ViewPoints
E-Books Are The Future
Are you a writer or marketeer?
If so, you must need reference books, tons of them. And you’re probably spending a fortune on books right now that clutter up your house or apartment. But e-books offer you a no-hassle solution. Why are e-books indispensable for you as a writer or marketeer? Here are some reasons:
* If you’re in need of knowing more about some points you can either cross-reference using hyperlinks, or copy the points and find out the relevant information over the Internet.
* You can store millions of e-books on your computer’s hard disk and, as a result, your study room remains spacious and uncluttered.
* You can print your e-books and bind them with inexpensive coil rings and even carry dozens of them anywhere, with a weight much less than your portable laptop.
* If you are a senior or have poor eyesight, you will benefit from reading e-books because a simple mouse click on your computer can enlarge the size of text at any time. E-books, unlike traditional printed books, allow you to adjust the text size or font face whenever you want.
* Tired of reading? Wish someone could read it to you? Well, once again, e-books are your answer. With downloadable e-books, it’s a simple matter of using a text-to-speech software program to automatically convert your e-book into an audio book.
* Thousands of ebooks for marketeers and writers can be found easily online and downloaded quickly and inexpensively. Look for a one-stop information and learning center that will meet all your needs on one site, rather than having to surf the entire web.
Imagine a vast library with no bookshelves, no book counters and no hard cover or paperback books. The entire space is empty, save for rows upon rows of swivel chairs facing slim and sleek monitors. It’s still a library, still a storehouse of thousands (millions!) of free or inexpensive books. But there is a big difference.
Thanks to the ever-widening horizon of the speedy internet, it’s going to be the world of billions of ebooks-taking up a very tiny fraction of computer memory space compared to rooms filled with today’s heavy books.
So face it! The future is now. And ebooks for marketeers and writers will give you the information and inspiration you’ll need to stay ahead of the learning curve of today’s ever-changing world. The price for knowledge has never been so inexpensive. So take advantage of this opportunity now. Download as many ebooks as you can. Study them. And soon you will be on top of the heap.
- E. P. Ned Burke
The X-Rated Writer’s Group Member
A writer’s group I founded a few years back had prolific authors in every genre. One man wrote stories that took readers into the world of murder and mayhem, hired killers, kinky sex, gangsters and their nymphomaniac molls, gambling casinos, illegal drugs, and crazy, tattooed bikers and their broads. Naturally, the characters’ dialogue was colorful.
Knowing his stories were not to everyone’s taste, Jerry often prefaced his reading aloud with, “This is X-rated.” A couple of people usually took a restroom break.
One day three potential members attended the meeting, a middle-aged woman and her parents. After we all introduced ourselves, Jerry, who often engaged in small talk with newcomers to put them at ease, said to the older woman next to him, “You never know; I might write a story about you.”
“Me?” she said, looking puzzled.
I was puzzled, too. This soft-spoken woman, modestly-dressed and seated in a wheel chair was not a likely role-model for one of Jerry’s characters. Still, he was wildly creative, and perhaps our guest had sparked an idea for a story.
She, of course, had no knowledge of the type of stories he wrote. Her first clue came when Barbara, a writer with a quick and wry humor, said to her, “I hope you look good in chains and black leather.”
The poor woman was baffled by this comment, too. The three prospective members never returned to our group.
- Madonna Dries Christensen
One Week a Month Sequestered
Would you like to have one week a month, Monday through Friday, when you must stay at home by the phone? During that week you can read for hours, write for hours, catch up on all the writer newsletters online, plan menus and grocery lists, submit material and enter writing contests. There is also time to make cookies and homemade soup.
As a Victim Advocate for the sheriff department, once a month I’m on-call for either a week or a week-end. “Sorry. I’m on-call and can’t make plans that week,” is my answer when I’m asked to commit to appointments or errands.
If Dispatch calls, I put on my Advocate shirt and name tag, grab my cell phone and jump in the car to meet a deputy to help a victim by giving information and reassurance.
Although it is unpredictable, since being trained, I’ve been called out once at noon, twice in the afternoon, and only one time late at night.
Meanwhile, all those other on-call hours and days are a monthly vacation from outside responsibilities.
- Peg Russell
Oh, The Quangness Of It All
Years ago, I had a friend, a woman, who made me laugh. Not just a courtesy “heh, heh, heh,” but the type of deep gut laugh where your abdomen has contracted some sort of perpetual spasm. You stop laughing for a moment, trying to get control, afraid of being in the Guinness Book of World Records like that person who can’t stop hiccupping. But, your abdomen starts contracting again all on its own and before you know it, you’re out of control again.
Since I don’t know if she would appreciate having her name plastered all over the Internet, and because some people who know her might say, “Her? She’s about as funny as a morgue,” I will resort to calling my friend Gut Laugh Girl for the purpose of this blog.
Gut Laugh Girl, my kindred spirit soul sistah, loved to make up words. She also appreciated a fine verbal concoction when made by someone else. My absolute favorite phrase that she introduced to me was Foreign Quang. Kinda rolls off the tongue, huh? Foreign Quang. Not a delight she invented, but one she learned from someone else who learned from someone else. My goal? To lovingly hand Foreign Quang to you, just as she passed it to me.
Ever have to scrape that goopy pile of food remnants from the inside of the kitchen sink drainer? Foreign Quang. Ever notice you were trailing something from your shoe, and upon closer investigation realized that you had stepped in gum, but the gum had attracted all sorts of kibbles and bits that were now lodged in the tread of your shoe? Foreign Quang. Ever try to scrape some dried Foreign Quang off a wall, only to discover that your son and his nose were too lazy to look for a tissue?
Quick usage sample: “Oh, Heavens, Gertrude! You must have sat in some Foreign Quang on that park bench. It’s all over the back of your skirt.”
Or another: “Would you please give the dog a bath? He has some sort of Foreign Quang matted in his fur.”
In the virtual world of blahhh-ging, we spew forth from our minds our own Foreign Quang, in written form; odd bits and pieces of our lives, scraped off a wall or obtained from a park bench. We bloggers hope these pieces, over time, give our readers a feeling of normality in an insane world. A feeling of “Wow! I thought I was the only one who felt that way.” A connection. A bond. A sisterhood. Or if you’re a guy, a bro-hood.
- Randi O’Keefe
