1. Editorial

Hello again, and thank you for being a valued E-Writer
subscriber!

It's been another busy month for me, not least dealing with all
the extra emails and queries my new course Quick Cash Writing
has generated.

For anyone new to E-Writer, Quick Cash Writing (QCW for short)
was designed to complement my original, top-selling course
'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days'. Information about the latter
course can be viewed at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm. 

While 'Write Any Book' is aimed at anyone who wants to write a
book (fiction or non-fiction), Quick Cash Writing is aimed at
people who want to start making money from writing as quickly as
possible. QCW covers a huge range of shorter opportunities, from
readers' letters to greeting card concepts, articles to short
stories, consumer contest slogans to movie ideas. You can read
more about it at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm. The latter
also has links to my publisher's sales page.

Regular readers will know that I have been offering a free copy
of my electronic tutorial Short Story Acumen to anyone buying
QCW via a link on my website. The good news is that this offer
is still open; the bad news is that it has to end at the end of
this month. Short Story Acumen is being sold elsewhere on the
net for £24.99 (around $40), and I have been asked to stop
giving it away free, as it may be damaging their sales. Short
Story Acumen is an info-packed, interactive product which aims
to cover every aspect of writing short stories for fun and
profit. You can read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/74z8b.

So...if you want to get your hands on Quick Cash Writing, plus
Short Story Acumen, plus my idea-generating program The Mini-
Inspiratron, plus eight other writing programs and demos, plus
various other freebies as well - please don't wait too long! Go
to http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm, read the extract from
the course, then click on one of the banner ads to go to my
publisher's sales site. Once you've ordered your copy of Quick
Cash Writing, forward a copy of the e-mail receipt to me and
I'll e-mail you back with details of how you can access Short
Story Acumen and your other 'mystery bonus'. But make sure you
do all this before the end of July!

Although QCW is still occupying a lot of my time, it's been good
to hear from E-Writer subscribers about other things as well.
Simon Whaley sent me a press release about his latest book
'Running A Writers' Circle', which he says is based on his
experience over four years as Chairman of Wrekin Writers (in
Shropshire, UK). As the name suggests, it is aimed at anyone who
is thinking of starting a writers' group, or who may perhaps be
running one already.

The chapters of 'Running a Writers' Circle' include Starting
from Scratch, Administration, Chairing a Meeting, Structuring a
Meeting, Creating a Website, and Literary Festivals (how to join
festivals in the area and raise your profile). There is also a
reference section packed with contact addresses, and ideas to
get your group writing. 'Running A Writers' Circle' by Simon
Whaley is available direct from the publishers (
http://www.ignotuspress.com ) or from Amazon UK (
http://www.amazon.co.uk ).

Someone else who has written a book recently, using the
techniques set out in my "28 Days" course, is Mary Groves. Mary
runs an organization called Stressbuster Retreats Australia. She
has written a fascinating book called Piccaninny Delight. This
sets out her amazing life story, starting from her childhood in
Australia's rugged Northern Territory, through adventures that
literally took her all the way around the world, to her studies
in metaphysics that led to her developing a new system of stress
therapy. This in turn led to her launching the Stressbuster
Retreats.

Mary is serialising Piccaninny Delight (the title refers to an
Aboriginal term for the dawn) at the rate of a chapter a week.
You can read the introduction and the latest chapter at her
website http://www.stressbusters.com.au (click on 'The Book').
Mary would love to hear your comments on her book, and any
suggestions for a printed version. You can email her at stress_less-at-ozemail.com.au .

Finally, Oleg (sorry, I don't know his second name) sent me
details of his website which features a database of advertising
slogans. It's rather a long URL, so I've created a shortcut as
follows: http://tinyurl.com/7vaw4. This could be a valuable
resource for any advertising copywriters among you. It could
also be a good source of inspiration if you ever write slogans
for consumer contests. Oh, did I mention, my new course Quick
Cash Writing has a whole section devoted to slogan writing ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

If you're looking for an additional source of income to
supplement your writing, have you considered the Googlecash
system? This is a simple method of profiting from the small ads
that appear to the right of the results in Google and some other
search engines. You can read all about the system, and how I
have applied it profitably myself, in E-Writer issue 2 (
http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/ew02.htm ).

The definitive guide to this system (which got me started) is
Chris Carpenter's e-book titled Googlecash. This has recently
been updated and expanded. As well as the book, buyers now get
24 new online videos showing the system in step-by-step detail.
Amazingly it's still just $49.95 (around £30), though this is
likely to go up soon. Get the full scoop at
http://tinyurl.com/2xtga.

* Added Bonus! Open a new Google Adwords account now and receive
a free $50 coupon. Click on http://tinyurl.com/4pr5c.

------------------------------------------------------------


2. Useful Website: Writelink

This month I thought I'd highlight one of my favourite websites,
which has recently had a total make-over. As the name suggests,
Writelink ( http://www.writelink.co.uk ) is aimed squarely at
freelance writers and editors. It is run by Sue Kendrick, a
freelance writer and editor herself. I've met Sue a few times at
meetings and conferences, and she is a very nice, genuine lady.
The site reflects her friendly personality.

Before you can view much of the content you do have to register,
but this takes only a few moments. Just click on the banner at
the top of the Writelink homepage headed 'Join the Writelink
Community Today' and complete the simple online application
form.

There are two levels of membership. Reader, which is free,
allows you to view most of the content on the site and post
messages in the forums, while Writer, which costs a modest £15
(around $25) a year, entitles you to contribute work and get
paid for it as well. There is nothing to stop you registering as
a Reader now and upgrading later to Writer if you wish.

Once you have registered and logged in, you can start to explore
what the Writelink site has to offer. The main menu is on the
left of the page. If you click on Markets, for example, you can
see a selection of (mainly) magazines seeking contributions from
freelance writers. Only five markets are displayed at a time,
but you can see more by clicking on the Next button at the top
of the list. There were around five pages of freelance markets
listed when I last looked, including several greeting card
companies.

Many writing competitions (not just those run by Writelink) are
listed in the Competitions section. Again, five are shown per
page, but you can see more by clicking on the Next button at the
top of the list. Other sections accessible from the main menu
include Events Diary, which lists important events coming up in
the next few months which could form the basis of saleable
articles, and Writers Freebies, which enables you to claim free
copies of a range of useful resources for writers and editors,
including print magazines such as Writers' Forum.

One of the most useful parts of the site, however, is the forums
section. You can access this via the Community banner at the top
of the page; hover your mouse cursor over this and a drop-down
menu will appear, including Forums among the options. There are
24 different forums, otherwise known as message boards, and it
is worth spending some time exploring them all.

Any registered Writelink member can post on the forums, and they
are a good place to ask questions and have them answered by your
fellow writers and editors. Right at the bottom of the main
list you will find a Job Listings forum. This includes a range
of jobs and freelance opportunities for writers and editors. It
is worth checking regularly, as new postings appear on it often.

Overall, Writelink is an invaluable resource for any freelance
writer, whether or not they are UK-based. Do pay a visit to the
site sometime, and see if you can spot any of my own
contributions ;-)


--------------------------------------------------------------


Advertisement


Would you like to travel the world free of charge as a freelance
travel writer? Then John Longford's Travel Writing Blueprints
could be your passport! John has prepared not just one but two
e-books on this exciting opportunity. 'Travel Writing That
Sells' sets out the nuts and bolts of what it takes to write a
saleable travel article, while 'Travel the World for Free as a
Published Travel Writer' explains exactly how you can cash in on
your travel writing skills, get invited on press trips, and so
on.You can buy each report separately, or get both and enjoy a
$10 discount. Check out http://tinyurl.com/d7rn6 for all the
info!


--------------------------------------------------------------


3. Market Info - Miscellany

Here are a few more potential markets for you, starting with an
opportunity offered by the publishers of my '28 Days' and Quick
Cash Writing courses...

White Cliff Computing Limited (WCCL) are looking for people to
write articles on everything from hypnosis to website security
for a series of up-and-coming ghost-writing projects. If you are
interested, send one or two sample articles direct to James Dunn
at james.dunn-at-whitecliff.net for review, along with a
note of your standard rate per 1,000 words (either pounds
sterling or US dollars, but please make clear which). James says
they will commission the best authors and continue to work with
them in future. My advice would be to send factual, how-to type
sample articles, rather than profiles or opinion pieces.

Another of my regular clients, the mobile (cell) phone
publishing company Kwickee, is looking for additional freelance
editors to to tackle cartoons and graphic-based material for
their new, youth-oriented channel titled Gobstopped. As well as
checking the text, editors will need to ensure that content
confirms to certain technical requirements so it will display
correctly on a mobile phone. As they put it, ' you need to know
your pixels from your megabytes', though guidelines will be
provided. Bear in mind that some of the material for Gobstopped
will involve horror-type stories, so this work is not for the
squeamish. Also, to be considered for cartoon editing, you must
have the capability to download images on to your mobile phone.
If you are interested, e-mail nick.hirst-at-kwickee.com and
ask for more details. Note that payment for all Kwickee editors
is based on a proportion of revenue received rather than any set
fee.

Kwickee are also looking for authors who can write dark,
brooding fiction for a special project they are working on. They
say: "Can you scare the living daylights out of the hardest of
the hard? Can you keep people awake at night, fearful to turn
out the light, simply through the power of your words? If you
find yourself answering yes to these questions, then you may,
just may, be the writer we are looking for. We have a project
under way - all tied in with the Gobstopped brand - that is so
secret that it dare not speak its name." If you would like to
find out more, then send an e-mail in strictest confidence to
nick.hirst-at-kwickee.com and ask for more details about
Dark Fiction.

The UK corporate communications company Kreativity is looking to
appoint additional freelance writers. They say: "Can you explain
complicated concepts clearly in plain English? Are you creative,
motivated, and committed to doing a good job? Are you as happy
writing speeches and articles as you are Web copy and leaflets?
Do you always meet your deadlines? If you answered yes, we want
to hear from you. We are recruiting for freelance writing
positions, but for the right person this is a job with long-term
potential." Apply by e-mail to info-at-kreativity.co.uk by
the closing date of 8 July 2005. See also their website at
http://www.kreativity.co.uk.

Sci-rotica ( http://www.sci-rotica.co.uk ) is a new web-based
publishing venture for erotic stories with a science fiction or
fantasy theme. They are currently accepting short stories (8,000
to 12,000 words), novellas and novels. Authors receive a royalty
of 40 per cent on sales, but no advance is paid. They do not
accept submissions of stories under 8,000 words, but instead are
holding a series of free-to-enter competitions with cash prizes
for stories of this length. See the website for further details.

If your sci-fi stories are a bit less racy, Scifantastic could
be a potential market for you. This innovative new print
magazine is currently looking for fiction writers and artists.
Anything related to science fiction, science fact, fantasy or
horror is welcome. Reviews, news, ideas and even comics are also
accepted. It's a small press magazine, so most contributors will
only receive a free copy, though the magazine will pay for
Editor's Choice items and cover illustrations. The deadline for
the debut issue is July 7. For further submission guidelines,
see http://scifantasticmag.co.uk. Note that you may need to
switch off any pop-up blockers before you can view the
guidelines (I did).

Finally, Literary Escape Quarterly is a new independent online
literary journal that will debut on 15 October. They are looking
for poetry and short stories. They only accept e-mail
submissions, but do not accept attachments. You can send your
submissions to Devrie-at-literaryescape.com with the word
"submission" in the subject line. Compensation for accepted
pieces will be $3-$5 per poem, and $10-$15 per short story. They
hope to increase this as the journal becomes more established.
For more info, visit http://www.literaryescape.com/journal. You
can find detailed guidelines in the 'submissions' section. You
can also submit suggestions, advice, or questions through the
"contact us" link on the left-hand-side of the page.



--------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

Are you interested in writing for children? Then a brand new e-
book by children's author Robyn Opie could be just the resource
you need. Opie has written 55 published children's books, and in
this new guide she reveals the secrets of her success. You will
learn why children's fiction is different from other fiction,
how to create believable characters, how to write realistic
dialogue, how to ensure your reader is 'hooked' after the first
two pages, and much, much more. You'll even get a free copy of
Opie's children's book 'Black Baron' - all for just $19.95
(around £12). Visit http://tinyurl.com/bs86n now for full
information!

--------------------------------------------------------------


4.Article: Don't Cook Your Computer!

In a way this is a continuation of the article in my last E-
writer about Diskeeper. Let me start with a reminder of 'the
story so far'.

For some time my Windows XP computer had been crashing
repeatedly, sometimes two or three times a day. These weren't
just minor crashes but Blue Screen of Death, followed by anxious
waits to see if Windows would recover and what damage might have
been done. I generally got the standard message 'Windows has
recovered from a serious error', with the opportunity to report
it to Microsoft. When I did, I got a range of diagnoses, most
commonly that there was a problem with a device driver.

Anyway, after various false starts, I heard that the problems
might be due to a fragmented hard disk. So I bought the modestly
priced Diskeeper program from
http://www.executive.com/defrag/defrag.asp. This admirable
software is much quicker than Windows' built-in defragmenter and
carries on working in the background to keep everything hunky-
dory in future.

For a day or two - while I was preparing the last E-Writer -
everything seemed to be fine, then the crashes started again.
Diskeeper was running without any problems, but presumably this
couldn't be the whole answer. So I was back to trying to find
out the root cause of the crashes.

I tried getting updated versions of all the device drivers on my
PC - as recommended by Microsoft - but this didn't help. Then I
heard from a friend that the problems might be caused by errors
in my PC's Registry. So I went on the net and after a few
searches downloaded a program called Error Nuker (
http://tinyurl.com/bacjw ), which promised to find and correct
any errors here. Again, this was a nice program - and it found
over 100 errors the first time I ran it - but even after I let
it correct these errors, the crashes were still going on, and
getting more frequent.

And then, at last, I found the answer. And after a crash-free
month, I'm confident now that it IS the answer! On an internet
message board I saw a posting which indicated that the type of
problem I was experiencing could be caused by an overheating
processor. So I downloaded a free program called Motherboard
Monitor (MBM) which promised to reveal the chip's temperature
and various other info. It wasn't at all a user-friendly program
for a non-techie like myself, but I managed to puzzle it out and
partly configure it, so it gave me a temperature readout in the
system tray at the bottom right of the screen.

And I was staggered by what I found. The temperature was cycling
up and down between around 45 and 80 degrees C, at which point
it was setting off all the pre-set alarms in the MBM software,
before presumably some sort of emergency cooling system in my PC
cut in and the temperature dropped right back down again, and
the cycle started once more. It seemed pretty clear that there
was a problem, whether or not it was the source of all the
crashes.

Anyway, hoping it was something I could remedy myself, I took
the case off my computer and gave it a thorough dusting using
the household vacuum cleaner hose (note - be very careful not to
dislodge or damage anything if you try this yourself). I had
read that dust buildup was often the cause of overheating,
reducing the ability of components in the case to disperse heat,
and slowing down the fans.

I put the computer back together and switched it on again. To my
surprise and delight, the temperature reached around 55 degrees
- and stayed there. Since that date, which was a month ago, I
have had no further crashes - not even in Word, much to my
amazement. Of course, I keep a close eye on the temperature now,
and switch off the computer when I'm not using it to let it cool
down, rather than leaving it on all day as I tended to do
before.

The key to all this was having the MBM program to tell me what
was going on inside my PC. (There is no easy way of monitoring
PC temperatures within Windows.) The good thing about the MBM
program is that it is free to download. The bad thing is that it
is geek-y software which assumes a higher level of IT knowledge
than most non-IT professionals possess. I've suggested to my
publishers, WCCL, that they might care to develop something more
user-friendly, which they are thinking about. In the mean time,
however, you can download MBM free of charge if you wish from
http://mbm.livewiredev.com.

Even if you don't want to try MBM, however - and with a little
bit of experimenting you should be able to set it up to give you
a temperature readout at least - do your PC a big favour by
keeping it as cool as possible. Based on my experience, just
dusting inside and out can have an amazing effect. Here are a
few more tips for keeping your PC cool and dust-free...

* Avoid putting your computer in direct sunlight.

* Don't put it on the floor, especially if carpeted. On a desk
or table is better.

* Avoid piling papers or books on top of or against your PC.

* NEVER block any air vents on your PC's case.

* Most fans are on the back of the computer, so position the
computer at least six inches from the wall.

* Keep dogs, cats and other hairy pets well away from the
computer.

* Keep your computer in a clean, well-ventilated area.

As regards dusting, if you don't fancy taking off your PC's
case, you can still get some benefit by vacuuming through the
vents in the case (make sure the PC is switched off first, of
course). However, most modern PCs are made for easy access. Mine
has a side panel which can easily be removed just by means of a
couple of clips. If you can get into your PC, you really can do
something about the inevitable dust build-up. A vacuum cleaner
hose used very carefully should do the job, though professionals
prefer to use specialist computer cleaners or compressed air
sprays.

I really was staggered by the difference a bit of spring
cleaning has made to my computer. Even if you're not having the
problems I had (yet), I strongly recommend doing everything you
possibly can to keep your PC clean, cool and dust-free.


That's it for this issue. I do hope you've enjoyed reading it
and found something that may be useful to you. E-Writer will be
back again in a few weeks' time.

All good wishes,

Nick


----------------------------------------------------------------


Advertisement

Nick Daws' CD-based course 'Write Any Book In Under 28 Days'
takes you through every stage of writing a book, from getting
the original idea through to editing the completed manuscript,
all in the shortest possible time. Read a lengthy extract from
the course at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm, then click
through to the publisher's website to read some of the many
testimonials!

* New! See the latest independent review of 'Write Any Book in
Under 28 Days' at
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/articles/realresults.htm.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright Info

Except where specifically stated, material in E-Writer is
protected by copyright of Nick Daws, 2005. Material from the
newsletter may, however, be reproduced in other online or off-
line publications so long as (a) the text (including any URLs
and e-mail addresses) is not altered in any way, and
(b) the souce is acknowledged and a link or text reference is
provided to my website at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk. Notifying
me is not essential but would be appreciated - please use the e-
mail address above or the link on my site. Many thanks!

Return to E-Writer Archive Page

Return to Homepage