Fitness is a goal that many of us seek, yet find difficult to achieve. Why?

For each of us, the answer will be different. In fact, before starting a fitness program, it is important to ask yourself: “What makes regular exercise hard for me to pursue?” Your answers could include a busy lifestyle, fear of soreness, or simply “I don’t like it” if you are honest.

Step One: Define Barriers and Get Motivated

Starting a personal fitness plan includes looking at these barriers and deciding how you can deal with them. This includes finding the motivation to begin.

One source of motivation is understanding the benefits to you of physical fitness. These include: aerobic exercise conditions your heart and lungs (and can reduce your risk of heart disease), it increases your endurance (which can help on those long, tough days with a million things to do), it reduces stress, it can help you lose weight, and it can help reduce your risk of disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and depression. When you exercise, you look better, feel better, and are healthier.

Step Two: Preparation

Okay, so the benefits sound great. How do you get started?

First, Look at your daily routine. Try to determine the best time for incorporating exercise into it, whether early morning or in the evening. Your schedule and your biorhythm will determine this.

Wear clothing that is comfortable, loose, and permits sweat evaporation. Supportive athletic shoes are good choices for most activities.

Start slowly if you aren’t used to exercise. Check with your health care provider before starting out, especially if you are over age 35, or have any medical problems. They may ask you to modify your plan, such as choosing low impact exercise if you have joint problems.

Step Three: A Simple Routine That Works

A typical exercise routine begins with warm-ups. These are slow stretches that allow muscles a chance to warm up, then a slow start into the exercise itself. Warm up takes about five minutes.

Then comes conditioning exercise.At this point, many people ask, “What kind of exercise is best?” The answer is, “Just about any physical activity that you ENJOY doing.” This is the key. If you find a routine that you like, or is even fun, you are more likely to continue it.

An exercise routine may be a daily walk or swimming, going to the local gym and working out with others, or a private session on the treadmill at home.

Build up gradually, starting out with five or ten minutes a day to prevent “morning after” soreness. You will enjoy yourself more if you allow time to work into a routine, and can add five minutes a week until you meet your goal.

What should your goal be? Minimum fitness is considered 20 to 30 minutes every other day, although you may choose to exercise more as fitness improves.

During exercise, you should be able to hold a conversation (the “talk test”). Slow down if you can’t. If chest pain, irregular heart beats, difficulty breathing, or dizziness occur, stop immediately, and notify your health care provider.

Finally, you will want to cool down. This phase prevents blood from pooling in your legs (which can cause dizziness). Cooling down can be walking, or very low level exercise, followed by simple stretches that relax muscles

With exercise, you can enjoy the benefits of feeling better, looking trimmer, and having more energy. Finding a routine that you enjoy will help you continue it, and exercise your way to a fitter, healthier lifestyle.

Meditation is and attribute and in a way a consequence of the Buddhism philosophy. It is a relatively new idea to western culture, but the idea is being more and more accepted. The reason of it’s growing popularity is stresses of modern day living as well as the growing population of people concerned with preserving and expanding their spiritual potential.

As said Albert Einstein,

“If the possibility of the spiritual development of all individuals is to be secured, a second kind of outward freedom is necessary, which may be characterized as inward freedom. This inward freedom is an infrequent gift of nature and a worthy object for the individual.”

Thus, if the inborn inward freedom is so seldom and so valuable, it is then comprehensible why people are now turning to meditation as a tool to attain this freedom. Yoga’s tradition states that concentration onsubtle internal body sensation makes it possible to control body’s functions up to a degree considered unthinkable in Western scientific paradigm, like heart beat or the very consciousness.

The recent therapeutic success of Guided Imagery corroborated the concept of accessibility (though not effortless) of the body functions for voluntary control by the mind.

We intend to describe the exercise on the body centering using basics of the meditation technique. We will list some terms and conditions concerning meditation given by two classical meditation schools.

In the Buddhist tradition, there are five principal kinds of meditation:

1. Metta-bhavana or meditation on Love, in which the monk thinks of all beings and longs for their happiness

2. Karuna-bhavana or meditation on Pity, in which the mediating person is to think of all things in distress and sorrow for their sorrows

3. Mudita-bhavana or meditation on Joy is concentration on rejoicing in the others joy

4. Asubha-bhavana or meditation on Impurity is the way of thinking about the physical world and the physical body as substrates of corruption, disease and sorrow, endlessly repeating in the chain of rebirths

5. Upekka-bhavana or meditation on Serenity is a fixation on indifference to what men hold for good and bad, with utter calmness and serenity of mind

The Yoga system require as a prerequisite for meditation several steps of self-purification and self-perfection:

1. Yama or vows to abstain from harming living things, deceit, stealing, unchastity and acquisitiveness
2. Nijyama or observance: the rules of cleanliness, calm, mortification, study and prayer
3. Asanas as a mode of body discipline and control
4. Pranayama or breathing control and self-limitation
5. Pratayahara or withdrawal of the senses from the physical world
6. Dharana or concentration of the mind on a single idea until it is closed to anything else
7. Dhyana or meditation, which is described in this context as a preparatory stage to the complete trance in which the mind is no longer aware of the outer world
8. Samadhi, the trance. During this stage, it is believed, the mind enters into the Ultimate reality

You can see that meditation is serving to the mighty idea and is being served in its own turn by a complete and all-embracing life-style. However, there are modern applications that sound very close to the idea of healing power of increased body-awareness. I mean the Guided Imagery.

In this technique, a healer leads a patient into the body encouraging concentration on its internal state and efforts to improve the inner condition. Imagery it is because it uses metaphorical language, which can be quite far away from realistic knowledge about the body’s machinery and functioning.

It is also guided, because it is not easy to fulfil, partly due to our overall decreased body awareness. In accordance with one of the recent academic concepts of self-diagnostic system of the body, signals from deficient internal organs are supposed to be brought to the self-diagnostic center of the brain within the common stream of bodily signals (touch, pain, muscle sensation, bone tension, etc.).
In civilized human beings this stream is lacking its natural flux, resulting in insufficient delivery of information. Directing the thought flow inside the body perhaps is one of the ways to compensate this lacking. We use guided imagery permanently in the Body-mind Workout exercises, but it is the most expressed in the body-centered meditation.

Ms. Frost’s is still concerned with love, nostalgia, and loss. It would be very easy for her to traffic in confessional songs, or emotional rants. Similarly, she might confide in us, only to wink self-consciously at her vulnerable side being exposed. But she doesn’t, and one can only hope this album inspires others to follow her lead. Her voice is honest and self-doubting, a country girl with her own sense of morality, her own sense of religion, and a wonderful ear. Her songwriting reminds me of the Velvet Underground songs collected on The Velvet Underground: VU, released in 1985, the album with “Stephanie Says”, “Lisa Says”, and “I’m Sticking With You”, among other things. Indeed, the title track “Wonder Wonder” is eerily reminiscent of Moe Tucker’s effort on “I’m Sticking With You”. At other times, Ms. Frost sounds like Liz Phair if she had stuck to writing pop gems like “Supernova” and “Flower”.

Ultimately, Ms. Frost belongs in an elite group of magical songwriters working today. Some of them share the same label, Drag City. Her voice is timeless and her songs reach well beyond the usual bullshit of alcohol and isolation and love gone awry. It is not enough to feel bad, nor is it enough to learn how to strum a guitar and take a couple of voice lessons. Talent like Ms. Frost comes along a few times a generation, pressurized for a time in her heart and mind, and finally buffed up like a diamond for us to consider. This is not an album of folk songs or ballads or country numbers or angry rockers. This is Ms. Frost’s music, and for Christmas I want more.

I first met Weiss (though I didn’t know it was her) last July to be precise, after I’d been running through the hills and mountains near Aspen for more than three hours along with my adventure racing teammates. Weiss and her companion awaited our arrival in a darkened meadow. The two of them, as volunteers at the X World Cup Adventure Race, had been flown in by helicopter hours earlier to serve as recorders at one of the race’s official checkpoints. We hailed them, thanked them for their volunteerism, and went on our tired way, little knowing that a few years earlier, the woman standing before us had weighed in at 150 pounds heavier than her current weight.

That was before her mother’s premature death prompted her to face the hard fact of her own lack of fitness. Stunned into action, Weiss decided to take control. Through proper diet and exercise, Weiss gradually lost the extra weight. As the weight came off, she found herself enjoying exercising more and more.

“I was really wanting to get into multidisciplinary sports,” she explained. “The main thing was to find activities to help me improve my fitness. I know that if I took up running and that’s all I did, I’d just get bored. Plus I love the mountains. I grew up in Colorado. I love to hike and to backpack, and I just love being up there.”

Weiss’s love of being outside and her pursuit of more than one fitness activity made her a natural fit for adventure racing, which usually incorporates at least three disciplines – trail running/hiking with navigation, mountain biking and paddling. Last March, when she heard about the 2000 sea2summit race that was taking place at Copper Mountain in August, she made it her goal to finish the race.

“I wanted to see if I could do it,” she said.

Weiss entered the two-day stage race (meaning competitors sleep at night) as an individual competitor, but planned to race with a male coworker who had also entered as an individual. As “teammates” the two trained together and supported one another throughout the race. When she reached the final section of the sea2summit on the second day – a mountain biking section – her teammate raced ahead, but Weiss was already elated. Though she hates mountain biking, it was at that point that she knew she was going to finish the race.

Not only did she finish the race, but also, she discovered a new passion and purpose in exercising that went beyond merely keeping fit. Today, at age 42, Weiss is more in shape than ever, thanks to her commitment to racing. She plans to compete in three adventure races and numerous smaller races this year. In addition she has become an enthusiastic promoter of the sport, volunteering at adventure races and working with an adventure racing club, among other activities – in fact, she said, she does something with adventure racing nearly every day.

“I used to say, ‘I don’t run unless someone’s chasing me.’ Now I’m seeing a running coach and thinking about getting involved in 50Ks,” said Weiss, quickly adding, “but the only reason I’m running is for adventure racing!”

Tomatoes are used all over the world today. They can be found in Africa, Europe, South America, North America and China. China is the first country to make ketchup, known as ke-tsiap, which was a soy and fish based sauce. An American, James Mease, from New Jersey first made the sauce with tomatoes in 1812. Then the H. J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh started selling Heinz Ketchup in 1876.

Nutrient content One size tomato is about 35 calories with 0 fat, cholesterol, or sodium content. It contains potassium, vitamin A and C along with calcium and iron. Contains more antioxidants than carrots. Researchers say that lycopene, an antioxidant found in large amounts of tomatoes, is responsible for the prevention of prostate cancer and other cancers. Also, lycopene protects the body against free radicals which degrade many parts of the body.

Peak season: Peak season for California grown tomatoes is May to December. Available throughout the year but in the winter months, you should use organically grown tomatoes for a better taste.

Selection: Tomatoes should not be too hard or too mushy to the gentle squeeze. You can smell to see if the tomato has a sweet smell. Also, the skin should be smooth and richly colored. It is preferable to home grow tomatoes or purchase from a local grower.

Storage: Never store a tomato in the refrigerator if it has not fully ripened since cold temperatures will destroy the flavor and retard the ripening process. It is okay to refrigerate a fully ripened tomato for a few days but only for a few days since a longer time period will deteriorate the flavor. Use fresh tomatoes within several days of purchase. Non-ripe tomatoes will continue to ripen for several days to a week for later use. To speed this process up, put tomatoes in a brown bag.

Preparation: Tomatoes can be stuffed, baked, stewed or grilled in dishes which range from soups to salads to salsas and omelets. They can be used in sauces, soups or chilis.

List of eats at Kate’s grad parties; all of these took under 30 minutes each to make!

Tortillas scrabled with bacon and eggs (Migas con Tocino y Huevos)
Chicken noodle soup with extra slurpy noodles
Asparagus-ham cheese melts
Arugula-trout salad with honeyed soy sauce
Iced tea
Thai-spiced grilled fillet of beef with gnocchi of potato and celery
poke salad (cubed raw ahi with vinegar-drizzled cucumbers)
Indian seafood soup
citrus salsa with curried sweet potatoes
Linguine with Tuscon marinara sauce
Bean and chili curry dip with nachos
Iwashi with ginger-scallion paste
Chocolate chip cookies
All-dressed pizza with grilled shrimp
Pizza omelets with extra mushrooms and cheese
Turkey pies with warm stewed yams and apples
Lemon granitas
Three cheese mashed root vegetables (turnip, potatoes and sweet potatoes)
Frozen yogurt (Raspberry, vanilla, mango and orange flavors)
Summer daze vegetable soup
Nectarine tart with brown sugar crust
Three bean salad with lemon dressing
Summer squash casserole
Vegan chocolate cake with warm fudge n’ rum chocolate sauce
Asparagus, cucumber and sugar snap peas with herb dip
popcorn
Broccoli and mozzarella pizza
Beet and walnut salad
Cherries and strawberries
Chutoro sashimi with wasabi
Moroccan spicy carrots
Split pea brainiac soup
Fudge pecan brownies
Mexican-style chickpea salad
Naked cucumber salad
Zucchini and bellpepper couscous
Texas Fried chicken
New England chowder
Salmon salad with roasted peppers and sweet onions
Chicken ravioli
Baby bananas with rum-raisin ice cream
Blueberry marscapone tart with gooey chocolate dip
Shanghai twice-fired pizzas
Lemonade
Fruit yogurts (strawberry, peach, blueberry, raspberry)
Chorizo with baby Chinese veggies soup
Baguette stuffed with pesto tapenade, goat cheese and arugula
Watermelon and honeydew slices
Basil risotto
Chicken chimichangas with guacamole
Sorbets (strawberry, lemon, lime, mango, coconut, grape juice, raspberry, orange, grapefruit, kiwi and papaya)
Pad thai noodles with chili soup base
Watercress and egg salad pitas
Hot maple and fudge milkshakes
Mushroom and barley soup
New potato and dried tomato salad
Spoonbread and tomato soup
Arugula and blackberry salad with warm plums
Penne pasta with peanutty hot creamy sauce
Marshmallow tacos
Caesar salad
Pineapple slices with chilies
Marinated vegetable salad
Baking soda biscuits
Granny Smith apple chunks in chocolate mimosas
Blueberries with yogurt and maple-blueberry syrup
Orange juice
Tomato-celery salsa and tortillas
White bean and tomato salsa and herbed pita crisps
Spicy pineapple and jicama salsa/sauce on salads, halibut steak and in soft wraps.
Curried chicken and mango sandwiches
Orzo with feta, green beans and tomatoes
Lemony potato avocado salad
Cream of broccoli soup
Angelfood cake with ripe strawberries and cream
Fresh fruit supply

If you’re inspired to have just such a prom night(s), remember some non-food necessities:

-checking for beach and observatory availability, weather predictions for overcast or dark skies, and confirming the booking times.
-damp paper towels (lots!)
-large plastic bags for garbage
-waterproof group ground sheets
-grass mats to put under beach towels (for a stable surface on sand)
-yearbooks and colored pens and markers
-cameras and lots of film
-salt and pepper packages
-citronella candles (nasty mosquitoes)
-towels, swimwear and sunscreen
-floor cushions
-sleeping bags
-sports gear
-lots of water
-availability of washroom facilities
-music!

Here’s one example recipe…Ready for more easy and fast recipes? Sign up for your free email newsletter today!

Summer squash casserole

Summer squash is definitely more tasty than winter squash; more color variety too! Here’s the recipe for summer squash casserole:

1 and three-quarter pounds yellow summer squash (2 medium sized squash)
4 cups water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 bacon slices, cut into small pieces
1 green bell pepper
half onion
chilies, chopped finely
2 eggs
half cup grated sharp Cheddar
1 and half cup plain yogurt, drained
1 cup cornmeal

1. Preheat oven to 350 F, oil or spray one and half quart shallow baking dish.
2. Cut enough squash into half-inch cubes to fill six cups. Ina saucepan, combine cubed squash, water and soy sauce, simmering until tender, about 25 minutes.
3. While squash is cooking, cook bacon over moderate heat until crisp and transfer to paper towels, reserving the drippings. Chop bell pepper and grate enough onion to measure quarter cup. Beat eggs in a small bowl.
4. Drain squash (saving water for soup). Stir in bacon, reserved drippings, bell pepper, onion, chilies, eggs and yogurt. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour mixture into dish, sprinkle evenly with cornmeal. Bake until set and cornmeal is soft, about 1 hour. Serves 6 as a side dish.

JS: Well, we’re going to remember the good times in this interview!
KW: Those were indeed good times. That’s one of the most memorable parties ever, graduation or not.

JS: Where did you go instead of the usual dinner and dance organized by the grad committee?
KW: My friends and I went to a star party instead. [stargazing party]

JS: Where was that?
KW: There are lots of different star parties organized for amateur nightsky gazers, but by June they are usually overbooked and booked in advance for a few years. We went to a deep-sky observatory instead of a mountain filled with cars and families, just so that we could get some privacy and really party.

JS: Why did you choose not to be in a group party with classmates?
KW: Well, most of my friends were in IB [International Baccalaureate], so a lot of the people who came to the party were my classmates anyway. Those who wanted to go with the rest of the school’s organized grad parties could do so, but [shrugs] the party I went to was way better. We waited till we were done all our exams so that we could concentrate on our schoolwork during the schoolyear, then when it was over we could really go all out and party.

JS: Were the observatory physicists surprised when you asked to book it for a few days?
KW: Yup, they thought it was a prank call at first. [laughs] Then they were really enthusiastic and supportive about it when they found out what we wanted to book it for.

JS: It’s certainly unique…how did you get all the food up there?
KW: Well, you know the answer to that, we cooked so much of the food together! But, umm, there’s like a schedule that you can figure out. Obviously we made sure that the observatory had, you know, microwaves and stuff, so that we could reheat things there, but the perishables, like frozen yogurt and sorbets and lemon granitas were brought up to us by you on the second and third days, so…it was all fine! Pizza straight from the oven is pretty good too, Jasmine!

JS: Why did you choose these foods specifically?
KW: Well, you can eat chocolate chip ice cream anytime…we wanted nutritious food that was easy and really fast to make, and easy to reheat in the microwave. I mean, life’s meant to be enjoyed so I don’t get why lots of girls go on diets and stuff and buy or rent dresses that don’t flatter them…and then they go to eat food that’s badly cooked! All the stress over makeup and weight and everything just ends in a disappointing night. So I wanted my grad to be different, and that means enjoying the eating part of the party!

JS: Your grad party is also unusual because it lasted a few days and nights.
KW: Like I said, make it memorable because life is short!

JS: What else did you do besides some star- and galaxy gazing?
KW: Well, we did a whole lot of that, but we also danced and drove down to a private beach during the days when, obviously, stargazing is a little difficult. [laughs] We had tons of stuff to do, like, beach volleyball, swimming, canoeing…we built sandcastle, went rollerblading…so it was really lots of fun. There was one night the skies were overcast at the observatory, so we just went down to the beach and had a great beach party with torches and everything! It was looking kind of tribal there. [laughs]

JS: Did the foods fit all these activities?
KW: For the most part, yes, because they were portable and there’s lots of energy packed into them. We put lots of water and lemonade into coolers, so we never had to drink seawater or anything…Plus you can eat them in any order, so…

JS: Do you remember having a favorite food?
KW: You know, they were all good. I bow to your superior culinary skills [laughs]. The salmon salad was so good, I couldn’t believe you made it from leftovers. The fudge and cream brownies were really good, and all the pizzas and salads were good too!

JS: Foodwise, what do you think makes for a good grad party?
KW: Well…we had the ahi…ahi, right? That was from Japan, but you know, you don’t have to go around ordering stuff from Japan to make the food special. I remember the chicken noodle soup tasted incredible outdoors, and the chicken ravioli too. I mean, these are ordinary healthy foods, but if you can enjoy them and eat a variety of foods that all taste good, you’re going to have a good party! On the food side of things at least.

JS: What did you wear in the observatory? You can’t tell the readers that you wore a Versace dress climbing up and helping to adjust the telescopes!
KW: No, of course not! Just, you know, a more formal than usual dress that didn’t billow everywhere or get caught on anything.

JS: What do you call formal?
KW: Well, the lighting in the observatory is like, white light, so vibrant colors were called for, and very little makeup which just looks gross in white light. So…the morning before the dress I chose was a little black number that was loose enough to feel comfy, but formal enough in design to look elegant.

JS: What about shoes?
KW: What about them? We didn’t wear any on the beach…and we wore semi-formal slippers, like satin slippers and oxfords and stuff, at the observatory.

JS: Did you go outside to see the view from the observatory?
KW: Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that. [laughs] It’s just really amazing because you can see for miles and miles, and we got up at sunrise and didn’t go to sleep very early because the Northern Lights were so incredible!

JS: They were more incredible last year, though.
KW: Still, there’s nothing like a view from the summit at sunrise and sunset that reminds you how much you love life and being on this earth. They say that we have to do good acts on Earth so that we can get to Heaven. As far as I’m concerned, why wait? Make this Earth, in this moment in time, your own Heaven.

Read next: “List of Eats at Kate’s Grad Parties”

Before you can begin to interpret your dreams, you have to be able to remember them. This guide will show you what it takes to remember your dreams.

The first hurdle you will have to jump on your way to interpreting your dreams is remembering them on a regular basis. By following the steps outlined below, you will have no problem soaring over this obstacle.

1. Develop a Sleep Schedule

The most detrimental thing you can do to your ability to remember your dreams is not following a regular sleep schedule. The ideal situation is one where you can wake up without an alarm clock (they tend to jar you out of your dreams); however, if this is not possible, you can still train yourself to be ready for the alarm by (a) getting approximately the same amount of sleep every night and (b) going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day. This may seem slightly simplistic, but it really does work, as long as you give it a chance. Remember, it takes 21 days of continuious activity to create a habit, so don’t give up too soon!

2. Repeat After Me: “Dreams are Important”

Many people have trouble remembering their dreams because, subconsciously, they do not believe their dreams have any value. This concept is easy in the way our culture uses the term “dreamer”. Instead of being viewed as visionaries or creative, the “dreamer” we tend to think of is foolish and lazy. In order to combat this, you must tell yourself that dreaming is important to you. That it will help you discover the answers to your problems (it can) and that you need dreams to maintain your mental health (you do). The best time to say your mantra is right before you fall asleep (since that is when you need to hear it the most).

3. Write Your Dreams Down

While it is possible to remember your dreams, you will be hard-pressed to do so if you do not write them down. I’ll go into dream journals in part two of this series, but, for now, the easiest way to do this is to write down everything you can remember, and also any emotions you were left with. Don’t worry too much about continuity or getting everything down, the goal here is just to write down what you can as you remember it. (As you get into the habit of writing down your dreams, you will find that not only do you remember more of each dream, you will remember large bits and pieces as the day continues.)

If you follow these three steps every night, soon you will have a collection of dreams waiting to be put in a dream journal, which is where we will pick this up next time. Until then, happy dreaming!

They started walking again; they were really deep in the forest. It was starting to get a little bit cold and a little bit spooky! Suddenly, Buttermilk saw a clearing in the dark woods and said “You guys! Come on, there’s a clearing ahead!” They all started to run, even Bing-Ling and Catrunda started to run towards the light. When they got there, Bing-Ling saw a little fireplace under a roof. All of a sudden, right before their eyes, huge drops of water started to pour down on them! “Hurry under here,” said their father, who was already under the little roof with walls all around it to keep out the wind and the rain. “Hurry, let’s get the fire started before it gets any wetter,” their father said to everybody. They finally got the fire started and then started to roast the hotdogs.

When they were done eating, their mother said “let’s go on another walk since it stopped raining”. They started walking and after they had only been walking a couple of minutes Buttermilk said “Hey, I remember that place up ahead because there’s those three stumps lined up in a row!” “Yeah, you’re right!” said Bridget.

Pointing at their new black and orange striped jeep, “Well we better be going,” said father. “It’s getting dark,” so they packed up all their stuff and drove away from the woods.

OUTDOOR & CAMPING FIRST AID KITS

“Thank you for being generous and sharing this information.”

Why are people so shocked that a fellow writer will write informative articles to aid other freelance authors? This puzzles me. I know that I have encountered many types of writers. Some of these authors are rather selfish with giving away their trade “secrets”. Other writers are very helpful to the writing community. I have found that most of the really good writers are more generous. Perhaps this is for the simple fact that a mediocre writer is rather insecure about his or her ability, so this author is particularly careful about letting others know those tips that really work. Who knows! As unique as each person is, so too are the temperaments of writers. Writers come in many shades and hues.

Many writers think that they should write a book about the topic instead of helping other writers. Well there is never an overstock of writing guides that are top notch. One great thing about freelance authors is the fact that they read an awful lot! No, I am a journalist, so I am going to do my job- inform people about what I know. I am going to write marketing and writing tips for other writers. This is what I know, and as you know, writers must write what they know.

These secretive and elusive writers annoy me. Hell, they downright turn me off about as fast as the elevator music playing at the doctor’s office does. I am sure it turns many other authors off as well. I have never been a selfish person, and I am not about to become a selfish writer. Maybe that means I won’t make my first million by the age of thirty. That’s ok, I am 33 now. Instead I took the opposite direction. I started a web site that will help writers become successful online freelancers. No matter what their writing skill level is, these authors can learn to prosper. Do you know what makes a writer successful?

Is it their giftedness or talent?

NO! It does help, but persistence helps more.

Is it their education level?

No, but education always helps.

What make writers successful are the following facts: their hard work, motivation, and determination are what set them apart from the rest. Just like in any other profession, the motivated individuals succeed. There is no magic formula. There is no smart pill. There is just hard work. The sprinter that runs the fastest is the one that finishes first. I work, on average, around 10-14 hours per day six or seven days a week. But remember I love my job.

Another great tip that I can give you is to subscribe to writers’ market newsletters. These are written by writers for writers, and these weekly periodicals are your best bet for becoming a successful writer.