Writing Archives - TODAY INDIA

Organic Writing – The Garden Within

Who you are as a writer has grown from your life experiences, your passions, your soil. Your fertilizing and weed pulling, your garden. Your writing won’t be like anyone else’s nor will your career or daily routine. This may appear self-evident, but we all compare ourselves to others, especially the best-selling writers. We want to be like them: successful, book in the front of the store, great story tellers. So we think we need to emulate them, their routine, their stories, and their style. But we are not them; we didn’t come from the same root stock, soil or climatic conditions.

To grow the unique writer within, we need to look inward, and then take steps to cultivate our writer self. Use the following questions and tips as guides.

Question #1: Where do you come from? What is your background, family, education, your dreams, your cultural influences, that thing that happened to you, that thing you overheard, those family expectations, the whispers of your imagination? Be specific, be general, be wacky, be curious about yourself.

Question #2: What kind of writing do you want to do and do now, and why–what is your true motivation? Know why you write and don’t take the first answer you come up with as the only answer. Dig deeper, listen harder, be truthful with yourself.

Question #3: What is your voice, your style, and what are your strengths, your weaknesses as a writer? You are on a voyage of discovery and affirmation. Accept who you are. You are beautiful.

Tip #1: Goal Setting. Set reasonable goals for yourself, challenging enough to keep you interested and motivated. And attainable so that you can actually have progress.

Tip #2: Tracking. Grow discipline day by day, word by word, page by page. Track your progress. “Winners keep score,” a friend of mine said, a successful small business owner. Tracking increases awareness and encourages accountability. The biggest bonus is that it signals your subconscious that you mean business: writing is not a whim but a daily habit that you are coaching yourself on.

Tip #3: Compassion. Above all be gentle, have compassion for the writer within, the writer you are growing, whether you are starting out, or have been at this for years. Treat yourself no differently, especially if you’re having a bad day, week, or month.

Tip #4: Trouble-shooting. Are there unhelpful pests–other people’s thoughts, ideas, beliefs that are not your own, or fatigue, overwork, not enough play–invading your garden? You can change many things that affect adversely your writer within–learn to say “No”. Get out and do something new, something to expand your heart, mind or soul. Do you need to move your body to counteract an overactive mind?

Tip #5: Patience. The garden does grow itself. We don’t stand by it every minute of every day and say, “Go roses! Go lavender! Grow!” It happens organically, because of the proper conditions–the soil, the sun, the rain, and the seed. We shape the garden by our hand. We care. We nurture. Regularly. As with gardening, so with writing. Honestly, why do you write? Could you not write? Probably not. In that case, make peace with yourself, and write. But be gentle. Plants do not grow faster if you pull on them. That would kill them. The most you can do is write regularly, with compassion, with awareness, and don’t give up.

Happy Writing!

Methods on How to Make Money Online Writing Articles

There are many ways to make money online writing articles. Here are some of the proven ways that may help you make money online out of your articles.

Write Articles with good keywords

Since articles can help your website rank high in the search engines, more and more business people write articles or hire writers to write for them online. However, writing articles is not just writing a unique article, but also you need to target the right keywords to be able to get you on top of the search engines. If you target the right keywords, your website has the possibility to get noticed by many people who are searching online related to your niche. So, you get leads that may result to good sale.

Open your own ghostwriting service

Bloggers and webmasters should write good quality content on a daily basis or thrice a week to their blog site or website to be able to rank high in the search engines. If you run your own ghostwriting service, many webmasters are willing to pay you for your articles.

If you really serious about your ghostwriting service, contact website owners related to your expertise and provide samples of your work. Ask them if they are willing to pay you for your service.

One way to promote your ghostwriting service is by creating your own sales page. You need to create your own website and promote it using article marketing. It’s so simple; you only need to create a simple sales page including your writing samples and payment details.

Write articles to promote a website

This method needs you to create your own website and use article marketing to promote it. You can use Google AdSense to make money out of your AdSense revenue. Submitting your articles to different article directories with a link to your site is a must to bring in more traffic to your site. This will give you more revenues from the AdSense ads.

Submit articles to Article publishing sites

The article publishing sites will pay you for your articles submitted to them. This is so easy. You only need to create your own account and submit the articles. In time, you will receive an email on how much they are willing to pay you for the article you’ve submitted.

I hope you’ve learned more how to make money writing articles. These are some of the ways that you can begin with to make money online.

Tips For Writing Driver Resume Objectives

A driver is a professional person who is engaged in the driving activity. He or she drives a motorized vehicle such as a car or a bus for carrying goods or passengers. He or she should have a driving license for driving motorized vehicle.

The typical roles and responsibilities of a driver are listed as under:

1. People at this post are responsible for transporting passengers over some specific routes with provided time table. They also help passengers in carrying their luggage.

2. They have to clean vehicle and participate in routine maintenance. I also ensure that the trucks and equipments are safely and securely stored.

3. They are liable for loading and unloading trailer with the help of equipments, keeping vehicle in good condition and maintaining vehicle by checking oil, air, water level, tire pressures, fluid levels, lights etc.

4. They are responsible for monitoring delivery truck performance, performing routine maintenance, handling accounts, and doing necessary paperwork.

5. They have to inspect the vehicle before and after the trips and report the condition of vehicle to the transport agency or company. They test vehicle for checking oil, fuel, water, air, and radiator fuel.

6. They have to manage yard operations and maintain heavy equipments. They even load and unload merchandise on time, and collect payments from the customers.

7. People at this position are responsible for driving vehicles to various locations to pump and service grease traps. They have to operate vehicles in a safe and effective manner in order to minimize risk of injury.

8. They have to maintain and repair vehicles and prepare reports of passengers and trips. They also check breaks, tires, lights, oil, safety equipments and water for daily trips.

A driver resume objective is the first thing that a potential employer encounters regarding the job applicant. It must demonstrate the technical skills and credentials of the candidate. Writing a good curriculum vitae objective is very important for getting a decent job. In this article, I would like to provide a sample curriculum vitae objective for this post.

I wish to obtain a commercial driving position in the prestigious organization where I can use my excellent driving skills to give better service. I am a detailed and organized worker with clear driving record.

The aim of CV objective is to increase the chance of getting a positive response from the employer. I hope now you will not face any difficulty in writing an objective.

Federal Resume Writing Services Cuts Through the Red Tape

Writing a federal resume and completing a federal job application packet are not jobs for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Successfully cutting through the red tape that usually surrounds federal job requirements requires skill, determination and experience.

A powerful resume written by federal resume specialists gives you a big advantage over your competitors. Remember, every day literally hundreds of thousands of people apply for only thousands of federal jobs. If your resume and application package are less than stellar, you won’t stand a chance!

A great federal resume cuts through the red tape by emphasizing your academic achievements, education, transferable skills and career-matching qualifications by providing most if not all of the following information about you:

Your Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): The federal government frequently requires a supplemental narrative statement that addresses a specific knowledge, skills, and abilities as they pertain to a job series or position. Providing quantitative or qualitative evidence that supports your KSAs is imperative. All KSAs are scored on a point system, and specific examples usually get the highest scores.

KSAs are also known as: Supplemental Narrative Statements, Selective Factors, Selective Placement Factors, Evaluation Criteria, Executive Core Qualifications, and Professional and Technical Qualifications.

See why you need a specialist?

Here are the basic definitions for KSA statements:

Knowledge statements are bodies of organized factual and procedural information that indicate your performance on the job will be adequate.

Skill statements mean how well you manually, verbally or mentally manipulate the data or other things as required by the job for which you are applying, for example typing tests or vehicle-operating skills, or skills in writing and editing and evaluating information.

Ability statements describe your present abilities to perform an observable activity, as opposed to whatever aptitudes you possess. Aptitudes are only the potential for performing the activity.

KSA’s are important because Office of Personnel Management ranks applicants with higher proficiency levels on a quality ranking factor above those with lower proficiency levels With quality ranking factors, the focus is on the level of proficiency the candidate brings to the job.” Simply put, KSAs alone will not disqualify you but they are essential to receiving a high proficiency rating.

KSA’s are only one of many reasons why hiring a professional federal resume service is the smartest move you can make when applying for a federal job. So don’t leave your federal hiring to chance–to increase your chances of being hired for a federal job, put your chances in the hands of professional today.

CV Writing Hints and Tips

“We stole a pig, but it was a really small pig, and other things you shouldn’t put in your CV.

“My sister once won a strawberry-eating contest.”

“I work well in the nude.”

“Organised the office lottery entry for five years.”

“Was sent on an anger management course.”

Other bad ideas include printing your CV on blue paper with teddy bears round the edge, pink paper with a Hello Kitty watermark or indeed, almost anything except plain white or buff paper.

How bad can CVs really be?

A recent survey by fish4jobs reported that 73 per cent of employers were more irritated by badly written CVs than by applicants who arrived late, wore inappropriate clothes or swore during an interview.

And what constituted badly written CVs?

89% cited grammatical errors
67% hated bad spelling, especially of key words such as their company names
65% were annoyed by irrelevant information
63% mentioned inappropriate email addresses.

Simply by avoiding these problems, you will have an advantage over other job seekers.

Regarding spelling, too many people rely on the spell checker – it’s no good for words like their/they’re/there or manger/manager. All our course handbooks have a list at the back of many of the most frequently confused words and their meanings.

What not to include?

Secondary school results if you’ve been to university
Negative opinions of current or former employers
A letter from your mum (no, we’re not kidding)
The intensity of your religious views
‘References available on request’ – this is assumed and just sounds old-fashioned.

And what’s an inappropriate email address anyway? Well, how would you feel about hiring lazydaisy@anymail.com or minesapint@somethingmail.com?

You’re much better off using your name: FredBloggs@anymail.com. If necessary, create an email address just for your job search and if your name is already taken, use a variation such as FredBloggs123@anymail.com

Be specific about what you’ve done and include details

Include any statistics you can:

– saved company money by reducing expenditure on widgets

– reduced widget expenditure by 14% over eight months

– Account Manager, Sept 05 – present

Managed company’s key accountsu Account Manager, Sept 05 – present

Managing key accounts worth 3.7m

Relate your experience to the job you’re applying for

Read the advert carefully and tailor your CV using the terms, definitions and descriptions the employer uses. Remember that the first sorting of CVs may be done by somebody who is not familiar with the job. They may simply go through a pile of applications and select those that match key terms. If you refer to an essential skill or experience using different words, they may not know enough to realise you’re talking about the same thing.

Don’t lie, even by omission

At time of writing, a council is suing a former manager for over a million pounds. The manager had put on her CV that she was in good health, but then took a lot of time off work for a pre-existing condition and eventually retired on the grounds of ill-health, with a generous pension. The court case is on the grounds of ‘fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation’ in answers to questions about the manager’s medical history, and, if the council wins, may have far-reaching repercussions for other job applicants.

Although we hope neither you nor anyone you know will be needing to brush up your CV any time soon, it never hurts to be prepared.

Technical Writing – About Flowcharts

“A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects.” – Milan Kundera, 1929-, Czech Author, Critic

What’s a flowchart?

A flowchart can be defined as a graphical representation of a sequence of operations or steps. In other words, it’s an illustration of the various steps involved in a project or process.

Typically, a flowchart consists of a number of boxes, arrows, and text that combine to form a sequence.

Why create a flowchart?

The purpose of a flowchart is to show the various steps of a process in a snapshot. By looking at the flowchart, the viewer should be able to identify the various steps involved in the process.

Flowcharts can be very useful for a technical writer. If you’re working on a complex process, a flowchart can show you the various steps involved in that process. For example, you could be working on a manual on how to troubleshoot the Autopilot Flight Director system for the Boeing 747 aircraft. There are various steps involved in troubleshooting this system. Each step has multiple sub-steps. By creating a flowchart, you can quickly see which step takes place at what stage in the process.

How to create a flowchart

When you’re working on a complex project, creating the flowchart itself may be a time-consuming task. Here are six simple steps you can follow to create even complex flowcharts:

1. Start by defining the end result of the process or project. The end result could be anything such as completing a user manual, writing a complex software process, installing a new part, or performing a test.

2. List the various steps involved to achieve the end result. This will take some research. In complex processes, each step could have a series of sub steps. The steps involved to create a user manual could be:

a. Meet with SME

b. Research existing documentation

c. Videotape the procedure

d. Take photographs

e. Create illustrations

f. Develop the user guide

g. Test the user guide

h. Make changes/adjustments

i. Deliver final product

3. Define the starting point of the process of project. This is the first step that starts of the process. For example, the first step could be project planning or research.

4. Write down the starting point and the end result. Both of these should be in boxes with some space in between them. Adjust this space according to the number of steps and sub-steps involved in the process.

5. Draw an arrow from the starting point to the end result.

6. Along this arrow, list the various steps in order that are needed to go from the starting point to the end result. Include any sub-steps as needed.

Some processes may have multiple branches of steps involved. For example, to get from Step 1 to Step 2, there could be three options. You would illustrate this on the flowchart as three separate arrows going from Step 1 to Step 2.

A flowchart is like a roadmap. It has a starting point (A) and an ending point (B). Your objective is to get from Point A to Point B. The flowchart tells you what’s involved in the process.

For a technical writer a flowchart can be a very useful tool to illustrate various operations and processes. Before you start your next project, see if you can illustrate the process via a flowchart. It will make life easier for you and your manager or client. The end result will be a better project which is good for your target audience.

Note: Microsoft Visio is a good software for creating flowcharts.

Construction Resume Writing Services for Project Managers of All Levels of Experience

Whether you are a new or experienced project manager in the construction, engineering, or real estate field, this article is for you. Sure, the job market is not as strong as it used to be, and career prospects are lean, but there are still thousands of construction projects happening each day, on a global scale, and every single one of them requires one or several project managers.

A project manager has lots of different definitions and responsibilities depending on several factors, including: what your experience level is, are you a General or Specific Project Manager? Are you PMP certified, etc. Nevertheless, almost all project management positions have one tie that binds – you MUST be able to simultaneously manage several projects in various stages of completion, as well as various employees of ranging experience levels and proficiencies. Depending on your level of experience and focus, you may lean more toward one or the other, but both skills are required to be successful.

With that said, all you have to do is drive 20 miles in any direction of your house and chances are you will find new homes being built, older buildings being renovated, streets being repaved, and/or shopping centers receiving a badly needed facelift or touch-up. Unlike days past when all you needed was a friend or connection at a construction company and a pretty good reputation, today’s construction job market is different. You need an effective construction resume to help get you through the door and into the position you want.

So what is the best strategy for success? Here it is – be proactive. What does this mean for you? Try this strategy on for size: Take a drive and find 3 different projects that interest you. Once you have these 3 projects, find as much information as you can about the position. This includes the owner of Construction Company, the general contractor, the sub contractor, engineering firm, etc. and write the information down in a pad you designate solely for this task.

Then when you get home take a look at your resume. I mean a good look at this document and ask yourself, “Does this resume reflect me?” Is the resume updated, have you reviewed the information carefully, does it bolster and highlight your achievements, has it been spell-checked and grammar-checked? In other words, is this the one document you want someone to look at as the first representation of you, for the position?

If the answer is yes, then do your best to locate the company’s fax or email, be sure you are sending your resume and cover letter from a professional email address (not: Beerbongparty@ partydude. com ) and send the resume and cover letter attention HR or Ladies and Gentlemen. If your resume is not in a good shape, do NOT waste the opportunity, rather secure the services of a certified professional construction resume writer or writing service to assist you in getting your resume into fighting shape!

Good Luck!

Technical Writing – The Difference Between a Flyer and a Brochure

These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but it’s pretty well established in the tech writing business that there’s a difference. It’s not that one is better than the other, but, generally speaking, they have different uses.

Flyer (also leaflet and handbill)

A flyer is a single sheet of paper, usually 8 1/2 x 11 (A4), used to get information to a large number of people inexpensively. Flyers are popular for small scale advertising.

They’re often, quite literally, throw-aways because they’re handed out at random or posted in public places in the hope they’ll be read. If they’re intended to be posted, such as on a bulletin board or put up in a window, they’re printed on one side only. If they’re going to be hand held or mailed, they can be printed on both sides.

The purpose of a flyer is to provide a limited amount of information for a limited time at relatively low production costs. Some common uses are:

announcements of social or commercial events
product information such as a spec sheet left in new cars
fact sheets distributed at a press conference

While desktop publishing has made it easy for non-professionals to produce quite sophisticated flyers, many businesses rely on professional writers and graphic artists for the copy and layout of business flyers.

There is some disagreement on whether a flyer and a flier are the same thing. The preferred usage in Standard Written English is that a flier is someone or something that flies.

Brochure (also pamphlet)

Brochures are normally more sophisticated than flyers and more expensive to produce. As much time, effort, and expense can go into producing a quality brochure as producing a short video. Businesses produce millions of brochures every year, and a skilled brochure writer is well paid.

Brochures are used as sales or information resources that may be retained and read a number of times by a specific audience. They’re commonly displayed in racks at airports, hotels, and doctors’ offices, but as random as this seems, it’s expected that only the people interested in the subject of the brochure will take one.

They’re not intended to be throw-aways. They’re widely used as follow-ups to initial sales contacts and as supplementary information sources. An insurance company, for example, might use one brochure as a sell-piece and later mail a different brochure to provide details of its policies to a person who has indicated interest.

There is no limit to the size or shape of a brochure, but the most common format is a single sheet of paper folded once – to create four panels – or twice – to create six panels. The first format is most often called one-fold or bi-fold. The second one is usually called tri-fold or tri-panel.

Technical Writing – Definition of Copyright and Copywriting

Definition of Copyright and Copywriting

You can apply for a copyright or you can apply for some copywriting, but they’re totally different things. In the first case, you’re asking for a document that gives you the right to publish something. In the second, you’re asking for a writing job. Writers often get them confused.

Copyright

A copyright is a legal document issued by the Copyright section of the United States Patent Office. It states that the person named on the document as the author owns the right to publish the written material designated in the document. That doesn’t mean that the person named actually wrote the copy, only that he or she has the legal right to publish it.

It’s not necessary to copyright anything. Legally, as soon as a person commits words to paper, they’re protected by a copyright whether a government document has been acquired or not. Practically, if you write something, and I apply for and get a copyright on it, it’s going to be tough for you to prove that you wrote it.

From the tech writer’s POV, it’s a little different. The law says that work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or a work specially ordered or commissioned is a “work made for hire” and the employer is considered to be the author. If you get paid to write something for someone else, you don’t have a right to it.

In its correct forms, the word is:

– copyright: the right to publish

“She owns the copyright to that book.”

– copyrighted: the condition of being covered by a copyright

“You can’t publish that because it’s copyrighted material.”

– copyrighting: the act of obtaining a copyright

“I’m copyrighting this even as I write it.”

There is no such form as copyright or copywritten correctly associated with this definition even though the Microsoft Word Spell Check accepts copywritten as a correct spelling (but doesn’t say for what), and copywritten shows up all over the Web in place of copyrighted.

Copywriting

Copywriting is the act of creating copy or content. Generally, the term refers to writing in the sense of creating non-technical material. It’s different from the kind of writing tech writers do. Some jobs that call for copywriting are marketing brochures, magazines, newspapers, and consumer-directed communications. If you’re a writer, you might be a copywriter.

Bonus

Here’s another comparison to be careful of. If you want to write plays, you want to be a playwright. Yes, that’s right. You have to write wright when you’re writing about writing plays. We almost never use wright by itself. It’s used mostly in compound words such as wheelwright, millwright, or wainwright. We do see it a lot as a name; Frank Lloyd Wright or Wright/Patterson Airbase.

Wright has the same history as Smith. A smith was anyone who worked some kind of metal with a hammer; blacksmith, tinsmith, silversmith. A wright was a craftsman who made something. The name of the occupation became the name of an individual.

A person who makes plays is a playwright. True, he may write them, but he’s not a playwright. I guess you could argue that a person who writes copy is a copywright, but it’s not used that way.

Technical Writing – Definition of Demographic

Definition of Demographic

Frequently, a client will specify a target audience by talking about the customer profile. This is a way of talking about the demographics of the people in a consumer group. One purpose of a demographic is to find out what specific consumer segments exist in the overall population. Another is to have enough information about a typical member of a group to provide a kind of mental picture of an individual within the larger group. This information allows for the development of a marketing strategy and a marketing plan.

In ordinary use, a number of variables are taken into account when we talk about a group’s demographics. Commonly used variables include:

race
age
income
disabilities
type and number of designated products in the household
education level
housing status: own, rent, condo
employment status
geographic location
recreational preferences
buying habits

Each of these variables can be given more or less weight depending on the product or service involved. For example, a magazine publisher might consider a marketing campaign aimed at a demographic that includes single Asian men between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-eight employed in the aero-space industry living in Northwest US. This is potentially a large segment of the population.

On the other hand, if a company has a product that is expected to appeal only to Serbo-Croatian females between the ages of eighty-five and ninety who hold doctorates in Antarctic Economics and live with their parents, a demographic study might indicate that the potential market is too small for a major marketing initiative.

Let’s Get Picky

Every word has a specific meaning and that no two words ever mean exactly the same thing. And we still believe that’s true – except when it isn’t.

The word psychographic, technically, includes all the information in a demographic plus a lot more. A good marketing dictionary will define psychographics as a way of dividing consumers into groups based on attitudes, beliefs, values, personality, buying motives, lifestyle, and a number of other attributes.

Technically, demographics is a sub-set of psychographics that measures only age, income, and occupation. Practically, though, you’ll very seldom hear the word psychographics in a meeting because most people in marketing either don’t know or don’t care that there’s a difference. Demographics has become the industry shorthand that encompasses all of the elements of psychographics.