How I Listen to Ebooks and Articles

Sometimes I come across long articles and ebooks that I want to read but I don't have time.

So I listen to them instead when I'm doing other things like cleaning or weeding (both of which are dull and tedious) or cleaning the car.

If it's an ebook, I open it on my Kindle App on my iPhone. Then I swipe two fingers down the screen from the top and SIRI starts reading it to me. The pages also turn automatically too.

If it's an online article, I open it on my iPhone browser, choose "reader" mode from the URL from the menu (the little horizontal lines that appear in front of the URL when you hover over it) to get rid of all the clutter on the page, like ads and banners, and then I do the two-finger downward swipe from the top of the screen and SIRI's voice kicks in again.

If I'm on my Mac Book Pro computer, I use the speech option from the top menu which is in the drop-down list under "Edit."

I learn a lot from listening to ebooks and articles plus, being engrossed in what I'm listening to always helps me glide through boring chores. Not only that but sometimes I do extra chores just so that I can finish what I'm listening to.

If I like what I hear I often go back and read it later and take notes when I get time.

And it always ends up as a win-win situation because chores get done while I'm entertained and I learn something all at the same time.

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Grammarly. The free writing app.
http://ruthiswriting.com/links/grammarly.html

Earn Money Writing From Everything You Read

There's no doubt that the saying is true.

Writers are readers.

Now you may think that it can't be true because you don't read much at all, so let me rephrase that:

Successful writers are readers. (If you don't read a lot, you probably don't write a lot either.)

They read a lot.

And over the years I've discovered that I can earn money from things that I read.

I do it quite by accident, yet it happens often.

What I do is, when I'm reading something and I want to remember it, I take notes.

I read a sentence or two, or a paragraph or two and then in my own words, I write it down.

I write down what I've just learned, just like I used to do when I was studying at school and university.

I especially do it when I'm reading a book from the library because I can't keep it. But I can keep my book of notes and quotes (I write out passages from the book that I think are remarkable).

And then sometime later, when I want to look for something in my notes, I realise that what I've written is gold.

So I rewrite and expand it all into a series of articles or emails or even a book.

And that's how I earn money from what I read.

But as a cautionary note, I'm not saying I plagiarise. I don't write things out word-for-word (except for the short quotes).

I write everything in my own words, the way I understood it, just like I used to do at school when I was studying for exams.

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Goodbye Writer's Block
How to Be a Creative Genius and Have an Abundance of Ideas Plus the Inspiration and Motivation to Write
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/WB.html

Do You Want to Write or Do You Force Yourself?

The other day I was listening to a podcast interview with a really famous - and wealthy - copywriter.

He was talking about his work and how much he writes every day and how successful he is, when the interviewer asked him, "So are you eager to sit down and write every day?"

"No," he said.

"So how often DON'T you feel like writing?"

"Every day."

The interviewer gasped. "You never feel like writing?"

"No. Never. But once I sit down and read just one sentence, I'm back in the zone and can work for hours. But at first I have to force myself to sit and write because it's always the last thing I want to do."

(Naturally, I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact words, but that was the general gist of the conversation.)

My flabber was absolutely ghasted at this revelation.

Even though I've read Stephen Pressfield's book, The War of Art, several times (which is all about fighting the Resistance to writing every day) I still always feel like I'm the only one this happens to.

In my over-romantic imagination, other writers wake up smiling, stretch happily then get out of bed, while little bluebirds land on their windowsill and sing sweetly while they slip on beautiful clothes and glide dreamily into their study where they sit and effortlessly work on another best seller.

I know, how could I even think that?

But like the copywriter, I don't always feel like writing, but once I start it's easy to have a total mind-shift and keep going.

Applying plenty of butt-time to chair every day is the only way to conquer writing Resistance.

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Grammarly. The free writing app
http://ruthiswriting.com/links/grammarly.html