Imagine you had a fairy godmother. And she gave you one wish: The wish of ‘perceived expertise’. This ‘perceived expertise’, means that your customers would look at you and say: “There goes the expert in the field. I only want to work with her/him.” I had such a godmother. And I got a wish from […]
Announcing: Free Goodies +Psychotactics Online Courses
Do you remember trying to learn a new language? The word “trying” is important, because most of us never do get fluency in a language. And yet, there was one teacher who promised like what seemed impossible. He promised to teach the guts of a language in an incredibly short time. “10 hours, you can […]
Speed and Slowing Down: The Paradox of Outlining
I’m a big fan of Cheesymite. It’s a roll of bread consisting of cheese and Marmite, it makes for a delicious snack. And if I walk every day of the week, I reward myself with a Cheesymite on a Friday. Except it’s just that some Fridays are not as good as others. On some Fridays, […]
Article Starter: Why The Ending Matters Most Of All
You’ve probably never heard of Grant Elliot. But on the night of March 24, 2015, over 1 billion viewers paid close attention as he hit the winning shot in the semi final of the World Cricket Tournament. But what of the players that came before him? What about their contributions? Doesn’t every player and contribution […]
How To Avoid Dragging Out A Well Known Story (And Boring The Reader)
You know that story your mum used to tell? Every time she’d start recounting it, you’d groan. You had heard that story ten squillion times before and your mum just ignored you and told it anyway. You may forgive mum, after all, she’s just dear ol’ mum, but your readers won’t always be as kind. […]
Why A Timer Is Your Best Friend (When Writing Articles)
Imagine you have to go away for a week on vacation Suddenly something intensely interesting happens with your planning. You have no time to waste. Facebook, Twitter and all other idiotic distractions never show up on your screen. TV watching becomes a luxury. Every moment of your day is focused on clearing your schedule so that your vacation is […]
Why Spikes Are Critical To Sustain The Interest of the Reader (And How To Do It Right)
We’ve all seen that heart monitor in hospitals, haven’t we? It spikes up, down, then flat. In stories, these ups, downs and flats seem to show up almost as part of the story. A story by its very nature seems to bob up and down. Not so with articles. In articles, it’s easy to go from […]
How To Create Drama in Article Writing —The Tension and Release Method
How do you start writing a drama? Can you create drama and interest with your story? Do you feel a headache coming on, whenever you make your to-do list? I sure do, because no matter how much I whittle down my list, there’s always a ton of projects that need to be finished. And that’s when […]
Announcing! The End of Writer’s Block (The Easy Way)
Way back in the year 2002, I had what you’d call “bad days”. Actually they were worse than bad. They were foul days. These foul days were my “article writing days”. I’d start off cheerily enough I’d be inspired to write an article and would begin. And then something would happen–I’m not sure what. But […]
Announcing! How To Put That Zing-Kapow In Your Articles (With StoryTelling)
Storytelling seems to be the rage these days. And yet, it’s not new at all. It’s been around for thousands of years. What’s more, it’s not even alien to us. Even as a three-year old, you can tell when a story is really cool and when it’s just plain boring. The problem arises when we […]
