Wanna Write Like A Pro?

Hi! Today, I thought sharing a few tips on how to bring out the best in you as a writer might help. Last time I shared a few ideas on how to get more traffic and many people liked it. As an aspiring writer, I have come to realize that the question of writing what people want to read has always gone unanswered. Have you ever wished you wrote your articles, columns, books etc better? I know you have. Let us crack this shell. I will jump straight to the points.

• After reading so many articles on news sites, I felt like around the corner somewhere, somebody had to say something about the shortcomings of the writers of the same. One thing you need to do before jumping onto your keyboard to write anything is your subject. Answering the ‘what am I going to write about?’ question will help you exhaust the depths of the topic. Make short notes, think through each key point and make sure that important arguments come first.
• After mastering your concept, you are now ready to type something – but anyone can type right? The point is this: to avoid embarrassing yourself in the face of the world, plan out which paragraphs will come first. In high school, my English teacher told me that every story should have a beginning, a middle and an ending. So, what goes to the beginning of the story? Some people jump the rope quite often, spilling all the secrets in the first paragraph. That is not good.
• In my English 102, my professor told me that I needed to introduce the readers into what is awaiting them. Doing so need care because the risk of breaking the rule is high. Using a theses statement helps to motivate the readers just enough by preparing their minds for more details later down the road. If you are writing about a recent rise in texting and driving related accidents in your local town, you don’t jump straight to last week’s incident(you might be tempted to do this thinking it will make readers hooked).
• Assuming you have successfully hooked your readers with a great theses statement, to make it even more interesting, argue your points one by one without forgetting evidence or proof. Many people like works that have backup and of course they have to be realistic and non-exaggerated. All you are doing here is building the main body of your writing, so, make sure that everything you write flow smoothly and use connecting phrases between points and paragraphs.
• Depending on how long your work is, make sure you avoid repetitions and any form of poor grammar. Now, say that you have finished writing out your big points and you are taking a short break, where do you go next? Since you wrote out your arguments before the break, you need to offer some viable solutions to the problems for instance caused by texting and driving. Obviously, not all types of writing have this sort of format. Regardless, remember to give proposals that are reasonable. Each problem will have one or more possible solutions in its own paragraph.
• Almost done! You have written your arguments out, you have offered your thoughtful suggestions and now you are almost ready to close your document window. So what? Here is my take: according to my professor and as I have come to learn all these years, you need a conclusion. Make it simple and clear. Do not start writing the whole story all over again. Do not use the same words, just rephrase what your theses statement says – just remember to be clever enough not to look stupid. Ooops! You are done. Good job.

One good thing about using a template (software developers might agree with me here) is that regardless of the story you are working on, the structure will almost certainly remain the same. What you are doing is implementing it. Are you working on a book? Follow the same steps and of course add more great stuff. Are you working on column? What about a letter to your congressman or woman? All you are trying to do is to bring out the best, passing the correct information to whoever is reading your article and in the end, reducing the number of badly written stories out there. Simply, give substance to your work!

Finally, sometimes being too careful might hurt you. Often being careless will definitely hurt you. The best you can do is write an article people will thirst for more. How do you know if your work is the best? When someone reads the first chapter and they can’t wait to reach the second one and then the third one and till the end. That is enough for now. Hope you get something good from all these paragraphs I have written. If you have questions, let me know through the comments section or the contact page.

Thank you for reading. Please remember to subscribe through the home page of my blog. See you soon.

Simple Ways To Get More Traffic – Blogging 101

Hi and welcome to my blog! I want to thank everyone who has visited my blog because without their visits, I would have little to no reason to write more posts. I started this blog recently and less than three and half months ago to be precise. What has surprised me most is the number of visitors and as you can see above, 6,500 hits is not a small number unless you are Lady Gaga or some really dedicated blogger (for income) or you have been in the game for a long time. Anyway, if you are an aspiring blogger or a blogger who wants to improve traffic to his/her blog, here are a few tips I would love to share!

1. Before you start blogging, plan. Make sure that you truly have something to write about. I have learned that people rarely read nonsense, and I don’t! So, although I do not blog about a single area, I suggest you find something that you are good at and perfect it. It is like starting a business, you must find a gap before investing your time and money. Are you a photographer? Are you a programmer? Are you a farmer? Are you a politician? Answer this question!
2. The second tip am going to share is grammar! I often run into posts littered with broken English – by this I mean poor grammar. To avoid embarrassing yourself, read through your writings several times to ensure that you have it in the right form. This is a big challenge especially if English is not your native language and most of your readers are English speakers. Trust me, not all of them are forgiving. So, make sure that you have your words right before clicking the publish button.
3. Thirdly, be consistent with your postings. If you choose to post every two days, stick to that schedule. If you prefer once a month (not what I would do), then stick to it – especially if it takes that long to come up with the post. Who knows, maybe you have to do a month-long research before posting the conclusions. So, make sure that you are up to date with your posts. If you take too long, your readers will be gone by the time you return from exile. Next.
4. Now, assuming you have all the above settled, what next? Ever heard of the saying ‘Do unto others what you would like them to do unto you?’ It should be common sense. If you do not read other people’s posts and comment on them, why should people read and comment on yours? There is definitely no good in being selfish. So, go forth unto the universe, look around for related content and comment on them, like them and follow them. It is very likely that if you leave a comment (and a link), someone else will come looking for you and do the same thing. One step at a time…remember?
5. Since you cannot rely on commenting on other people’s posts to gain enough traffic (how much is enough anyway?), social networks are here to the rescue. If you really feel that you have something to share with the world, where else would you find them if not on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, Tumblr and hundreds other social networks? If you have a Twitter account, build a following and share what you have. On Facebook, Google+, Reddit and the rest, let it be known that you are present. So many people wouldn’t mind reading great posts (and not just reading but sharing too).

Hold on a second. I could continue writing but at the end of the day, you know what your goal is. We all have different ideas and so, different areas of expertise. Is it hard to create awesome blog posts? Heck yeah! Nothing happens overnight. It is just like being a published author as I have come to realize. Every genuine concept takes a good amount of time before it becomes real. The best thing you can do today is keep nurturing it. Do not spoil it, do not starve it. Good luck is my word to you. If you have a blog already, share a link below this post. I will check it out …..remember tip number 4 above? Great!

Thanks again to all my readers. Every time I look at the numbers, I feel happy. Not because I am the best blogger but because those visitors always remind me to strive to be one! I will never let you down. For now however, I will call it a night. See you soon friends! You can read my book My Life Sentences – A True Story which is currently available for Kindle. See you soon! Till we meet again, stay safe!!

An Urgent But Ignored Problem!

One evening, I decided to walk around my neighborhood for some cardio. Since I live near a local high school, I thought why not just walk around their playground as I listen to the music in my mp3! What I learned that day opened my eyes wide and taught me so much I didn’t know! I thought writing about it might help me connect with others facing the same issues in their communities. Here is what happened.

Immediately after stepping into the playground that was beautifully covered with green grass, I saw two teenage boys (one looked 10 and the other 15). They both had skateboards and cans of soda. Without much ado, the older one approached me and asked me a question I never expected from him. I later came to realize that it was not a surprise to many but I was shocked! What did you just ask me young boy? Wait…

As I walked by them, the older boy walked towards me. I thought he was just being nice by not obeying the ‘Don’t talk to strangers’ rule but he had a different agenda! “Hey, do you have any cigarettes?”, He asked. Without even showing my surprise, I said NO. I told them that I didn’t smoke (because I didn’t smoke, and I still don’t)! What came to my mind a few seconds later was the question of why they smoked at that age. What went wrong? Who is responsible for that habit? I couldn’t get answers of course until later when I consulted with people who had been around longer than me.

There is one thing I think I understand and that is addiction. It is something that is hard to beat – be it from cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, other drugs and basically anything people overdo. People who do these things do not want to be judged and those who do not, might not fully understand how it feels to be in their shoes. The question is: where are we headed with teenagers smoking like chimneys and others drinking like fish? It is a sad reality that we must face as a community, a state, a nation, a continent and as a world!

Why is this a huge problem? It is an obvious health hazard and besides that, the list goes on and on. When I was told that some high schools have smoking designated areas here in the US, I was so surprised and yet I do not live under a rock. This is not an American problem, it is the whole world’s problem. We can either step in and try to reduce if not stop this habit or we will all lose! We can end this together. My advice to you is this: If you can do something in your community, do it and save the lives of your people. We do not have to wait for the federal government to help us. We are our own police.

I am going to stop here. See you next time and please, remember to subscribe to my blog if you like what you see. Also, leave comments, that is how I know what your thoughts are and it makes me feel inspired to do more! Thank You.

You can read my book My Life Sentences – A True Story for my views!

The Biggest Giveaway: Day 2

First, I want to say that I have been waiting for this day for quite some time now. Yes, today(Friday) is the second of my 3 Day book giveaway on Amazon Kindle Store (My Life Sentences – A True Story). It makes me feel so happy, let alone accomplished, to say that everyone who is interested in reading a true story can do just that for FREE.

I have had several instances where readers wish they had a way of reading my book if they do not own a Kindle. If you do not have a Kindle tablet or a Kindle app, you can definitely read my book without spending a dime on apps or tablets. Just do this: Go to Amazon Reading Apps  and download the free cloud reader app and after that, download my book and read it from there! That is all you need.Good luck!

I normally suggest to people to read reviews and the book description before downloading it and I think that makes it much easier for them as they make decisions as to whether they want it or not. This is a free world, isn’t it? (Freedom of choice). Disclaimer: Not all people have seen freedom yet

Now friends, let us join hands and look at my dream goal! The last time I gave away my book on Amazon, I had more than a thousand downloads by readers from all over the world in a single day. The reason I wrote my book was to inspire others, give people a different view on life and that was what I wanted. I honestly didn’t consider being number one anywhere, after all, how often does that happen? Hold on, nothing is impossible in this world. I want to achieve my dreams, not necessarily showing up on the NY Times Book List but on Amazon! We can all do this together!

Here is how: if you do not have a Kindle tablet or app, download it to your computer. Pass this link on, share with your friends through the social networks, it will mean the world to me, it will be everything I ever wanted. Help me reach that milestone and I will always be thankful! Why am I doing all these? Simple, nothing other than trying to inspire others and one way or another, make this world a better place!

I will be posting the total numbers on Sunday and I hope you will back to celebrate with me! I can’t wait.

Thank you and here is the link to my Amazon Page (NB: Books are free through Saturday)

MY LIFE SENTENCES – A TRUE STORY . You can also simply click the image above and you will be there in no time! See you soon and THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Stay inspired, always!

Texting & Driving or A Suicide Mission?

First off, I want to believe that there are some things that we as humans can easily forget and then there are those that come back into view every time something happens. The last time two fire trucks and more than ten police vehicles were called for me was in late 2009 on highway 9 at around six in the evening! I remember it very vividly. Something really horrible had happened!

I had just left college that sunset and headed to work. Since that part of town had a small traffic load, the department of transportation decided to build a 2 – lane highway, each facing the opposite direction! Less than a mile on my gas paddle was a gas station to my left and some drivers made turns to refill their tanks. That is exactly what the third commuter ahead of me did and so he slowed all of us down.

What happened next was terrible. I hate remembering it sometimes. As we slowed down to wait for the opposing traffic to ease for that driver to make his left turn, one driver behind me didn’t slow down. Within a twinkle of an eye, I found myself facing almost the opposite of where I was headed. My car had been forced airborne by a hit from behind. I have to say I was fortunate enough not to hit any opposing traffic which would have caused a chain reaction. Well.

Where was the hitter? Good question. She was forced by the reaction to slide all the way southwards and towards the railway line. I didn’t even think of the possible outcome if a train was passing by. I was horrified. So, the guy right in front of me quickly pulled over and dialed 911 (the number you call when you have emergencies here in the US). After that, I stepped out of my seriously damaged car to go and check on the other driver who couldn’t talk or open her eyes. I was scared that she might have died or something. Luckily, she was not dead – after the paramedics performed CPR on her. (They didn’t raise her from the dead, don’t get me wrong here).

Why am I telling all these? Simple, before you plunge into someone’s rear, make sure you are not texting and driving. Let it be the breaks that malfunction or just something technical. We can solve this problem by starting with ourselves. The next time I saw that lady was in a traffic court. I didn’t even get a chance to ask her one simple question: “Did you know that you could have unintentionally killed me?” I feel like texting and driving is the most dangerous thing today but it can be stopped! Let us not let the government do it for us, let us be our own police! Let us be the change we wish to have!

Finally, thank you so much for reading my blog. Please remember to subscribe! Stay safe, whether you walk on the side of the road or you sit behind the wheel of a car or a bike. Just because you are a careful driver does not mean everyone else is. Life is too short to waste time regretting that one moment when you hit an innocent driver, killing all the passengers in the car or even killing yourself (in this case you won’t be there to attend your funeral).

NB: For my readers out there, here is something I do not want you to miss: On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I will be giving away MY LIFE SENTENCES – A TRUE STORY on amazon for FREE. Let us make this dream of being #1 on Amazon come true. Thank You So Much! Stay safe!