Writing faster, for the win! Frustrated with your writing output? Looking for ways to get the words moving? L.A. Witt has written and published nearly 200 romance novels and novellas since 2008, and in Writing Faster For The Win, she shares some techniques for getting the words out of your head and onto the screen faster than before. Whether it’s shaking off insecurities and self-doubt, streamlining the research process, or writing out of sequence, you may just find the advice you’ve been looking for. Approx 22,000 words. 2nd Edition - lightly revised.

The Write to the Top process helps you write clear, reader-centered documents that drive action and get results. Productivity—it’s vital to corporate and personal success. Yet business people spend countless hours deciphering vague and rambling written messages. The results: information overload, sluggish operations, delayed decisions, and plummeting morale. Quality—when you receive a business document, e-mail, letter, report, or proposal, do you immediately know what it’s about? Do you know what you’re supposed to do about it? When you send messages, do your readers act on them? They quickly will, if you use the proven Write to the Top process. Put The Six Steps to Reader-Centered Writing® to work to help you • sell your ideas or services more effectively • write up to twice as fast and save time for your busy readers, too • break through writer’s block • target your readers’ needs • demonstrate your leadership in writing • design documents for visual impact and easier navigation • improve your ability to think strategically, propose solutions, and speed up decision making

Writing Fast Programs" provides the basic elements of code optimization and provides strategies for reducing bottlenecks in practical simulation and numerical modeling code. The target audience is scientists and engineers and students in these fields. One pre-publication reviewer called this a much-needed intermediate text to bridge the gap between existing introductory and more advance programming books aimed at scientists. "Writing Fast Programs" does not teach basic programming; some programming proficiency is assumed, along with familiarity with the basic programming terminology. Code examples are presented in C, but BASIC (as a convenient pseudo-language) examples are provided for those not familiar with C. In general, the strategies presented are not language specific and should therefore benefit a wide programming audience. For example, similar techniques have been discussed for Java.

The no-nonsense, no BS guide to becoming a prolific author--available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook! Do you want to write a lot of novels, but can't improve your writing speed? Writing fast is the most important skill you can develop as a writer. While it seems hard to hit high word counts, the secrets are easier than you think. In this writer's guide, prolific author M.L. Ronn pulls back the curtain on the process that he uses to write 6-8 novels a year. He has kept this pace while juggling responsibilities as a husband, father, manager at a Fortune 100 company, and a law school student. The result is a catalogue of over 40 books and counting. Create a writing habit that suits your lifestyle Use writing apps on your phone to double your word count Learn strategies to beat writer's block forever Discover how to write smarter by using unorthodox strategies used by the masters This book is the only thing standing between you and your writing dreams. Write faster, write smarter, beat writer's block, and be the prolific author you've always wanted to be! V1.0

Discover a simple, 7-step system for making writing short fiction a piece of cake! Are you a new author trying to write short stories, but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you’re an experienced author who knows they need to give away more reader magnets, and can’t figure out how to leverage your short fiction? Maybe you need to attract more readers, and want to use short fiction to grow your mailing list? Packed to the brim with useful tips and examples, How to Write Short Stories introduces you to 7 Plot Points Every Short Story Needs that will help you write short fiction readers love. In How to Write Short Stories, you'll discover: - Why you need one central conflict and no subplots - How to write a major setback that will leave readers reeling - What a eureka moment is and why your protagonist needs one - How to end you short story on a satisfying inevitable outcome - What an open hook is and why they’re essential for reader magnets - And more… How to Write Short Stories is the tool you need to improve your short fiction storytelling skills and get more readers. If you like practical advice, real-world examples, and a sprinkling of cheeky humour in your writing guides, then you’ll love this powerful book for short fiction success.

This straightforward guide contains 51 classroom-tested ideas for using reading and writing to help students become better thinkers. The activities are applicable for use with not only language arts but also science, social studies, and math content. Aligned to International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English standards, the strategies cover all six stages of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, conferencing, revising, editing, and publishing. Many of the strategies are accompanied by examples. Grades 4-8. Resources. Illustrated. Good Year Books. 138 pages.

Are you ready to take the next step in your author journey? Art for the sake of art is important. Writing for the love of it, or to create something beautiful on the page, is absolutely worthwhile and critical to expand the sum of human expression. But I’m not here to talk about creativity or the craft of writing in this book. My aim is to take the result of your creativity into the realm of actually paying the bills. To take you from being an author to running a business as an author. I was a business consultant for 13 years before I gave up my job in September 2011 to become a full-time author-entrepreneur. I worked for large corporates and small businesses, implementing financial systems across Europe and Asia Pacific. I’ve also started a number of my own businesses ”" a scuba dive charter boat in New Zealand, a customized travel website, a property investment portfolio in Australia as well as my freelance consultancy. I’ve failed a lot and learned many lessons in my entrepreneurial life and I share them all in this book. In the last six years of being an author, through tempestuous changes in the publishing world, I've learned the business side of being a writer and I now earn a good living as an author-entrepreneur. I’m an author because it's my passion and my joy but also because it's a viable business in this age of global and digital opportunity. In the book, you will learn: Part 1: From Author To Entrepreneur The arc of the author’s journey, definition of an author-entrepreneur, deciding on your definition of success. Plus/ should you start a company? Part 2: Products and Services How you can turn one manuscript into multiple streams of income by exploiting all the different rights, various business models for authors and how to evaluate them, information on contracts, copyright and piracy. Plus/ putting together a production plan. Part 3: Employees, Suppliers and Contractors The team you need to run your business. Your role as author and what you’re committing to, as well as co-writing. Editors, agents and publishers, translators, book designers and formatters, audiobook narrators, book-keeping and accounting, virtual assistants. Plus/ how to manage your team. Part 4: Customers In-depth questions to help you understand who your customers are and what they want, as well as customer service options for authors. Part 5: Sales and Distribution How to sell through distributors and your options, plus all the information you need to sell direct. ISBNs and publishing imprints ”" do you need them? Plus/ your options for pricing. Part 6: Marketing Key overarching marketing concepts. Book-based marketing including cover, back copy and sales pages on the distributors. Author-based marketing around building your platform, and customer-based marketing around your niche audience and targeted media. Part 7: Financials Revenues of the author business and how to increase that revenue. Costs of the author business and funding your startup. Banking, PayPal, accounting, reporting, tax and estate planning. Part 8: Strategy and Planning Developing your strategy and business plan. Managing your time and developing professional habits. The long-term view and the process for becoming a full-time author. Plus/ looking after yourself. Part 9: Next Steps Questions from the book to help you work out everything to do with your business, plus encouragement for your next steps. Appendices, Workbook and Bonus Downloads including a workbook and business plan template. If you want to go from being an author to running a business as an author, download a sample or buy now.

Literacy is a skill for all time, for all people. It is an integral part of our lives, whether we are students or adult professionals. Giving all educators the breadth of knowledge and practical tools that help students strengthen their literacy skills is the focus of Read, Write, Lead. Drawing on her experience as a mentor teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach, and staff developer, author Regie Routman offers time-tested advice on how to develop a schoolwide learning culture that leads to more effective reading and writing across the curriculum. She explains how every school—including yours—can * Implement instructional practices that lead to better engagement and achievement in reading and writing for all students, from kindergarten through high school, including second-language and struggling learners. * Build Professional Literacy Communities of educators working together to create sustainable school change through professional learning based on shared beliefs. * Reduce the need for intervention through daily practices that ensure success, even for our most vulnerable learners. * Embed the language of productive feedback in responsive instruction, conferences, and observations in order to accelerate learning for students, teachers, and leaders. In their own voices, teachers, principals, literacy specialists, and students offer real-life examples of changes that led to dramatic improvement in literacy skills and—perhaps just as important—increased joy in teaching and learning. Scattered throughout the book are “Quick Wins”—ideas and actions that can yield positive, affirming results while tackling the tough work of long-term change.

Does your Rails code suffer from bloat, brittleness, or inaccuracy? Cure these problems with a regular dose of test-driven development. Rails 4 Test Prescriptions is a comprehensive guide to how tests can help you design and write better Rails applications. In this completely revised edition, you'll learn why testing works and how to test effectively using Rails 4, Minitest 5, and RSpec 3, as well as popular testing libraries such as factory_girl and Cucumber. Do what the doctor ordered to make your applications feel all better. Side effects may include better code, fewer bugs, and happier developers. Your Ruby on Rails application is sick. Deadlines are looming, but every time you make the slightest change to the code, something else breaks. Nobody remembers what that tricky piece of code was supposed to do, and nobody can tell what it actually does. Plus, it has bugs. You need test-driven development, a process for improving the design, maintainability, and long-term viability of software. Containing both practical code examples and discussion of why testing works, this book starts with the most basic features delivered as part of core Ruby on Rails. Once you've integrated those features into your coding practice, you'll learn how to use popular third-party testing tools such as RSpec, Mocha, Cucumber, and factory_girl. You'll test the component parts of a Rails application, including the back-end model logic and the front-end display logic. Using Rails examples, you'll learn how to use testing to enable your code to respond better to future change. Plus, you'll see how to handle real-world testing situations. This completely revised edition contains a new tutorial, as well as new examples throughout the book. Many chapters, including the JavaScript chapter, have undergone major changes to reflect new tools and new practices. And there are brand new chapters on testing for security, and testing external services. What You Need:Ruby 2.1, Rails 4