Joe’s lounge

The first draft is the foundation of your story. Now it can be developed into a rich, colorful tale.

My writing is all over the place…

One idea for improving your writing skills is to read your favorite authors with a critical eye. Think about what makes their stories so good. You’re not seeking to imitate. Just perhaps incorporate their style into your writing when it’s appropriate.

The mantra of many writing teachers is: show, don’t tell. An example of telling: ‘the girl was sad.’ vs. an example of showing: ‘tears trickled through the dirt on the girl’s sunburned face.’ Showing is more descriptive and there’s no doubt the girl is sad. The emotions seem more real and compelling.

It’s best to use common words. No one wants to frequently stop reading to look up words.

Your story should have a focus. Pick an event, or idea, and stick with it. Then focus on different aspects of your story. Think of how you would photograph the event, say for example at a wedding. You may take a picture of the church, of guests arriving. A picture showing the inside of the church, of the bride walking down the aisle and the happy couple exiting the church. A room full of guests at the reception. Then zoom in on the flower girl so she’s alone in your lens looking like a princess in her beautiful sparkling dress. Zoom in again on the groom’s father talking about his son as an awkward adolescence. You get the picture.
Going off on an unrelated tangent, no matter how interesting, will confuse the reader and weaken your story. Leave out unnecessary facts. Don’t ramble or include irrelevant information. Or separate them into another Story.

Read more…

I found that plugin just now, which is exactly what i’m looking for for months! The name of this plugin is called: Front Page Excluded Categories, and here’s the introduction:

A basic plugin that excludes posts in one or more categories from appearing on the front page. This is especially useful if you use an automated posting system, like the del.icio.us bookmark blog posting feature, that updates your blog regularly. In such a case, you can assign these posts to an excluded category so they don’t appear on the front page, but do appear in a category page.

These all means i can make some posts “disappear” from my home page but can still be visited via exact url, cool right? There’re people like me are writing paid posts for their living, then this plugin is the best choice if they’re using WP. But…it’s a little bit difficult for me if i want to use this plugin, because i’m using 72pines service, and i can’t install this plugin by myself…All i can do is to suggest the 72pines team to install this plugin and that might not work

07-01#-11

1.150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively

As a student, writer, author, journalist, poet, or screenwriter, you know that you probably spend more time on research, editing, and proofreading than you do on the actual writing. Therefore, you might not have time to find resources to help you write better, faster, or more persuasively. This is where our list comes to your rescue, as the following links focus on places where you can conduct research, software that is free and easy to use, and services that will remove that “extra work” monkey from your back.

This list doesn’t focus solely on students, as writing consists of many genres and styles. Once you graduate from any writing course, you might venture into technical writing or specialize in essays for magazines. You could moonlight as a poet and work weekends as a freelance cub reporter. All the while, you might work on that novel that you intended to write years ago.

2.Directions for Solving the Rubik’s Cube

These instructions can be used to solve a 3×3x3 Rubik’s Cube and also a 2×2x2 Rubik’s mini cube starting from any combination of colors on a mixed up cube. The instructions are both easy to follow and easy to memorize.

07-31#-12

1. USD2RMB

For those who have small sum of money in paypal account and want to exchange the currency from USD to RMB easily from paypal account to alipay. And now the exchange rate is 1:6. Quite reasonable.

08-08#-01

1. Cube

Some different solutions for you to solve the cube.

08-20#-01

1. Pretty Patterns

For cube’s playing.

This picture represents everything that is good and pure in the world. I feel like a small child waking up and scampering down the stairs to see his presents for the first time on a snowy, Christmas morning. Except, now, the tree is in my pants.

How many times have you seen someone and absolutely forgotten their name? It happens to all of us, all of the time. Ian’s Messy Desk is a blog that I subscribe to and today he lists 6 tactics to use as a remedy.

Before, we send you over, here are some things that I personally use:

Name tags: If you meet someone at a tradeshow or other corporate-type event, look at their name tag at least twice during the conversation. You don’t want to stare at it, especially if it’s a woman your talking to (chest area) but visual aids increase memory.

Famous Names: I have been doing this one since grade school and really, it is kind of childish but it works. If the person has a name like Harris (for example), either first name or last, immediately create a rhyme. Ferris (Bueller’s Day Off), Paris (Hilton), etc. Their face along with the rhyme combines the visual element you need as well as a mental ’something’. I don’t know the science, but I know that my first grade teacher was Mrs. Stapleton, my second grade teacher was Mrs. Rogner, my third grade teacher was Mrs. Langerman, my 4th grade teacher was Mrs. Johnson, and my fifth grade teacher was the deceased, Mrs. Kuchida who taught me 7×8=56 and taught me the trick of 5-6-7-8. When she died mid-year in a car accident, my new 5th grade teacher was Mr. Kropp. Hell, that was all 20 years ago!

Take a snapshot: In the movies, there are scenes that freeze on people as they are shaking hands for the first time. It is supposed to draw your attention to the meeting so you can remember it later on when the script calls for a deception or something. Do the same thing. When you extend your hand to give a good shake, make a mental snapshot of the person’s expression. Again, it’s all visual.
Those 3 tips have lasted me for years and frankly, I don’t forget anyone. I don’t want to sound like Robert Di Niro or some gangster, but I remember everything from everybody - good and bad - and I treat them in kind.

So, take those tips and then head over to Ian’s Messy Desk for 6 more, ok 5, I will share one of his here:

Repeat the name back – It’s easy to confirm what you heard by saying something like, “Nice to meet you, Joan.” If the person’s name is a little unusual, you can repeat it to make sure you’re pronouncing it correctly. If you’re unclear about a name given via telephone, ask for the spelling.
Saying the name immediately helps lock it in the memory.

via Dumb Little Man

Lips in some way affect our lifes, lips are a visible organ at the mouth of humans and many animals. Both lips are soft, protruding, movable, and serve primarily for food intake, as a tactile sensory organ, and in articulation of speech. There’re two main funtions of lips, one is to protect our teeth, second is to kiss others, both are important, i’m talking about ladies of course. So we should know how to protect our lips to keep our lips fresh and young. Here are tips for you.

1. Lips require extra moisture. For starters, drink plenty of fresh water. This will ensure that your body is well hydrated.
2. Exfoliate dead skin from lips by using your tooth brush and warm water. After you have finished brushing your teeth, give your lips a once over.
3. Apply moisturizer to lips daily, you could use brand name lip balm or make your own natural lip balm, click here for recipe. Honey is also a great form of lip protection-and it tastes good too! Honey is a humectant-that is, it draws moisture from the air to the skin, keeping it moist.

Still unsatisfy with your lips? Then you should probaly consider to do a lip augmentation in Chicago lip augmentation or somewhere else around the world.

Sara Bongiorni wasn’t trying to make a political statement. She just wondered if it was possible. For a year, Bongiorni and her young family tried to go without buying anything produced in China. No shoes, no toys, not even mousetraps. What she found was that it was nearly impossible. Read her story and see how hard it was, especially in the area of groceries. I was amazed. I had no idea we imported that much from China. We talk about being dependent on oil rich countries. Are we dependent on countries who engage in slave labor?

I quote the above content from here, now you might see how hard for a foreigner to get rid of products made in China

The problems with “HE” as thought by “SHE”:

If u TREAT him nicely, he says u are IN LOVE with him;
If u Don’t, he says u are PROUD.

If u DRESS Nicely, he says u are trying to LURE him;
If u Don’t, he says u are from VILLAGE.

If u ARGUE with him, he says u are STUBBORN ;
If u keep QUIET, he says u have no BRAINS .

If u are SMARTER than him, he’ll lose FACE;
If he’s Smarter than u, he is GREAT.

If u don’t Love him, he tries to POSSESS u;
If u Love him! , he will try to LEAVE u.(very true huh?)

If u don’t MAKE LOVE with him., he says u DON’T LOVE him;
If u DO!! He says u are CHEAP.

If u tell him your PROBLEM, he says u are TROUBLESOME;
If u DON’T, he says that u don’t TRUST him.

If u SCOLD him, u are like a NANNY to him;
If he SCOLDS u, it is because he CARES for u.

If u BREAK your PROMISE, u Cannot be TRUSTED;
If he BREAKS his, he is FORCED to do so.

If u SMOKE, u are BAD girl;
If he SMOKES, he is GENTLEMAN.

If u do WELL in your exams, he says it’s LUCK;
If he does WELL, it’s BRAIN.

If u HURT him, u are CRUEL;
If he HURTS u, u are too SENSITIVE!!

From Celestial Recorder

Log on to this website: http://sp-studio.de/ change your hair style, eyes, mouth, skin… Awesome!

That’s the creature i’ve made…

See how experts explain about the relations between women and problems.

Ori:http://www.random-good-stuff.com/index.php/2007/06/21/the-scientific-proof-that-women-equal-problems/