Category Archives: Useful Tips

Seven Things That Will Give Structure to Each Chapter of Your Forthcoming Book

author, Useful Tips, writing
              Victory – Your Completed Book

Here are some ways to flesh out the chapters of the manuscript you intend to write. Remember that? The one you keep putting off? Oh, I know – you’ll write it “someday.” Well, I can assure you (and, trust me, I know from experience) that some “day” turns into some “month.” Months turn into years and years into decades. And decades add up.

Pretty soon you are talking about your entire life.

It reminds me of the poem written by Herbert Kaufman call Victory. It goes like this:

VICTORY

You are the man who used to boast

That you’d achieve the uppermost,

Some day.

You merely wished a show,

To demonstrate how much you know

And prove the distance you can go …

Another year we’ve just passed through

What new ideas came to you?

How many big things did you do?

Time…left twelve fresh months in your care

How many of them did you share

With opportunity and dare

Again where you so often missed?

We do not find you on the list of Makers Good

Explain the fact!

Ah no, ‘twas not the chance you lacked!

As usual – you failed to act!

Having said that, here is the Secret Formula to writing a book. You could probably finish it in fewer than seven days if you wanted to (and now might be the time of year to do it, since people often shift gears a little, especially between Christmas and New Year’s). Exactly seven days separate the two holidays, in case you didn’t notice. What will you be doing that week?

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Anyway, once you have set a deadline for yourself (which I can’t encourage you strongly enough to do), here are the next steps:

  1. Come up with the book title (if you haven’t already). Make it catchy and easy to remember. One that people can recommend to their friends and colleagues. They shouldn’t have to “google” it, otherwise look it up or even write it down. I’m sure you can come up with a good title if you think about it.
  2. Decide how many chapters it will be. At least 10 is probably a good rule of thumb (although Marie Kondo’s best-selling book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up only has five chapters, so go figure). Twelve or more is good for a business book. If it is a novel, the number becomes less important.
  3. Come up with chapter titles. Make them catchy, too. Perhaps you can find a quote that correlates to the chapter title. If so, I suggest you have one for each chapter. Put it in italics at the outset of the chapter.
  4. Define what is meant by each chapter title. Why is that the name of the chapter? Is it an expression that means something to you? Or, did it come from somewhere (or someone) else? What is its origin?
  5. Come up with a story to go along with the narrative of the chapter. The story should illustrate the point you are making.
  6. Come up with a way to wrap up the chapter. Something that drives your point home.
  7. Smooth it out by writing, reading what you wrote and then rewriting. You know what reads well. Make sure your work does.

That’s pretty much it! Each chapter should have an opening, body and conclusion. Use the PEP (Point, Example, Point) formula in each chapter.

Once you have a solid rough draft of your manuscript, you can send it off to an editor. Good editors can do amazing things with manuscripts.

Don’t obsess over it by trying to achieve perfection. It won’t happen. Keep moving forward with it. Don’t let it become stale or stagnant.

If you need help, give me (or someone else) a holler.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Felsburg is a ghostwriter of books, blog posts, elevator pitches, web content and white papers. He can be reached at 484.278.4674, frank@SpokenAndWrittenWords.com or @fjfelsburg.

 

 

Are You ANGRY?

motivation, movement, Useful Tips

angry-weknowyourdreams-dot-com

You have probably heard the riddle that goes something like this… Think of words ending in –gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in “the English language.” What is the third word? The word is something that everybody uses every day…

Well, in case you didn’t get it, it is language. The quotes give it away. It works better when asked verbally, rather than in writing.

If you got it wrong, does that make you mad? Perhaps not, but maybe you were annoyed that you were tricked. And, even if you got it right (or wrong), are you angry about something (anything) else?

Sometimes it is good to be angry. Being angry could mean you need to make a change. And the only thing that is constant in this world is change.

I remember I wrote one of my best ads ever after a wheel fell off a car I was driving during that season in my life. Don’t worry, it wasn’t my favorite car. And the creative juices started flowing shortly afterwards.

Remember John Madden?

If you watched any NFL football in the 80’s or 90’s, you are no doubt familiar with John Madden. Before you google whether he is still alive (he is), I will save you the trouble. Here is the link to Snopes if you don’t believe me.

Did you ever wonder what caused his aviophobia (fear of flying)? Well, there are several theories. One is that he lost some of his friends from Cal Poly – where he went to school – in a plane crash in 1960. But he flew up until 1979 – so that theory doesn’t hold much water. The second theory is that he had a panic attack on a flight from Tampa, Florida, that year (’79). He once stated in an interview that his fears were more about claustrophobia than anything else.
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Regardless of the reasons he no longer boards airplanes, he has become quite legendary, as a former player, coach and broadcaster. And, if you think about it, he was, for the most part, always perceived as being angry – even though people knew, deep down, he was just a big Teddy Bear. It was as if anger suited him well – and he was able to contain it. Boom!

Anger Can Be a Force For Good

Anger, if used effectively, can wake people up. I am sure you know what I mean. Many people were angry before the election, some during it, and many after. And, I don’t have to tell you that some people are still angry.

The Bible says “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.” But notice it doesn’t say “never get angry.” If your anger has been suppressed for a while, maybe it is time to let it out!

But don’t just be chronically angry. If you are, you probably aren’t much fun to be around. After all, there is a reason why they say “Let sleeping dogs lie.”

When all is said, and done, being both angry and hungry can lead to some real breakthroughs and positive change.

So, if you need some inspiration – or should I say provocation – here is a scene from the movie Network. Just contain your anger.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Felsburg is President & Founder of Spoken and Written Words. He is available for copywriting, speech writing, and ghostwriting. In other words, he is a content developer and curator of the spoken and written word. Contact him at 484.278.4674, @fjfelsburg or frank@SpokenAndWrittenWords.com.

ME? A book?

ghostwriting cost, publishing, self publishing, Useful Tips, ,

Many people don’t think they are WORTHY of having a book about their life. They think their life is too mundane to warrant a story.

I disagree.

We all have life experiences. Granted, some lives are more exciting and interesting than others. However, even the ones that are seemingly dull have redeeming qualities to them.

We think the only people that lead interesting lives are the ones that are glamorized in the media. The swashbucklers. The bombastic. The rich and famous.

Consider Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty had a “secret life” that was much more colorful than his actual life. Perhaps you are like this and dream dreams that no one has ever dreamt or articulated before. Why not have that turned into a story? You might be surprised to learn how many people would be interested in seeing, hearing or reading it.

In 2013, 20th Century Fox produced – and Ben Stiller directed – the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” with a $90 million production budget. Actors included Stiller, Kristin Wiig, Shirley MacLaine and Sean Penn. There was also an earlier rendition of the story in 1947, which starred Danny Kaye.

Are you an introvert with a wild imagination? You could be the next Walter Mitty.

Outgoing Types

On the other hand, perhaps you are a raging extrovert who is so busy socializing that you don’t have the time – or the patience – to sit down and crank out chapter after chapter about your interesting life.
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And interesting it no doubt is. The people you meet, the places you go and the things you do.

If you put it in print, many people – including those outside your circle of influence – could benefit from it. Therefore, you would be adding value to the lives of others.

Who Are You?

Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert – or somewhere in between – we all have stories to tell. We have all overcome obstacles to become the people we are today.

Don’t be like George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life who had to be shown what his life was like if he had never been born.

Consider a Ghostwriter

Many people are readers – but not writers. As Hugh Prather said, “If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write.”

If that’s the case, consider a ghostwriter. Joe Pulizzi, in his book Content Inc., says “Believe it or not, many of the books from the authors you love have been written by someone else. I know, hard to believe, right? But it is true.” Did you know that Tom Clancy, Gwyneth Paltrow, JFK, Beyonce and Donald Trump all employed ghostwriters? So did Ronald Reagan. And yes, it is legal. A good ghostwriter can coax stories out of their subjects that make them come alive.

Books are often the source for the script of a screenplay. The movie doesn’t always resemble the book. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it isn’t. In my opinion, the movie is rarely better than the book. But the movie is usually monetized to a greater degree.

We all have a story to tell. Are you telling yours?

Turn Off The TV and THINK!

communication, publishing, Useful Tips

life-without-excuses-dot-files-dot-wordpress-dot-com

If you read good books, out of that will come good writing – and good thinking. The ancient orator Quintilian said an impressive or persuasive speaker is “a good person who speaks well.”

Last week, a friend of mine wrote on Facebook, “In the wake of this election cycle, consider the state of our public discourse. We seem only to be able to digest bombastic platitudes of no more than 140 characters. I believe the result of this election and the choices faced by voters, not to mention the general trend of our political environment, owe themselves in part to a weakness of our national conscience. This is why I educate my children using a classical curriculum. My hope is that they learn to think well, ask good questions, and recognize truth, goodness, and beauty. Encourage the reading of ‘boring’ books, for much wisdom lies there.”

He’s right! I would add that there is something to be said about boredom. In many cases, it simply doesn’t exist anymore, what with all the devices we have. There are so many “distractions” these days that peoples’ span of attention has diminished. And it is getting shorter each and every day. Look at the length of articles in Time Magazine and compare them with years ago. They are much shorter these days.

As a result of less (and shallower) reading today, there is also less critical thinking.

Former President Richard Nixon, in his book In The Arena, which I highly recommend (regardless of what you think – or thought – of him as a president), said “It became racist to teach Shakespeare to Hispanic children, racist to teach traditional English to inner-city black children, racist not to teach white children Latin American literature or not to teach non-English speaking children in their own language.”

He went on to say “Each student should leave twelfth grade reading English at a twelfth-grade level or better. He should have read great English writers such as Shakespeare, Dickens, the Brontës, and, in translation, great Russian writers such as Tolstoy, Spanish writers such as Cervantes, Latin American writers such as Borges. Black students should know something about Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, and white students should know about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Wow! That sounds pretty ambitious! But why not? We send kids to school to learn to think. Often all they learn are what the latest fashions are and that they don’t particularly like school.

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Why read fake news? There is plenty of good solid reading material in your local library in the form of books. Dust off one of these classics and dig in. Many of them are as relevant today as they were when they were written.

You could argue that Nixon, Truman or any of the 44 presidents we have had so far were great or awful. But. if that is your opinion, at least you would have some basis to defend your point, other than what television tells us. Turn off the TV and read! And, while you’re at it, you may as well read good books!

Do you agree?

What do you think?

 

 

 

A Good Match

Professional Development, technology, Useful Tips, ,

LinkedIn’s acquisition of Lynda.com is social media’s fourth biggest deal ever (behind Facebook’s purchase of Oculus and WhatsApp and Google’s buying YouTube). They paid $1.5 billion for the eLearning company. The deal tops the one billion dollar acquisition of Instagram by Facebook four year ago.

What does this mean to us? Lynda will become a household name and many of us will have access to the over 6300 courses and more than 265,000 video tutorials they provide. LinkedIn, already a household name, has over 300 million users. The partnership makes sense since they’re both focused on professional development.

LInda

Now, don’t expect to see videos on how to trim bonsai trees or improve your golf game. Lynda.com is primarily good for multimedia skills. The videos focus heavily on business, technology and creative skills. Want to learn more about Photo Shop, Create Space or Final Cut Pro? Lynda can help. Or how about Adobe, Articulate, Google or Microsoft? Ditto.

One way LinkedIn is promoting Lynda.com is by offering a 21-day free trial of it (better hurry, it expires soon, if it hasn’t already). I sent the 21 day free-trial information to my sister, who is a photographer. She responded that she’s  been using Lynda.com for a few years now and that they have great courses.

Lynda Weinman, cofounder of Lynda.com, wrote in a LinkedIn Pulse post some time back that she and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner “both believe the skills gap is one of the leading social issues of our time – technology changes fast and people need to keep their skills up to date.” No argument here. Lynda.com has been a tremendous resource with tools for designers, coders, video editors, photographers and entrepreneurs.
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Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, et. al, offered early juice to LinkedIn. Lynda.com has been the sweetheart of eLearners for years. Having been in the Training & Development space for a number of years, I had certainly heard or it (her?). But I’d never sampled the courses. Now I have and I’m hooked!

They even have German, French and Spanish content under the Video2Brain brand name. So, if you want to learn those languages, you could listen to videos in them. The visual element will certainly help you with the comprehension, especially if you already have some understanding of the content.

I remember when I went to Germany on vacation, although I had listened to audio of the language prior to arriving, I still had trouble carrying on a conversation of any length with another individual. Yet, when I watched German language television, it really helped. TV wasn’t nearly as intimidating, probably because I didn’t feel put on the spot. No response was needed from me.

With Lynda.com, you can also create playlists based on your interests or skills you want to acquire immediately. Additional resources such as worksheets and templates are often included.

The self-paced, subscription-based service costs as little as $25 per month or $250/year. Online learning is hitting its stride. Neglect it at your peril. Learning is literally right at our fingertips now. All we have to do is take action.

Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

communication, Professional Development, Useful Tips

Are you a giver or a taker? Wharton professor Adam Grant, who wrote a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book called Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, says there are basically three kinds of people: givers, takers and matchers. While it seems like takers always wind up at the top, Grant says it’s quite the contrary. Givers, he says, come out ahead, provided that they take care of themselves.

give-take1

Takers believe in a zero sum world where you have to win at all costs. Givers, on the other hand, go the extra mile to do favors for people without expecting anything in return. Matchers believe in a just, quid pro quo world.

There are two kinds of givers: Selfless givers and Otherish givers. Selfless givers give without regard for their own welfare and therefore wind up at the bottom. They deplete all their resources and, as a result, can’t take care of themselves. They don’t have the ability to keep giving. They don’t know how to manage their lives effectively.

Otherish givers, on the other hand, wind up at the top. They know how to negotiate the giving boundaries, so they can continue to give.

Givers need to block out time for themselves. As long as givers have not depleted their own resources taking care of others, they’ll do well for themselves and society.

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Unfortunately, Grant says, the negative impact of a taker is double or triple that of a giver in a culture.

This week I attended a workshop by Patience Lehrman. Patience is a recipient of the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, the second highest civilian award in the United States. She was talking about transforming your life through an attitude of service.

Patience had us do an exercise where we were to come up with two things we wanted help with that somebody in the room could help them with. The two questions I got were as follows: 1) I’d like to know what Jamaican food trucks at Temple (University) are good, and 2) I want to learn how to create and market an interactive e-book with a cognitive tutor.

Well, I asked one of the videographers at their TED Talks Live! program at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia if he knew the answer to question #1. He did. For those of you in Philly and attend (or live near) Temple he told me there is a good one on Montgomery right next to a Middle Eastern truck.

As for the second one, I didn’t get a chance to ask the person who penned the question what she meant by “with a cognitive tutor” but I thought I’d put the first part of the question out there to see how many givers there are.  How do YOU create and market an interactive e-book? Thanks in advance for answering.

It’s Driving Me Crazy

Driving, Professional Development, Useful Tips, ,

This post might sound like a “When I was your age” rant. Because it is.

People need to know how to park. Many people can’t even pull in straight in, let alone parallel park. And now we find out that the state of Maryland has removed parallel parking from their drivers test.

Why? Is it too hard? Is it politically incorrect to ask people to know how to parallel park? What if they pass the test and then have to park the car somewhere that’s not “convenient”? Are people who take their drivers exams allowed to use self-driving cars?

Full disclosure: When I took the driver’s test, they didn’t ask me to parallel park. I was asked to do a three point turn, however. And I agree with those who say going two miles an hour is not all that dangerous. But all those people that say that must admit that you need to be able to parallel park to get along in the world.

They say the reason they removed it is because kids were flunking the tests and then having to wait to take the test again. Well, don’t flunk that part. Learn how to do it. Kids are on YouTube every day! When I was a teenager, we didn’t have YouTube. We had to ask people things! So now that you know that I’m older than the game of hacky sack, will you be able to navigate your next parallel parking situation?

Shame on us for making it challenging to pass a driver’s test! Why not just give everyone who is big enough to see over the steering wheel a set a car keys? And when people complain that it’s not fair to those that CAN’T see over the steering wheel, we’ll cave on that, too. In the meantime, I’m sure they can use baby seats to prop themselves up a little. Or a few telephone books (now I’m really showing my age).

Maybe we should be teaching people how to drive with a hamburger in one hand while they’re steering with their knees wearing noise cancelling headphones. Perhaps that’s what should be on the drivers test. That’s probably more realistic.
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I live near a pretty busy intersection. I can’t tell you how many people I see driving erratically and then when they get up close to you, you see they’re on a cell phone.

But last night (and I kid you not), I saw something I don’t think I had ever seen before. I heard music coming from a car outside the house. I went out with the dogs and saw a woman parked at the stop sign who had stepped out of her car, left the car door open and was dancing to the music blaring from her sound system. Maybe she was celebrating having passed the Pennsylvania drivers’ test.

I’ll never forget the drivers’ education teacher I had in high school. He told us a story that will live in my memory forever. He said his father was driving down the road and a bee flew into his car and, rather than pull the car over to the side of the road and get the bee out of the vehicle, he tried to swat it while driving. He was killed in a collision. That was powerful.

Folks, if you don’t know how to parallel park, please learn how. There are YouTube videos out there on it. I’ve even attached one to this post. I got a kick out of one of them I previewed that said “Point the passenger side mirror to the ground so you can see the curb.” (Here comes the recurring theme again) When I was learning to drive, we didn’t even have passenger side mirrors, let alone be able to control them from the driver’s seat!

I think people in Maryland should move to New York for a weekend. I’m sure you learn pretty quickly how to fit into a parking spot there.