The LAST Word

  I used to attend career days when my children were in middle school. They wanted me to talk about careers in writing. It never failed that the children thought writers made a lot of money. Some do. J.K. Rowling, Tom Clancy, James Patterson and others have made so much money they are set for life. Others make enough to live comfortably. However, most authors struggle and don't go into writing for the paycheck. For me, I became a journalist because I wanted to tell people the information they needed to know. That was true when I was an environmental editor , state government reporter or other editor. It is still true today even though I write for clients. I am still giving people information they need to know. I still offer ways to help my clients market through my writing and editing. Patience Is a Virtue Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction , you need patience. Success doesn't happen immediately, except for a few. You have so much competition. You have to keep

Because of the pandemic , the media's panic-inducing headlines and the lack of in-person social connections, the number of mental health cases has already increased and is expected to jump even more. Students are feeling the pressures. They are not able to learn they way they like. For example, my daughter does better in a classroom setting than with online classes. My son is just the opposite. He thrives in online classes. Writers, who usually work from home, worked alone before the pandemic, but now, so many of them are afraid to leave their personal space. This can lead to panic attacks, stress, anxiety and depression. They will begin to doubt their abilities in writing and editing their books. Here are some ways to address mental health issues. Write as Therapy – I have discussed this previously. If you have emotions, you would want to get it on paper or on the computer. I always use writing a therapy when I am sad or lonely or joyous. I write poems, storie

This pandemic has changed how we do things. We can't shop or get our hair cut the same way we used to do. We have to be constantly on guard. It makes all of us uneasy. We don't feel like we are in control. However, the situation reminds us that success comes when we break from our comfort zone. Motivational speakers will tell you to do just that. Breaking from our comfort zone also is important to writing. If you are too comfortable or you have too much of a routine, your writing will get stale or you might not reach for that opportunity that could open doors for you. Here are ways to improve your writing and marketing . Go Online – The pandemic has moved almost everything online. Meetings, work and shopping are now happening from the comforts of our home. If you are afraid to market your book via online channels, you are missing a major opportunity to reach more people who might want to buy your book. Digital marketing has increased over the last f

During this time, Americans are stuck at home. Even though many states are allowing stores and other businesses to open, people are not flocking to the gathering places. They are still afraid to catch a virus or disease. Many people are bored and trying to come up with things to do . Here are some tips for you. Home Projects Now is the perfect time to tackle those home projects. You could do spring cleaning and declutter your home. If your project involves more than cleaning, you also could order from Home Depot online or another retailer and get materials for your projects delivered to your door. If you want to put up new shelving in your closet, you could get the materials and begin hammering away. Just avoid making disasters in your home. Discover New Things So many videos are available online that you could learn almost anything while you are at home. You could learn a new language or a new skill. I want a patio for my back yard. I am not handy. Neither

In northern states, changing the clocks ahead allows for more light in the evenings, which makes people more productive in spring and summer. People in the north like to go out in the sunshine after spending winters locked indoors. Southern states don't have much of a winter. Although it might be cold, it doesn't snow and is not dark on a daily basis. They have sunshine all the time. I have lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Arizona and Florida. In Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I felt the benefits of Daylight Savings Time although it still hindered my inspiration and writing. More on that later. Arizona doesn't change the clocks. It was great not having to worry about changing clocks, but I noticed no difference in the light without Daylight Savings Time. I don't agree that Florida should change clocks. The state has so much sunshine that it could be similar to Arizona and feel the same whether clocks are changed or not. Becomes False Benefi

My daughter was working on her computer. She came across artificial intelligence that is writing books for people. She told me about it and said to research it. AI is entering the world of books. Savvy writers should take advantage of it because it could be the future. Also, it could make writing books that much easier. Here is what I learned. Text Sounds Human In the past, machines would collate tweets and articles and compile into a semblance of a book. However, today, new machine-learning models trained on billions of words have given AI the ability to produce text that sounds human. They use human speech patterns and basic structures of grammar. They can generate sentences and paragraphs that are readable. They still don't create intentional meaning in the paragraphs. OpenAI GPT2 was released. It allows users to create specific styles, such as New Yorker or Georgic poetry. More to Come While, at the moment, it can't write a novel, the technol

Most people tend to look at the new year as a way to start fresh. They begin new diets, exercise more, plan vacations they’ve always wanted to take or invest in opportunities to be smarter with their finances. But what about your business? Have you ever thought of trying something new, but didn’t know exactly how to start? Have you ever wanted to motivate your employees, have closer relationships with your customers or learn to use social media to your advantage, but didn’t know where to begin? While I can't help with many of those issues, I could show you how to promote book events this year. Many business owners and authors believe all events should be promoted the same way, but as there are different types of events, there are different ways to promote them. Some examples of events are: online events, meetings, grand openings or book launches , seminars and workshops, conferences, book signings, book-selling opportunities and networking events. Now, how do you go