Do You Know I’m On Twitter? And Two Other Things You Should Know.

Find Me On Twitter

This is my first post of 2023 and I hope you’re all busy writing, earning, and working hard on your New Year’s Resolutions, which hopefully include a plan for being a wealthy (or maybe even a wealthier) writer this year.

I thought that perhaps this New Year is a good time to mention 3 things I’ve done that I haven’t mentioned before.

Firstly, I’m on Twitter. I have been for a while now (10 years, in fact) but I keep forgetting to mention it.

It’s worth following me on Twitter because it’s where I share ways to earn more money writing, as well as sharing current writing markets, writing quotes, funny writing memes, and a whole boat-load more writing related things.

My Twitter name is @RuthIsWriting and the direct link to my account is https://twitter.com/RuthIsWriting. 

My second thing to mention is that I’ve resurrected my publishing company, Cheriton House Publishing, and it’s back online at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com.

This is where you can find all my books as well as plenty of free eBooks you can download straight away (I’m going to be adding another one today).

The third thing is something that I haven’t done yet but I’m working on it, and that is, I’m going to be re-vamping my RuthIsWriting.com website.

It’s getting a huge upgrade as well as new pages being added, including a page of free writing resources. I want RuthIsWriting.com to be one of the best websites for writers who are serious about writing and earning money.

I’m also creating a whole new slew of emails for writers that are packed with dozens of ways that you can start writing and earning money, and they will be sent out soon. If you’re not already subscribed to my list, you can do so at RuthIsWriting.com. You’ll also get a free ebook.

So while I might not have seemed busy online lately, I’ve been busy behind the scenes making huge changes to help you write more and earn more.

And of course the most important thing for you to do, is write more than you ever have before.

How To Pitch a TV Show Idea & a Free Money-Making eBook

Image by F. Muhammad from Pixabay

Today I received an email from Google about what are the most popular parts of my website, RuthIsWriting.com. 

So I thought I'd talk about it here just in case you want to look at it too.

It seems that the most popular page on my site, for the last month, was the article titled:

How and Where to Pitch an Idea for a TV Show

It seems like a lot of people must have great ideas about TV shows and not know what to do about it. 

And it is a good article because it tells you not only how to pitch an idea, but also what types of shows to pitch, and where to send your idea.

One (of many) of the free eBooks that I make available for download was also extremely popular last month.

It's a PDF eBook written by Dr Joe Vitale.

The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History

It really is a great book as well as an entertaining read. 

Feel free to go and download your own copy. 

But be warned. It's not a small book. It's over 90 pages.

On the last page it contains links to some of Dr Joe's books including one of my favourites,

Hypnotic Marketing

That is a great book (and again, such an entertaining read) and a must-read if you want to know how to write so persuasively that you almost hypnotise your customers.

In fact, the whole book is written hypnotically which is probably why it's so un-put-downable.

So if you've got a great idea for a TV show and you want to pitch it, and you want to read all about how to have more money than you ever have before, I've got just what you need over at RuthIsWriting.com.

And all for F-R-E-E-E-E....

New Markets For Horror Writers

 Today I added a new market to my Writing Markets page of my website.

It's a link to a website where you can find current and updated links to horror writing opportunities from all over the world, with horror writing submissions for websites, magazines, podcasts, anthologies, book publishers and more.

You'll also find links to hundreds of other opportunities for all different types of freelance writing markets, including '101 Sites That Pay You $50-$3000 per Blog Post.'

So if you're currently sitting at home wondering what to write about and how to earn money from your writing, just use the link below to click over to Writing Markets and start writing and submitting.

Just browsing this long list of writing markets will fill you with inspiration and ideas.

And don't forget that there is also a link to the amazing writing course, 'How To Make Money Writing Easy, 350-500 Word Web Articles.'

This one page alone on my website can help you to earn more money from your writing than you ever thought possible.

Take a look now.

https://ruthiswriting.com/writingmarkets.html

An Introduction to Screenwriting - Free Online Course

If you've ever wanted to learn about screenwriting, this free online course will interest you.

The University of East Anglia’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing (in the UK) have built this course with instructors and recent alumni from their famed course in Creative Writing.

The University of East Anglia is an internationally renowned university providing top quality academic, social and cultural facilities to over 15,000 students from over 100 countries around the globe.

This online course explores the key concepts and fundamental principles involved in the process of screenwriting.

Explore key issues in the practice of creating screenplays.

• Explain the basic principles of the screenwriting process
• Identify the essentials of the screenplay format
• Discuss the construction of a professional script
• Design a story 'pitch'

There are no formal requirements for this course, just an interest in screenwriting.

What topics will you cover?

• Basic characteristics of a screen story
• Development of a basic storyline
• Story structures including The Three Act Structure and alternate story structures
• Characters and developing character outlines
• The construction of scenes including the role of dialogue and character voice
• The workflow for writing a first draft of a feature film screenplay
• The process for screenplay formatting
• Writing – and finishing – a first draft

At the time of writing, this course was open for registration and immediate start.

Find out more and register now using the link below:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/screenwriting

How I Survived on Low Writing Income

One thing I learned quickly once I started writing for a living is that the income isn’t regular. It’s feast or famine.

When I first started out it was way more famine and not enough feast, which made it scary when it came to quitting my job.

But one of the things I did do that really helped me, was a read a book called The Millionaire Next Door, which explains how others are rich (millionaires in fact) even though they only earn a regular income.

At first I didn’t even think it was possible but after reading the book and learning about not only how they did it, but how easy it was, I realised that I would be able to manage on my writing income, even during the times of famine.

And since then I’ve heard and read about others who survived during hard financial times. I even recently heard about a woman who raised her 7 children in a one-bedroom house. Now that is extreme, but clearly, it was doable. And she clearly isn’t like spoilt people today who want big houses with lots of bedrooms even when they only have a couple of kids.

And that’s the difference that makes some people ‘The Millionaire Next Door.’ And interestingly enough, they are called “next door” because they are living ordinary lives amongst ordinary folk who have no idea their neighbours are millionaires.

So when I was worried about living on a low income I didn’t let it stop me from becoming a writer. I just knew how much I could earn and turned to minimalism to help me get by. And I found that it’s a great way to live anyway, so I haven’t even changed much.

And now my husband has retired early and we only have the money that I earn from my writing as our income, and we’re living really comfortably.

I wouldn’t change a thing and it all started because I prioritised my writing and made it my mission to earn enough money from it to live on.



Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

Netregistry Complaint. Worst Customer Service I've Ever Had

Usually, I keep quiet about bad experiences with companies.

But my complaint about Netregistry and been going on for years and it's about time I spoke up.

The reason I'm doing so now is because yesterday, they took my website, ruthiswriting.com, offline and cancelled my hosting account (for no reason and with no warning) and now are making me wait up to 24 hours for it to be reinstated.

At first, they tried to tell me that they would only put my site back up online if I paid for more hosting.  I called that blackmail and refused to give them any more money. Their argument is that my hosting package was due for renewal in a couple of days so I needed to renew it anyway, and if I didn't, I couldn't have my site back up, even though the hosting service is already paid for they wouldn't put it back up without more money.

I stood my ground and insisted that it be reinstalled online and they agreed but are making me wait AND refusing to compensate me for the 2 and a half hours I spent on the phone this morning speaking with 4 different people, or the loss of my hosting service that I'd already paid for, or my loss of online business while my website is offline.

So I decided to talk about it because I have come to the end of my tether with Netregistry and won't be doing any more business with them in the future. And I believe that others should know how useless and deceitful they are too.

Even when I've had issues with them in the past and complained about it, they still do nothing and usually blame me for what happened. Often, they just hang up on me.

As an example of their poor customer service, here is just one conversation I had a few years ago with one of their employees, to show you how much they lie and are unhelpful.

And if you're not from Australia, in this transcript,  the two companies that are mentioned, Telstra and Optus, are two telephone companies.

I'd contacted support on this particular day because my website had been down all day and when I'd called earlier someone said they'd look into it and get back to me. But they didn't. So 6 hours later, with my website still down, I got in touch with them again and this is what happened:

> > > At 6.30 the telephone was answered by someone called Damien. I
>    told
> > >    him that my website had been off line for
>    most
> > >    of the day. He asked for neither my website name nor my own
>    name
> > >    and just simply stated that it wasn't the fault of their company
> > >    and it was Telstra who were blocking my website.
> > >
> > > I said that was absurd and didn't even make sense. Damien said
>    that it
> > >    happens all the time. He said that my site was online but
>    Telstra
> > >    were blocking me from seeing it. I asked how that could happen
>    and
> > >    he said that sometimes Telstra just blocks people from being
>    able
> > >    to view certain sites. He said that if I went round to my next
>    door
> > >    neighbours they could probably see my website and it was just
>    me
> > >    that couldn't.
> > >
> > > So I said "You're telling me that my website is online and anyone
>    in
> > >    the whole world can see it but me?" Damien said "That is
>    correct."
> > >
> > > "So I can look at any website on the whole world wide web except
> > >    mine?"
> > >
> > > "That is correct."
> > >
> > > "I'm not even on the Telstra network so why can't I see my site?"
> > >
> > > "Telstra can block anyone."
> > >
> > > "My daughter just tried to view my website on her phone through
>    the
> > >    Optus network and she can't see it either."
> > >
> > > "That is because Telstra can block Optus too."
> > >
> > > "Well can YOU go online and see if you can see my website?"
> > >
> > > "No."
> > >
> > > "Why  not?"
> > >
> > > "I don't have the internet."
> > >
> > > "You're telling me that you're a web hosting company that doesn't
>    have
> > >    access to the internet?"
> > >
> > > "Yes."
> > >
> > > "I'd like to talk to someone else."
> > >
> > > "No."
> > >
> > > "Please put me through to someone else."
> > >
> > > "I can't."
> > >
> > > "Can't or won't?"
> > >
> > > "Can't."
> > >
> > > "Why not?"
> > >
> > > "There's no one else here."
> > >
> > > "Are you trying to tell me that you are the only employee that is working today?"
> > >
> > > "No. There are others."
> > >
> > > "So you CAN let me talk to someone else."
> > >
> > > "No."
> > >
> > > "You can but you just won't."
> > >
> > > "There's no point."
> > >
> > > "Why?"
> > >
> > > "Because it's Telstra's fault."
> > >
> > > And so our conversation went for a while longer in the same vein
>    until
> > >    I hung up.
> > >

I kid you not. It was really was THAT bad and that is what he actually said to me.

So I complained.

And Netregistry's response was:

I agree with you, the exchange you had with
Damien was condescending on his part. His response to this fact when I
discussed it with him was that he tried to clarify the problem with
Telstra's core network being down, but you accused him of lying to you,
and this is unfortunately the point where many staff start to falter in
their ability to keep a civil conversation. 

I don't want to make excuses for Damien, he certainly didn't "get off
lightly" on this issue, his role is to ensure that if a customer does
accuse him personally of a lie - he provides ample explanation to
clarify the situation. His response to this was that you weren't
interested in hearing explanation and repeated he was lying, and he shut
down merely offering short answers from there, as he felt he couldn't
convert you to actually listening to the core of the issue. So it's a
weakness in his approach and I think it's being addressed following this
complaint.

They also said that "there was certainly a communication issue."

A communication issue?????

There was no issue on my side. I knew that I was being lied to over and over and over again.

And do you like the response I received, telling me that it was all my fault?

"you accused him of lying to you"

"you weren't interested in hearing an explanation"

"he felt he couldn't convert you to actually listening"

Wow! Just wow!

I have someone telling me that my website is not offline it's just that a telephone company is blocking me from seeing it. What kind of garbage is that?

And the response was that he didn't say Telstra was blocking me AT ALL  (damn, I must be lying again), what he actually said was that Telstra's core network was down.

Hmmm... Nope. He didn't say that Telstra was down, he said Telstra was blocking me, so Telstra was up. And neither of those things, Telstra being up or down, doesn't explain why my website was offline.

So now I'm finally parting ways with Netregistry and I'll be writing a full article in the near future all about other interactions I've had with them over the years so that you can see for yourself how poorly they handled everything. Including a recent debacle that happened when one of my SSL (security) certificates went out of date and they tried to con me into paying for a more expensive one ($100 more expensive) by saying that the cheaper one wouldn't work on their servers. THAT TOO turned out to be a lie, because I stood my ground, bought the cheaper one and guess what? It works perfectly on their servers.

Stay tuned...

How I Substantially Increased My Website Traffic In Just One Day

A few years ago I decided that I wanted more visitors to my website because more visitors = more sales.

I'd had a writing website for a few years but the number of visitors was lower than I wanted.

But then I found out how to get more traffic instantly and it only took me a few minutes to do, and in just one day, my website traffic almost doubled. I wouldn't have believed it was so easy or so effective if I hadn't seen it for myself.

What I did was I decided that I needed help because I didn't know how to get more traffic.

So I Googled it and the answer that came up the most was to get more backlinks.

Hmm... I thought that's all well and good but I really had no idea how to do it or what websites to try and get links from.

So I looked around for freelancers who could do it and that's when I came across a website called Fiverr. At that time I'd never heard of them before, but now they're extremely well known.

The idea of Fiverr is that you can hire someone to do a job for you for only $5. Naturally, they try and upsell you to an even better and more expensive service, but they still do jobs for just $5.

But at the time I just wanted to get more links to my website so that I could increase my traffic.

So I hired someone to do it. They did upsell me to a more expensive job but as I recall it was only $10 (might have been $15 but I'm pretty sure it was only $10) and they offered to get me hundreds of links.

So I paid the money and my freelancer got to work.

And the next day when I looked at my stats for my site, I saw that I'd had hundreds of more visitors and my freelancer had emailed me a long, detailed list of which sites he'd linked to.

I was astounded.

And Fiverr offers many more services than just backlinking. You can actually pay someone to write all your blog posts for you, or to edit/improve your posts, or to make videos for you, or animations, or do voice-overs and so many other things. They'll even write a song for you for $5.

So if there is something that you need that you can't do or don't want to do yourself, see if you can hire someone to do it for you for just $5.

Honestly, even if you don't hire someone, just going to the website and looking at all the things that people are willing to do for $5 is worth the visit.

But I really hope that you find someone that can help you move your writing business forward in leaps and bounds.


Find The Perfect Freelance Services For Your Business
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-4087694-13144767

Your Chance to Prove Me Wrong

I want to tell you something that may sound a bit crazy and woo-woo so it’s your chance to try it or prove me wrong.

You see, for several years. Now I’ve been using Brain Salon audios that I listen to while I write and they help me with focus and creativity.

But for a while now (about a year or more) I stopped using them until I realised that I was writing much less and my income had decreased.

So I recently started using them again, and BOOYAH! They actually worked.

But if this sounds like a lot of airy-fairy nonsense to you, then try it for yourself and see what Brain Salon can do for you.

You can download a free 15-minute demo and use it while you write, read, brainstorm, study or anything else you want to do - even gardening.

Just download it now for free and see for yourself what a difference it makes.

https://ruthiswriting.com/links/brainsalondemo.html

I also wrote about this more at my website.

How I 'Heard' About Writing More

Setting Up a Money-Making Blog

If you’ve always wanted to earn money from a blog, or you already have one but it’s not doing so well, here is a list of steps you need to take to get your blog up and running and earning money:

Niche. You need to pick one that is popular, because if it’s not, no one will want to visit.

Posts. Write a minimum of 5 posts or articles that contain useful and useable information.

Subscribers. Set ups signup box for subscribers.

Money. Next you need to decide how to earn money.

Ads. PPC ads are the quickest to set up but not highly profitable.

Affiliate Marketing. This is a fast way to earn money because the products are already created.

Marketing. Social media and article marketing are fast and free ways to market your blog.

SEO. Learn online marketing and SEO to get traffic to your blog.

And there’s one other way to get a money-making blog set up quickly.

Use a company that not only get you up and running fast, but also makes it drop-dead-easy to use so that all you have to do is carry on writing.

You need a blog that has SEO built in and has themes built in too so you just choose how you want your blog to look, add your content and hit ‘publish.’

And this is what you get with WP Engine. You can set up your new blog in minutes and it’s so easy to do that even a complete beginner won’t have any trouble. Plus you get 24/7 telephone support if you have any questions.

And it gets even better than that.

If you use the link below you’ll also get 20% off and 4 months free.

So it costs nothing to try it out.

WP Engine 20% offer and 4 months free.


Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free!

Five Reasons For Using SEO

If you want to make money blogging, then you need to get plenty of traffic to your site.

We all know this. But sometimes it’s hard to decide how to do it.

A quick Google search will tell you that many online writers use SEO to get more visitors.

But do you really need to use it?

Here are five reason why you should:

1. A large percentage of blog traffic is organic which means people are finding it through search engines.
2. SEO is a long-term strategy because it helps to keep your site in search engine results.
3. You need high-ranking in results because if you’re not on page one, you’re losing visitors and money because not many people search other pages.
4. Increased traffic means higher engagement and conversions if your site has what they’re looking for.
5. It impacts their buying decisions once they discover your products and find that they’re better.

But SEO isn’t always easy or fast.

Some Word Press blogging options come with built-in SEO so that you can carry on doing what you do best and let your quality software take care of SEO for you.

Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free!

WP Engine Making Work Press Blogs Easy

To some people, using Word Press is easy.

But to others, including me, Word Press is confusing and limited. And instead of being drag-and-drop easy, it requires a certain amount of technical knowledge to use it.

I have several websites and I use my own software on my computer to update them.

But I’ve recently discovered WP Engine which makes using Word Press drag-and-drop easy and even provides online Security Certificates (I currently pay $149 a year - per site just for SSL security alone), SEO hosting and fast setup using themes you can choose from so all you have to do is click and start adding your own content.

This reduces hours of blog setting up to just minutes.

And everything you need is included.

Use the link below to read more and receive a 20% discount PLUS 4 months free blogging.

Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free!

Why Speed Means Everything Online

People who go online are impatient. So when they click a link on your blog, they expect an immediate response.

This is why your site needs to be fast-loading (1-3 seconds) or visitors leave.

How fast your site responds, depends on how it’s set up.

But people won’t wait for a slow-loading site which is why there is a need for speed.

If you want to test your site to see how fast it loads, there is a free speed test at WP Engine. And not only will it test the speed, but it will also tell you how you can improve it.

And did I tell you it’s free?

Take your site for a speed test now by clicking on the link below.


Test your website with the WP Engine WordPress Speed Test.

The Effortless Way to Get More Visitors to Your Blog

We all know that it’s easy to set up and start a blog. It’s also easy to earn money from it through things like advertisements, selling affiliate products or selling your own products.

But if that’s what you’re already doing, then you’ll also know that it’s not enough. I mean, yes, you can earn money this way, but if you want an income from your blog then you need more visitors.

You need to get as much traffic to your blog as you can because more traffic means more money.

But you don’t want your need for more traffic to detract from your writing time.

So this is why you need to use all-in-one blogging software.

One of the newest and best is Word Press Engine that not only comes with dozens of amazing Studio Press Themes that only take one click to install, but it also comes with SEO ready-installed and online SSL security all included.

So all you have to do is click to install everything you need so that you can get back to writing while WP Engine does all the other work for you, including getting more traffic to your blog.

And if you click the link below, you can get started straight away AND receive 20% off PLUS 4 months free.

But only through my special link below.

Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free!

My Reading Habits as a Writer

This post was originally written on 24th February 2019

We went to a shop yesterday. It was a bookshop. Every book in there cost $7 each. We only went in because we were looking around the new shopping centre which is close to where we are staying for the weekend.

I didn't expect to buy anything until I came across a book that I'd once borrowed from the library and loved it.

It’s “The Miracle Morning-The Six Habits That Will Transform Your Life Before 8 Am”. So I picked it up.

Then I saw another (huge) book that I'd always wanted to read called “Change Your Brain Change Your Life” by Dr Daniel G Amon. I already own a book of his called" How To Get Out Of Your Own Way” which I really like, and in it, he references his other book often.

I was hoping to get the trifecta and find a third book that I really wanted to buy, but I didn't.

But when we got back to the hotel and I put my two new books next one I'd brought with me that I'm currently reading which is "Psycho Cybernetics-Tap Into The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind," I realised but I have quite a theme with my current reading habits.

Then I thought that's probably all tied into writing and marketing as well because the previous book I read was" The 80/20 Rule Of Sales And Marketing.”

So I figured that one of the reasons for my choice of books is for my own personal development, and the other reason is to understand motivation and how people think because marketing is all about persuasion. So it's important to know what makes people tick.

And writing and marketing aren’t just what I do, it's who I am.

It's so much more than just having a job.

Adjust your own reading habits if it helps with your own writing and marketing.

And if you’re not reading a lot, you need to start.

And if you need help, grab a copy of The Miracle Morning because one of the six habits listed in the book is reading, and how to incorporate it into every day of your life.

How to find FREE Images, Sound, Music, and Videos – that you can use LEGALLY Use

When you are blogging, you absolutely need free images – that you can use legally. When you are podcasting, you need a sound effect or a piece of music once in a while. And even when you are creating videos, you might from time to time need a snippet of video that you can’t shoot yourself.

In short, when you are creating anything for the online world, you absolutely need third-party content to make your own content awesome.

If you don’t know what you are doing, you are entering a legal minefield. And if you aren’t careful, you may receive a friendly letter from a lawyer with a DMCA takedown notice. Or worse.

A Few Useful and Inspiring Writing Resources

Today I wanted to quickly share with you a few writing resources that can help make your writing easier, help you to earn money, or can inspire you to do more and achieve more.

I hope they help.

Convert PDF to Word (Free!)
A really useful PDF to Word online converter that's drag & drop easy and converts PDF files perfectly by keeping the styling. Can save hours of re-typing long documents.
https://www.pdfonline.com

Write, Market, Repeat: An Indie Success Story
Author Susan Wittig Albert has some straightforward advice for aspiring writers: “Write. Write a book. Write another, and another after that. Writing is a craft. It has to be learned. It can only be learned with practice.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/77632-write-market-repeat-an-indie-success-story.html

Four Things Procrastinators Need to Learn
To be a chronic procrastinator is to be fooled repeatedly by the same illusions about how your mind works and how things actually get done.
https://www.raptitude.com/2018/04/four-things-procrastinators-need-to-learn

7 Strategy Tweaks To Triple Your eBook Sales in the Next 30 Days
What separates the most successful eBook sellers from the rest is their sales strategy. If you already have a quality eBook, you just need a few other pieces in place to create a massively successful eBook sales strategy.
https://www.writersincharge.com/strategy-tweaks-triple-ebook-sales

How To Use Ink: Your Mac’s Built-In Handwriting Recognition Feature
Chances are pretty good that up until now, you had no idea that there is a built-in application on Macs that is capable of pretty decent handwriting recognition. The application, called Inkwell, is built into the Mac operating system and is shown only if you have a graphics tablet plugged into your computer.
https://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/utilities/how-to-use-ink-your-macs-built-in-handwriting-recognition-feature/

Awakened Millionaire Academy
15 Modules Of Intimate Video Training With Dr Joe Vitale - Master the Awakened Millionaire Formula - When you combine money and spirituality... you make MORE money and experience MORE spiritual growth at the same time.
https://ruthiswriting.com/links/awakenedmillionaire.html

2019 Writers' Books Now Available
Writer's Market, Poet's Market, Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, Children's Writers, Guide to Literary Agents, and more.
Free shipping in the US during August.
https://bit.ly/2LPHIld

The Surprising Survey Result About Writers

Recently I took part in a survey for writers and the result was really surprising.

The survey was about what holds people back from writing and earning more.

The answers were there to choose from, and all we had to do was put them in order of what we had the most trouble with, down to what we had the least trouble with.

And I was stunned because I thought that what gave people the most trouble was marketing or not getting enough people to their websites/blogs or even wanting to write better books.

But the number one problem that most writers were having was the same as me.

And that is struggling with mindset and self-discipline.

This really did come as a real surprise because I thought that others who write for a living must have an abundance of ideas and the ability to sit and write every day.

But it seems that they don't.

Luckily, I've been reading a book lately deals with this exact topic.

I borrowed this book from the library because I'd heard great things about it and even read some interesting reviews.

The book is called Deep Work and it's written by Cal Newport and in it he talks about deep work being not just the ability to sit and work deeply without distraction, but working on things that are important to you, and doing less shallow work.

He says deep work is hard and shallow work (checking emails, looking at Facebook, surfing the web, texting,) is easy which is why we distract ourselves with shallow work.

And he gives some brilliant advice and insights into how to do more deep work and how it can not only improve your productivity and the quality of your work, but it can also have a positive impact on the rest of your life.

I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I do want to tell you that this is an excellent book if you want to write more, write better and enjoy it.

If you get a chance to read a copy of this amazing book, I recommend you go for it.

It's full of insights and looks at working in a way that I've never thought of before including how to structure your work so that you know exactly when you are done for the day so that your brain can downshift and recharge properly, instead of always having that nagging feeling that you haven't finished what you started, or haven't done enough work.

http://viewbook.at/deepwork

Conquer Time Management In One Easy Lesson

If you're like me, then poor time management is something that you have to deal with every day.

Every morning I get up with the best intentions of getting lots of things done and achieving my goals, yet it often all quickly vapourises and I'm left with a day where I wonder where all my time went.

But it's not all bad news.

Over the years I've studied a lot of material and books about better time management and how to schedule my day around my most important tasks, and, more importantly; how not to let other unimportant things (or things that can wait) get in my way.

And now I've discovered a video course that can help you change your habits so that you can stop wasting time and instead, accomplish what is truly important to you (like writing the next bestseller).

The best part is that you can do this in just one day, and not only that, but there is no cost.

Just sign up, log in, and get started.

It's 5 and a half hours of instruction and guidance to help you clear your mind, change your habits and start achieving your goals.

You could complete the course this weekend and start next week as the week you begin to accomplish your goals so that you can live the writers' life you've always dreamed about.

And do you know what's the best thing that I find about being able to work when I need to and have the focus to see projects through to the end?

Satisfaction.

There really is no better way to end the day.

Read more about this course by clicking the link below.

FRAMEWORK Time Management
Time Management isn't just a Skill. It's a FRAMEWORK of knowledge, habits, and tools. Learn today.
http://bit.ly/2LbBBnj

Sci-fi, Fantasy Ebook Bundle

If you want to write sci-fi novels, you'll love this ebook bundle from award-winning sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card, at 85% off. But it's only for a limited time so be quick.

You will love this bundle if:

• You’re interested in current fantasy/sci-fi writing trends
• You're new to writing fiction or need help developing your characters
• You want to hone your fiction writing skills
• You want to find ways build, populate and dramatize fantastic new worlds
• You’re needing to learn how to wield story elements that “define” the science fiction and fantasy genres

Your bundle includes:

The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Ebook
Retail Price: 19.99
Let this book be your guide as you venture into the fantastic and you'll create vibrant, captivating new worlds that spring off the page. Learn everything you need to build a fantastic world, inhabit it with original and believable characters, and create an authentic and enthralling story.

Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction Ebook
Retail Price: 19.99
In this book you will learn how to create out-of-this-world novels and short stories explained by the experts and best-selling authors. Discover how to shape your components into realistic storylines within the sci-fi/fantasy genre.

Elements of Fiction Writing: Characters and Viewpoint Ebook
Retail Price: 14.99
Learn how to create your cast of characters and develop a clear idea of the type of characters and narrative voice your story will embody! Raise your story's stakes, explore personality and viewpoint types, craft tension/struggle, and more!

Get this complete bundle right now for only $12.99 (that's 85% off).

Orson Scott Card is the bestselling author best known for the classic Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and other novels in the Ender universe. Most recently, he was awarded the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature, from the American Library Association.

Card has written sixty-one books, assorted plays, comics, and essays and newspaper columns. His work has won multiple awards, including back-to-back wins of the Hugo and the Nebula Awards-the only author to have done so in consecutive years. His titles have also landed on 'best of' lists and been adopted by cities, universities and libraries for reading programs.


Enjoy 85% Off the Orson Scott Card Ebook Bundle at WritersDigestShop! Expires 05/30/2018.

Oh Yes It Can Be Done

I was watching an episode of one of my favourite TV shows, Criminal Minds, the other day (while I was ironing - boo!) and in it two of the team were in a strip club trying to figure out how the criminals had kidnapped one of the dancers.

So what they did was sit where the criminals had, to see what they could see, who could see them, and the view they had of the entrances and exits.

But they had to actually visit the club to be able to do it. There was no other way. They had to take the same steps the criminals had.

It think it's a bit like when people say, 'don't judge what I do until you've walked a mile in my shoes', meaning you cannot understand what they were going through until you've lived through it too and seen and experienced what they have.

But as a side note, I don't have to walk a mile in the shoes of someone as bad as a peddle-file (or kiddy-diddler as they sometimes call them on the cop shows) to judge them. I just know they're the worst kind of people.

But anyway, the Criminal Minds' profilers visiting the same place the criminals had been, in order to understand how they did what they did, and it made me think about writing courses and how-to ebooks on writing.

Sometimes I see them advertising that they can show you how to write a book in a week, or a month or how to use different types of marketing to make more book sales, and I think, "Would that actually work?"

But I never know unless I try it out for myself, which I often do.

And it's the same with my own ebooks about how to write and publish an ebook in 7 days, or write a short report in 2 hours, or overcome writer's block in minutes.

Many people think it can't be done.

They resist trying it for a long time until they finally give it a go. And once they start practising, they soon discover that yes indeed, it can be done.

So if you've seen a writing or marketing course that promises to teach you something that up until now you couldn't do, but you know it would benefit you greatly if you could, give it a go.

My only caveat here is not to believe everything, especially products that tell you it's possible to go to bed tonight and wake up a millionaire by following their simple online system, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Because if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

On the other hand, writing an ebook in a week or curing writer's block quickly or setting up your own online business, is extremely do-able.

You just have to put on those proverbial shoes and start walking.

And as the saying goes, every journey starts with the first step.


7 Day Ebook Writing And Publishing System
http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/7day.html

Goodbye Writer's Block: How To Be A Creative Genius And Have An Abundance Of Ideas Plus The Inspiration And Motivation To Write
http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/WB.html

Living The Laptop Lifestyle: How To Start & Grow A Profitable Online Business So You Can Quit Your Job
http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/LLS.html