The Origins of Slavery essays

The Origins of Slavery essays Slavery was not preconceived, but it was inevitable. This can be seen by the accidents and coincidences that occurred in the early 17th century. When a Dutch trader had been blown off course, the first ship of African slaves arrived in 1619 by accident. After the arrival in 1619, it was cheaper to buy indentured servants. This resulted in the population of slaves growing slowly at first. But, as the number of indentured servants decreased, more slaves were needed in the colonies because there was a labor shortage. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries statutes were being written to deal with the growing number of slaves. Virginia's statutes illustrate this: All servants imported and brought into this country, by sea or land, who were not Christians in their native country, shall be accounted as slaves, and as such be here bought and sold... By the mid 18th century stereotypes were being created to rationalize slavery because slaves were present in every colony up and down the coast. Eventually rationalization led to a way of life for the English colonists. The gradual shift from indentured servants to slaves began when a Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of 20 Africans for food because he had been blown off course. The colonists did not have any slaves prior to this occurrence; all the colonists had in terms of alternative labor had been indentured servants. This resulted in the labeling of the Africans as indentured servants. It also meant that African slaves had the social status of a poor Englishman, and one day could eventually be free. At the same time in the Chesapeake, production was booming and the colonists in the Chesapeake couldn't get enough indentured servants no matter how fast they came over. This led to the supply of indentured servants drying up, and at the same time more slaves were becoming available. This happening left only on ...

USS Illinois (BB-65) in World War II

USS Illinois (BB-65) in World War II USS Illinois (BB-65) was a battleship that was laid down during World War II (1939-1945) but never completed. First proposed as a ship of the massive Montana-class of battleship, Illinois was re-ordered in 1940 as the fifth vessel of the US Navys Iowa-class. As work commenced, the US Navy found that it had a more pressing need for aircraft carriers than battleships. This led to efforts to convert Illinois into a carrier. The resulting designs proved impractical and construction resumed on the battleship but at a slow speed. In early August 1945, with Illinois only 22% complete, the US Navy elected to cancel the ship. Some debate ensued regarding completing the hull for use in nuclear testing, but the cost proved prohibitive and the decision was made to break up what had been built. A New Design In early 1938, work commenced on a new battleship design at the request of US Navy General Board head Admiral Thomas C. Hart. At first conceived as a larger version of the earlier  South Dakota-class, the new battleships were to mount twelve 16 guns or nine 18 guns.  As the design was revised, the armament changed to nine 16 guns. In addition, the class anti-aircraft complement underwent several evolutions with the majority of its 1.1 weapons being replaced with 20 mm and 40 mm guns. Funding for the new ships came in May with the approval of the Naval Act of 1938. Designated the  Iowa-class, construction of the lead ship,  USS  Iowa  (BB-61), was assigned to the New York Navy Yard. Laid down in 1940,  Iowa  was to be the first of four battleships in the class. Fast Battleships Though hull numbers BB-65 and BB-66 were originally slated to be the first two ships of the new, larger  Montana-class, the passage of the Two Ocean Navy Act in July 1940 saw them re-designated as two additional  Iowa-class  battleships named USS  Illinois  and USS  Kentucky  respectively. As fast battleships, their 33-knot speed would allow them to serve as escorts for the new  Essex-class  carriers that were joining the fleet.   Unlike the preceding  Iowa-class ships (Iowa,  New Jersey,  Missouri, and  Wisconsin),  Illinois  and  Kentucky  were to employ all-welded construction which reduced weight while increasing hull strength.  Some debate was also given as to whether to retain the heavy armor scheme initially intended for the  Montana-class. Though this would have improved the vessels protection, it would also have greatly extended construction time. As a result, standard  Iowa-class armor was ordered. One adjustment that was made in the design was to alter elements of the armor scheme to improve protection against torpedo attacks.   USS Illinois (BB-65) - Overview Nation:  United StatesType:  BattleshipShipyard:  Philadelphia  Naval ShipyardLaid Down:  December 6, 1942Fate: Scrapped, September 1958 Specifications (Planned) Displacement:  45,000 tonsLength:  887.2 ft.Beam:  108 ft., 2 in.Draft:  28.9  ft.Speed:  33  knotsComplement: 2,788 Armament (Planned) Guns 9 Ãâ€" 16 in./50 cal Mark 7 guns20 Ãâ€" 5 in./38 cal Mark 12 guns80 Ãâ€" 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns49 Ãâ€" 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft cannons Construction The second ship to carry the name USS Illinois, the first being an Illinois-class battleship (BB-7) commissioned in 1901, BB-65 was laid down at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on January 15, 1945.  The delay in the start of construction came as a result of the US Navy putting the battleship on hold following the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. In the wake of these engagements, the need for additional aircraft carriers became apparent and these types of vessels took priority in American shipyards. As a result, naval architects began exploring plans for converting Illinois and Kentucky (under construction since 1942) into carriers. The finalized conversion plan would have produced two vessels similar in appearance to the Essex-class. In addition to their aircraft complement, they would have carried twelve 5 guns in four twin and four single mounts. Assessing these plans, it was soon determined that the converted battleships aircraft complement would be smaller than the Essex-class and that the construction process would take longer and cost more than was practical.   Due to this, the decision was made to complete both vessels as battleships but very low priority was given to their construction.  Work moved forward on Illinois in early 1945 and continued into the summer.   With victory over Germany and the impending defeat of Japan, the US Navy ordered construction on the battleship to cease on August 11. Struck from the Naval Vessel Registry the next day, some thought was later given to using the vessels hulk as a target for nuclear testing. When the cost of completing the hull to permit this use was determined and concluded to be too high, the decision to break up the vessel on the ways was made. Scrapping of Illinois incomplete hull commenced in September 1958.

Effects of Raising the Head of the Bed on Reducing Ventilator-acquired Research Paper

Effects of Raising the Head of the Bed on Reducing Ventilator-acquired Pneumonia - Research Paper Example From this discussion it is clear that some of the problems associated with VAP include; lengthy hospitalization, increased mortality rate ranging from 20%-70% ,depending on the patients’ medical condition, rise in hospital cost of health care ranging from $5,880 to over $20000 for every incidence. VAP makes up to half of all cases of nosocomial pneumonia incidents with nearly 50% of all antimicrobial agents administered in ICU for treating VAP. Studies show that manipulating the patient’s position by raising head of bed plays a crucial role in preventing VAP. Besides helping the intubated patient to assume certain positions of comfort, elevating the head of bed plays the modest role in lowering risk of ventilator –acquired pneumonia. This essay declares that raising head of bed is seen as the cheapest preventive measure for VAP that must be adopted in ICU and any other hospital unit nursing intubated patients that require a long hospital stay to recover. It is le ss costly to employ such type of preventive measure than to wait for the infection to occur then treat it. Critically ill patients have compromised respiratory function; hence VAP will worsen their conditions leading to poor patient outcome. Exploring on the effect of raising the head of the bed on reducing ventilator-acquired pneumonia reveals more than just the art of positioning, but also the scientific rationale behind it. This study seeks to dig up existing information on the importance of patient positioning in preventing respiratory complications during hospitalization. The main purpose is to find out the effect of raising the head of the bed on the cases of VAP. Understanding the effects of raising head of bed as a way of preventing VAP help nurses to achieve patient satisfaction, increased quality outcome and shorten the period of hospitalization.

Proposal Argument Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Argument - Research Proposal Example Indeed, looking at the recent trends in the healthcare industry, one is forced to raise the question: Are good hospitals really accessible/ affordable to the poor? In the changing economic scenario, guaranteed employment is not a feasible option. In the recent years, increasing number of Americans have inadequate or have no health insurance cover because of unemployment. According to Enthovan ‘more than 45 millions U.S. residents do not have access to health care (Enthoven, 2003). Lack of public funding and the increasing cost of healthcare deliverables has become a huge concern. Falling sick has become a luxury that very few people are able to afford. Deckard says that ‘compared to other industrialized nations, the United States has shown the greatest reluctance to move into a unified publicly owned and financed healthcare system’ (Deckard, 2006) which has adversely affected the socio-economic outcomes of the nation. Bradford Kirkman-Liff, professor of health policy and biotechnology at Arizona State University has elaborated on the cause and factors of the deteriorating healthcare system in United States (Bradford, video). Interesting, the increasing numbers of baby boomers have become the major beneficiaries of the patchy public funded healthcare resulting in ‘increased use and... we won’t be able to assure baby boomers that high-quality health care †¦ nor will we be able to assure the generation paying for this care that we won’t bankrupt it in the process’ (Ganim & Reinhardt, 2004). Hence, the need for comprehensive feedback of delivery system and a careful consideration to all the various pros and cons of the developing situations in the public health care has become the need of the hour. In the last few decades, United State has seen a marked shift in the healthcare which has moved from public driven policies to market funded paradigms. According to scholars, the migration of healthcare

Innovation in Hospitality Essay Example for Free

Innovation in Hospitality Essay Innovation is seen as difficult in many countries around the world, innovation strategies are not inclusive to all countries but vary in each country. To minimise the situation within these countries many firms in particular small business see innovation as a high financial commitment that may also be very risky to the business operations. The reason for this tendency is due to the limited hospitality innovation studies needed as a foundation to support managements perception of the theory. The availability of studies has the ability to encourage innovation that may not be detrimental to finances depending on the level of innovation selected. However innovation brings many other barriers and challenges that hinder the successful implementation of innovation: unqualified employees, knowledge, lack of understanding of the relationship between product and the market, high staff culture turnover, strategy-related factors etc. On the other hand hospitality firms used the following three approaches to innovation to successfully undertake innovation: innovation process strategy, continuous improvement theory and strategy as practice perspective. These innovation approaches are used a survival tool to combat against competition and it brings about benefits to the business: improved quality and brand image, knowledge sharing, customer satisfaction, increase in profits. Is innovation difficult within the hospitality industry.? First of all it may be useful to know what is the definition of innovation. Most definitions of innovation vary across the industry. Bessant and Francis (1999) defined innovation as an organisations wide process of sustained and focused incremental innovation where as Cooper (2002) defined innovation as the innovation process strategy for driving new food concepts from the initial stage right through to the final stage.

Standard Oil 1911 :: essays research papers

Standard Oil Case of 1911 Out of the cases decided by the Supreme Court I feel the most influential dealt with the issue of Civil Rights. Two cases in particular that dealt with the post Civil War use of the Thirteenth Amendment were Jones v. Mayer, 1968 and Runyan v. McCrary, 1976. Although the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the constitution in 1865 it was not fully put to use until one hundred years later. That is why I feel that the judgements made by the Supreme Court in these two cases was necessary and showed the way our government can evolve to fit the times. The thirteenth stated that slavery would no longer be allowed in the U.S. unless used as punishment for a convicted crime. After the Civil War many civil rights laws were passed based on the Thirteenth Amendment but were later repealed. Congress drew the conclusion that racial discrimination did not place blacks in servitude. For years after it was believed that Congress did not have the power under the amendment to deal with racial discri mination. In the Jones v. Mayer case of 1968 helped to bring back the power of a lost Thirteenth civil rights law. The law stated that all citizens of The United States had the right to purchase, sell, or rent any territory that could be enjoyed by white citizens. Jones had sued Mayer because he refused to sell him a home because he was black. The Court decided for Jones saying the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and gives to Congress to abolish the "badges of slavery." In the 1976 Runyan v. McCrary case, two black students had been refused admittance into two private schools in Virginia. The Court applied another 1866 law that stated all citizens of The United States had the right to make and enforce contracts as do white citizens. Since the schools went against their publicly advertised admissions contract the Court decided for the students. These two cases are very influential because they used the Thirteenth Amendment to give Congress the right to do away with any rem aining "Badges of Slavery." Two cases that were not justly decided were Plessy v. Ferguson and Michael M. v. Superior Court. In Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court decided that having separated but equal facilities was constitutional and did not inflict a "badge of slavery." However this gave people the right to segregation and discrimination which is unconstitutional.

Characteristic of partnership Essay

Identify and explain any FOUR (4) characteristics of a partnership. A partnership means a business is founded by two or more individuals, for example like small businesses which including retail or services business. There are certain characteristic for partnership, the first characteristic is partnership is limited life. Partnership may only established in certain year based on the partnership agreement. Partnership is easy to be terminate if one of the partner is death, bankruptcy or do not carry out certain responsibility if there is no such agreement is made. When a partner is being withdraws or added, the business should make a new partnership agreement if they wish to continue operate in partnership. This partnership’s business can be continue if with proper provisions and termination or withdrawal of partner in a partnership will not bring a big impact toward ongoing business operations. In a partnership, partners are agents, so that it is mutual agency. A partner may l egally bind to the partnership agreement that in line with the partnership’s operations. Before start a partnership, it is very important to know their potential partnerships is because most partnerships agreement create unlimited liability for its partners. A partner may limit another partner’s ability enter into contracts on the company’s behalf, however this limitation is only applies if the third party is aware of the limitation. It is their responsibility to inform third parties regarding the ability of their partner which is limited enter into contracts. Third, partnership is unlimited liability, this is because partners involved may use their personal assets to fulfill the partnership debts when the partnership cannot achieve its obligations. A partner may held individually for liable to the payment of creditor if another partner is insufficient assets to meet the share of the partnership’s debt. General partnership is mean a partnership which all of the partners are individually liable. There are two classes of partners in limited partnership, it is happened when investors do not want to risk their asset and do not actively involved in the business. A limited partnership must include at least one general partner who maintains unlimited liability. The liability of other partners is limited to the amount of their investments. Therefore, they are called limited partners. Besides that, partnership is ease of formation when compare to other business because it is less requirement to start up. It is also relative  lack of regulation due to govermental regulation. Reporting requirement are mainly in written form that cater for corporation. Although the number of sole proprietors and partnerships exceeds the number of corporations, the level of sales and profits generated by corporations are much greater. Decision making is tend to work well among partnership, if there is large number of partners that involved in business will make the decision making process become much more difficult.

Profit Margin and High End Segment

Cost Leadership After contemplating many different strategy options and evaluating our markets, the Ferris group decided that we would utilize and follow a strategy discussed in chapter 6 of Wheelen and Hunger’s text[1]: cost leadership. This strategy focuses on â€Å"a lower-cost competitive strategy that aims at the broad mass market and requires efficient scale facilities, cost reductions, and cost and overhead control. This strategy avoids marginal customers, and aims for cost minimization in R&D, service, sales force, and advertising. If used effectively, this strategy should reduce and control your labor and overhead costs. This would in turn decrease variable expenses and simultaneously increase your contribution margins, and ultimately your net profits. To follow this strategy, we decided to take the following actions: 1. We refrained from introducing any new products in order to prevent paying large start-up costs without efficient funding. It would have been wise to introduce a new product if we had more rounds during the simulation.This would have allowed us to specialize in the markets we were efficient in and dropped those that were costing us money. If we were to introduce a product however, to see any benefits of this initiative during the simulation, the product would have had to been launched within the first few rounds. But, spending a lot of borrowed money early on in the simulation did not make sense for our cost leadership strategy. We would have had to wait until we could fund it with our retained earnings in order to be in alignment with our strategy.However, this would not have been an option until the 3rd or 4th year, and by then much too late to see positive benefits by year 6. 2. We remained quite frugal with our allocated expenses to marketing (promotion and sales budgets) to keep our costs low and contribution margins high. 3. We decided to increase our automation for products that did not have rapidly changing market buying criteria specifications (i. e. if expectations regarding size and performance stayed fairly similar throughout the six rounds because their drift rates were small, then we increased automation for that particular line within the first year). . We attempted to use a Just In Time (JIT) strategy which meant that we tried to calculate the exact quantity each market would purchase of our products and we then produced only enough to have no more or no less on hand at the end of each forecasted year. †¢To calculate this precise forecast, in each segment we took the actual sales from the previous year and multiplied it by the market growth rate for the corresponding market segment. We then multiplied that number by a conservative (i. e. 90%) and optimistic (i. e. 10%) rate to get the respective marketing and production forecasts. †¢The only time we produced a little higher than the conservative forecast calculated using the above formula was if we stocked out of an item in the pr evious year and could then expect even higher sales the following year; essentially preventing ourselves from short-changing our forecast for the next year. If this was the case for a previous year, we would be a little more aggressive with our forecast fro the following year and used conservative and optimistic rates of around 90% and 120% respectively. . We decided to decrease the Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) of those products (The Traditional and Low End segments) in which MTBF as a buying criteria was not very important to the customer to the minimum specification within the acceptable range to the customer (i. e. If the desired range for MTBF was 22,000 – 27,000 for a product that did not base much of their purchasing decision on MTBF, we would set the MTBF for that product at the minimum of 22,000).This was done to keep costs low by decreasing the reliability (which saves money in production costs) of those products in which customers did not care about the MTBF. Ove rall Company Performance Mistakes During the simulation, we made quite a few costly mistakes that put us in a really bad spot in comparison to the other teams. These mistakes are as follows: 1. We missed the opportunity to launch a new product because right out of the gate we were focused on the products we already had and making them all profitable.We were not willing to create a new product until we could finance the investment with our retained earnings instead of taking on debt to finance such a project. The problem was that it took us about 4 rounds to build up a cushion of cash that allowed us to feel comfortable making such an investment. Unfortunately, since it takes 2 rounds to launch a new product, we did not feel that the timing was right after round 4 because we would not have generated profits for the new product by the end f the simulation; we were unable to justify the investment for a long term project with only 2 years left in the simulation. Therefore, we did not m ove quickly enough within the first few rounds in assessing our markets as a whole and making long term investment decisions. 2. My group was also quite concerned with not increasing debt and rather building our retained earnings and collecting cash as a cushion. However, this tactic was not such a great one because it cost us points for wealth creation. We should have been using that saved cash to invest in our company, rather than hanging on to the money. . We never created any long term plans during the simulation. This was probably what hurt us the most because all we were focused on was the previous year’s results and how to make them increase. We never actually set specific goals which would have then forced us to create a detailed plan of action to help us achieve those goals; rather we were blindly just trying to be or stay profitable. 4. We continually implemented the same strategies that were not producing stellar results; especially with regards to individual segme nts.We continually tried executing the same tactics (i. e. low cost, JIT, etc†¦) without changing any details (i. e. more product development, repositioning, etc†¦) and kept hoping that things would get better. Our performance did get a little better within our underperforming segments after about 3 rounds, but not enough to push us ahead of our competition as a whole company. 5. We did not invest in automation for a few lines (Performance and Size) like we should have in the beginning.For whatever reason, a few team members believed that increasing the automation for a line that has a product with specifications that change rapidly from year to year (the High, Performance, and Size segments) was a bad idea. They were convinced that increasing the automation for these segments would be useless and that it would in fact return to where it originally started at each year end. Looking back, we should have dramatically increased the automation for these segments to keep our va riable costs low and in alignment with our strategy. . One of our biggest problems was that we kept making mistakes that cost us immensely. Some of those mistakes include: †¢Wrong Growth Rate. We used an excel spreadsheet to determine the forecasts for each segment throughout the entire simulation. However, we did not realize until we were making decisions for round 4 that the formulas were actually entered wrong into the spreadsheet and every segment was being forecasted at the Traditional segment’s growth rate rather than the actual growth rate that corresponded to each segment. Inversion of Specifications. We accidentally inverted the size and performance specifications for the High End segment during round 3. This dramatically reduced our net profit margin for this particular segment (Please see Exhibit 1). Sadly, this was originally one of our best markets and because of this mistake we missed a huge opportunity to increase our profits and perform well as a company. †¢Long Revision Dates. We did not notice until the round 4 processed that the revision date for the High End segment for round 4 was not until 2 years later.Therefore, we were unable to keep the product for this segment competitive for the remainder of the simulation; especially after our setback in round 3. In fact, this mistake dramatically decreased our contribution margin for this segment and even brought our net profit margin for the segment to a deep negative (Please see Exhibits 2 & 1 respectively). Again, we dramatically messed up one of our best selling products and were continually trying to play catch-up from our mistakes with this line; therefore, we missed a huge opportunity to increase our profits.Performance Measures To determine whether or not our company was doing well, we assessed a few areas of the Capstone Courier: 1. Contribution Margin Percentage (Please see Exhibit 3). We looked at this percentage after each round was processed to determine whether or no t it was increasing. If it was not increasing, we knew that our strategy of lowering our costs was not effective for the round in question; alerting us to lower our costs. 2. Contribution Margins (Please see Exhibit 2). We looked at the contribution margins for each segment to concentrate on each individually.Looking at whether or not the segment in question was increasing or decreasing was effective because it showed us which products were costing us the most in variable costs (i. e. materials, labor, etc†¦); showing us which segments we needed to cut costs for. 3. Net Profit (Please see Exhibit 4). This was our first indicator on the courier as to whether or not we did well in the previous round. We started off doing pretty badly but by round 3, we brought our net profits up by about $5,200 from round 1. However, the mistakes mentioned above led to dramatic decrease the following year 4 that put us in an even worse spot than we were after round 1. Luckily, we made strides to overcome those obstacles (discussed below in the Product Line Performance section) which increased our profits the following year by almost $9,500. 4. Net Profit Margins (Please see Exhibit 1). This measure was quite useful in determining how our net profits could be assessed for each segment. This told us the story of which products were profitable, which were most profitable, and which were actually costing us money to sell.Our goal for each round was to have each of the segments positive and turning a profit; which we accomplished in rounds 5 and 6, finally. Product Line Performance Errors We had many issues and made many errors with my particular line (High End – Fist) as mentioned above. During round 3, we inverted the performance and size specifications. In addition, during round 4 we did not realize that our revision date was 2 years away; this meant that my product was unable to be competitive within its segment for 3 rounds and the remaining year was spent catching u p to the competition.Once the mistakes were made, there was nothing we could do to correct our mistake. However, we did try to redirect our focus from staying competitive 100% within the High End segment with Fist, to using this product to be more competitive within the Traditional segment during round 4 while our revision date neared. To do this, we dropped the sell price from $39. 00/unit to $28. 00/unit. We did this for a couple of reasons: 1. Fist lay most closely to the Traditional product on the perceptual map.Therefore, we figured we would make the most of our mistake, which could not be undone, by trying to stay competitive on the edge of both the High and Traditional markets. 2. Luckily, the lowest price within the range for the High End segment was $28. 00/unit and the highest price within the range for the Traditional segment was $28. 00/unit as well. For this reason, we decided to sell Fist during the segments’ crisis at a price that was acceptable for both market s; this was done in hopes of picking up customers from each market since we were well aware that we would not be very competitive during round 4 within the High End segment.Statistics/Performance Below is a table to show that we were steadily climbing in our progress for Fist during the first 2 rounds and then our mistakes made this segment unprofitable during both rounds 3 and 4 (highlighted in grey) and decreased within every statistic (our customer satisfaction dropped due to the product not being competitive in the High End market, our contribution margin percentage dramatically decreased due to fewer sales/revenue, and our market share almost completely disappeared).During rounds 5 and 6, we were slowly climbing our way back to a profitable position for this segment; once we were again able to reposition Fist within the High End market we started to improve. High End Segment (Fist) Statistics Round123456 Revenue$21,615$27,099$17,301$22,253$23,470$32,026 Market Share19%20%11%6%1 2%17% Contribution Margin$7,823$9,624$4,735$4,105$6,698$9,929 Contribution %36%35%27%10%28%31% Net Margin$2,628$3,689($1,403)($1,028)$1,814$4,449 Customer Score242910111815 Functional Area Strategies and Performancelo0Due to my expertise with regards to my educational focus and previous work experience, my functional area was marketing (alongside Ashley Barnes). Unfortunately, we were not well informed about how to maximize our marketing efforts/investments (promotion and sales expenses) for the simulation until round 4. Promotion and Sales We initially remained quite frugal with our promotion and sales budgets to keep our costs low and contribution margins high in order to follow our cost leadership strategy previously.However, by investing larger amounts into sales and promotion within the first two rounds, we would have better followed our strategy. This would have been the case because we would have paid less in expenses in the later rounds since we would’ve only had to i nvest enough to maintain our accessibility and awareness percentages after the initial higher investments; essentially reaping more benefits in the later rounds of our early investments. After we learned of the formulas for producing good customer survey results however, we did quite well in certain segments.For example, we blindly allocated money to our Size segment during the first 3 rounds and slowly climbed our customer survey score. However, once we learned how to use the formulas given in the Capstone Debrief Rubric, we were able to go from a customer survey score of 16 in round 3, to a 50 in round 4, and even higher to a 57 in round 5. The formula we used came from the Capstone Debrief Rubric and stated that in order to get: †¢3 Points – The promotional budget had to lie in between $1. 4M and $2M. The Sales budget had to lie in between $2. 2M and $3M. 2 Points – The promotional budget had to lie in between $1M and $1. 4M or in between $2M and $2. 5M. The Sa les budget had to lie in between $1. 5M and $2. 2M. †¢1 Point – The promotional budget had to lie in between $. 7M and $1M or in between $2. 5M and $3M. The Sales budget had to lie in between $. 7M and $1. 5M. †¢0 Points – The promotional budget had to be lower than $. 7M or higher than $3M. The Sales budget had to be lower than $. 7M or higher than $3M. Once we started to use these formulas, we were able to allocate the right amount of funding to each segment that was appropriate.For example: if a certain segment was projected to lose money by allocating $1. 4M to the promotional budget to get the full 3 points, we would cut the budget to about $1M and still be able to get 2 points without jeopardizing our contribution margin. This is proven in the Capstone Debrief Rubric; we were allocated 3 points to our higher performing segments (Traditional, Low, and High) for rounds 4, 5, and 6 but were only granted 2 points for our lower performing segments (Performan ce and Size).In addition, we always strived to keep our size and performance specifications at exactly the current buying criteria plus the drift rates outlined on page 2 of the Industry Conditions Report. This would keep the product at what the customer expected so that they were receiving what they were asking for. Customer Buying Criteria We made it a priority to keep our prices as high as we could in each segment without disappointing our customers; this was our way of aligning our marketing strategies with our overall company strategy of cost leadership.We noted what criteria were most important to the customer to determine if we could increase our prices for each product. For example: Price was the least important buying criteria within the Size segment; meaning that these customers were not as sensitive to price changes/increases. Therefore, we were able to charge closer to the high price for the Size segment product (Fume) because this increase would not really affect the ma rket buying decisions for the Size segment; much unlike the Low End segment

Choose Your Further Career Wisely with the Help of These Tips

Choose Your Further Career Wisely with the Help of These Tips Not many students start thinking about their career while studying at school. The ideas come when it’s time to graduate and get enrolled in the higher educational institution. But even then the majority of young adolescents rely on the opinion of their parents, teachers, and peers. In fact, you don’t have to listen to anyone else except for your own heart. Otherwise, later you may feel really disappointed for what you’ve done. Hopefully, this brief guide will help you on the way to defining the best sort of work. The majority of students think that education influences further career choice most of all. From one side, you will have to implement all the knowledge and skills gained at school and higher institution at work. From the other hand, I know a lot of examples of people who dedicated their life to a completely different job rather than their degree. I am one of those lucky beggars. Being an MBA holder from Harvard Business School, I have become a successful blogger and author of my own short guides and manuals for students and young professionals. Still, as you can guess, my work involves some of the skills I have gained with my Master of Business Administration degree. Those are writing, research, communication, and promotion skills. In any case, obtaining higher education is a must. If you have any troubles with applying to the target school, contact professional writers who can help you with successful application essay for your further academic life and work. Top Successful Careers of 2016-2017 Anyway, you have to discover what your career passion is. At the same time, you don’t have to undervalue the role of money. You may find a good work, but if the payment is low, you won’t be able to provide yourself a worthy life. To help you a bit, here is the list of the well-paid careers and corresponding degrees in 2016-2017: Dental hygiene (try working as a dentist) Biomedical sciences (focus on veterinary) Sports fitness administration (work in the sake of those who want to keep fit nowadays) Computer science (no need to doubt the important role of IT) Nursing (work as a nurse to become a physician one day) Health administration (save lives) Law business law (work in the sake of justice) As you can see, the top career list remained almost the same since the last decade. It basically depends on technological progress and innovations. You can also use career counseling if you are not sure about your choice. Now, let’s focus more on how to make right choices based on your own tastes. If you want to work with pleasure and gain fair money at the same time, you need to consider the factors mentioned below. Work with Pleasure: Things to Consider When Choosing Career Your hobby and interests (e.g., if you are crazy about music, you don’t necessarily have to be a guitar player. Try being a cool manager for some guys) Education (make a choice until it’s not too late – don’t listen to anyone, even your parents!) The way you make decisions (tow work well, you have to be a confident decision-maker. But not all jobs require this skill) Things that make you happy Things that you hate doing How good you are in English (for international students mostly) Time management skills (any career requires it) Your culture (different countries have different work demands) Previous work experience (even if you want to build a completely different career, still mention your achievements in your resume) Opportunities and threats that exist within modern industries People factor (how well you get on with strangers) Life values (how about children and family?) The amount of money you need to obtain monthly That’s it! Determining your financial needs is, unfortunately, the most important factor in your career choice. A good work place all alone cannot be compared to the wealthy being. The modern world is built on finances and respectful career relations. When you think about your work, prepare a brief draft with your approximate expenditures per one month. Count how much money you spend per day. Then, make a final decision regarding what salary is good based on your personal needs. Don’t fall into every second trap – learn as much about each job offer as you can. Remember: there is no slavery nowadays. Right, it was canceled. Your work is needed, so you have to be rewarded fairly. Thus, focus more on your personal career instead of turning into a slave of some corporation. Make your career choice wisely by ordering personal statement and free consultation from online experts today!

How to Write a Book in 2019 A Proven Guide From a Best Seller

How to Write a Book in 2019 A Proven Guide From a Best Seller How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps So you want to write a book. Becoming an author can change your life- not to mention give you the ability to impact thousands, even millions, of people. However, writing a book is no cakewalk. As a 21-time New York Times bestselling author, I can tell you: It’s far easier to quit than to finish. When you run out of ideas, when your own message bores you, or when you become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the task, you’re going to be tempted to give up. But what if you knew exactly: Where to start What each step entails How to overcome fear, procrastination, and writer’s block And how to keep from feeling overwhelmed? You can do this- and more quickly than you might think, because these days you have access to more writing tools than ever. The key is to follow a proven, straightforward, step-by-step plan. My goal here is to offer you that plan. I’ve used the techniques I outline below to write more than 190 books (including the Left Behind series) over the past 40 years. Yes, I realize averaging over four books per year is more than you may have thought humanly possible. But trust me- with a reliable blueprint, you can get unstuck and finish your book. This is my personal approach to how to write a book. I’m confident you’ll find something here that can change the game for you. So, let’s jump in. How to Write a Book From Start to Finish in 20 Steps Establish your writing space. Assemble your writing tools. Break the project into small pieces. Settle on your BIG idea. Construct your outline. Set a firm writing schedule. Establish a sacred deadline. Embrace procrastination (really!). Eliminate distractions. Conduct your research. Start calling yourself a writer. Think reader-first. Find your writing voice. Write a compelling opener. Fill your story with conflict and tension. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle. Write a resounding ending. Become a ferocious self-editor. Find a mentor. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Part One: Before You Begin You’ll never regret- in fact, you’ll thank yourself later- for investing the time necessary to prepare for such a monumental task. You wouldn’t set out to cut down a huge grove of trees with just an axe. You’d need a chain saw, perhaps more than one. Something to keep them sharp. Enough fuel to keep them running. You get the picture. Don’t shortcut this foundational part of the process. 1. Establish your writing space. To write your book, you don’t need a sanctuary. In fact, I started my career on my couch facing a typewriter perched on a plank of wood suspended by two kitchen chairs. What were you saying about your setup again?We do what we have to do. And those early days on that sagging couch were among the most productive of my career. Naturally, the nicer and more comfortable and private you can make your writing lair (I call mine my cave), the better. (If you dedicate a room solely to your writing, you can even write off a portion of your home mortgage, taxes, and insurance proportionate to that space.) Real writers can write anywhere. Some write in restaurants and coffee shops. My first fulltime job was at a newspaper where 40 of us clacked away on manual typewriters in one big room- no cubicles, no partitions, conversations hollered over the din, most of my colleagues smoking, teletype machines clattering. Cut your writing teeth in an environment like that, and anywhere else seems glorious. 2. Assemble your writing tools. In the newspaper business there was no time to handwrite our stuff and then type it for the layout guys. So I have always written at a keyboard. Most authors do, though some handwrite their first drafts and then keyboard them onto a computer or pay someone to do that. No publisher I know would even consider a typewritten manuscript, let alone one submitted in handwriting. The publishing industry runs on Microsoft Word, so you’ll need to submit Word document files. Whether you prefer a Mac or a PC, both will produce the kinds of files you need. And if you’re looking for a musclebound electronic organizing system, you can’t do better than Scrivener. It works well on both PCs and Macs, and it nicely interacts with Word files. Just remember, Scrivener has a steep learning curve, so familiarize yourself with it before you start writing. Scrivener users know that taking the time to learn the basics is well worth it. So, what else do you need? If you are one who handwrites your first drafts, don’t scrimp on paper, pencils, or erasers. Don’t shortchange yourself on a computer either. Even if someone else is keyboarding for you, you’ll need a computer for research and for communicating with potential agents, editors, publishers. Get the best computer you can afford, the latest, the one with the most capacity and speed. Try to imagine everything you’re going to need in addition to your desk or table, so you can equip yourself in advance and don’t have to keep interrupting your work to find things like: Staplers Paper clips Rulers Pencil holders Pencil sharpeners Note pads Printing paper Paperweight Tape dispensers Cork or bulletin boards Clocks Bookends Reference works Space heaters Fans Lamps Beverage mugs Napkins Tissues You name it Last, but most crucial, get the best, most ergonomic chair you can afford. If I were to start my career again with that typewriter on a plank, I would not sit on that couch. I’d grab another straight-backed kitchen chair or something similar and be proactive about my posture and maintaining a healthy spine. There’s nothing worse than trying to be creative and immerse yourself in writing while you’re in agony. The chair I work in today cost more than my first car! If you’ve never used some of the items I listed above and can’t imagine needing them, fine. But make a list of everything you know you’ll need so when the actual writing begins, you’re already equipped. As you grow as a writer and actually start making money at it, you can keep upgrading your writing space. Where I work now is light years from where I started. But the point is, I didn’t wait to start writing until I could have a great spot in which to do it. Part Two: How to Start Writing a Book 3. Break the project into small pieces. Writing a book feels like a colossal project, because it is! But your manuscript will be made up of many small parts. An old adage says that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Try to get your mind off your book as a 400-or-so-page monstrosity. It can’t be written all at once any more than that proverbial elephant could be eaten in a single sitting. See your book for what it is: a manuscript made up of sentences, paragraphs, pages. Those pages will begin to add up, and though after a week you may have barely accumulated double digits, a few months down the road you’ll be into your second hundred pages. So keep it simple. Start by distilling your big book idea from a page or so to a single sentence- your premise. The more specific that one-sentence premise, the more it will keep you focused while you’re writing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before you can turn your big idea into one sentence, which can then be expanded to an outline, you have to settle on exactly what that big idea is. 4. Settle on your BIG idea. To be book-worthy, your idea has to be killer. You need to write something about which you’re passionate, something that gets you up in the morning, draws you to the keyboard, and keeps you there. It should excite not only you, but also anyone you tell about it. I can’t overstate the importance of this. If you’ve tried and failed to finish your book before- maybe more than once- it could be that the basic premise was flawed. Maybe it was worth a blog post or an article but couldn’t carry an entire book. Think The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, or How to Win Friends and Influence People. The market is crowded, the competition fierce. There’s no more room for run-of-the-mill ideas. Your premise alone should make readers salivate. Go for the big concept book. How do you know you’ve got a winner? Does it have legs? In other words, does it stay in your mind, growing and developing every time you think of it? Run it past loved ones and others you trust. Does it raise eyebrows? Elicit Wows? Or does it result in awkward silences? The right concept simply works, and you’ll know it when you land on it. Most importantly, your idea must capture you in such a way that you’re compelled to write it. Otherwise you’ll lose interest halfway through and never finish. 5. Construct your outline. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Starting your writing without a clear vision of where you’re going will usually end in disaster. Even if you’re writing fiction and consider yourself a Pantser* as opposed to an Outliner, you need at least a basic structure. [*Those of us who write by the seat of our pants and, as Stephen King advises, put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens] You don’t have to call it an outline if that offends your sensibilities. But fashion some sort of a directional document that provides structure and also serves as a safety net. If you get out on that Pantser highwire and lose your balance, you’ll thank me for advising you to have this in place. Now if you’re writing a nonfiction book, there’s no substitute for an outline. Potential agents or publishers require this in your proposal. They want to know where you’re going, and they want to know that you know. What do you want your reader to learn from your book, and how will you ensure they learn it? Fiction or nonfiction, if you commonly lose interest in your book somewhere in what I call the Marathon of the Middle, you likely didn’t start with enough exciting ideas. That’s why and outline (or a basic framework) is essential. Don’t even start writing until you’re confident your structure will hold up through the end. You may recognize this novel structure illustration. Did you know it holds up- with only slight adaptations- for nonfiction books too? It’s self-explanatory for novelists; they list their plot twists and developments and arrange them in an order that best serves to increase tension. What separates great nonfiction from mediocre? The same structure! Arrange your points and evidence in the same way so you’re setting your reader up for a huge payoff, and then make sure you deliver. If your nonfiction book is a memoir, an autobiography, or a biography, structure it like a novel and you can’t go wrong. But even if it’s a straightforward how-to book, stay as close to this structure as possible, and you’ll see your manuscript come alive. Make promises early, triggering your reader to anticipate fresh ideas, secrets, inside information, something major that will make him thrilled with the finished product. While you may not have as much action or dialogueor character development as your novelist counterpart, your crises and tension can come from showing where people have failed before and how you’re going to ensure your reader will succeed. You can even make the how-to project look impossible until you pay off that setup with your unique solution. Keep your outline to a single page for now. But make sure every major point is represented, so you’ll always know where you’re going. And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten the basics of classic outlining or have never felt comfortable with the concept. Your outline must serve you. If that means Roman numerals and capital and lowercase letters and then Arabic numerals, you can certainly fashion it that way. But if you just want a list of sentences that synopsize your idea, that’s fine too. Simply start with your working title, then your premise, then- for fiction, list all the major scenes that fit into the rough structure above. For nonfiction, try to come up with chapter titles and a sentence or two of what each chapter will cover. Once you have your one-page outline, remember it is a fluid document meant to serve you and your book. Expand it, change it, play with it as you see fit- even during the writing process. 6.Set a firm writing schedule. Ideally, you want to schedule at least six hours per week to write. That may consist of three sessions of two hours each, two sessions of three hours, or six one-hour sessions- whatever works for you. I recommend a regular pattern (same times, same days) that can most easily become a habit. But if that’s impossible, just make sure you carve out at least six hours so you can see real progress. Having trouble finding the time to write a book? News flash- you won’t find the time. You have to make it. I used the phrase carve out above for a reason. That’s what it takes. Something in your calendar will likely have to be sacrificed in the interest of writing time. Make sure it’s not your family- they should always be your top priority. Never sacrifice your family on the altar of your writing career. But beyond that, the truth is that we all find time for what we really want to do. Many writers insist they have no time to write, but they always seem to catch the latest Netflix original series, or go to the next big Hollywood feature. They enjoy concerts, parties, ball games, whatever. How important is it to you to finally write your book? What will you cut from your calendar each week to ensure you give it the time it deserves? A favorite TV show? An hour of sleep per night? (Be careful with this one; rest is crucial to a writer.) A movie? A concert? A party? Successful writers make time to write. When writing becomes a habit, you’ll be on your way. 7. Establish a sacred deadline. Without deadlines, I rarely get anything done. I need that motivation. Admittedly, my deadlines are now established in my contracts from publishers. If you’re writing your first book, you probably don’t have a contract yet. To ensure you finish your book, set your own deadline- then consider it sacred. Tell your spouse or loved one or trusted friend. Ask that they hold you accountable. Now determine- and enter in your calendar- the number of pages you need to produce per writing session to meet your deadline. If it proves unrealistic, change the deadline now. If you have no idea how many pages or words you typically produce per session, you may have to experiment before you finalize those figures. Say you want to finish a 400-page manuscript by this time next year. Divide 400 by 50 weeks (accounting for two off-weeks), and you get eight pages per week. Divide that by your typical number of writing sessions per week and you’ll know how many pages you should finish per session. Now is the time to adjust these numbers,while setting your deadline and determining your pages per session. Maybe you’d rather schedule four off weeks over the next year. Or you know your book will be unusually long. Change the numbers to make it realistic and doable, and then lock it in. Remember, your deadline is sacred. 8. Embrace procrastination (really!). You read that right. Don’t fight it; embrace it. You wouldn’t guess it from my 190+ published books, but I’m the king of procrastinators. Surprised? Don’t be. So many authors are procrastinators that I’ve come to wonder if it’s a prerequisite. The secret is to accept it and, in fact, schedule it. I quit fretting and losing sleep over procrastinating when I realized it was inevitable and predictable, and also that it was productive. Sound like rationalization? Maybe it was at first. But I learned that while I’m putting off the writing, my subconscious is working on my book. It’s a part of the process. When you do start writing again, you’ll enjoy the surprises your subconscious reveals to you. So, knowing procrastination is coming, book it on your calendar. Take it into account when you’re determining your page quotas. If you have to go back in and increase the number of pages you need to produce per session, do that (I still do it all the time). But- and here’s the key- you must never let things get to where that number of pages per day exceeds your capacity. It’s one thing to ratchet up your output from two pages per session to three. But if you let it get out of hand, you’ve violated the sacredness of your deadline. How can I procrastinate and still meet more than 190 deadlines? Because I keep the deadlines sacred. 9. Eliminate distractions to stay focused. Are you as easily distracted as I am? Have you found yourself writing a sentence and then checking your email? Writing another and checking Facebook? Getting caught up in the come-ons for pictures of the 10 Sea Monsters You Wouldn’t Believe Actually Exist? Then you just have to check out that precious video from a talk show where the dad surprises the family by returning from the war. That leads to more and more of the same. Once I’m in, my writing is forgotten, and all of a sudden the day has gotten away from me. The answer to these insidious timewasters? Look into these apps that allow you to block your email, social media, browsers, game apps, whatever you wish during the hours you want to write. Some carry a modest fee, others are free. Freedom app. FocusWriter StayFocusd WriteRoom 10. Conduct your research. Yes, research is a vital part of the process, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Fiction means more than just making up a story. Your details and logic and technical and historical details must be right for your novel to be believable. And for nonfiction, even if you’re writing about a subject in which you’re an expert- as I’m doing here- you’ll be surprised how ensuring you get all the facts right will polish your finished product. In fact, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve researched a fact or two while writing this blog post alone. The last thing you want is even a small mistake due to your lack of proper research. Regardless the detail, trust me, you’ll hear from readers about it. Your credibility as an author and an expert hinges on creating trust with your reader. That dissolves in a hurry if you commit an error. My favorite research resources are: World Almanacs: These alone list almost everything you need for accurate prose: facts, data, government information, and more. For my novels, I often use these to come up with ethnically accurate character names. TheMerriam-Webster Thesaurus: The online version is great, because it’s lightning fast. You couldn’t turn the pages of a hard copy as quickly as you can get where you want to onscreen. One caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted a thesaurus. You’re not looking for the exotic word that jumps off the page. You’re looking for that common word that’s on the tip of your tongue. WorldAtlas.com: Here you’ll find nearly limitless information about any continent, country, region, city, town, or village. Names, monetary units, weather patterns, tourism info, and even facts you wouldn’t have thought to search for. I get ideas when I’m digging here, for both my novels and my nonfiction books. 11. Start calling yourself a writer. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. Your inner voice may tell you, â€Å"You’re no writer and you never will be. What do you think you’re doing, trying to write a book? That may be why you’ve stalled at writing your book in the past. But if you’re working at writing, studying writing, practicing writing, that makes you a writer. Don’t wait till you reach some artificial level of accomplishment before calling yourself a writer. A cop in uniform and on duty is a cop whether he’s actively enforced the law yet or not. A carpenter is a carpenter whether he’s ever built a house. Self-identify as a writer now and you’ll silence that inner critic- who, of course, is really you. Talk back to yourself if you must. It may sound silly, but acknowledging yourself as a writer can give you the confidence to keep going and finish your book. Are you a writer? Say so. Part Three: The Writing Itself 12. Think reader-first. This is so important that that you should write it on a sticky note and affix it to your monitor so you’re reminded of it every time you write. Every decision you make about your manuscript must be run through this filter. Not you-first, not book-first, not editor-, agent-, or publisher-first. Certainly not your inner circle- or critics-first. Reader-first, last, and always. If every decision is based on the idea of reader-first, all those others benefit anyway. When fans tell me they were moved by one of my books, I think back to this adage and am grateful I maintained that posture during the writing. Does a scene bore you? If you’re thinking reader-first, it gets overhauled or deleted. Where to go, what to say, what to write next? Decide based on the reader as your priority. Whatever your gut tells you your reader would prefer, that’s your answer. Whatever will intrigue him, move him, keep him reading, those are your marching orders. So, naturally, you need to know your reader. Rough age? General interests? Loves? Hates? Attention span? When in doubt, look in the mirror. The surest way to please your reader is to please yourself. Write what you would want to read and trust there is a broad readership out there that agrees. 13. Find your writing voice. Discovering your voice is nowhere near as complicated as some make it out to be. You can find yours by answering these quick questions: What’s the coolest thing that ever happened to you? Who’s the most important person you told about it? What did you sound like when you did? That’s your writing voice. It should read the way you sound at your most engaged. That’s all there is to it. If you write fiction and the narrator of your book isn’t you, go through the three-question exercise on the narrator’s behalf- and you’ll quickly master the voice. Here’s a blog I posted that’ll walk you through the process. 14. Write a compelling opener. If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line, you’re not alone. And neither is your angst misplaced. This is not something you should put off and come back to once you’ve started on the rest of the first chapter. Oh, it can still change if the story dictates that. But settling on a good one will really get you off and running. It’s unlikely you’ll write a more important sentence than your first one, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Make sure you’re thrilled with it and then watch how your confidence- and momentum- soars. Most great first lines fall into one of these categories: Surprising Fiction: â€Å"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.† - George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four Nonfiction: â€Å"By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.† - Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man Dramatic Statement Fiction: â€Å"They shoot the white girl first.† - Toni Morrison, Paradise Nonfiction: â€Å"I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.† - Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand Philosophical Fiction: â€Å"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.† - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Nonfiction: â€Å"It’s not about you.† - Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life Poetic Fiction: â€Å"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. - James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss Nonfiction: â€Å"The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’† - Truman Capote, In Cold Blood Great opening lines from other classics may give you ideas for yours. Heres a list of famous openers. 15. Fill your story with conflict and tension. Your reader craves conflict, and yes, this applies to nonfiction readers as well. In a novel, if everything is going well and everyone is agreeing, your reader will soon lose interest and find something else to do- like watch paint dry. Are two of your characters talking at the dinner table? Have one say something that makes the other storm out. Some deep-seeded rift in their relationship has surfaced. Is it just a misunderstanding that has snowballed into an injustice? Thrust people into conflict with each other. That’ll keep your reader’s attention. Certain nonfiction genres won’t lend themselves to that kind of conflict, of course, but you can still inject tension by setting up your reader for a payoff in later chapters. Check out some of the current bestselling nonfiction works to see how writers accomplish this. Somehow they keep you turning those pages, even in a simple how-to title. Tension is the secret sauce that will propel your reader through to the end. And sometimes that’s as simple as implying something to come. 16. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft. Many of us are perfectionists and find it hard to get a first draft written- fiction or nonfiction- without feeling compelled to make every sentence exactly the way we want it. That voice in your head that questions every word, every phrase, every sentence, and makes you worry you’re being redundant or have allowed cliches to creep in- well, that’s just your editor alter ego. He or she needs to be told to shut up. This is not easy. Deep as I am into a long career, I still have to remind myself of this every writing day. I cannot be both creator and editor at the same time. That slows me to a crawl, and my first draft of even one brief chapter could take days. Our job when writing that first draft is to get down the story or the message or the teaching- depending on your genre. It helps me to view that rough draft as a slab of meat I will carve tomorrow. I can’t both produce that hunk and trim it at the same time. A cliche, a redundancy, a hackneyed phrase comes tumbling out of my keyboard, and I start wondering whether I’ve forgotten to engage the reader’s senses or aimed for his emotions. That’s when I have to chastise myself and say, â€Å"No! Don’t worry about that now! First thing tomorrow you get to tear this thing up and put it back together again to your heart’s content!† Imagine yourself wearing different hats for different tasks, if that helps- whatever works to keep you rolling on that rough draft. You don’t need to show it to your worst enemy or even your dearest love. This chore is about creating. Don’t let anything slow you down. Some like to write their entire first draft before attacking the revision. As I say, whatever works. Doing it that way would make me worry I’ve missed something major early that will cause a complete rewrite when I discover it months later. I alternate creating and revising. The first thing I do every morning is a heavy edit and rewrite of whatever I wrote the day before. If that’s ten pages, so be it. I put my perfectionist hat on and grab my paring knife and trim that slab of meat until I’m happy with every word. Then I switch hats, tell Perfectionist Me to take the rest of the day off, and I start producing rough pages again. So, for me, when I’ve finished the entire first draft, it’s actually a second draft because I have already revised and polished it in chunks every day. THEN I go back through the entire manuscript one more time, scouring it for anything I missed or omitted, being sure to engage the reader’s senses and heart, and making sure the whole thing holds together. I do not submit anything I’m not entirely thrilled with. I know there’s still an editing process it will will go through at the publisher, but my goal is to make my manuscript the absolute best I can before they see it. Compartmentalize your writing vs. your revising and you’ll find that frees you to create much more quickly. 17. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle. Most who fail at writing a book tell me they give up somewhere in what I like to call The Marathon of the Middle. That’s a particularly rough stretch for novelists who have a great concept, a stunning opener, and they can’t wait to get to the dramatic ending. But they bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the middle. They start padding, trying to add scenes just for the sake of bulk, but they’re soon bored and know readers will be too. This actually happens to nonfiction writers too. The solution there is in the outlining stage, being sure your middle points and chapters are every bit as valuable and magnetic as the first and last. If you strategize the progression of your points or steps in a process- depending on nonfiction genre- you should be able to eliminate the strain in the middle chapters. For novelists, know that every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. The shine wears off, keeping the pace and tension gets harder, and it’s easy to run out of steam. But that’s not the time to quit. Force yourself back to your structure, come up with a subplot if necessary, but do whatever you need to so your reader stays engaged. Fiction writer or nonfiction author, The Marathon of the Middle is when you must remember why you started this journey in the first place. It isn’t just that you want to be an author. You have something to say. You want to reach the masses with your message. Yes, it’s hard. It still is for me- every time. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like surrendering. Embrace the challenge of the middle as part of the process. If it were easy, anyone could do it. 18. Write a resounding ending. Want to download this 20-step guide so you can read it whenever you wish? Click here. This is just as important for your nonfiction book as your novel. It may not be as dramatic or emotional, but it could be- especially if you’re writing a memoir. But even a how-to or self-help book needs to close with a resounding thud, the way a Broadway theater curtain meets the floor. How do you ensure your ending doesn’t fizzle? Don’t rush it. Give readers the payoff they’ve been promised. They’ve invested in you and your book the whole way. Take the time to make it satisfying. Never settle for close enough just because you’re eager to be finished. Wait till you’re thrilled with every word, and keep revising until you are. If it’s unpredictable, it had better be fair and logical so your reader doesn’t feel cheated. You want him to be delighted with the surprise, not tricked. If you have multiple ideas for how your book should end, go for the heart rather than the head, even in nonfiction. Readers most remember what moves them. Part Four: All Writing Is Rewriting 19. Become a ferocious self-editor. Agents and editors can tell within the first two pages whether your manuscript is worthy of further consideration. That sounds unfair, and maybe it is. But it’s also reality, so we writers need to face it. How can they often decide that quickly on something you’ve devoted months, maybe years, to? Because they can almost immediately envision how much editing would be required to make those first couple of pages publishable. If they decide the investment wouldn’t make economic sense for a 300-400-page manuscript, end of story. Your best bet to keep an agent or editor reading your manuscript? You must become a ferocious self-editor. That means: Omit needless words Choose the simple word over one that requires a dictionary Avoid subtle redundancies, like â€Å"He thought in his mind†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Where else would someone think?) Avoid hedging verbs like almost frowned, sort of jumped, etc. Generally remove the word that- use it only when absolutely necessary for clarity Give the reader credit and resist the urge to explain, as in, â€Å"She walked through the open door.† (Did we need to be told it was open?) Avoid too much stage direction (what every character is doing with every limb and digit) Avoid excessive adjectives Show, don’t tell And many more For my full list and how to use them, click here. (It’s free.) When do you know you’re finished revising? When you’ve gone from making your writing better to merely making it different. That’s not always easy to determine, but it’s what makes you an author. And Finally, the Quickest Way to Succeed 20. Find a mentor. Get help from someone who’s been where you want to be. Imagine engaging a mentor who can help you sidestep all the amateur pitfalls and shave years of painful trial-and-error off your learning curve. Just make sure it’s someone who really knows the writing and publishing world. Many masquerade as mentors and coaches but have never really succeeded themselves. Look for someone widely-published who knows how to work with agents, editors, and publishers. There are many helpful mentors online. I teach writers through this free site, as well as in my members-only Writers Guild. Want to save this definitive guide to read later?Click here or below to download a handy PDF version: Struggling with knowing how to write a book? Tell me in the comments and feel free to ask questions.

Inception Movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Inception Movie - Essay Example The intention of this study is ‘Inception’ as perhaps the most sophisticated and fascinating movie that revolves around the power of the mind and simultaneous to how it can be manipulated. A dream inside a dream and the sharing of this activity enables Dom Cobb and his team to illegally steal information related to corporate espionage through extraction. It starts off with the architect who builds the dreams and designs all of its intricacies. This process goes all too well until projections, which are the person’s subconscious in action, becomes aware that what is happening is not real. These projections turn against the dreamer. The projections are part of the dream and comprise the whole feel that actually adds to make the dream more real but they are at same time the most telling that everything is not in order and retaliates so that a search for the dreamer and the end of the dream ensues. This is why it is important to keep track of reality within a dream to avoid triggering the subconscious toward any suspicion. The main goal of extraction, or in this case inception, is to be able to create a reality that would allow Cobb to grab hold of information that the person hides intently. Specifically in inception, it is the control to let the person come to his own realization to make the idea more compelling. In the world presented in the film, technology not only enables people to explore dreams extensively, it has also instilled the value of protection from such thievery. This is where the inception of Robert Fischer with the idea to break up his father’s empire turned out to make the job terribly difficult as armies are sent instead of the normal human projections. But this is not the most threatening of all the projections. It is the recurrence of Mal that threatens their lives while inside three concurrent dreams. In order to keep off the animosity of projections, the architect plays an important role in the development and crea tion of dreams. From the start the audience already gets a strong sense that Cobb is the best at what he does but he has been broken by memories of the death of his wife and constant running away from authorities. Ariadne proved to be the most helpful in keeping away the demons that haunt Cobb and in eventually allowing him to confront them and the reality of what happened to his wife. She was the only other architect who was able to parallel him in his prime. Initially, the film had established that the architect plays an important role. When Cobb was supposed to extract information from Saito, the latter was able to tell it was a dream because of the carpet which was a lapse on the part of their previous architect. As Botz-Bornstein aptly puts it, â€Å"The architect of dreams must create a place. Space is already there in the cacophony of the subconscious† (p.122). What Ariadne provided are the details, in small or large scale, which was a way to make them partake in the d ream. More than her initial task of creating an intrinsic labyrinth so that Cobb may shed away his projections of Mal, Ariadne created sequences upon layers of dreams that made for the believability of their alternate reality. Cobb had cautioned her vehemently, â€Å"Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places!† (Inception). But mostly this warning was directed by Cobb for his own benefit since it is Mal’s projections that are the worst and ultimately had led them to the abyss that endangered their lives. Ariadne, except for the recurrence of Mal, was the only pivotal female figure that actually exists in real time in the film. The architect provides for development of the story and her strength