FREE Courses To Help You Expand Your Knowledge Base

Writing is a continuous process, always leading in new directions and to new ideas. As we sit at our desks, characters sometimes blaze the way - at other times we need to coax them along, and end up with pages of prose that need our fervent hand to delete the 'little darlings' - those words we feel, yet they don't belong in the story.

Even the best of authors had their moments of rehashing, rewriting, rearranging of the words.... so as writers ourselves, we need to read the work on the previous pavement, study the methods, and hopefully it will add dimension to our own craft.

Walt Whitman, one of the most original of American writers, was no exception.  In fact, he viewed his work as a continuous work in progress. In that light, his most famous poem, Song to Myself  was published in various layouts at various times.  

 
It began as  I celebrate myself in the 1855 edition.  
In the 1856 edition, it is called Poem of Walt Whitman, an American. 
In 1860, it is simply, Walt Whitman. So it is in 1867 and 1871.


The original form was continuous, but the last and most updated version in 1881 was fixed into 52 parts.

 
Currently there is a course offered for FREE at The Writing University for a  MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for creative writing through the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa

   Every Atom

In this course we are hearing analysis and participating in discussions about Walt Whitman's  
Song of Myself 
Please find a free copy from 
Leaves of Grass Distributed under a Creative Commons Licencse and edited by  Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1881/poems/27


Check out the many other MOOC's available. Expand your knowledge base. The more a person learns,  the more that person needs to know...  

A wise person realizes this insatiable thirst, yearns for more knowledge from within this world, and grasps at it with a curious hand.

There are a multitude of free courses available on-line and for many subjects: science, philosophy, writing, business

Challenge yourself and learn something NEW or just brush up on something you thought you knew...


You can check out these places for more Info:  

• Coursera
• OEDb
• Education Portal
• Free-Ed.net   
• Writing University.org
• University of Oxford podcasts

For those on the go - Pod casts and Audio books are the way to go. Check out these free resources too!

• AudioBooks.org 
• LibriVox
• AmblingBooks
• Audiobooksforfree 
•  LearnOutloud
• FreeClassicAudiobooks
• Project Gutenberg

 

Keep reading - Keep writing!

Bravo Writing Community - Thank you! For your Enthusiasm & Guidance

Yes the end of the road is near...

Soon the eBook version of BREAKING CURSED BONDS will be released, and...

I would love to take a breather, but where one road ends - another begins!

Once the eBook is available September 1st, then promotion will be needed, as well as finishing up on the paperback formatting which will be released in November 2013.  I am a new author and self-publisher, and all this work to get the story finished has been a new experience with a wide learning curve.  Anyone who has a story to share can do it, and if your tool belt is rusty just ask for help.
 
My previous lines of work did not involve the same tools needed to write and publish.  I had a lot to learn.

I turned to fellow authors in the writing community, many who were happy to share their experiences and knowledge.

While every journey is unique, I was thankful for all the marvelous people who call themselves writers and authors.
 
In many business formats, competition rules, often cut throat competition.  One thing I have noticed in the modern world of independent publishing is that while there is still competition - it is more of a community of sharing, and collaborating.  We sponsor each other with blog hops, we promote each other's books, platforms, blogs, websites, and anything else we create.  It is a wonderful thing to be involved in a community so sharing and open.
 
There are now groups that help self-publishers like AiA (Assoc. of Independent Authors) and ALLi (the Alliance of Independent Authors).  Of course not everything is always rosy, there have been a few who chose to write bad reviews to stack the deck, but it is at a minimum.  They get called out by the community protests with their Facebook posts, tweets and blog posts.  As a writing community they will not let abuse go on without the outcry for moral and civilized actions.  The individual is still respected as an individual with a unique right to freedom of speech, we are all encouraged to act responsibly and with care.

This profession of writing is evolving to face the new challenges in the free world.

Since the wide world web has given access to so much, we are experiencing new trends.  So if anyone can give real sound advice to a newbie like me it has to be something like this -
 "Keep your eyes open, watch and learn, because it changes fast, and we need to swim with the tide." 
The bottom line is to keep writing, tell your story, share with the community and be true to yourself.

Keep reading! - Keep writing!

How To Be More Productive (Book - "Extreme Productivity" by Robert C. Pozen)

Every day we are bombarded with meetings, get tons of email and face deadlines.  There are ways to help stay focused, so we can be more productive.
 

First and foremost you must know your GOALS. If you haven't already, write down your long term goals, yearly goals and then monthly & weekly goals. Breaking them down to the smaller element, helps you organize and identify your work.

· Prioritize your work

· Spend the most time on the most important tasks & goals

· Don't watch the clock, manage the clock

When you prioritize your responses to emails, or which meetings you attend, you in essence spend your efforts in the most critical places first. This will help you achieve your goals.

 

Many have used the 80/20 rule. Spend the first 20% of your time getting rid of the smaller stuff, or at least identifying them. Then spend the 80% of your time working on the most important tasks that are prevalent to your goals. 

 

Robert Pozen (lecturer at Harvard Business School)  uses the 80/20 a little differently.  He says you probably have to respond to only 20% of emails, and could disregard the other 80%.  Either way, 80/20 sounds like a good way to sort.

 

We all love to track. We watch the clock and think we spent so much time on something we must have accomplished a good days work. Not always so. If we waste our time working on reports that are not needed, or we spend too much time 'socializing' which sometimes is referred to as building bridges, then we have not always spent our time wisely.

Ask yourself the hard questions –

Will this task help me achieve my goal? Will this task make a difference?

 

If not then stay away and focus your time elsewhere. 

To be productive a person needs to manage their time, not be overwhelmed by tasks.  

Keep the perspective.  Step back and ask yourself the right questions. 

 

 

 Most important, always move forward.