Posts Tagged ‘Way Of Life’
Writing is a Lifestyle Preference
We run a small S-Corp I currently call Rainbow Writing, Inc. We handle projects ourselves – and also we farm them out to what I call my cattle pen, the Rainbow Writing, Inc. Outsource Team. I hire good, capable people to work in the freelance writers field, and it helps them with their careers.
To be a ghost writer is definitely a way of life. This article is about how freelance writing is a developable field. Most people seem to think it is solely about hiding “ghost writers,” making money, or otherwise pushing around extremely talented writers. Seriously, it is about taking the work up for overburdened people at low prices so they can afford to be our clients. They thus manage to keep the field of literature going in the face of “vanity publishing.” It’s really only self publishing.
On the other hand, there’s something to keeping your byline. I don’t take other people’s byline, or credit to their name, when they are considered to be a book author and I am only rewriting or otherwise writing their stuff; they get their bylines instead, and I might be credited somehow. When I write my own books, I use other names called pseudonyms due to various technical issues, but I’m currently working on the first book I ever have put out with my own name on it.
Writing is something you can just rattle off. It’s something you can make a coffee table book from too. But if you go for only money, chances are, you only host celebrities. Paris Hilton is not the only lifestyle in all of existence.
The thing to do mostly is to cram down as many books and as much writing enters your consciousness as humanly possible. But when you take up your pen, in whatever form it may take, it needs to hit “paper” and go somewhere lately. I made it there; you will make it somewhere else.
This is especially so when you’ve started to break into the field and you’re a ghost writer — or ghostwriter — who has never really ghosted a book for someone else before. You’re probably thinking big bucks, major book contracts, large amounts of cash advances from publishers and huge percentages from the books you will be anonymously writing for big time authors. You may need to slow down and reorder your priorities.
I make enough money at my regular writing projects to support my habit of preferring to work with the first time author crowd. Some of those people’s books do sell well over time, and it’s worth it to me to put the time and effort into ghost writing or editing them that it takes to really polish their work to a gleaming shine and make it productive and meaningful as timeless literature or educational material.
This means more to me than a large check paid for the type of book I truly hate to see my name associated with, and I feel very proud to have more of the first timers’ works on my record than those. I guess in the end it’s a tradeoff: timeless creation of worthy literature versus timely production of flashy, self-gratifying stuff that may not make me feel good to write it. Not that I don’t regularly take on that kind of project. I need those books to get by and make money. But it always gladdens me when I can write something that really makes the author feel like he or she has produced a very fine book, and which is something that will truly lend credit and greater credence to my professional name and career as a writer.
People like that don’t need to face down what looks like to them to be a million dollar price tag – when what they are looking for is describable as a cheap ghost writer. They want an actual inexpensive ghost writer or ghostwriter who understands their needs, both budgetary and otherwise. Someone capable needs to be able to sit down with them and negotiate a fairly low amount of money to be paid out by them, so they can figure on at least getting some kind of returns from their own books.
These potential authors are not Presidents of the United States or famous movie actors, whose books are “guaranteed” to sell. Many of them find themselves “stuck” with what used to be called vanity publishing, and which is nowadays called self publishing. They won’t necessarily find a commercial publisher who wants to take a chance on huge returns from their books in today’s multifaceted but still challenging world of publishing. However, they still have a lot of hope to be read and heard from due to the millions of resources available to them through the ever growing and ever popular World Wide Web, otherwise known as the Internet. There is always hope to have your writing heard from. If you need to hire a freelance writer, a ghost writer, a copy editor, a proof reader, or all of the above to help you express your ideas and complete a book manuscript, that world is readily available to you through the auspices of my company, and many others.
By: Karen L Cole
Cheap Living – Try RVing As a Lifestyle
Cheap living is something we may not have thought much about before last year. Then the stock market went south and people are thinking “Now I can’t ever retire”. When you are dealt lemons why not make lemonade? Cheap living does not mean living cheap it can mean a lot of fun. How?
Consider fulltime Rving as a way of life. Lots of people do it or haven’t you been caught behind a RV on a 2 lane curving road. Yep that’s us in the RV, not in any particular hurry, enjoying the scenery. RVing is also a great way of living cheaply.
List the money you spend on your home mortgage, home insurance, utilities, property taxes, painting, termite service, etc . Compare with monthly rent of around $500 per month for an RV space. Add your RV insurance, a maintenance fund and compare the 2 columns.
Are you shocked? I ran the numbers when we first got an RV and figured I could RV for about 35% of what I spent operating a house. Now of course I did miss mowing the lawn, cleaning the screens, gardening, and doing house chores…get the picture.
Replace the restrictions, let alone the expense and life on the road seems like a winner to me. It is a way of life that has many rewards.
The obvious are choosing the climate you experience, being closer to family, or being further from family. Whatever it is your choice.
Before the RV, when we were working we vacationed by plane. Go to the airport, get the bags (I assume they made it), get the rent a car and off you go. You may pack and unpack a couple of times, but what the hay you are on vacation.
Compare that, which we did for 20 years, to RV life. One you pick when you go through big towns to avoid traffic, you never have to unpack, and your “home” goes with you everywhere.
A big bonus in RV life is the scenery you see on the road. You miss a lot when you fly.
We used to fly from Phoenix to Denver and drive to Steamboat Springs. Flying takes about 12 hours of hassle and frustration. When you drive to Steamboat Springs from Phoenix you go through Monument Valley, there is no traffic, great scenery…oh yeah it takes 12 hours. Do I have to mention the difference in cost?
Here is a great example of how cheap living can be a positive instead of worrying about your next brokerage statement. RV life costs less, offers tremendous flexibility, and is a lot of fun. Enjoy.
By: Gary P Pierce
The Redneck Lifestyle – More Than a Joke Or Funny Picture
A redneck is usually thought of as a white, working class US southerner. However, rednecks can now be found throughout all areas of the country. There is even some interest in the culture in countries overseas. It most likely started as a reference to the sun-burned necks of those who work in the fields all day. In some parts of the country, they are called hillbillies, hicks, bumpkins, or just plain country folks. Rednecks are traditional Americans, who work hard to support their families. They are always ready to help by volunteering as Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, firemen and anything else their community requires.
The recent popularity of acts like Jeff Foxworthy, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and Gretchen Wilson have brought the culture to the forefront and from those sparks, there has grown a new interest in and popularity of the lifestyle. More and more people are finding that they can relate to the simple way of life. Many check it out in the pursuit of jokes and funny pictures and find there is more there than just a laugh.
Although the culture probably started in the south, you don’t have to be from the south to be a redneck. It really is a state of mind. They have their own special point of view and are mostly laid back and care free. There is a great appreciation for outdoor activities like hunting, fishing and camping and, of course, NASCAR. They own trucks for more than playing in the mud, although that is usually a big attraction.
Rednecks will protect their home and family, thank God for what they do have even if it is not much, work hard for their money, and have fun doing it. They know how to treat the opposite sex and are typically attracted to partners who act the same way.
The term denotes someone with good common sense, and a talent for fixing and building things. Many tend to accumulate too much junk, much of it stored on the front lawn. But, much of that junk will been put to good use in building new things that, although not very pretty, are functional in the purpose they serve.
Most often they love God, their country and state, and are staunch supporters of the military. Most believe there is more to life than money, caring more about relationships and family. The pursuit of romance is defined by the requirement that their mate be down to earth, faithful and not afraid to get their hands dirty. Many are single parents and focus their attention mostly on their children.
A redneck is stereotypically imagined as consuming cheap American beer like Budweiser by the case. Typically these types of folks in the past have been simple minded, uneducated people which is why they are the subject of many jokes.
But, what used to be a derogatory term has now become a lifestyle that espouses the simpler things, wholesome values, and true enjoyment of life, family and friends. What started as a term to describe farmers, construction workers, oil drillers, and such who would work all day in the sun causing the backs of their necks to get sunburned, (red neck), has gone through somewhat of a transformation. True, the jokes still abound, but underneath the laughter is a culture of decent hard working folks who, like the rest of us, are just trying to carve out a living and find happiness in their journey through life.
By: Fred Morris
