The Renegade Writer - A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success

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"The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success" by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell is a motivating book about breaking the traditional "rules" of freelance writing to prosper and do it your own way.

Both authors are freelance writers and they share examples of how they broke the traditional "rules" of freelance writing to gain more assignment and make more money in a career they are passionate about. The 200 page plus book is easy to read and contains many tips for the aspiring freelancer as well as the seasoned pro.

There are chapters on breaking into the business, generating ideas, sending queries without fear, contracts, how to find information, doing interviews, breaking grammar rules, getting paid, and your renegade attitude and how to thrive and not just survive. There are also some good references in the Appendices.

A number of the chapters concluded with a profile of a freelance writer who shared some of their renegade strategies that had worked for them. A couple of these writers were Melody Warnick, Jennifer Lawler, and Kelly James-Enger. Hearing the perspective of these other writers was not only informative, but also motivational and inspiriting. This would especially be true for the new writer.

There are nuts and bolts about the writing business that are not covered in this book, but that was not the author's purpose. It would be good for an aspiring writer to read some of the nuts and bolts and traditional rules type books, but then read this to realize that often rules are made to be broken, and when you do break them it is not the end of the world, but sometimes the beginning to bigger and better things.

I've recently started to increase the freelance work I do, and I'm glad I read this book. There are some great ideas and examples for any freelance writer. So, all you need to do is read the book and become a Renegade Writer today.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior's Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles, over 100 reviews, and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com/

Book Reviewed - "The Compass in Your Nose" Marc McCutcheon

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Below you will find 10 odd facts that I found recently while poking around my bookshelf.

They were contained in a neat book titled "The Compass in Your Nose", author Marc McCutcheon, 1989 published by Jeffrey Tarcher.

1 - In almost every language on earth, the word for MOTHER starts with an "m" sound. This could be due to the fact that "m" is the first consonant they learn, and almost always the easiest and first sound they make.

2 - An estimated 80% of Europeans have hair that whorls in a counterclockwise motion at the back of the head, while most Japanese hair whorls in the opposite direction.

3 - When we hear ourselves speak, the sound is conducted by our bones. This slightly alters the timbre of our voices. This explains why many of us can not recognize our own voice on a recording, but our friends can. The tape recorder, like our friends, hear the sound through air conduction alone.

4 - African Bushmen show no appreciable hearing loss at age 60. 60% of your average college students already suffer some amount of high frequency hearing loss. This is due to the fact that African Bushman live in a quiet environment, and college kids live in anything but. Even fetuses are at risk. A Japanese study shows that a fetus that is exposed to high frequency noise while in the mother's womb matures more slowly, and emerges at a lower body weight than average.

5 - The odor-causing odoriferous amines that give flatulence its usually horrific smell, indole and skatole, are also used in the production of perfumes, especially violet-scented varieties.

6 - The average American consumes the following quantities in his or her lifetime : 8,000 pounds of beef, 8,000 pounds of potatoes, and 8,000 pounds of fresh veggies, 20,000 eggs, 100,000 slices of bread, 7,000 pounds of sugar and 18,000 beers.

7 - Death. People fear death more from ages 45 to 54, and fear it the least when it is more likely to occur, from ages 65 to 74. 80% of all deaths in America occur in the hospital. The Japanese cremate 93 per cent of their dead, the U.S. only 12%. 70% of Americans who die every year are 65 or older, and only 5% die before age 5.

8 - Your bone tissue is not everlasting. It is constantly dying and being replaced. Every 7 years your body grows what is the equivalent of an entirely whole skeleton.

9 - Chocolate contains the same chemical, phenylethylamine, that the brain produces when we fall in love.
It produces a dreamy, pleasant feeling, and may explain why we gorge ourselves on chocolate on Valentine's Day.

10 - Your eye muscles get the biggest workout of all your body's musculature. They move 100,000 times in any 24 hour period. One would have to walk 50 miles to exercise your legs to the same extent.

The 193 page book is packed with amazing gems and weird research. Anyone that enjoys learning how the body ticks, and mind works will truly enjoy the amazing knowledge contained within.

The book starts out with a section on Human Chronology, and continues in 4 sections covering Population, Our Senses, Our Bodies, and Our Existence.

Even the brainiest brainiac will discover much useful information in this treasure trove of trivia.

I hope you have enjoyed these weird, inane, crazy facts. If you would like to know how you can free up your time to research such trivia, instead of answering to your boss' beck and call, contact me below.