News Writing For Twitter

Keep Your News Tweets Short

This sounds obvious because no tweet can go beyond the character limit. But look at a page of tweets to test your own eyes. How many times do you stop at a post that is 130-140 characters? Look at the posts that are 50-75 characters and notice the white space around the tweet. That blank space can be as important to your tweet as it is in print media. While the tendency is to use every pixel of the 140-character space that is available to you, your tweet will stand out more if it's shorter, especially if it's sandwiched between other tweets that reach the character limit.

Use All-Caps to Introduce Your News

Capital letters don't count against you when Twitter calculates the number of characters in your tweet. Yet those capital letters can set your tweet apart from all the rest, provided they are used carefully. Treat them as a headline or a dateline in your tweet to grab attention:"BREAKING NEWS: A fire off Interstate 10 has closed several lanes of traffic.""WASHINGTON, DC: Pres. Obama has laid out his economic proposals."The key is to keep it short. You don't want your users to think you're yelling at them. By creating this type of prefix before the main content of your tweet, you may find you can save a few precious characters. You don't have to write, "This is breaking news" or "From Washington, DC".

Look at Your Logo

Technically, this isn't part of writing a tweet, but it is a critical element in making Twitter more effective for you. Scan a list of tweets and some logos stand out, while others fade into the crowd. Just as there is a tendency to cram too much writing into a tweet, it's not hard to spot a logo that is way too detailed for Twitter purposes. Simple is best. Even if your media outlet has a long name, like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, fight the urge to put the entire name in your Twitter logo. In the case of this paper, the logo is a lower-case "ajc" inside a simple blue circle, not the intricate script used for the print edition's masthead. Newsweek uses a capital "N" in the same font and color scheme that you'll find on the cover of the magazine. You can make Twitter an effective tool by going against the grain of how most people use it. Simple, bold and visual are the three aspects of Twitter writing that will keep your characters from being lost in the clutter.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing business retail stories without sounding like a commercial

Decide the Focus of Your Story

If you're doing a vague, unprepared story on car sales, you can bet every dealership will tell you that sales are great, inventory is low, prices are down and shoppers better act quickly to get the car they want. Sound like a commercial? That's because you didn't ask focused questions. Decide what information you want to get from the car dealership. Is there a type of vehicle that is selling better than another? Is the recent credit crunch having an impact on shoppers getting financing? Those specific questions will give you newsy information and not just the standard sales pitch. If the manager wants to talk about how sales are up across the board, that can be news also. Just ask for some data to back it up. Its okay to report good sales news as long as it is accurate and not just an empty statement.

Look at the Big Picture

You may be assigned a story on Christmas shopping, but only have enough time to go to Target to produce your taped report that you'll introduce Live on the 6:00 news. You can unknowingly make it look like your story is "Christmas at Target", rather than Christmas shopping in general. That's because your videographer shoots your Live shot with the store's large lighted sign in the background. Then your taped piece features all the hot items at Target, clips of Target shoppers, and an interview with a Target manager who says it's the best holiday shopping season in Target history. Viewers may be led to wonder how much the store paid for the story. The easy excuse is, "Well, I only had time to go to one place." But by using the telephone or the Internet, you can do a story on the big picture of Christmas shopping, rather than a narrow story on one store. By calling around, you could say in your story, "Business isn't just brisk at this Target. We found that Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sears are equally crowded." That one line broadens your story and makes it appear more complete. Using the Internet as a research tool can accomplish the same thing, especially to get information on the national level -- "While Target expects its sales to be up 3% nationwide, executives at Wal-Mart are more optimistic, saying they forecast a 5% boost in Christmas spending."

Talk to Plenty of Shoppers

A mall manager may tell you the economy has rebounded and sales are the highest in years. If you want to find out whether that rosy outlook is simply spin, talk to the shoppers. They will validate or contradict what the manager has told you.  Look around a mall on Mother's Day weekend and you'll see plenty of people carrying shopping bags. But by talking to shoppers, you may find they are buying cards and candy instead of jewelry or other expensive items. So there's more to the story than just "sales are up."Shoppers will be more candid with you because they have nothing to gain or lose. Use them as the backbone of your story, then take the information they give you to interview the manager. That will give you some meaty information like, "While crowds are hitting the mall for Mother's Day weekend, they are choosing less expensive gifts this year." Then, the mall managers will tell you if they are content just to get foot traffic, even if they don't achieve the sales dollars they had hoped. Retail business stories often turn into commercials because of a lack of preparation. That lazy approach is what gives store managers the opportunity to use you for their own gain. Taking effort before and during the newsgathering process will give yourself specific information you need to write a compelling news story.

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Why do many journalism students skimp on reporting

1. New reporters lack the confidence to go out and ask total strangers lots of nosy questions.

I suspect this is a big part of the problem. A lot of students take journalism classes because they're good writers, but good writers aren't always the most confident or outgoing personality types. Confronted with the need to suddenly start interviewing people, these students freeze.I can empathize. I'm not the most outgoing person on the planet, and I can still recall how I had to gather up my chutzpah when I first started reporting. But what I found, and what I suspect most journalism students will discover, is that the more interviewing I did, the easier it got. Experience builds both skill and confidence, and even the shyest person can become a terrific reporter with time.

2. New reporters are too lazy to do the hard work involved in going out and interviewing people.

I like to think my journalism students are generally hard-working, so I don't want to spend too much time on this one. However, I do occasionally come across students who, having watched too many news anchors sitting at desks reading headlines, think journalism is a glamorous and easy life. Here's a news flash: Reporting is very hard work, and the people who do best in the news business are invariably those who work the hardest. That means working nights, weekends and holidays. It means that when a big story breaks you can forget about going home, even if you've already put in a full day. It means schlepping through snow or soaking rain to knock on one more door, to interview one more person, to get one more quote.The good news is, if reporting is what you love doing, then it doesn't seem like work at all.

3. New reporters think they can "write their way" out of having to do real reporting.

Fiction writers have the luxury of spinning tales from their imagination, but in the news business we have to keep it real. Everything we write has to be based facts, observations, quotes and background information that we gather from a variety of sources - interviews, reports, the Internet and so on. Journalism students who try to skimp on their reporting by doing as few interviews as possible quickly discover that weak reporting leads to weak poorly sourced news stories. On the other hand, students find their articles are invariably richer and more detailed for it. They also discover that it's much easier to write a news article when you've done more reporting than needed, not less. So there you are, my ideas about why beginning journalism students under-report their stories. If you're honest with yourself and decide that you fall into one of these categories, then the solution is easy: Keep reporting. It gets easier the more you do it. Work hard. This is a business that rewards the industrious. And don't fret too much over your writing. That will come with practice. Focus instead on reporting every story you do as thoroughly as possible. Do that, and you'll be successful.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing stories on crime and punishment

1.   Writing Crime Stories Without Convicting the Suspect

When a crime is committed, police search for the person who did it. Officers search for murderers, rapists and robbers. Once someone is named, that person is a suspect. The person isn't a killer, even if police say he is. It takes a court of law to make that determination. In your stories, you can say that "Bob Smith is suspected of the murder," "Bob Smith allegedly committed the murder," or "Police say Bob Smith is the killer." All would be accurate. What's important is that you personally aren't calling him a criminal.

2.   Writing Crime Stories When the Suspect Goes to Court

When Bob Smith goes to court, he stands trial "for murder" or "on a murder charge," but he still isn't a murderer until the judge or jury reaches a verdict. Make sure you attribute testimony to either Smith's side (the defense) or the prosecution's side (the state).Just because a witness testifies that she saw him commit murder doesn't make it true. Be wary of prosecutors who try to lead you into thinking their legal arguments are fact. You still need both sides of the case to have a fair story.

3.   How to Change Your Writing Upon a Suspect's Conviction

Bob Smith has just been convicted, though his attorneys vow an appeal. It might be too strong for you to say "Smith is a killer." But it is true to say "Smith has been convicted of murder" or "the jury found Smith to be the murderer."Once a guilty verdict has been reached, Smith is no longer a suspect. He is a convict. If he is put to death, it's not for a "murder charge," but a murder conviction. It's easy to confuse simple police and judicial language when writing stories, especially on tight deadlines. Take time to check the legal aspects of your writing to make sure you don't end up in your boss's office explaining why a moment of carelessness has caused needless embarrassment and potential litigation.

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How to write news on politics

1. Writing News Stories about the Political Process

Writing news on politics starts with understanding how elections work. Make sure you know the difference between primaries and caucuses, why delegates matter, how political conventions work and when runoffs are needed. Breaking down the jargon of politics will help you write about politics so that your audience won't be left confused.

2. Offer More Than Just Horse Race Coverage of a Political Campaign

Reporting news on politics should be more than just relaying which candidates are up or down during the campaign. Critics call that "horse race coverage", because it resembles an announcer at the Kentucky Derby rather than thorough news reporting. Learn how to interpret poll numbers and dig for the story behind the facts and figures to offer insight to the voters that they wouldn't get by just reading daily poll numbers.

3. Avoid Media Bias When Covering Political News Stories

Candidates, media critics and the voters themselves are quick to accuse media of bias in their coverage of news on politics. Protect yourself from these attacks by making sure your news stories are accurate and fair to all candidates, even if your story puts a campaign in a negative light. Not all hard-hitting stories are biased, and not all positive stories are accurate. Know how to defend your reporting when you face accusations of political bias.

4. Avoid Accusations of Bias By Not Getting Too Chummy with a Candidate

Covering a campaign day-to-day puts you in close contact with the candidate and his staff. While you may be on friendly terms, make sure you keep your professional distance. Understand the risks involved if you get too chummy with a candidate. While you may feel that you have the inside track to getting exclusive information, often there are strings attached that could compromise your ethical standards.

5. 8 Ways Politicians Use Media to Win Elections

Politicians and their staffs know more about how news on politics is reported than some people who work in media. They can use that knowledge to manipulate reporters and news coverage to boost their campaigns. Some may host phony news conferences, while others may go on the attack against the media to try to impress voters. By knowing their tricks, you can guard against being used.

6. Writing about Political Polls

During an election year, political polls are released almost daily. When you report on the numbers, know the basics of these statistical surveys so that you can help your audience make sense of where the race stands. That means understanding the sample size, the margin of error and why some polls are more statistically accurate than others.

7. How to Focus on Campaign Issues When Reporting on Candidates

Most voters say that when it comes to getting news on politics, what they want to know most of all is where the candidates stand on the issues. To answer these questions, you have to understand the issues yourself. Know how to find out from voters which issues they think are most important. That way, a candidate won't be able to fool you into thinking his pet issue is also the top concern of your audience.

8. Election Night Coverage Tips for Reporters

You will spend the entire campaign season getting yourself ready for election night. By mastering poll numbers, issues, ethics and the political process, you'll be able to think on your feet during a long election night. Your skills will be put to the test because you won't have time to compose a script. You will need to know how to gather information quickly, analyze it and present it on-air or online because your audience will demand instantaneous coverage.

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Writing Headlines For The Web

1. Focus on Descriptive Words and Phrases

Because of the nature of the web, "Smith Wins!" doesn't go far enough to tell users about the story. Who is Smith? Did he or she win a marathon, a lottery or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? You've probably learned that short headlines grab more attention than longer ones, but for the web, short headlines can undersell your story and cost you click throughs.

"Roxanne Smith Wins Bitter Republican Primary Struggle for U.S. Senate" is a headline that is more descriptive and is more likely to be clicked. Keep in mind that if your headline isn't necessarily connected with a photograph or is transmitted automatically to social networking sites, you need to write something that can stand on its own.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization When Writing Headlines

Search engine optimization is another reason to write a longer headline than "Smith Wins." Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use your keyword phrase to help readers find your story.

When writing headlines for the web, your goal should always be to have your story show up on the first page of a search engine's results. There are many factors in succeeding, but writing a headline that contains keywords for your story is a start.

"Roxanne Smith," "Republican Primary" and "U.S. Senate" are all terms that a search engine will notice and remember. Those are also words that a search engine user will likely type in a search box. Put the two together and your story on the election will attract more readers.

3. Draw the User Into the Story

We've all seen headlines that inform us but do not entice us to click through to read the story. If you're a website writer, that's a lost opportunity to build your stats. If I'm a reader and all I want to know is who won the race, "Smith Wins" answered my question. Unless I want details on the vote count, I will likely move on.

But by adding the words "Bitter" and "Struggle" to your headline, you will pique users' interests beyond the election night victory to get them to click to the story. In some forms of media, this is called tease writing -- you are teasing the user into wanting more information.

In this case, you did it by adding two words to a static headline. Why was the race bitter and a struggle? You are forcing users to click through to find out.

Writing effective headlines for the web takes some thought. But with just a little practice, you can boost your site stats by building straightforward, yet compelling headlines that sell your  story to the search engines and to your readers.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing Headlines For The Web

1. Focus on Descriptive Words and Phrases

Because of the nature of the web, "Smith Wins!" doesn't go far enough to tell users about the story. Who is Smith? Did he or she win a marathon, a lottery or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? You've probably learned that short headlines grab more attention than longer ones, but for the web, short headlines can undersell your story and cost you click throughs.

"Roxanne Smith Wins Bitter Republican Primary Struggle for U.S. Senate" is a headline that is more descriptive and is more likely to be clicked. Keep in mind that if your headline isn't necessarily connected with a photograph or is transmitted automatically to social networking sites, you need to write something that can stand on its own.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization When Writing Headlines

Search engine optimization is another reason to write a longer headline than "Smith Wins." Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use your keyword phrase to help readers find your story.

When writing headlines for the web, your goal should always be to have your story show up on the first page of a search engine's results. There are many factors in succeeding, but writing a headline that contains keywords for your story is a start.

"Roxanne Smith," "Republican Primary" and "U.S. Senate" are all terms that a search engine will notice and remember. Those are also words that a search engine user will likely type in a search box. Put the two together and your story on the election will attract more readers.

3. Draw the User Into the Story

We've all seen headlines that inform us but do not entice us to click through to read the story. If you're a website writer, that's a lost opportunity to build your stats. If I'm a reader and all I want to know is who won the race, "Smith Wins" answered my question. Unless I want details on the vote count, I will likely move on.

But by adding the words "Bitter" and "Struggle" to your headline, you will pique users' interests beyond the election night victory to get them to click to the story. In some forms of media, this is called tease writing -- you are teasing the user into wanting more information.

In this case, you did it by adding two words to a static headline. Why was the race bitter and a struggle? You are forcing users to click through to find out.

Writing effective headlines for the web takes some thought. But with just a little practice, you can boost your site stats by building straightforward, yet compelling headlines that sell your  story to the search engines and to your readers.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing Headlines For The Web

1. Focus on Descriptive Words and Phrases

Because of the nature of the web, "Smith Wins!" doesn't go far enough to tell users about the story. Who is Smith? Did he or she win a marathon, a lottery or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? You've probably learned that short headlines grab more attention than longer ones, but for the web, short headlines can undersell your story and cost you click throughs.

"Roxanne Smith Wins Bitter Republican Primary Struggle for U.S. Senate" is a headline that is more descriptive and is more likely to be clicked. Keep in mind that if your headline isn't necessarily connected with a photograph or is transmitted automatically to social networking sites, you need to write something that can stand on its own.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization When Writing Headlines

Search engine optimization is another reason to write a longer headline than "Smith Wins." Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use your keyword phrase to help readers find your story.

When writing headlines for the web, your goal should always be to have your story show up on the first page of a search engine's results. There are many factors in succeeding, but writing a headline that contains keywords for your story is a start.

"Roxanne Smith," "Republican Primary" and "U.S. Senate" are all terms that a search engine will notice and remember. Those are also words that a search engine user will likely type in a search box. Put the two together and your story on the election will attract more readers.

3. Draw the User Into the Story

We've all seen headlines that inform us but do not entice us to click through to read the story. If you're a website writer, that's a lost opportunity to build your stats. If I'm a reader and all I want to know is who won the race, "Smith Wins" answered my question. Unless I want details on the vote count, I will likely move on.

But by adding the words "Bitter" and "Struggle" to your headline, you will pique users' interests beyond the election night victory to get them to click to the story. In some forms of media, this is called tease writing -- you are teasing the user into wanting more information.

In this case, you did it by adding two words to a static headline. Why was the race bitter and a struggle? You are forcing users to click through to find out.

Writing effective headlines for the web takes some thought. But with just a little practice, you can boost your site stats by building straightforward, yet compelling headlines that sell your  story to the search engines and to your readers.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing Headlines For The Web

1. Focus on Descriptive Words and Phrases

Because of the nature of the web, "Smith Wins!" doesn't go far enough to tell users about the story. Who is Smith? Did he or she win a marathon, a lottery or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? You've probably learned that short headlines grab more attention than longer ones, but for the web, short headlines can undersell your story and cost you click throughs.

"Roxanne Smith Wins Bitter Republican Primary Struggle for U.S. Senate" is a headline that is more descriptive and is more likely to be clicked. Keep in mind that if your headline isn't necessarily connected with a photograph or is transmitted automatically to social networking sites, you need to write something that can stand on its own.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization When Writing Headlines

Search engine optimization is another reason to write a longer headline than "Smith Wins." Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use your keyword phrase to help readers find your story.

When writing headlines for the web, your goal should always be to have your story show up on the first page of a search engine's results. There are many factors in succeeding, but writing a headline that contains keywords for your story is a start.

"Roxanne Smith," "Republican Primary" and "U.S. Senate" are all terms that a search engine will notice and remember. Those are also words that a search engine user will likely type in a search box. Put the two together and your story on the election will attract more readers.

3. Draw the User Into the Story

We've all seen headlines that inform us but do not entice us to click through to read the story. If you're a website writer, that's a lost opportunity to build your stats. If I'm a reader and all I want to know is who won the race, "Smith Wins" answered my question. Unless I want details on the vote count, I will likely move on.

But by adding the words "Bitter" and "Struggle" to your headline, you will pique users' interests beyond the election night victory to get them to click to the story. In some forms of media, this is called tease writing -- you are teasing the user into wanting more information.

In this case, you did it by adding two words to a static headline. Why was the race bitter and a struggle? You are forcing users to click through to find out.

Writing effective headlines for the web takes some thought. But with just a little practice, you can boost your site stats by building straightforward, yet compelling headlines that sell your  story to the search engines and to your readers.

www.takeoneschool.com

Writing Headlines For The Web

1. Focus on Descriptive Words and Phrases

Because of the nature of the web, "Smith Wins!" doesn't go far enough to tell users about the story. Who is Smith? Did he or she win a marathon, a lottery or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate? You've probably learned that short headlines grab more attention than longer ones, but for the web, short headlines can undersell your story and cost you click throughs.

"Roxanne Smith Wins Bitter Republican Primary Struggle for U.S. Senate" is a headline that is more descriptive and is more likely to be clicked. Keep in mind that if your headline isn't necessarily connected with a photograph or is transmitted automatically to social networking sites, you need to write something that can stand on its own.

2. Use Search Engine Optimization When Writing Headlines

Search engine optimization is another reason to write a longer headline than "Smith Wins." Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines use your keyword phrase to help readers find your story.

When writing headlines for the web, your goal should always be to have your story show up on the first page of a search engine's results. There are many factors in succeeding, but writing a headline that contains keywords for your story is a start.

"Roxanne Smith," "Republican Primary" and "U.S. Senate" are all terms that a search engine will notice and remember. Those are also words that a search engine user will likely type in a search box. Put the two together and your story on the election will attract more readers.

3. Draw the User Into the Story

We've all seen headlines that inform us but do not entice us to click through to read the story. If you're a website writer, that's a lost opportunity to build your stats. If I'm a reader and all I want to know is who won the race, "Smith Wins" answered my question. Unless I want details on the vote count, I will likely move on.

But by adding the words "Bitter" and "Struggle" to your headline, you will pique users' interests beyond the election night victory to get them to click to the story. In some forms of media, this is called tease writing -- you are teasing the user into wanting more information.

In this case, you did it by adding two words to a static headline. Why was the race bitter and a struggle? You are forcing users to click through to find out.

Writing effective headlines for the web takes some thought. But with just a little practice, you can boost your site stats by building straightforward, yet compelling headlines that sell your  story to the search engines and to your readers.

www.takeoneschool.com

How to Write Faster When You're Faced with a Newsroom Deadline

Plan Your News Story

As you're leaving the newsroom to cover a story, use the time in the car to plan what you want to say. Sure, you're not even on the scene of the huge fire, news conference or ribbon cutting, but you already know something about the story or else you wouldn't be going.

Try to get the focus of your story down to one sentence. That will be the basis for writing the lead, whether you're trying to come up with something for a TV news anchor to say or you're trying to write headlines for the web.

Think about the Visuals

Shooting great video used to only apply to television news. Today, newspaper reporters and web journalists are often required to bring back video to go with their stories.

That's why you should think about what viewers or readers will see along with your words. Considering what will make the most compelling visual images will help you get started with your writing. One of the top 10 tips for TV newswriting is to write to your video -- that is, to say something about what viewers are seeing, rather than going off on an unrelated tangent.

Conduct Focused Interviews

If you're in a rush while on the scene of a news story, you can save time when conducting interviews if you know what you want to ask and stick to that. Otherwise, you'll easily fall victim to a rambling interview that you won't have time to review or use in your story.These TV interview tips can apply to all media. Get the facts quickly, ask the necessary follow-ups and stop. Develop the self-discipline to know when an interview is over so that you'll save precious writing time.

Conducting an interview in a combative news situation presents its own challenges that can eat into your time. But even then, the same planning beforehand will pay off because you'll know exactly what you must get out of the interview and can cut it off before it veers off into an unwanted direction.

Produce a Focused Story

You already thought of your lead sentence, so now comes writing the rest of your story. Some basic writing tricks can help you write faster.

Think in groups of threes -- the three points your interview made, the three parts of the issue you're covering, the three reasons why your story matters to people at home. These items construct the backbone for your story. Then you write to fill in the gaps. Check out these specific tips on writing crime stories, writing political stories or writing retail business stories.

No matter what type of deadline you face, avoid making critical errors in your writing. Your boss would undoubtedly rather have you miss a deadline than be hit with a lawsuit because of your rushed reporting.

Prepare for the Follow-Ups

Writing faster usually means leaving out related, but unnecessary parts of the story. Many of those parts would make for excellent follow-up stories for the coming days.

Knowing that you can always report on these aspects of the story in the future makes it easier to leave them out of your initial report. It'll be easier to fight the temptation to simply dump every bit of information into the computer and then face a struggle of getting it all organized.

The parts of your story that need further investigation or confirmation can often wait for when you have time. As long as you can accurately report the basic facts, you can publish a story.

Writing faster news stories will be a skill that you'll constantly work on throughout your career. Sometimes you have an entire day to develop a perfectly-executed news story, sometimes you have only minutes. Be ready for both situations and you'll have success.

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 Tips About Basic Writing Competency

1. Do not enter two letter spaces between sentences. Use of two spaces is an obsolete convention based on typewriter technology and will mark you as out of touch. If editors or other potential employers or clients notice that you don’t know this simple fact, they may be skeptical about your writing skills before you’ve had a chance to impress them.

2. Take care that paragraphs are of varying reasonable lengths. Unusually short or long paragraphs are appropriate in moderation, but allowing a series of choppy paragraphs or laboriously long ones to remain in a final draft is unprofessional.

3. If you’re submitting a manuscript or other content for publication, do not format it with various fonts and other style features. Editors want to read good writing, not enjoy aesthetically pleasing (or not) manuscripts; efforts to prettify a file are a distraction.

4. Do not, in résumés or in other text, get carried away with capitalization. You didn’t earn a Master’s Degree; you earned a master’s degree. You didn’t study Biology; you studied biology. You weren’t Project Manager; you were project manager.

5. Become familiar with the rules for styling numbers, and apply them rationally.

6. Know the principles of punctuation, especially regarding consistency in insertion or omission of the serial comma, avoidance of the comma splice, anduse of the semicolon. And if you write in American English and you routinely place a period after the closing quotation mark at the end of a sentence rather than before it, go back to square one and try again.

7. Hyphenation is complicated. In other breaking news, life isn’t fair. Don’t count on editors to cure your hyphenation hiccups for you; become your own expert consultant

8. Avoid “scare quotes.” A term does not need to be called out by quotation marks around it unless you must clarify that the unusual usage is not intended to be read literally, or when they are employed for “comic” effect.

9. For all intensive purposes, know your idioms. (That should be “for all intents and purposes,” but you should also just omit such superfluous phrases.) On a related note, avoid clichés like the plague — except when you don’t. They’re useful, but generous use is the sign of a lazy writer.

10. Don’t rely on spellchecking programs to do your spelling work for you, and always verify spelling (and wording) of proper nouns.

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Still Life Lighting Tips for Beginners

1. Use an simple backdrop: Wrinkles and ridges in a still life photograph – unless a part of the setting – will be distracting to your main subject. Be vigilant about keeping your backdrops smooth and simple.

2. Make your lighting contrasty: Whether you are using strobes, speedlights, or LED’s, it’s important that your “ratio” from one light to the next is varied. The main light should be strongest, and the second light should simply provide a nice fill.

3. Light directionally: Side light is always most effective for bringing out texture and creating dynamic variation between the highlights and shadows. Whether rings, or florals, side light will enable you to give dimension and depth to your still life imagery.

4. Pay attention to your angles: Two things to think about when faced with a studio lighting scenario. a). The position of the lights to your subject and b). the position of your subject to the camera. Side light will give dimension, but so also will the angle at which you take your shot [ie. side, above, below, etc.]. Don’t be afraid to experiment and change up angles. A photo is most interesting when you give a new perspective to something that is ordinary.

5. Light for shape: We see life 3 dimensionally. For this reason, the most dynamic photographs are the ones in which the audience could walk into the scene, or reach out and touch the subject. Lighting for shape will be most emphasized by side light, when your highlights spread along the edge of your subject and add that 3rd dimension.

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 Positive Thinking Tips

1.Surround yourself with positive people. I know this is difficult especially in your workplace. I used to work with a bunch of people who were so negative that they got me as bad as themselves. In the end I left as I could see they where always going to be the same and I didn’t want to be in that environment any longer. So try to steer clear of these people that are negative in everything they say and do. Hang out with the positive ones, usually the ones with a smile on there face and always laughing. It rubs off on you I tell you.

2.Another thing I would recommend is to upload all your favourite positive songs on to an MP3 player and keep it close by. If you ever start to get negative thoughts put on the music, sing along even have a little dance(as long as no one is watching:). This will soon lift your spirits and put you in a positive state of mind.

3.You can begin to become a positive thinker by focusing on the solutions to any problems you encounter rather than let them beat you and get you thinking I can’t do that. Remember you rule your emotions, don’t let them rule you.

4.Look after your health, eat the right food get plenty of exercise and you willlook and feel great. The better you think of yourself the more positive your outlook on life will be.

5.Form the habit of being positive at all times. Here is a quote I read about habits that I thought was great. “Bad habits are like a comfy bed, easy to get into but hard to get out of.” The same is true about good habits, so get into the habit of being positive, starting today.   Here is an extra tip, SMILE it has proven that smiling can lift your mood. If you encounter a problem smile and think of a solution to that problem. Soon you will find yourself being positive in every situation in life.

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