This 1 Key Trait Can Tell You Whether You Will Succeed As An Entrepreneur Or Fail
Abraham Lincoln. You might remember him as honest Abe or you might not know who he is at all.
But his story is a powerful and persuasive one.
Abraham Lincoln
You see, Abe wanted to get into politics. We would imagine he didn’t like the way things were being run and wanted to make some changes of his own to the country’s political landscape.
The only problem was he wasn’t a very good politician.
He was running for state legislature and kept losing. His life wasn’t going anywhere except failure.
He became immensely depressed in his failures. So much so that his friends took all of his knives and razors away from him because they were afraid he would Jill himself.
He broke off is engagement to the woman he loved.
His life kept getting worse.
He ran for the senate not once but TWICE and lost BOTH TIMES.
You would think someone would think, “I’m not made for this,” and choose a different career path at this point.
But in 1860 Abraham runs as a “dark horse candidate” for the presidency and WINS!
He failed so many times for so long in his life but never quit and ended up winning the presidency instead of those lesser goals he tried for but it would seem that all the hard times he went through prepared to be the president of the United States at a very pivotal time in history.
He didn’t allow loss and adversity to prevent him from moving forward.
Teddy Rosevelt
Teddy’s story is a bit different.
Teddy was a well educated young man planning on becoming a naturalist but when everyone least expected it he suddenly ran for state legislature and to everyone’s surprise he won.
At this time his wife is pregnant with their first child and his mother who is only 49 comes out to his house in New York to help take care of his wife while he’s working in government.
This is when tragedy strikes.
For a brief moment everyone is elated as a telegram arrives for Teddy.
It says his child is born.
Everyone celebrates with cigars.
But not many hours later a second telegram arrives.
It says, you must return immediately. Your wife is dying and your mother is dying too.
It turns out that his mother had contracted typhoid fever upon arriving in New York.
Teddy arrived at home in time to see his mother before she died and about 12 hours later his wife dies too.
Teddy thought his life was over.
At this point he essentially runs away. He quits the legislature and moves out to the Badlands and rides his horse for reportedly 15 hours a day.
During this time he falls in love with nature and becomes quite a conversationalist.
He gains a deeper perspective on life and eventually goes back to run for the presidency.
Sometimes getting an outside perspective on things can lead to a deeper understanding of the big picture we need to move forward. And breaks aren’t always bad, but if Teddy has decided never to run again he might not have accomplished all that he did.
He did indeed quit for a time but ultimately he got back up “on the horse “ and kept going.
Rejections
You might not know it but MANY of your beloved authors have been rejected many times before finally being published.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: rejected 144 times.
Canfield once wrote, “If we had given up after 100 publishers, I likely would not be where I am now,”
“I encourage you to reject rejection. If someone says no, just say NEXT!”
This 1 Key Trait Can Tell You Whether You Will Succeed As An Entrepreneur Or Fail
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Lisa Genova, Still Alice: rejected 100 times (some of those were just non-responses)
She eventually decided to self published. It got picked up after that.
Kathryn Stockett, The Help: 60 rejections.
She wrote, “In the end, I received 60 rejections for The Help,”
“But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. After my five years of writing and three and a half years of rejection, an agent named Susan Ramer took pity on me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60? Three weeks later, Susan sold The Help to Amy Einhorn Books.” The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 weeks.
It sold over seven million copies, and has been made into an inspiring award winning movie.
Heidi Durrow, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky: 48 rejections.
“When I was trying to publish my book, it received some 48 different rejections from publishing houses mostly because people said to me that there was no market for a story about a half black half Danish girl. There was no Afro Viking demographic to sell this book to.”
Dispite the adversity her book was the winner of the 2008 Bellwether Prize for Socially-Engaged Fiction. The award came with a publishing contract and it became a bestseller.
One of my favorite authors James Patterson: James Patterson, The Thomas Berryman Number: 31 rejections.
Patterson’s first book was turned down by 31 publishers and he kept a list.
31 publishers turned down Patterson’s first book. The first of many in his extremely popular Alex Cross series. Now, of course, he’s one of the most successful authors in the world, arguably in history.
He told the New York Times that he kept a list of all the editors that turned down his first novel. “Sometimes they send me books and ask for blurbs. Mostly, though, they’re dead.”
Stephen King, Carrie: 30 rejections.
30 publishers rejected his first novel Carrie, the one that started King’s legendary novel journey.
One day he received a short letter from Bill Thompson at Doubleday:
“Congratulations. Carrie officially a Doubleday Book. Is $2500 advance okay? The future lies ahead. Love, Bill.”
And what was at that time their future is now our history.
The one thing that makes or breaks a successful entrepreneur is perseverance.
This key trait can be used in so many different avenues and career paths.
The thing is that most of us won’t be handed success in our endeavors so easily.
We inevitably will meet adversity and when that adversity comes what will we do?
I believe you have it in you to persevere and keep going despite adversity coming your way.
And as many we’ll have gone Beckies is would most likely admit that the adversity helped mold them into who they are today and who knows where they would be if they didn’t persevere and remain persistent despite many challenges.
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1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better
There is one thing that many authors do.
It could be by accident. It could be on purpose.
But if you cut out just this one thing, your writing will be better to read instantly.
What is that one thing?
Passive voice.
Now this doesn’t mean we can Never use passive voice as authors.
It just sounds better and it’s less wordy if we don’t. And less wordy is almost always better.
What is passive voice?
Passive voice makes the object look dominant to the subject.
For example, passive voice would say,
– The book was thrown by the student.
– The guitar was played by the musician.
– The door was opened by the driver.
Instead as writers we mostly want to use active voice.
What is active voice?
1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better
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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
The cliffhanger is not a new technique.
In fact, writers have literally made movies around the idea of dangling our beloved character off the side of a cliff to get us at the edge of our seats, biting our nails, ignoring everything else in the universe to see “what happens next?!”
Thankfully even though this technique has been waaaaayyy overused. It still works.
We can definitely add this one to the proverbial toolbox.
Keep it simple
We don’t always have to dangle our character over a cliff in order to make this technique work.
In reality, this won’t work if we do it too much. Our reader will see through our antics and get bored.
If our main character almost dies at the end of every chapter hanging over a cliff, you can bet the reader will be saying “fool me twice, shame on me” by chapter three.
Instead find creative ways to make little cliffhangers during chapters and at the end of chapters.
Them almost dying at the end of every chapter makes for boring and not suspensful, but if they were about to lose a relationship, or be caught doing something they shouldn’t and the reader has to go to the next chapter to find out what happens next, then you’re winning.
Examples:
– Characters are in a fight and might break up
– Something is about to hurt character like a dangerous animal
– One character just went missing
– A character just witnessed another doing something suspicious and unexplainable
Basically we want to create a smaller conflict that needs to be resolved in our reader’s mind that will gnaw at their curiosity until they get the answer.
If we create a question for our reader to look forward to the answer, we better darn well answer it.
And a great skill to practice is the creative ability to create questions when we give answers.
Use dialogue to help the reader see the answer and the next question.
Dan Brown does an amazing job with this in the DaVinci Code.
He uses Langdon in this way.
Langdon will answer one of the mysterious questions, one of the riddles, but then he’ll say something to the effect of, “but if that’s true then what about this?“
And then Langdon will say, “we need to go to the Sistine Chapel,” and before we know it Langdon is being shot at on the way to the Sistine Chapel and we’re hooked to find out if he’ll make it.
This is genius for answering a question we made and leading the reader right into the next one without drawing it out to much and leaving the reader bored as they wait for the next riddle to solve.
4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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Your character can simply say, “this answers this question, but now we have this question to deal with.”
Now when your character needs to go to the next place we are happily following along.
It would be a bad idea to have no reason for your character to go to the next place and we just somehow end up there and stumble upon the next clue.
This technique can be toyed with, but I think you get the idea.
Create questions while answering questions, but BE SURE to answer all your questions eventually. Don’t leave your reader feeling cheated of the time they invested in reading your story.
Make them feel like they can predict what’s going to happen next, only to fool them.
Lead your reader into the most obvious choice or answer to the riddle.
And just when they think they’ve figured it out, put a twistaroo on it. (twistaroo is not a real word 🙂 )
This is called a good twist.
One of my all time top 10 fave twist moments was in the Sixth Sense. “I see dead people.”
I recommend watching it if you haven’t and as long as you aren’t easily spooked.
Spoiler alert:
The twist in the end was so shocking to me, I never saw it coming that Bruce Willis was dead the entire time.
It was like a left hook sucker punch for me and I, to this day cannot think of a better twist or reveal. Now that I think about it, it’s easily in my top 5 twisty movies.
So just like that, lead your reader into thinking that they know where you’re headed just to cut them off at the pass.
Surprise them wherever you can and they’ll love you for it.
Give them something to look forward to at the start
Don’t waste any time setting your reader up for cliffhangers.
Get started right away in chapter letting them know they are in for a fun ride.
Our main job as writers is to entertain.
Start off with a bang:
– “That’s the moment he knew he’d never see her again.”
– “As he looked at the clock sweat began to fall off his nose. He was taking to long.”
– “Bubbles were still surfacing as I dove into the river after the sinking suburban.”
Create mystery, intrigue, and suspense right away.
Don’t waste time explaining the plot, characters, or other detailed ideas. Allow the plot to unfold without them thinking, “oh so the plot is going to be about this.”
Allow your reader to discover clever ideas as you get them to turn the next page with cliffhangers.
Don’t let the reader in. Don’t show all your cards too quickly.
Be strategic.
Set up a powerplay by creating a moment of intense intrigue and use it to carry your reader to the next plot point without them knowing how they got there.
Entertain them as you reveal that your character’s mother is the true villain and everything they were raised to think was a lie.
It’s absolutely okay and maybe a good idea to make your reader confused and in the dark as long as you are going to show them the light and solve their confusion by the end of the story.
Never leave your reader feeling, “Why did I just read that? What was the point of all that?”
Give them something to continually look forward to or else they will look forward to it elsewhere.
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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
Writing fiction is fun.
C.S. Lewis hits the nail on the head when he says,
“You can make anything by writing.” – C. S. Lewis
It is so true. Anything your imagination can dream up, you can write, and if you can write it, then it can come true in your reader’s mind. Even if just for a moment.
Walt Disney said “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.“
That’s the wonderful side for the writer is we get to have fun creating the impossible.
But there’s a down side too.
Creating the impossible takes a ton of work, discipline, stress (at times), and know-how.
And our work isn’t necessarily an art form as much as it is a work of building entertainment.
Fiction is supposed to be entertaining; otherwise, readers wouldn’t read fiction.
So how do we help our readers gobble up every page?
There are certain literary techniques that have been used in storytelling for a long time that are powerful and should continue to be used in the stories we create today.
There are many literary techniques to make your fiction more digestible, but these four have been used uniquely throughout literary history and have become pillars.
Parallelism
What is parallelism?
It is the state of something corresponding or being parallel to something else.
Example,
“He came. He saw. He conquered.“
Story details can parallel too.
In the Star Wars Saga, Finn, Poe, and Rey parallel Luke, Leia, and Han Solo.
So you too can add parallelism to your story by adding characters that parallel each other.
Events can parallel.
You can have a story within the story that parallels what will happen to the main characters.
In Stranger Things, we see the boys playing Dungeons and Dragons. The game adventure they are playing with the “Demogorgon” parallels what will happen with them in real life very soon.
How is Parallelism used?
Parallelism is a way of leaving dynamic clues or breadcrumbs for your reader to follow. It makes the material more magical and creates powerful “re-readability” with your story.
Meaning, if they pick up your story a second time they may notice the parallelism in a way they didn’t before. This instantly makes your story more interesting to pick up again than stories without this technique.
I personally love “re-watchability” and “re-readability” in the stories I get into. It makes the difference between whether a story is good or amazing for me.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing and parallelism are very similar.
What is foreshadowing?
It’s a warning or indication of a future event.
In Stranger Things, the “Demogorgon” is also a foreshadowing of what’s to come.
A common “foreshadowing saying” that has been used a billion and one times in storytelling is the famous line,
“Be careful what you wish for…“
This usually happens after the character has lost her temper and said something like,
“I hate my life. I wish I was never born!“
Then some mentor or well meaning older character says “be careful what you wish for.“
And then the next day nobody remembers them as if they were never born and the main character learns a life lesson through the events that follow.
We see this happen to Macaulay Culkin in the Home Alone movies.
Foreshadowing is a powerful way to build a relationship with your reader.
By giving them foreshadowing once you will have shown them that you are clever and thoughtful about your writing and the foresight of where your story leads.
They will be looking forward to this same cleverness in all your stories henceforth.
Thus giving you “re-readability.” 😎
Repeating Important Details
The repetition of details whether it is about objects, people, or events will get your reader’s mind pumping.
It will alert them that something very important is happening in the repeated details and they will try to figure it out before you flat out tell them.
They might also be the sort of reader that just loves a good build up to a reveal.
So repetition is appealing to most readers.
The main character could be trying to remember something about a certain day so you can take the reader into your character’s imagination as they try to remember certain details about the past.
Or you can bring up an object several times. Something as simple as a keychain will do.
But is there more than meets the eye about this keychain?
In Men In Black, we see the cat Orion many times before it is revealed to be wearing the thing that everyone is looking for.
We see the most important piece of the puzzle time and time again before we could ever guess just how important the cat is. And even more important the little keychain looking world dangling from its collar.
4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
Symbolism
Symbolism is a great writing skill to learn how to use well.
What is Symbolism?
Symbolism is when you have an object, person, animal or thing that represents something else.
To many Americans the bald eagle represents America and freedom.
That’s symbolism.
The epitome of symbolism can be found in the book Animal Farm.
A story about personified animals on a farm where a group of sinister animals manipulate and convince the rest of the animals to work for them instead of being free to work for themselves.
The story represents the early years of the Soviet Union and how socialistic minds took over and took away the freedoms of the common people.
Symbolism is a wonderful literary tool to take from real life and create a story that is easier to digest than a documentary or history book.
For example, allowing animals on a farm to represent the Soviet Union allowed many readers to learn how the Socialist Soviets took the freedoms from their people.
It made the historical event more digestible for a wider audience.
One flaw with symbolism is that it almost always has to be explained outside of the story, it’s difficult to reveal in the story without the writer leaving notes behind that otherwise explain the symbolism. Symbolism almost always has to be explained.
The upside to this is people being able to have open conversations with each other about hard topics that might not otherwise be open to discussion.
Symbolism is definitely a great teaching tool and a way for a writer to share their views about real-world times, events, economics, societies, laws, religion, politics, etc.
Topics that are otherwise harder to talk about openly.
Another creative outlet for symbolism is the writer is able to write about things that happened in their own life without writing an autobiography or saying “hey, this happened to me.”
For example, Stephen King explains some symbolism for IT.
He explained that the story came from the troll under the bridge and the bridge represented the passing from childhood and adulthood.
He also explains that Derry, Maine represents his childhood home Bangor, Maine.
He ultimately decided that the bridge would be the city of Derry and that something terrifying lived under the city, IT.
When you think of the story in light of the terrifying nature of the journey of childhood passing into adulthood and all the problems that could follow, this makes sense as to why he had the story so woven between the two major themes of their child lives and there adult lives and the 27 year gap he chose to put in between.
We can use symbolism to write about parts of our own lives or stories that inspire us or that we find intriguing, or and especially hard events in our lives.
Most of us in our lifetimes will, unfortunately, go through hard times and traumatic events no matter what background we come from, and writing about those events is a way to share whats going on inside us with other people.
Use these 4 literary techniques to help your readers digest your stories and enjoy them and come back for more.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
4 Literary Techniques to Make Your Fiction More Digestible
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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes NOT BORING While Revealing the Story to Your Reader
Master writers and editors know what it takes to make scenes not boring while revealing the story.
Let’s talk about what makes a scene boring.
There is one major thing you don’t want to do to your readers when writing a scene and revealing the story.
Don’t make it work for them to read it.
Period.
If you make it a ton of work for them to get through chapter one scene one, they are going to put down the book and probably never want to pick it up again.
Here is how you make it a ton of work for your reader to make it through your scene.
Chapter 1: I tell them about the world, the shops in the world, the streets in the world, the mountains, the trees, what the birds look like, the cool and exotic plants. I tell them about the characters and every tiny detail about them. I tell them about her hair and her eyelashes. What she thinks about the flowers…
Do you get where we are going with this?
We are being a bit exaggerated here, but let’s be honest, it happens. And stuff like that used to work, but not today.
To make a scene “too much work didn’t read” (TMWDR) aka (TLDR) we give them a million descriptive details to read through without once moving the story along!
And our reader is left feeling like, “let’s get the ball rolling people!”
We can give them the details about the beautiful world in our imagination, but give it in small doses and allow them to use some imagination.
Move the story forward
We can give them some descriptions and we should, but great authors know that in order to be allowed to explain what a character looks like we have to earn the right to talk about them and why they are important.
The way that we earn the right to tell the reader anything while revealing the story, is when they are thinking this one secret thought.
We have to put this one thought in their minds and keep it there, the moment we’ve lost this thought that we’ve put in their heads, they’ll put down the book.
That secret thought is the same one all great writers use across all mediums, whether it’s story, freelance, copywriting, blogging, or marketing.
The secret thought is: “If I just read a little bit further, I’ll find out what I want to know.”
When we are so into reading anything, a story, an article, a blog, we have this same thought too. It’s really more of a feeling. But we read on intently looking for the answer to our questions.
Questions like, “What will happen next?” “What is going to happen to this character now?” are what we want our readers to think as writers in any medium.
The way we plant the secret question in their head using story
The way we create the secret question is simple.
Keeping it in their minds is the hard part about writing a story and writing one that readers can’t put down until they’ve read every last page.
The way is simple but executing takes time, practice, and insight.
How do we create the secret question in their head?
We create a problem that must be resolved.
The way we make scenes not boring
The way to make scenes not boring is to move the story along. (I know we said this above but go with me here as we explain further.)
We need to give the reader something to be curious about and look forward to.
Along the way we slowly but surely reveal characters and scenery and explain little bits and pieces of the world and bring them into our world and share it with them.
But to make a scene not boring and to move the story along we must create curiosity about what happens next!
How to get your reader thinking what happens next?
It is the coveted moment. The reader can’t stop reading page after page, chapter after chapter all because they keep thinking, “what happens next?”
But how do we get them thinking this through every chapter?
I already told them about the hero and the bad guy and he wants to destroy the world, what else keeps them curious?!
The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
The journey.
Moving the story along is the journey it takes to get from the introduction of our characters to the main problem that faces them to seeing it out to the end and all the misadventures in between.
But how do we make the journey interesting?
Let’s ask a more detailed question.
The one we’ve been asking all along.
How do I make each scene interesting?
Give each scene a purpose.
If every single scene we bring the writer into doesn’t have a purpose in moving the story forward then why on Earth are we telling them about the scene?!
So when you plot your outline be thinking of each scene and the “why” behind it’s necessary existence, because if your reader reads one or two scenes that seem to be not purposeful, that is, there is no “pay off” for them taking the time to read it they will likely put down the book.
Yes, in our scenes we may want to show a certain detail about character development or reveal a hidden artifact, but the easiest way to get the reader through it and on to the next page is to create mini difficulties for the characters.
Our main problem may be that the antagonist(s) wants to blow up the world but while our hero is on the way to stop the no good antagonist(s) they need to run into many challenging obstacles on the way.
Think of your story as more of an obstacle course
To get to the finish line our protagonist needs to run through the maze, climb the slippery slime wall, survive the dread log tumble, jump through the fiery hoop, and before they can even see the finish line they have to carry the weighted sack of fortitude up mount killmyback.
That’s a story.
And each obstacle is a scene. We see the obstacles and how the character handles them and each obstacle reveals more and more to us their true character. (“Show, don’t tell.”)
That’s how we move the story along, keep the reader interested, and reveal the true nature of our characters as we go 🙂
If we told the reader all about how each obstacle was made, how long it took, and about the nuts and bolts of it, that might be a little interesting (if you are trying to write a documentary about the story) but not if they haven’t seen it in action and seen how the course wrecks a character and is extremely interesting to watch.
Give each scene a purpose while you are revealing the story.
Make an obstacle around that purpose.
And your reader will be thinking that coveted question, “What’s going to happen next?!”
If you enjoy The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
If you enjoy The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
It is the Amazon you love, for work. Make workplace procurement easier with convenient delivery options, simplified purchasing workflows, multiple payment options, and a competitive marketplace with business-only pricing and quantity discounts. Anyone who makes purchases for work (eg. procurement specialists, office administration, IT departments, etc.) can create a FREE account for their business. Customer must be from a verified business in order to successfully create their Amazon Business account.
The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story
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But nobody wants arrogance and there’s a fine grey line between the two (is it grey or gray?).
If your character is too confident then it comes across as arrogant and your reader will start to loathe them.
But one main reason most people like the jerk is because she is confident.
Confidence is a very attractive quality.
What is the opposite of confident?
– Needy
– Clingy
– Whining
– Pathetic
– Self-loathing
“Ewww…”
If you’ve been reading and a character is too sympathetic towards their own bad situation it comes across as unattractive. This is self-loathing, the opposite of cool, confident, and collected.
These are simple ways that you can write your lovable jerk. Avoid the above list.
Part of the reason people love a jerk is because without shouting “I’m really confident!” they just are. They ooze cool and confident because they aren’t afraid to say what they are thinking because they could care less what the other character thinks.
If your character is too confident this plays the opposite and your reader starts to despise that character.
We have to let the confident vibes go a little but then play some other strings too to bring the whole song together.
#2 Can’t Keep Up With Him
Quick Wit
Something that helps our jerk be admirable and get away with being a little bit of a jerk is having a quick wit.
Remember all those comebacks you thought of a day later and said “Ugh! I should have said that!”
Your lovable jerk is quick and never misses an opportunity for a quick comeback.
What’s at play here?
People admire and love to be around a person with an entertaining quick wit.
There is a give and take though. (Just remember that to nail down the lovable jerk you’re always on a fine line between annoying and suave, attractive and not so much.)
This doesn’t mean your character is running around insulting everyone. That’s a jerk, not a lovable jerk. Everyone loves to hate the know-it-all jerk and they want to see them get their comeuppance.
That’s the opposite of what you want your reader to feel about this character.
You want your character to be a bit of a jerk but at the right place and time.
Timing is important.
Think of Sherlock. Extremely intelligent and a faster mind than anyone he interacts with. He could dance circles around anyone with his wit, but utterly rude the majority of the time.
Even though he can be insultingly rude at times we still love him and want him to accomplish his goals.
We love him and find him interesting because he is fun to watch and extremely intelligent.
We also like him despite his jerky side for another reason.
#3 Good Will
Slightly good intentions
This works with anti-heroes too.
You can love a jerk like Sherlock because he ultimately is looking to stop the bad guys and save the innocent.
His internal motives may be complex, but at the end of the day his actions save the victim and stop the villain.
In a scenario like this we excuse bad behavior because we experience mostly good behavior.
We as humans are very good at overlooking some bad if the good outweighs it in our opinions.
For instance, if you made a list of pros and cons about a character like Sherlock his pros would outweigh his cons for most readers. Not all of course, but most.
If you enjoy 6 Tips How to Write the Lovable Jerk, storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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How to Write the Lovable Jerk
#4 We are Hoping He’s not as Deep as a Puddle
Character Depth
A lovable jerk can be nothing but a Jerk at the beginning of our reader meeting them, but if they don’t change slightly or if more about their character doesn’t get revealed by you the writer, as time goes on, your reader will never like them.
For example, Finnick from Hunger Games is a jerk character that many fans love.
It helps that he’s attractive but let’s take a deeper look. We all know looks can give you an advantage, but they can only take you so far before you’re labeled as an attractive, stuck up jerk.
When we first meet Finnick he’s just a jerk. Pain and simple.
But then we spend more time with him and find out he’s for the rebellion.
Further in we see multiple caring sides of him as he tries to protect all those around him. He carries an elderly handicap woman on his back to try to save her life.
His fiance is captured and turned crazy and he remains faithful to her. In the end he gives his own life for Katniss Everdeen and a cause bigger than himself.
Finnick may be stuck up and full of himself at first glance but with time we see his depth of character and that makes him a lovable jerk.
#5 Nobody Likes A Whiny Whiner
There’s a specific writing trick where you can add a sad incident or backstory to a character to gain some sympathy for the character.
Tread lightly with this one.
It can be easy to start with that or to drone on and on about how terrible and tragic their unfortunate event is, but don’t do this.
If you are going for a lovable jerk something bad or many bad things can happen to them, but they need to react correctly in order for your reader to feel positively for them.
Unless you use it as humor or a small arc in their story they can’t wallow in sadness for an entire chapter or two. Humorously they can wallow a little, but realistically it can push your reader away from that character if you’re not careful.
If you want them to be lovable they can only mourn for a moment or for a time that the reader can fast forward through.
For example, “he drank himself to sleep every night that year.” And done.
Okay, realistically we can give a few more fun facts about their depression than just that, but soon and very soon something that sparks change needs to take place.
You can use sadness for depth of character but if your jerk is to be loved, make it short.
Another way to use tragedy in your jerk’s life is to make him get over it quickly and to move on.
This can be helpful for creating character depth as well.
#6 “I’ve Been Looking at the Man in the Mirror”
Change
One really easy way to write a lovable jerk is to create a character that is about to make a BIG change.
We’ve seen this done many, many, many, many (if you didn’t know, it’s been done a lot) times and it works out equally well despite maybe being a little over done.
One of the major monarchs of this type of lovable jerk is Scrooge.
Scrooge is an iconic lovable jerk that starts out as… well… he starts out as a Scrooge (pun intended) but we see a transformation in his character and in the end he’s super generous.
Another good example is Jack in The Family Man.
Jack leaves his high school sweetheart for riches and success.
When we meet him he’s so high on the high horse that we couldn’t stand to be around him, but as the story goes on he completely changes into a really awesome character.
This type of transformation, redemptive story is a great way to make a lovable jerk.
If you enjoy How to Write the Lovable Jerk, storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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If you enjoy How to Write the Lovable Jerk, storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
It is the Amazon you love, for work. Make workplace procurement easier with convenient delivery options, simplified purchasing workflows, multiple payment options, and a competitive marketplace with business-only pricing and quantity discounts. Anyone who makes purchases for work (eg. procurement specialists, office administration, IT departments, etc.) can create a FREE account for their business. Customer must be from a verified business in order to successfully create their Amazon Business account.
It’s okay to use Tv and movies for inspiration, but BE CAREFUL.
Again with the blizzard analogy.
If I’m writing “Tundra Man” it probably won’t help to watch “The Office.”
We can play devil’s advocate all day with excuses in our minds why watching the office will get me writing and my nap afterwards is also going to be extremely stimulating.
But it would be more to the point if I found documentaries on blizzards to get good imagery in my mind of what a blizzard really looks like and the temperatures and the height of the snow. How quickly frostbite sets in, etc.
If you enjoy 6 Tips to Help You Write When You Do Not Feel Like Writing, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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I’ll be the first to admit that I am the worst at getting rid of distractions.
I’m a total hypocrite, I shouldn’t even list it as advice, but it is true for just about everyone, myself included.
I have a habit of wanting to do a million things all at once at every second of every moment.
“I can multitask!” I tell myself. (and by multitasking, what I really mean is watch my TV show and only end up writing three sentences during a 3 hour Netflix binge)
When I’m being good I find a quiet secluded place and let the words fly. If I’m being naughty I have music going and the TV is on and 3 hours later I have a paragraph. Boo.
Getting rid of distractions can include:
– Turn off notifications
– Turn off phone
– Silent mode
– Airplane mode
– Leaving the house or room
– Going to the car
– Going to a coffee shop with headphones
– Classical music
– Musical beats
– No words music
– No TV
– No friends around
– No family around
– No pets
– No comfy chair
– No food
– No alcohol
– Locked doors
– No games
– No distractions
Some distractions are common to everyone.
Some are more specific to you.
We do our best and give ourselves a fighting chance if we figure out what’s distracting us and cut it out.
When I used to write for clients this was almost a must. I would shut out the world by having music with no words on. A lot of times it was classical but I don’t feel the genre matters as much as it allows you to think clearly and formulate your own words instead of the lyrics.
Just do it
At the end of the day, the unfortunate news is:
What do you do when you don’t feel like writing?
Do it anyway.
Any great author or freelance writer will tell you this.
Use the tips above to help create the ideal environment for writing to happen but without us stretching our will power muscle, it just ain’t gonna happen.
Willpower is like a muscle. The more we humans force ourselves to do things we don’t want to do at first the easier it’ll be the next time.
Here’s some ways to help will power grow:
– Create a daily exercise routine
Getting the blood flowing helps us think more quickly and clearly to write.
– Create a writing habit
If you get up and write every day for 30 days. On day 31 you’ll feel weird if you don’t write.
– Eat something that’s fun for your brain
Go for protein, fiber, and phytonutrients over sugar.
– Water
Our brain needs a lot of water to function. Give it a glass or bottle before you ask it to spill out coherent thoughts.
– Don’t bite off more than you can swallow
Create writing goals that are realistic. Start small and work to where you want to be daily.
I used to cringe at writing a sentence and then a paragraph. This seems silly now.
Write everyday, flex that will power muscle and soon writing a 60,000 word book won’t seem too daunting. It will just take some time.
If you enjoy 6 Tips to Help You Write When You Do Not Feel Like Writing, storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
If you enjoy 6 Tips to Help You Write When You Do Not Feel Like Writing, storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
It is the Amazon you love, for work. Make workplace procurement easier with convenient delivery options, simplified purchasing workflows, multiple payment options, and a competitive marketplace with business-only pricing and quantity discounts. Anyone who makes purchases for work (eg. procurement specialists, office administration, IT departments, etc.) can create a FREE account for their business. Customer must be from a verified business in order to successfully create their Amazon Business account.
We hope you enjoyed: 6 Tips to Help You Write When You Do Not Feel Like Writing!
If you are still “on the fence” about starting your own blog to make extra money you should read this first: Why Even Start a Blog?
If you’re interested in the fast track on how to start a blog see the FAST TRACK below:
If you still want more help on starting your own blog skip the fast track for now and come back to it when you are ready 🙂
FAST TRACK on how to start a blog:
First, if you are going to start a blog that you can make money with, you will want a host site and you will want to own your domain name.
I use and recommend Bluehost. They are inexpensive and EXTREMELY beginner blogger friendly. You may want to pay more later on depending on your blog needs, but for starting a blog Bluehost is a great and inexpensive choice to start a blog. (I currently use them for blog hosting. I may create a pros and cons list for Bluehost blog hosting later on. Stay tuned 🙂 )
Bluehost has an easy one-click install of WordPress. WordPress is used by over ⅓ of all sites on the internet. It is well established and thus easier to figure out than other sites.
Bluehost makes it incredibly easy to start a blog and get your blog running.
If you picked Bluehost all you have to do is one-click to install WordPress. Then you choose a WordPress theme and you’re well on your way to learning how to blog!
If you are learning how to start a blog for fun or ESPECIALLY if you are considering making some passive money on the side while blogging you are going to need the right tools in your blogging toolbox. I recommend Bluehost to host your site. I personally use it and Bluehost is still one of the top web hosting companies and you can start your own blog with them for as low as $3.95 a month (It’s normally $7.99 a month, but they have a promotion to get you that rate for up to 3 years hosting with them)!
You can choose a different site to host your blog but they offer your domain free if you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan (this will save you at least $15 on your initial purchase). I recommend doing the 36-month hosting plan through Bluehost (because that’s the best deal and that’s what I did, and I’m very pleased with it) even if you’re not planning on monetizing your blog because if you really love blogging you never know when you might decide to monetize and at that moment you’ll be happy you decided to host and have your own domain.
Having your own site that looks more professional to affiliate programs and readers. You will be able to have a better following and at any moment you will be able to decide to monetize through ads and affiliate marketing.
Some of my blogging mentors had their blogs going for years before they decided to monetize. You just never know, so you might as well start off on the right foot.
Bluehost is affordable and you can save yourself a lot of money by signing up for at least 12 months. Plus, if you want an even better deal, your best value would be purchasing a 36-month plan (that’s what I did, I like the best deal.) With the 36 month plan, your monthly rate is WAY lower over the long run. So you have options. Do what’s best for you and your specific situation
For me personally, I started with Bluehost (36-month plan) and WordPress right from the start because I enjoy work from home and being my own boss. Online jobs are growing and this is one way to pay yourself and work when you want. You’ll be glad you did. I’m glad I did.
1-Click WordPress Install (this saves a lot of complication)
24/7 Support
Get 36 months at $3.95 a month instead of $7.99 (That’s a saving of at least $145!)
Plus* Intro offer and 30-day money-back guarantee (FYI, the 30-day guarantee does not include the domain name, so if you request a refund they will charge a fee. It wasn’t a problem for me, but I just wanted you to know and be aware)
End of FAST TRACK on how to start a blog.
Now, on to the meat and potatoes.
This is an extensive guide on starting a blog, so please enjoy 🙂
How to Start a Blog in 11 Easy Steps
Choose your Host Site
Choose your platform The Fun Part 1: Choose your Domain Name
The Fun Part 2: Choose What You Know Well and Find Interesting to Write About
Choose your Platform
Next, You’ll Want to Design Your Blog
Create Necessary Pages (Contact, Home, About Us)
Create a Publishing Routine
Make Sure to Create Great Photos That Feel Professional
Devise a Strategy that Will Make your Content POP!
Learn to Promote your Content Through as Many Channels as Possible (Without Being SPAMMY!)
Learning How to Become a Blogger Takes Work (Don’t Be Fooled. This is NOT a “get rich quick” scheme)
BONUS: Plugins We’re enjoying
How to Start a Blog–
1. Choose your blog host
As you know We recommend using Bluehost. I’m going to show you real quick the process and how simple it is to get your blog started on Bluehost so you have something to look at and have an idea. If you want, you can jump over to their site right now through this link: “Bluehost Link” (Where you will see the low hosting cost of $3.95 a month and a free domain name for your 1st year) and as we go step by step you can take action on your brand new blog as we go through the guide.
They have a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can always start today. Try it out for a month to see if it’s a good fit for you and if not, get your money back, no risk to you. (fyi they don’t refund the free $15 domain name as you now own it for the year.)
There are other host sites to choose from but we recommend this one for starting out as a blogger.
After you click the green get started button you choose a plan that works for you:
Most beginners would be fine starting with the basic plan and we recommend the 36-months as it’s the best deal.
Next you’ll pick a domain name:
We go into more detail below about choosing a name.
Then you’ll put in your information:
Next is the payment info:
Pick the package that’s right for you. We went with the 36-month because it’s the best deal and that’s what we recommend for you. Again don’t forget about the 30-day money back guarantee so that you can get started with no risk.
We wouldn’t say that you need to get sitelock and codeguard until later, but domain privacy protection we recommend getting.
Then create your new password and login:
Remember: once you’ve paid you still have 30 days to try things out with no risk to see if this is a good fit for you 🙂
Name your website. This is different than choosing a domain. Your domain might be eatmorecake.com. But your site name might then be Eat More Cake. You also will choose your tagline. For your tagline, it’s good to come up with a tiny simple sentence that makes your site’s purpose clear.
Name: Eat More Cake
Tagline: Learn How to Bake the Best Cakes in the World.
Something like that.
For example of what this might look like you can see our Name and Tagline at the top of this page right now 🙂 ^^^
Tell Bluehost more about the goals of your website so that they can help you:
Be honest about whether you are knowledgeable about creating sites so they can give you tips and help along the way.
Pick a theme:
More details on picking a theme below, but don’t be afraid to try many since you can change them fairly easily before making your website go live.
It is recommended by some bloggers that you buy a theme as they are more secure than free ones, but that is up to you.
After you choose a theme you can install WordPress easily with one click:
I love how easy it is to use WordPress with Bluehost.
Now you can click over to start building.
Now you are able to sign in to your Bluehost account and you can click the log in to WordPress blue button to really get started.
This will lead you to the back end of your site where you have access to your WordPress tools and plugins. At the bottom of this post we recommend some plugins for you to try out.
This is what you can expect and how easy it is to own your own domain and WordPress site through BlueHost.
Next we will go more in depth about starting a blog.
2. Choose your domain name for your blog 🙂
For me, as a creative, this part is more fun than step one (choosing a host site for your blog).
It’s true. I’m a creative type. That means any time I get to brainstorm, innovate, or create I get pretty excited. I am only organized by necessity. (Being creative and messy is MUCH more fun )
Not everyone gets excited when learning “how to blog” or “how to start a blog” or “how to make money blogging” so I guess I’m sort of nerdy in that way 8) (and if you’re reading this maybe you are too 😉 )
When thinking about a domain name for your blog, try to think of something catchy, but not too long.
Think of something that is a play on words like “do the Write thing” instead of “do the right thing,” because at Do the Write Thing we write about writing and we want to help you do the right thing while you write!
We like writing and writing about writing so it’s fun all around!
Some “punny” play on word ideas to help your brain juices get pumping on how to start your blog and coming up with a creative domain name idea for your blog:
Love everything Llama? No ProbLlama
Like baking? You Bake me crazy!
Inspirational? Have Beleaf in yourself
Vegetarians? Give Peas a chance
Selling lights? You Light up my life
Still like baking? All you Knead is love
Can’t get enough dessert? Get stuck on a dark Dessert highway. Or Welcome to my Dessert Island!
Do you love Coffee a Latte?
Writing about tea? Watch out for the Tea-rex!
Writing about everything Irish? Irish I had an idea for you…
To choose a good domain name for your startup blog you’ll want to have a good idea of what type of content you want to create. Name and niche pretty much go hand in hand.
When thinking about creating content for your blog it is not all writing. In today’s internet culture it can be videos, pictures, how-to guides, etc. Pretty much any topic you can think of you can turn into a blog.
Do try to specialize in something.
You don’t want to be so broad that you write about anything and everything. You won’t be able to hold anyone’s attention that way.
You also don’t want to be SO specialized that you run out of topic material.
My suggestion is to do some quick research.
Look up topics you enjoy and are interested in blogging about for yourself. What are you passionate about that others may also be passionate about? Don’t just go for topics you think will make a lot of page views or money.
You might be one of the few that is passionate about pink poodles, but there are lots of dog lovers and if you think it might keep your interest you can start a blog for dog lovers and help dog lovers with there dog-loving needs with your blog.
It’s important to have some interest in what you are blogging about.
Readers will be able to tell if you like or know anything about what you’re blogging about and worst of all, you’ll be able to tell.You’ll start writing, making videos, and pictures, and you’ll find that you’re bored and you can’t wait till it’s over. This won’t last long before you give up and stop blogging altogether.
This brings us to the next step. These two steps go hand in hand. Pick your domain name, pick your blog subject.
3.Choose What You Know Well and Find Interesting to Blog About
So again do some research about blog ideas you have. And remember a blog doesn’t have to be all writing. Many blogs are mostly pictures and videos. Some websites are just about products and that can work too.
When you think of something you like, for example, skydiving. You can look up blogs about skydiving and start to see how you can create content about the topic you’re interested in creating a blog around.
I recommend reading many things about your blog topic that you’re thinking about starting a blog about. Books, blogs, articles, videos, you name it. Educate yourself on the subject and become an expert. Figure out how to become a blogger expert on your topic. NEVER copy paste someone elses work. It’ll be easy at first, but it will hurt you down the road. Become your own expert on something for your blog and future readers. Then you can write from what you know and it’s yours and you can own your blog.
The best place to get ideas is from real life whether it’s your personal experience or whether you interview someone that went through the experience you want to be a blogger about.
This will help you develop unique and dynamic content that your readers will eat up as your blog grows!
Once you have a pretty good idea of your topic, the research you’ve done will help you come up with something unique and creative the domain name of your blog.
(Don’t be afraid to choose the wrong name.) You, your blog, and your content will grow and change over time.
There are many successful blogs that start out in one topic but migrate to another with time.
If your topic is broad enough but specialized enough you will have sub-topics that easily make sense in your blogging niche.
The worst thing you can do to yourself is be paralyzed by indecision.
Pick a topic, pick a name, and get started on your blog!
The more time you wait, the more you could have been growing your blog but didn’t. (Full disclosure: I wish we would’ve started earlier, but you don’t know what you don’t know and hindsight is 20/20)
If you’re really worried about it just make it your own name and then you can make it about whatever you want whenever you want. www.[ insert your name here ].com
4. Choose a platform for your blog
I recommend WordPress for this.
With this Bluehost link, it’s literally as easy as a click and you’ve got WordPress at no extra charge.
Another reason I like WordPress is that the majority of the internet is using WordPress. This means that WordPress plugins are up to date and mostly hassle-free for bloggers.
WordPress has been around for a while so they have developed their platform and worked through many bugs and issues.
Since a lot of sites use WordPress there are an equal amount of engineers creating WordPress friendly themes and plugins that make your life as a blogger much easier.
Also, there is a ton of helpful information just a google search away. There is a massive amount of youtube videos and content written to help WordPress users get things done on their blogs.
If you happen to run into a problem or can’t figure something out, you can literally do this: Google search: “How do I (problem) WordPress” and I’ll wager that you will get a large number of free resources and answers to guide you to your WordPress solution for your new blog.
Other platforms are not bad and have their upsides, but in my opinion, there are less free good resources to help you get done what you want and run as smoothly as what you might find on WordPress.
For me, it is a matter of convenience.
I like the resources I have found for WordPress on my blog. They have been nice, up to date, work seamlessly, and are reliable.
Other platforms and resources for them might not be as convenient or caught up with the curve as they just don’t own enough of the space yet.
With other platforms, you may have a little more freedom to customize and create a look outside of the box if you think that might be more your thing and if you want to spend more time figuring it out. If you like the idea of website development then you might like that.
Bluehost will let you use other platforms for your blog, so don’t worry about that.
(If you just want to start a blog quickly and want the fast track, Bluehost one-click WordPress option is quite easy)
5. Design Your Blog
In my opinion, this part was not my favorite TBH.
When you’re learning how to start a blog, you don’t think about how much designing and development you have to figure out if you want your site to look and feel professional.
Thankfully, there are a good amount of themes to choose from but even with themes, there is a fair amount to figure out on your own.
I’m a writer, not a designer, but through the process of starting a blog myself and designing it myself, I learned valuable WordPress skills and I’m happy that I did it.
If you don’t have time to design your own blog I recommend hiring a WordPress developer.
There are a good amount of freelancing sites now that have many freelancers to choose from and the sites usually make it fairly easy for clients to find freelancers and protect them during the payment process.
If you want to find a good freelancer to help create your WordPress blog look at these important things:
Look at their reviews. If they have a bunch of glowing reviews they probably will do good on your project as well.
Look at how much they charged other clients and how consistently they charged the price they are asking for. You can learn a lot by going through their reviews and save yourself time in the interview process.
If they know what they are doing and talking about they probably will have clients lining up to work with them so they might be less likely to worry about impressing you in the interview process. Freelancers interview every day. More than likely they are looking to shorten the interview time. It’s time and work they don’t get paid for. Look for the freelancer that isn’t that interested in “wowing” you upfront, but still has amazing reviews and commands a decent price.
Cheap work is easy to find and you might waste money by going cheap. You might be able to find a lower-priced freelancer with amazing reviews, but more than likely if it seems to good to be true, don’t waste your time. Go for the freelancer that is interested in giving you a great product, not the one that’s looking to “wow” you in the interview. Some high-quality freelancers won’t even go into a free interview and won’t offer any free samples. These freelancers most likely have a very good experience and profitable ideas for your business.
Look for samples on their site.
Look to see if they have established their own sites.
Look to see how many hours they’ve worked and what each job outcome looks like.
Try to stick within your budget and get someone that looks excellent. Don’t try to get the lowest price possible because you’ll likely lose their interest and they won’t enjoy working with you or look to help you out again.
If you are going to start your blog and DIY, one of the main things to decide and easier things to do is to choose a theme.
Even though themes are easily loaded and switched around the theme you choose is very important for your new blog and gives your readers a “feel” for your site’s personality.
The cool thing about WordPress is that there are A LOT of free themes to choose from and you may find a free one that you love.
Security Tip- (When you choose a theme look to make it secure by hiding it from the public which theme it is.)
Not to worry though. If you can’t find one you love, you may want to purchase a theme as they come with other benefits, but they are very affordable.
I recommend writing a blog post and loading the post and then going through different themes to see in real life which theme feels the best to you.
It was easy for me to load one and see right away whether I liked it or not.
This is also a good time to look up 10 or more blogs you like so you can start to see what your options are, what you like, and what maybe you don’t like. I know this process was very helpful for me when choosing a theme.
By looking at other blogs I realized I didn’t like crazy colors, that I liked something more simple. I was looking for a simple plain background.
It would have been hard for me to picture what I liked if I hadn’t gone through other inspiring blogs to see my options.
6. Create The Necessary Pages For Your New Blog (Contact, Home, About Us, Disclaimers, Privacy Policy)
As you are learning how to blog you will see that a post is your traditional blog post, similar to this one.
But your pages are more like foundational pieces of your blog site, examples: About Page, Contact Page, Home Page.
These will be tough to figure out, but going through the necessary process and checking them off one by one right away will help you choose your design and theme for your new blog business.
If you are looking just for an outlet to write and you have no interest in promoting your content right away then the more fun and creative process is to procrastinate these pages. If you want to make money asap with your blog these will be blog posts to tackle sooner rather than later.
I emphasize, if you want to promote and monetize your blog and create side income or full-time income for yourself, you will have to make these pages.
In today’s savvy internet culture, readers and browsers look for these pages. (Affiliate programs do too.)
After reading some good tips on your posts the reader is going to get curious, “who is this person writing these things for me.” As emotional and social beings we long to connect with each other. A great way for you to connect with your readers and for them to connect with you is to make a great and personal “About Us” page.
You want to stand out from your blogging competitors, so you’re going to want to make it welcoming, inviting, personal, fun, and somewhat vulnerable.
Naturally, you’ll tend to steer away from being vulnerable with your audience on your blog, but in doing so you’ll be like everyone else and they won’t connect with you as well.
In building a brand, one key trait is to be unique. And only you can be you 🙂
At the same time you don’t have to share EVERYTHING on your blog with the world right away. Just share things that you’re comfortable sharing. Share struggles and fears, but share also how you overcame them.
You never know when one of your visitors is struggling with something similar to you and how reading your story can help encourage them and pull them out of the fog.
Every part of your site can be made to feel more inviting, professional, and warm. Especially your Home page.
Think of your website like a house with many rooms. Your home page is the part of the house that has the most doors and the most possibilities for the visitor to look around.
Another way to view the home page is like a place to reset. They might get lost down some corridors and hallways into your blog area. By being able to click the home button at the top they know they can start over and find whatever they are looking for next.
You might be thinking you want to venture off the beaten path and make these pages different or not at all. I wouldn’t recommend this. With these pages, visitors have been “trained” to expect this sort of layout and you will make your site less user-friendly by not following the traditional layout.
You don’t want to copy anyone’s about us page, but you definitely want to make your own if you intend to share, promote, or monetize your content with your blog business.
Creating the traditional layout pages can be tedious at times, but in the long run, you’ll be glad you did. And your blog will be glad too.
Blog Tip- Make your blog unique, but keep your traditional pages inside the user-friendly box.
7. Create a Publishing Routine that Helps You Promote Your Blog Content
You don’t have to write at the same time every single day. You don’t have to publish at the same time every month, but developing a habit has been proven time and time again to be reliably helpful as you successfully learn how to start a blogging business.
You will have to figure out what works best for your specific schedule and what is a good undistracted time for you to create.
Here are some helpful habits for the creative blogging process:
Don’t wait for inspiration
Write down your blog ideas when they come to you, not later
Make time to create
Keep a blog idea journal
When you start a blog post make a quick outline or you’ll forget your main points
Figure out what tools work best for you for blogging consistently
Work on your main blog points and the words will follow
Don’t wait for inspiration to come out of nowhere.
You have to learn to just sit down and create content for your blog. If you wait for inspiration you will never actually create anything for your blog.
You may feel inspired from time to time or maybe even a lot at the beginning of your blogger journey, but as time wanes, you might find it more and more difficult to just create.
It’s best to just force yourself to create and do research to figure out what you don’t know and manufacture inspiration of your own.
Write your ideas down the moment they come to you. Don’t wait until later.
Inspirational thinkers including music artist have developed their own routine for recording their creative ideas, whether they are out with friends, at work, driving, or awoken from a dream.
For me, I have a notepad on my phone that I use a lot, and I also like to use google docs.
Especially for blogging. I’ll be in the middle of creating a blog post and I realize a title for another blog post I’d like to make and at that moment I take 15 seconds. I open a brand new google doc, type the title, and close the google doc. (It takes seconds, and they are valuable.)
I don’t want to take away from what I am writing, especially if I’m “in the zone,” but I also have been creating long enough to know that if I don’t write it down right now, later on tonight, I’ll get this feeling that I had an idea BUT I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT IT WAS! GASP!
It is honestly one of my LEAST favorite feelings in all the whole entirety of the universe…I’m being slightly dramatic, but for real…I hate it.
So now, instead of thinking to myself “oh that’s a good blog idea. I’ll write it down later or tonight before bed,” NOPE! Gotta find something to write it on now.
And if worse comes to worst you can always write it on your arm or a napkin and stuff it in your pocket for later.
If the internet crashes I’ll lose all my ideas, but for now, at least they are stored somewhere.
Make time to create.
Just like inspiration won’t come knocking on your bedroom every day, “Hey! It’s time to create this amazing idea I have for you!” having time to create won’t be some magical luxury that makes itself available to you out of nowhere.
When you are starting a blog, you need to make time for you to create blog content.
There are many thoughts on what time of the day is best for your creative mind to flow right and make things happen.
For me though, I write at all times of the day. I write after I do my wake up routine. I write midday. I write in the evening. It’s 8:37 pm right now and I’m writing. For me it really just depends on the day and when I can make time.
For me creative success is as simple as this simple little question:
I tried all the other tricks; write a certain number of words a day, write a certain amount of time a day, write at a certain time every day. It just wasn’t working for me.
After years of trying different techniques I learned or read about on blogs and elsewhere, I just started to tell myself, I just have to write, I just have to write.
And what I found was that just by starting to write I would usually get into a rhythm and end up writing a good amount if I sat down just to write. I didn’t have any word constraints or time restraints.
I could quit if I wanted or write if I wanted, but I didn’t have any prisoner- like goals to accomplish “or else.”
I found this to be very freeing for me and it made the process of writing less work and more fun.
Some days it is still hard to start, but once I do it is quite enjoyable most days.
You must figure out what works best for you so that you will create at least a bit every day if you can.
Keep a blogging journal.
I think some people will really like this.
Keep a journal of your thoughts and great ideas, that way you always have something to look to for inspiration.
I have tried the regular journaling practice and it hasn’t helped me personally, but I have experienced fun moments of reading old journals and being shocked that I thought something or did something and went “oh wow, I don’t remember that!” Or “wow, I’m glad I wrote that down, that’s very cool.”
So, I would especially think for some people that a journal would be a very good idea and would be very helpful if you become a blogger.
When you start a blog post make a quick outline or you’ll forget your main points.
This step is HUGE for me in my blogger routine.
The day I started to make this is a habit in my blogger life is the day I shouted for joy. OK so I probably didn’t literally shout for joy, but I cannot tell you how helpful it has been creating an outline of my main points first thing.
For me, this is no longer some BIG TEDIOUS brainstorming session.
No, this part usually takes me a few seconds and if I really can’t think of good ideas I’ll do a quick 5 minute google search. I may edit or change parts of the list as I go along with the post, but that’s about it. I try to keep things in my blogger process simple and effective.
As you grow your blog you’ll develop your routine and best habit practices and you’ll enjoy them too, hopefully.
With my outline of the main points I want to hit the blog almost writes itself.
You’d be surprised how often your writing and you draw a blank. My outline is what I look to any time I run out of words to write. I scroll up or click over to my outline or inspiration and look to see where I’ve been and where I’m headed.
This helps me stay on track and cuts down my blogger work from home time down dramatically.
Also, when you first think of the blog post you want to write all these great ideas fly through your head of what it should be made of. I’ll bet you that when you come back to write about it, you completely forget what those great ideas were.
With an outline, you can step away from your post and pick up easily where you left off just by looking at what you have written and your list of what you want to write.
I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been distracted from this exact post or had to walk away or put it down or go to sleep while I’ve been writing it, but every time I come back I just go to my outline and see what I’ve done and I know where I want to go and I feel good about it.
Outlines could just be the main ideas or some content too. It really depends on what is most helpful for you.
You don’t want to make a habit of walking away from your piece in the middle of a thought. You want to do your best to find a good place to stop that will be easy to pick up from later. Finish your thought or your main idea and then get up.
Life is too complicated so it’s best to plan for interruptions because they will happen more often than you think!
Therefore, make an outline and you’ll be so glad you did!
Figure out what tools work best for you.
As you start your blog, you will find that not every tool offered to you is necessary, you will love some, and you will ponder others.
For instance, for me, some of my greatest tools outside of Bluehost, are Google Docs, outlines, and Grammarly.
The moment I found google docs changed my freelance writer life. That has carried on to all my writing projects, including my blogger projects.
And as I expressed above, I am so fortunate to have developed a habit of outlining.
For some people, long brainstorming sessions are big for them and they develop these big ideas brainstorm bubbles on whiteboards. I never needed that nor did I enjoy it. For me, it was a waste of time. It doesn’t help my brain simplify the tasks I need to do to get the blog done.
Your tools are going to be best used to partner with your working style to get the blog done in a fun but effective manner. So find blog tools that help you get the job done faster and better.
Another tool that I enjoy having around is Grammarly.
It took me a long time to give in to the Grammarly crowd, I thought, “eh, I’m a good writer. I don’t need it. It’s just another thing to bother me.” But to the contrary, I love having it. Best part! It’s completely free! They have a paid version too that can give you extra insight into your writing and how it can be better.
I would recommend Grammarly to anyone who writes and bloggers. It’s a no brainer. I would especially recommend their paid version for bloggers and writers where English isn’t your first language. Even if English isn’t your first language, the paid version of Grammarly will help you with English in a way that spell check can’t.
Grammarly checks not just spelling, but the use of commas, periods, punctuation, and word choices that makes it more professional and readable in English, and English doesn’t have to be your first language for you to make a living as a blogger or writer in English. Between Google, Grammarly, and freelancers you can get it done and get paid for what you do!
For images and editing we use unsplash, pixabay, mailchimp, and canva.
Work on your main blog points and the words will follow.
Creating main points at the beginning of creating new content is a must for me personally.
I have main ideas or have found them and then when I get down to it the words flow from the main idea of each point. If I don’t write them down I easily forget them as I go from the beginning to the end of the creation of the blog post.
I highly recommend finding your main points first and writing them down or having them somewhere so you have something to look back to when you lose your place and then you don’t have to struggle with trying to remember each point you wanted to discuss.
In conclusion, you have to figure out what blogger tools are best for your specific writing goals and needs.
Figure out what works best for you and repeat it on a daily to weekly basis.
8. Make Sure to Create Great Photos That Feel Professional on Your Startup Blog
Images are important to your image, tone, and feel of your blog.
Blogs without images just don’t perform as well.
It is sad but true.
Blogs with images, especially, unique, fun lively ones tend to give a more professional feel and tone to your blogger community.
We use Unsplash, Mailchimp, and Canva to get great looking customized photos and texts FO FREE.
Yes, the image above is cheesy. But it proves a point. It only takes a few moments to make an image like this and load it up to your blog.
And it is worth it in the long wrong to start having images for your viewers and for Google to find.
This means you don’t have to spend hours on photoshop or hundreds of dollars on stock images or developers.
While you are blogging, especially using WordPress. You will start to get a feel if you want to start offering your freelance services as a developer, more specifically a WordPress developer.
If you do decide to do this, I would definitely recommend using Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe Tools to offer amazing services to clients! My sister has her own photography business and she uses Photoshop non-stop on her projects and couldn’t do her side hustle without it.
While you’re starting out and learning how to become a blogger you might not need to spend money on professional tools to make great, unique amazing looking photos that give your blog the feel and tone you want it to have.
If you decide to, that’s completely up to you, and I’ve laid out various options here, but most of all just make sure you put it crisp looking videos and photos where you can, but don’t overdo it and make sure that it makes sense for your startup blog niche.
9. Devise a Strategy that Will Make your Blog Content POP!
The idea of “ blog content strategy” can mean a bazillion things. Some of them more technical than others. But as you start your blog and grow it your content strategy will grow and change with time as well.
In this strategy, we will focus on these things briefly: (this is in no way exhaustive)
Some technical stuff
Make your content readable
Make your content POP!
Understand your audience
Feed your audience
Some technical stuff
This would be like planning and organizing. Some people love organizing. Not me. I love “being” organized, but I do not enjoy the process. For me it is a necessary discipline that I have learned with practice and time.
I use my phone, notes, google docs, email, and my wife to help me stay organized
You need to figure out what organization tips and tricks will work best for you to keep you going and on task with your content strategy for your blog.
I don’t have a set schedule. My schedule is actually very fluid and for the most part I work to keep it that way. Then I can say yes or no to things freely.
That’s not for everyone. Some people LOVE their schedule and how dare you live without one haha, but if you need a schedule I recommend a tool like Trello or other free scheduling tools.
Trello is nice and neat and it’s set up to be an easier, smarter interactive to do list with alerts and calendars to help you stay on schedule and not forget things. Trello really helps with a team. You can throw up a to do and the teammates that are in the need to know will know instantly. No need to schedule a meeting. And if you need to schedule a meeting with certain teammates and not others you can do that too. Imagine Trello as a virtual office that runs on smart sticky notes and chats.
Figure out what technical tools you need in order to make your blogger life continue to spin as you journey deeper in how to become a blogger.
Make your content readable
As you develop your blogger skills you will want to develop a skill that should be second nature to you as you create and write content.
I CANNOT overstate how under-stressed this point is. Make your content readable.
This means your content needs to be written at a low reading level. Be aware of your audience of course, but for the most part writing at an eighth-grade reading level is high enough and will be more accepted by your blog traffic than if you wrote to them at a college level or higher.
As a blogger write shorter paragraphs. Sometimes just write just one sentence, this will help your audience read through all of your material. Most web visitors naturally skip big BLOCKS of text and skip to the more scan-able texts.
Write simple and make it easier for your audience to digest your content. Use the Flesch Readability calculator and try to maintain a score above 70. Keep it fairly easy at least for all your readers.
Make your content POP!
As a blogger, how does one make content POP?
We already went over images and how important they are to you as a blogger and how they make content have a completely new feel and how easy they can be to create.
But now I’m talking about your text.
It is actually REALLY EASY and in time with practice, you can become very good at it.
You might not even think about it but I’m doing it rightnow.
That’s right just bold, italicize, color, highlight, capitalize, or underline your text in the right places, at the right moment and this will help your content POP for readers to digest your blog content more easily!
Don’t overdo it and learn how to do it masterfully and it will be a very useful skill as you start your blog.
Understand your audience
Take your time. Do your homework. Get something like Google Analytics and get to know your audience.
Listen to your readers’ comments not just on your site, but on other sites where you can find them as well.
Find them on chats, forums, comments on products, find them wherever you can and pay attention to them, their words, and how they talk about what they like and what they don’t like.
When your audience responds to what you do, take note and respond in kind on your blog.
Feed your blogging audience
When you find out what your audience likes, doesn’t like and what they want, give it to them!
Find out what your audience is asking and answer those questions in a blog post.
Find out what their worries and doubts are and try to find solutions for them that you can offer on your blog.
Try to help your audience.
Find out what they want to know as well as be savvy enough to understand what they need to know and give it to them
10. Learn to Promote Your Blog Content Through as Many Channels as Possible (Without Being SPAMMY!)
This one is a toughy.
You want to promote your blog content as much as you can, but you DEFINITELY want to be cautious about being too Spammy! Yikes! (No one likes spam, except Spammers.)
In other words, don’t be that guy or gal!
You know what they are like. They pop into your forum out of nowhere. They don’t add any value to the convo. They just post a link to WHO KNOWS WHAT?! and then disappear like a fart in the wind (they literally make a fart noise as they vanish into a cloud of green dust laughing maniacally.)
But in all seriousness, as you learn the best practices of blogging you will quickly realize that a successful blogger is one that spends A LOT of time promoting their own blog and finding ways to have others promote it as well.
But don’t worry!
You don’t have to be spammy to do this well!
You actually get to be helpful and build meaningful blogger relationships.
That’s the best way to do it anyways.
Find ways to join conversations all over the internet.
Don’t post your own stuff right away unless it makes sense. Take time to answer questions, pose meaningful questions, and add value to the conversation.
As you leave a good impression on others, when the right time comes you’ll be able to recommend one of your posts that is helpful to the group and generate some traffic for yourself as a blogger.
In today’s social media world you will find lots of opportunities to use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Quora, and other platforms to generate some more traffic for your blogger time.
With social media, your best tactic is original and unique looking content.
Try creating photos with text that are eye-catching.
Try to make your photos professional looking. Remember that you are competing with the millions, no, billions of other eye candy photos that pop up every millisecond on social media.
Get creative, find groups and pages on social media that are interactive and where you can cut through the white noise to 1,000 to 10,000 active users all at one time.
Be careful not to give into the temptation to use spam tactics. Google is smart and they will blacklist you. Even if you get your link posted on 1000 pages in one day, your ranking will go down so fast and your affiliate programs won’t appreciate it (and may drop you) and if you want to be a respected blogger you will only be shooting yourself in the blogger foot. Don’t shoot yourself in your blogger foot.
As you are learn how to start a blog, just make sure you avoid being spammy and make sure to spend time promoting yourself as a well-respected blogger by being helpful and adding value wherever you bring your presence.
11. Learning How to Start a Blog Takes Work (Don’t Be Fooled. This is NOT a “get rich quick” scheme)
Let me repeat: learning how to start your own blog will take a good amount of work on your part.
But don’t despair!
That work will be worth it. Even if you fail dramatically, which I have read about others doing. You will have learned something new about yourself. Or you will have gained some new skills for the work from home, freelance market place.
Possible skills you can immediately put to use and earn money as a freelancer from starting your own blog:
Blogging
WordPress Development (If you used WordPress)
VA (Virtual Assistant for clients building their own sites)
Writing
Marketing
Copywriting
And this is not an exhaustive list.
Taking the time to start a blog could benefit your future in ways that you can’t see yet.
Black Studio TinyMCE Widget Crazy long weird name; GREAT plugin. I have yet to take total advantage of it, but it is amazing. One of the features we love about it right now is the ability to create “Paragraph” content in my header, footer, and sidebar. Game changer!
Hummingbird speed up your site, helps you with caching and performance optimization. If your users are going to have a good time while they are with you, things need to run fast.
Cookie Notice is a really easy way to let your visitor know that your site uses cookies. Which is something that almost every site should do if they use cookies.
If you enjoy 5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts
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5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts
Be a smart writer and take advantage of every word.
Write powerful words when appropriate to trigger an emotional response from your reader.
You can write powerful words instead of dull words to incite a desirous psychological reaction in your reader while you have their attention.
Write power words to give your reader specific feelings about characters and events.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
If you enjoy 5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
If you enjoy 5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
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12 Thoughts on How to Write a Psychopath Vs a Sociopath
What is a Psychopath?
Psychopath Definition
Psychopathy according to Healthline“The true definition of a psychopath in psychiatry is antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), explains Dr. Prakash Masand, a psychiatrist and the founder of the Centers of Psychiatric Excellence. ASPD describes an individual who shows patterns of manipulation and violation to others.”
If you enjoy 12 Thoughts on How to Write a Psychopath Vs a Sociopath, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
Both Psychopaths and Narcissists are self-absorbed, but carry this out in different ways. A Narcissist may end hurting someone because of their narcissistic behavior, but not intentionally and they won’t enjoy the harm of others.
A Psychopath like a sociopath may choose to harm others as a motive and would enjoy it and feel no remorse, and even excuse the behavior in their own mind.
What is a High-Functioning Psychopath?
The thought is that a high-functioning psychopath is much better at hiding their true bad motives and is able to rise the ranks in social settings.
They more easily become upper management and bosses in social settings and business settings. In some cases, it is easier for them to excel in business and climb the ladder because they lack a feeling of risk and remorse.
What would a secondary character experience, being close to a character with ASPD?
Some characters don’t get to choose who is in their life. You as the writer of their story get to choose that.
They don’t get to choose their
Brothers
Sisters
Mothers
Fathers
Cousins
Aunts
Uncles
Grandmother
Grandfather
Teammates
Kids at School
Coworkers
College roommates
Children
They do get to choose
Wife
Husband
Girlfriend
Boyfriend
Business Partner
Friend
Apartment roommate
Adopted Daughter/Son
Seeing all these possible relationships, any of them could be a character with psychopathic behaviors and the controversy that comes out of relationships like these could be vast. In other words, there is a lot of material to work with here.
Your character may not know how to deal with the other character in their life that is a psychopath.
But some things to consider as possible behaviors or consequences:
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What type of treatment would a character with Psychopathic Behaviors seek?
If you do want to write your Psychopathic character seeking treatment here are some realistic ideas:
A loved one forces them to seek help
Legal authorities force them to seek help
They seek help for entertainment and curiosity
Ways a Psychopath can attempt to seek help
Medication that may be prescribed
Anti-depressants
Anti-anxiety
Anti-aggression
Clozaril has been used in some cases
Psychotherapy may be attempted
This would involve scenes of them talking with a therapist about their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Not just revolving around psychopathology.
They may attempt religious help
This would involve scenes of talking to a pastor. Or attended church services. Maybe a salvation experience.
This could involve scenes talking to priests or making confessions.
They could be seen talking to a neighbor or friend they know to be religious.
Behavioral Therapy
This may involve scenes of them speaking to a professional about their behaviors, recognizing that they are negative behaviors and seeking to replace them with better behaviors.
Sociopath Versus Psychopath
What’s the difference between a Sociopath and Psychopath?
There is not much difference according to Healthline. It is a controversial subject about whether or not a distinction can be made.
Some claim that there is little to no difference whatsoever and that what some psychologists have come to call psychopaths and sociopaths are both just similar symptoms of ASPD.
While other Psychologists claim that there are differences.
One profound thought is that Psychopathy is just a more severe form of Sociopathy.
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Consider taking a Psychopath Test to get more ideas for writing a Psychopath Versus a Sociopath.
Use these thoughts to write a captivating Psychopath in your story. The Psychopathic character with ASPD does not inherently have to be the “bad guy” or “the villain.”
A character with ASPD could be the protagonist or the antagonist of the story.
Get creative and figure out ways to surprise readers by writing outside the box!
This post is in no way meant to be medical or professional advice. This is intended for the enjoyment of research and creative writing.
If you enjoy 12 Thoughts on How to Write a Psychopath Vs a Sociopath, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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If you enjoy 12 Thoughts on How to Write a Psychopath Vs a Sociopath, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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