McFarland & Company), a book that analyzes representations of sleeping and dreaming in the movies. She also wrote “Reel Romance. The Lovers’ Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies” (Taylor Trade Publishing), a book that reviews date movies for couples, and suggests romantic ideas inspired by these films. Her articles have appeared in hundreds of entertainment trade and consumer magazines. Visit Leslie’s website at http://home.cfl.rr.com/lesliehalpern/leslie_halpern.htm

The N400 brainwave is activated when the reader encounters mistakes or ironic material in writing. It also occurs when a sentence is semantically incorrect or when you listen to a song and the words all rhyme and you are expect the next word in the sentence to fall in line, but it does not. An online writer could use this knowledge to increase reader interest and a professor of video training tapes might use it to increase comprehension.

For an online writer I would say if you really want to hook, line and sinker the reader from an online article into click thrus to a website from an article, the writer should incorporate new information, which is shocking and startling because it is not what one would suspect.

I recommend that authors use this technique to gain interest along with and in addition too curiosity to drive traffic, which seems to be the goal of article writing and of a good percentage of the writers who participate in the online writer venue. Works for me, I use this technique in many of my articles, today I have: 1,127,064 Article Views listed on this site alone; estimate 10 million with all the articles, which have been picked up all over the Internet now; my website Traffic counter thru the roof.

It is amazing to me that people on the Internet resort to fraudulent enticement, when all they have to do is work with the reader to draw interest, insight curiosity and induce the N400 brainwave. I think that is why I like EzineArticles.com so much, this is where the ethical article writers hang out. If you are an online writer and use your writing to drive traffic to your website then you should consider this in 2006.

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Different people will study various characteristics when considering home gym equipment. Home gyms, just as individuals come varied configurations and sizings. There are no shortfalls of beliefs on what makes for a quality home gym. I am going to give my idea on what I think are a couple of strategic considerations when choosing home gyms.

Another aspect that I noted the recent time I dealt with a home gym at a local store, besides the cheap construction, is that so numerous home gyms fail to be home gyms. Actually, they are autonomous pieces of fitness equipment that are frequently designed to perform one or 2 exercises real well. Or they appear planned to work out merely legs or to work merely chest, or to exercise merely shoulder joints, or workout merely ab. Actually, there looks to be a exceptional amount of abdominal muscle fitness equipment sold on Television half-hour ads.

Now, I am not alleging that exercising an individual body part is necessarily a bad headed idea. However, it seems to me that if you want a home gym, then you should be trying for something that so some home gyms fail to provide, and that is the versatility. Or what appears to happen a lot as well is that if the home gym offers versatility, it is poorly constructed.

Thus, what I would look for to try to weed out from the boundless alternatives of home gyms available are two things. Require for quality and look for versatility. Of course, one inevitably to be their judge of how much you want to pay. The more superior the quality and the better the versatility the more it will cost. All The Same, the net result is that if you are serious about not only getting into shape but staying in shape you want to buy home gym equipment that is durable and that you will not get bored of using in a couple months.

You need to be able to change up your exercise program in order to maintain variation. In addition, one just can’t do that with a piece of fitness equipment that repeats the same exercise repeatedly. The body will adjust quickly and you’ll stop seeing results.