Writing

Myth: Speling Doesn’t Matter For Bloggers & Writers

Garth Beyer

FALSE

A common piece of advice from great Bloggers, Marketers, Salesman and Writers is that spelling and grammar should not be a priority.

People like Jeffrey Gitomer, Seth Godin and countless others encourage you to blog and write your heart out without a worry about the spelling or grammar because it means nothing compared to the content you are providing. So many successful people think they can get more attention by suggesting to others that they do not need to focus on spelling, but do you notice… they never make any spelling errors themselves? They re-read their own material over and over until it is perfect, because they know the second golden rule of a life well lived –

Everything Counts.

Have you ever read a novel and found that one word that is misspelled? I bet you wonder if anyone else noticed it too, but then you shrug it off. Without realizing it, you have just been pushed back – taken out of the story for a moment. But then, later in the novel you find another mistake and you think, did this author even read this over? This is his heart poured out, his focus, and countless hours of time in this novel and he lets two misspellings go by? Or did he not care enough and simply had his editor try to catch everything? Doesn’t he think his information is important enough to share with other close and personal friends that could have read the novel before its release and found the errors?

Spelling Is Crucial!

It is unfortunate that the consistent effort that a person puts into a goal is not seen by the majority of their peers. Only the end result, the achievement, goes noticed. How do you think we got the term “an overnight success”? I guarantee you, it was not overnight. Why do we believe the novel we read was the absolute greatest? Because it was flawless. The author knows that everything counts, especially the little things like 1 spelling error in a book of 650 pages.

Words, grammar, and spelling are the tools of the trade and should be used correctly. Using them incorrectly is like a carpenter using a sledgehammer to drive in finishing nails. It can be done, but it will leave big marks in the wood and leave the user’s hands bruised and battered. – Michael Barbagallo

The days in which content and messages are only related to a few people each day are long gone. Now, a single message could be sent out to one person or one billion people in a day. A single misspelling could be noticed by (depending on your number of followers) thousands of people. What do these people think? “Does this author even care? And he calls himself a Writer?” Basic errors in grammar, mechanics and spelling are harmful to your reputation, your brand and your credibility.

Interested in more (pardon the reference) sledgehammering of grammatical errors? The Price of Typos

I look at it this way, Scucses is not Success. You cannot be a successful writer, editor, copy writer, journalist, ghost writer, blogger, and so on if you do not put in the effort to have everything in order.

Here is a bonus from SpellDoctor.

Why Spelling Matters 

No matter how you look at it, success in spelling leads directly to success in our overall use of the language. Spelling matters.

Developmental, Practical and Personal Matters

  • Spelling Supports Reading Comprehension. Spelling skill goes hand in hand with efficient word decoding and solid reading comprehension as well as unlocking new words and the understanding of the phonological structure of words.
  • Spelling Supports Effective Writing. Because confident spellers are adventurous with language, they are able to create richer more persuasive essays.
  • Projected Image. Spelling is part of one’s projected image. Like it or not, it is one of the means used by society to judge a person’s literacy.
  • Presentations. Many presentations involve marker boards. Spelling errors can be very embarrassing if committed during a presentation. The fear of making an error can lead to a limiting of word choices and a lessening of the impact of the intended message. (I have been victim to seeing a professional speaker not know how to spell “education” or “management”. Regardless that it was on the spot or not, spelling is an extreme key factor in presentations)
  • Employment Opportunities. A survey of major American corporations indicates that 96% of employers consider spelling, punctuation, and grammar to be “extremely important” or “important” factors when making hiring and promotion decisions. In 2005, The National Commission on Writing for American’s Families, Schools, and Colleges reported that 80% of employment applications are negatively affected by misspellings.
  • Attention To Details. A commitment to spelling teaches us to have high standards and pay attention to details.
  • Self Esteem. Strong spelling builds one’s self esteem. We are saved from that nagging worry that we may be judged as unintelligent.

Stay Positive and Know That Success Is The Greatest 7 Letter Word That You Could Use In Scrabble

Garth E. Beyer

 

Stomp The Prompts And Eggshells! Out-Of-The-Box Writing Prompts and Lessons –

Garth Beyer

It’s winter time in Madison, Wisconsin. It is actually snowing right now and we are supposed to get up to 5 inches. I figured this would be a perfect time to post my writing prompts I created just for you. Regardless if you are living where its snowing, I hope you have some time to do some free writing. Below you will find 15 writing prompts and one bonus prompt that I will respond to. Following the prompts I will give you suggestions on how to successfully write prompts. As much as it is a free writing technique, there are requirements and lessons to learn. It took me a lot of cruddy free writing stories to learn and I am more than happy to share them with you. Without further ado,

15 writing prompts, just for you by Garth E. Beyer: Because getting prompts elsewhere just is not good enough!

  • The tornado sirens are blaring and you are waiting by the window patiently to see if there is actually a tornado nearby. You see a woman screaming and pointing behind her as she runs toward your house. Why do you think she is screaming? What do you?
  • You felt adventurous this morning so you are at the local park which is basically like being in the woods. Not realizing how far off the trail you have gotten, you become stuck between a wolf and the edge of the cliff with raging waters steadily streaming down below. What are your thoughts and actions?
  • A large burly man has you thrown over his shoulder. Since you are not in view of the direction he is heading, all you see is desert land behind him. What do you think is ahead of him? Where is he taking you?
  • You are a bird for a day. What do you do? Where do you go?
  • You have just won the $1000 a week for life lottery. How do you celebrate? What are your plans for the money?
  • Your school field trip leaves you stuck in the hot air balloon with the prissiest girl in your class. How do you survive the 2 hour hot air balloon ride while the fuel slowly runs out?
  • Write a detailed description of where you believe wind comes from.
  • You must use a color in every sentence while describing the beginning, growth, and end of the life of your favorite fruit.
  • Free write with the sole focus of stars. It may be stars on a flag, or the sky, as long as the subject remains on stars.
  • Write in detail of your dream vacation. Where is it? What do you do? How would you describe it to a family member upon return?
  • List different types of hugs a person can give and the significance or subconscious meaning behind each.
  • You are on a roof of a building with your friends and they are pressuring you to jump across to the roof of the adjacent building. What is running through your mind? Do you jump?
  • You have just been in a terrible biking accident down a hill. You are telling your friend the narrative starting from the beginning of your day to how you ended up in the hospital bed.
  • The city has dubbed you head of college applications “Admissions Officer”. Revise and Rewrite the acceptance letter to your liking to be given to all accepted college applicants.
  • You have an assignment for Garth. You need to come up with fifteen writing prompts. Do you obey and write the writing prompts? If so, what are they? If not, why not? (Post them in comments section for me and others)

Toastmasters Bonus Prompt

My bonus prompt is not one I made up like those above. I got it from attending Toastmasters the other night during Table Topics. I was the first to volunteer (always am) to go up and pick a folded piece of paper with the prompt. “Theme: your personal best, real or imagined… Making dinner for a picky eater”. The Table Topics Master focused on positivity and the point of the Topic was to focus on the best parts of an experience, no matter how disastrous it may have been.

When I read my prompt I quickly thought of a cursed friend when she was vegetarian. It was her birthday and I tricked her by telling her that I had to stop back at my house to get my money. How could I purchase her sweet things at the mall if I had no money? To her surprise I had the house pitch black…except for the candles. I had the dining room set up with a table cloth, candles, silverware and wine glasses. After pulling the chair out for her, I came back from the kitchen and surprised her with a huge dish of vegetarian lasagna. She had been begging me to make a dinner for her. I am not the best cook, but beg and you shall receive. I found a lasagna recipe online, but really ended up grabbing whatever ingredients I thought would go good in it. While it turned out to look a bit more like goulash, she loved it. As much as she has begged me to make it for her again, I refuse. I consider that day to be my personal best at making a dinner for a picky eater. I would not want to ruin it.

Yes this was impromptu speaking and I edited it a bit for posting it here. But I didn’t want you to be the only one writing prompts! It’s like having a personal fitness trainer that doesn’t lift weights with you. It just cannot be.

I Prompt You To Learn These Lessons About Writing Prompts Promptly

1. Writing from a prompt is supposed to break you away from your normal writing techniques. I suggest practicing writing with your left hand before you start a prompt, flipping open a dictionary and taking some random words out to use in your writing, and doing your best to not use your memories – use your imagination.

2. I broke up with my prompt and got the better half. Writing from prompts are not meant to flow. You are not writing an essay (unless stated otherwise in the prompt hehe). Be brief and concise in each idea you come up with for the prompt, break them up and find a way to connect them later. The greatest stories from prompts happen when miraculous ideas are dubstepped on paper and get the reader using all parts of their brain to connect them.

3. If you decide to crumple up your paper, you know you are in the right direction – as long as you uncrumple it and keep writing. You have to let yourself fail when writing from a prompt, only then can you figure out the message you really want to get across in the prompt.

4. Having writers block when trying to write a prompt? Others will tell you to force it and push through. They are wrong, never do this when writing from a prompt. What they are asking you to do is break your barrier and find the flow. As stated in number 2, that is not what you want. Grab another prompt that you can actually start and be creative.

5. Really do have fun with it. So many freewriters focus on making their story really important and try to send a message or lesson in their writing from a prompt. Yet again, they are trying to shape what they write, do not do this. If a lesson or theme is supposed to be shared from the prompt, then it will be. The main focus should be to make your writing quirky, unique, and out-of-the-box.

6. Lastly, I want to provide you with one great resource that I found on Squidoo (Created by Seth Godin, one of my heroes). Check out this Writing Prompt Lens

Stay Positive and Egg-on Those Prompts

Garth E. Beyer

A Writer’s Crashing “Train of Thought” and Why It’s Excellent

Garth Beyer

Disturbing or interrupting a Writer while at work is one of the best, worst acts you could perform.

The reason why most, if not all writers dislike being disturbed is due to the lack of brain capacity. I do not mean that their brains can’t handle being interrupted and filled with information, I mean that they do not leave a void open for the disturbances. Then again, why should a writer do that?

Sure, getting interrupted when you are sitting down to start writing, or when you are hitting a little writers block is not a bad thing, it may even give you a mental jump start. But why is it such a sin to interrupt a writer while he is “in the zone” or making final touches or just giving birth to a fantastic surreal book idea? Why is it me and maybe a select few other writers who praise the moments of interruption during these power-writing and focused work moments?

Enter Clover (The Cat)

I have a lot to be grateful for Clover. She is one of the reasons I finish writing blog posts instead of only writing ideas to expand on later. From the picture above, you can tell how cute she is, so when she lays on my lap while I write, I can’t do anything but write. Who would want to disturb such an adorable creature. — And so I write.

On the other hand, she often makes me lose my temper because she interrupts my writing. I don’t have a problem with the moments she jumps up on my lap and lays quietly and sleeps. What I hate is when she jumps up and doesn’t land perfectly, slides off, all the while digging her claws into my legs. Even if you don’t have a cat,  I know you can feel the pain as a writer. It’s the same when someone interrupts you when you are in a hotspot of writing; rather than having claws scraped down your leg, they are scraped down your mind, breaking the frequency of thoughts. (Unfortunately I get to feel both: scraping on my legs and my mind)

Writing is Personal History

Whether it’s a cat digging its nails into your flesh, a person shouting your name repeatedly, someone who has the tv or radio blaring, or the fridge that is making too much noise, you (a writer) need to leave a vacant mental space for these interruptions. Not so you can deal with them and move on, but so you can absorb the experience and transfer it into your writing.

Everything writers write comes from the past. It comes from some thought, some memory, some action taken, some sight seen, something in the past. Next time you read an article try to discover what had happened that made the writer want to write about it. Commonly it involves a personal experience. Some writers go on about a life changing event that happened to them, while other writers write about a small experience that made a world of difference.

The greatest writers can take any experience and write something worth reading about it.

And here we are. I have just taken the annoyingly disturbing occurrence of Clover digging her nails into my legs after a failed attempt at jumping on my lap, and created something worthy for writers to read. What does all of this have to show you?

A Non-Stop Writers Attitude

Here are reasons to appreciate all disturbances while you are writing.

1 It forces you (the writer) to re-read the last one or two sentences you wrote, thus focusing in on making sure you are writing in the direction you want

2 Allowing your brain to get out of the writing frequency for a moment or two, you now re-surged it with power and most likely PREVENTED a writer’s block period from occurring

3 You have just been universally sparked with a new memory to work into your writing

4 Which is more important? Continuing an idea that you have COMPLETE CONTROL over  in your writing and that you can go back to anytime OR giving someone else the satisfaction of your attention? (Most often, when you don’t give someone what they want – your attention – you are going to piss them off and it’s just going to spoil your day, am I right?)

If you are in or going into the lifestyle of writing, you need to have a Non-Stop Writers Attitude.

For a true writer, there are never interruptions, there are never periods that you are not writing and there are certainly never other things that deserve your focus more than the paper or document your writing or typing on. To become a truly successful writer you need to have the mind-set of the above principles, understand them, and implement them at every opportunity. (As a Writer, that is always)

Stay Positive and Mind-Void Interruptions, Rather than Avoid

Garth E. Beyer

New Life Resolutions: An Out-Of-Your-Box Goal Challenge

Garth Beyer

“Change itself is neither good nor bad, but knowledge is always useful” says Christopher Paolini. What better knowledge to have than to know what you want from life? What you want today, tomorrow, a week from now, a month, a year, 20 years, 50 years, and the rest of your life.

I have about eight pages of goals, some scribbled on sticky notes, others on notepads, legal paper, college ruled, and printer paper. If I had better handwriting and artistic abilities, I would even make a poster board listing all my goals with pictures. There are times that I am more passionate about thinking of new goals than I am accomplishing them. Quite simply, I am fascinated with the concept of goals. Justifiably I have to make a post for New Years Resolutions.

Ever since I read “The Four-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss, I continuously notice how cheap it really is to go on the vacations I want to go on. A one way ticket to Paris, an apartment, oil painting lessons, food, and a french language class for two weeks can cost less than 5,000 dollars. It may not seem cheap to you now, but I have to call you out on something… I know something you have done. It’s something I have done and everyone else in the world. You imagined winning the lottery…

Most of the time you win one million dollars. Do you realize that 10,000 dollars out of a million is 1% of your winnings? Now you’re going to have to trust my college education and a bit of deep common sense when I say that in your life time you will make an average of 2-6 million dollars (tax included). The point is, if you really wanted to take that two-week trip to Paris, you could VERY easily do it. Why is it in the “if I won the lottery” category. Put it on your New Life’s Resolutions list for 2012.

After I had written goals for today, 30 days, the year, five years I looked back at them and asked myself “where’s the fun?” All I wrote was about getting money, gaining more muscle mass, rising to success, publishing my book, finding a job I love, etc. Basically, the same goals as anyone else — to get what we want when we want it. Every page or two I may find a goal to take a trip somewhere but when I read it I even thought “Ha, only if I won the lottery”. I decided I needed an attitude adjustment so I challenged myself to write 110 goals..

110 goals without limitations, no false “reality”, and without the help of the lottery. Can we accept our fate for a moment, if you are reading this blog post, than I can guarantee you are going to be financially victorious. You are going to rise to success, earn a larger income than 6 digits and the job is going to be something you love. It’s who you are and who I am.. so why are we writing goals that we all know we will carry out?

I am going to admit, the first 20 goals I was skimping. It is as hard as you can imagine to think and write what you want out of life without any monetary boundaries. Nearing the half way mark it got even harder… I had to start detailing my goals like “go to a pepper tasting event in Chile and not get the runs”.

This year, forget writing new years resolutions on new years eve and start writing New Life’s Resolutions today.

I am more than happy to give you the 110 Life Goals Challenge. As I said before, everyone knows you are going to be a hit and happily make enough money to do whatever you want… so instead of making goals you know you will accomplish, go crazy and write Out-Of-The-Box Goals!

Stay Positive and Accept Your Successful Fate

Garth E. Beyer

Slap In The Face Elevator Speech

Garth Beyer

For everyone who does not know, an Elevator Speech is like taking an entire encyclopedia book set and turning it into a one page slap in the face. I call it a slap in the face race because those who can summarize themselves or their business to get their listener to act the quickest, wins. The typical elevator speech summarizes

1 everything you do*

2 everything you are made of*

3 everything the listener should consider

4 everything you envision*

5 everything you achieved*

5.5 every reason the person you’re talking to should quit whatever job they have and come work for you

*Note: I always remind people that an elevator speech should encompass both your business and yourself because the listener may love your business but not like you and vise-verse. It is not only about getting someone to fall in love with your business — winning them over and having them fall in love with your purpose is just as important.

How To Start Writing An Elevator Speech

Molly Gordon advises you to jot down words and phrases that stand out most to you and promote yourself and your business. She then has you pick two of the words or phrases and reflect upon them to create part of your elevator speech. Almost the same as breaking down an encyclopedia isn’t it? Just as you, if I were given enough time to use a thesaurus to find words that made my blog sound as if it were rated #1 in all countries of the world, I could. Unlike Molly, I don’t want you to choose two out of the hundred words you think of. I want you to choose two words that encompass the hundred words you wrote down and the thousand you didn’t. Once you have accomplished this, you have the basis of your elevator speech. Now you can do the same for the 5.5 variables of an elevator speech that I provided above. Make a list for each variable and then finding two words or phrases that encompass everything on your list, do not use the best two achievements. Why not? Because you can gloat about specifics after your elevator speech is up.

How To Get Off The Elevator… With Your Investor

Personally, I do not have an elevator speech, not because I hate time limits and restrictions. I think having time restrictions on everything in life allows you to live it to the fullest (Pareto Principle). I do not have one because I do not see an elevator speech as being a pitch to sell an idea. I do not see it as a challenge which the only reward is getting a chance to have a longer conversation at a later time. The true point of an elevator speech is to get your listeners to forget about the thirty seconds. What I bring to the table with every new idea is the goal of forgetting the time limit. Every meeting I go to, especially the ones with a time limit of 15 min, 30 min, or an hour, I make it a goal to be there longer. Whether I am with there along with the other members, or just the boss — I am there after the meeting “ends”.

At one job interview I had, I was told that I had 30 minutes because they were meeting others to interview as well. Before the day of the interview, I told myself that I was going to be there for 45 minutes. I told other people as well because I know the power in telling people that you are going to do something. (Fear of disappointing the ones you love is a strong motivator) The next day I checked my phone for the time as I left the Coffee shop where the interview was held… 45 minutes exactly. I promoted myself and connected with the employer enough to get them to forget about the time limit. Success

Why Bother Having An Elevator Speech

If it does not make sense to you yet, an elevator speech is “one of the most effective methods available to reach new buyers and clients with a winning message”, says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. You might be thinking how you are going to work hard for everything in life and there are no easy rides to success like an elevator. I was once told that the elevator in life is always broken — I was going to have to take the stairs. How true is that? We will always have to work for our success, hence the “stairs to success” or “steps to success”. Although I look up to the one who told me that, I have to argue that the elevator is always there but someone is always on it already. You can’t argue that you wont get your chance to take the elevator at a hotel no matter how many people are using it. Your time will come. I am positive that each and every one of us gets at least one chance to use the elevator..

Will you be ready to go on?

Stay Positive and Prepared

Garth E. Beyer

Who Writes for Writers?

Garth Beyer

A writer is someone who writes. Or is it?

Eliot Rose seems to express it as something much more than someone who simply writes.

It is sort of obvious the difference between a Writer and someone who writes. What I want to know is who writes for writers?

Every career in the world has someone writing on them. The politicians have journalists swarming over them like they just battered their bee hive. Even small home improvement business’s have writers discussing their products in articles and people online blogging about their experience at the business and videos of their products. (More often funny than promotional) Even the common person has people writing for them, that is how we get both non-fiction and fiction books. I ask again, who writes for writers?

The answer slightly touched my mind as I was reading blogs at ProBlogger which is mainly a collection of guest posts. Guest posts?

Many blogs use guest posts instead of interviews. The blog will let someone who they think has something worthy to say and relates to their niche to write a post for their blog. This is best promoted when the guest blogger is someone of extreme significance and is well-known. The ability to impact readers works just the same for someone who simply has an interest in what the blog naturally discusses.

Then I was wondering how negatively effective it is to have a guest post that has nothing to do with your niche. Sparingly, it could throw people off track, inspire a new idea, change perspectives, and simply remind people why they come to your blog. Of course the guest blog would be different than what your niche is, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be something your passionate about. (Ex. Your niche blog is Public Speaking. You also have a passion for exercise but never blog about it. Guest blogger comes and writes a blog on fitness.) Now you get a chance to create a connection between fitness and public speaking. Let’s see how good you really are as a Writer. Proving that you can make those sort of connections interesting would attract all the more writers.

Now instead of attracting readers who have an interest in Public speaking, you now attract readers who’s niche is fitness but have a passion for public speaking. Viewers go up. Well I gave my answer for the question, “Who writes for the writers?”     What’s your answer?

Stay Positive and Go Out And Write For Other Writers Too (someone has to)

Garth E. Beyer

“Two is better than One. Especially when Two can multiply your followers”

I am looking for Guest Bloggers that write about life lessons. You can email me at TheGarthBox@gmail.com

Improv, Improv Character Building, Improv-ing Writing Skills

Garth Beyer

Jim McClearahew is not an average “Jim”. You can tell he is battling his nearly schizophrenic impulses. Or maybe he is just checking out the woman that decided to eat at Subway instead of McDonalds. For me, I have to question Jim’s motives as I retrace his line of sight back to him, I finally notice that he has a purse with him. Glancing back at the woman ordering at Subway, it’s quite clear that of all people, Jim would be the last to ever get a chance with that woman. Obviously the purse is not hers. I conclude that the purse in question, is actually a man-purse. This leads me to believe that Jim is in a deep philosophical analysis of his sexuality. It becomes clear to me that he is staring at the woman in an attempt to discover why he does not find her exceedingly attractive.

As I let him continue contemplating his life without the fear of him matching my gaze, I begin to observe his clothes and notice that his shirt is not buttoned on the top two buttons. He must be Italian. The shirt which has no Italian vibes to it must have been given to him by his recently deceased aunt who was Irish and lived in the suburbs of New York.

Continuing to observe him I notice that he is wearing Crocs. You are going to have to trust me that I would not make this up since you cannot see it in the picture. Despite my deep efforts to continue teaching you (the reader) a lesson, I can’t fathom looking at his Crocs a moment longer. I apologize if you are one who wears them, but don’t let that stop you from learning the lesson from this.

WOW

If you know anything about the show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” than you know that it is all Improv — everything is made up on the spot. No rehearsing, no memorizing lines, purely provided to the audience the moment the idea enters the brain. Heres a definition  of improv if you are sadly unfamiliar with this incredibly hilarious show.

Now you know about Improv and whether you realized it or not, you know how to use Improv to build characters. Whether you are in an improv group like me, or love to write (also like me), then being able to create characters for your skits and written works is extremely important. Let’s jump back to Jim.

I don’t know him if you didn’t catch that. I was just enjoying some Sbarro at the food court with my journal and while I was eating I picked out a person that was sitting alone.  Did I do an alright job at building a short character background of him? Looking at the picture again, I have to point out that the little boy to his left in the red shirt is pointing and laughing at him for wearing crocs.

Next time you catch a snag in your writing or acting skills, go to a place similar to a food court where a lot of people go. It is best to go to a place that the majority of people are sitting down since you will have to study them for a little while.  Bring a notebook and a pen and start creating background stories of people. You will quickly find that with enough practice you will start creating back ground stories for people as you walk down the street, or drive past someone in a car. I have always hated asking the question “I wonder what they do for a living”. Now I love asking myself the question, because I can always make up an answer.

Stay Positive and Focus On Improv-ment

Garth E. Beyer

LOOKING FOR A WINNER

I know you have what it takes, but does everyone else? Take a picture of someone in a similar setting like the one above and create a background story of them. Send it to me and I will choose the winner. The winner will get a full on creative writing/creative acting/creative life interview with me and have their submission posted with the interview on my blog and other social media outlets.

Guidelines:

  • No longer than one page long, double-spaced.
  • Refrain from using vulgar language, readers are confronted with enough conflict on a day-to-day basis
  • Shame on you if you use real names, unless of course their name is hilarious like Jacob Tinkletime.
  • Really enjoy it, this is supposed to be a fun and creative exercise. Do NOT make it complicated for write with forced effort.

This is an ongoing process, you can submit once each month. I will be choosing a new winner at the end of each month.