How to Tap into Your Creative Powers with the Magic Tool – Mind Mapping
December 26, 2005
Creativity is no more just a buzzword. It is just what makes the world go. Think of all the creativity that gave rise to inventions. From using a blade, to landing on the moon have all been made possible because of the wonderful ability - creativity. It is looking at a concept/idea/perception in an entirely new dimension.
We are categorized as ‘Right’ brained when we display a good range of creativity. The right brain qualities involve imagination, risk taking, creativity, artistic abilities, highly philosophical orientation, etc. Creative people display certain common traits. They display the profile of risk takers, rebellious, absent-minded, humorous, extremely focused, preoccupied, determined, and so on.
Editing Secrets
December 24, 2005
Once you’ve plotted out your book, developed the characters and written the last word of text, the real work begins. As busy editors are bombarded with hundreds or even thousands of submissions a year, it’s more important than ever that authors apply their own editing skills to their manuscripts before putting them in the mail. Checking your basic grammar and spelling are of course important, but authors need to go beyond surface editing if their work has a chance of catching an editor’s eye.
Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 6 of 6
December 23, 2005
SALE, SAIL
Sale is either offering something for purchase (”for sale”) or offering it at a special price (”on sale”); sail is part of a ship or boat.
SELL, CELL
Sell is to exchange for money; cell is a small room.
SCENE, SEEN
Scene is the place where something happens; seen is the past participle of see.
“Yet he had seen nothing suspicious at the scene of the accident.” (Of course you wouldn’t write a sentence like that; the two words make for a clumsy combination. I would probably replace “scene” with “site”.)
Can You Have Better Sounding MP3s at Lower Bitrates?
December 22, 2005
The first thing anyone learns about the MP3 audio format is that it is based on a lossy compression algorithm. Lossy compression means that in order to reduce the file size some of the original audio has been removed which inherently reduces the fidelity of the recording. How much data is removed during the compression process is a based on a combination of factors including user preference, portability requirements, available disk space, etc. In the case of an MP3 download the user little control over how much fidelity has been removed from the audio source.
Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 5 of 6
PASSED, PAST
Passed is the past tense of pass. Past means a time that has gone.
“Time passed and we all forgot the incident.”
“In times past it was the custom for women to wear hats in church.”
PEACE, PIECE
Peace means the absence of war (or even noise); piece is a portion of something.
PEAK, PEEK, PIQUE
Pique means to excite or irritate; peek means to peep or snoop; peak as a noun means the summit or tip, and as a verb means to climax. So, you pique someone’s curiosity; you don’t peek or peak it. If someone annoys you, you become piqued rather than peeked or peaked.