The ROCK.

Travelin’ tandem to Uluru.

Is there nothing else you’d rather do ?

Travel with care. Take it real slow.

Ridin’ through bulldust is part of the go.

Seein’ our Aus. with rusty red dust.

Spinifex. Termites, is surely a must.

Adelaide, Port Augusta then Coober Pedy.

Well on your way, don’t be too speedy.

Turn off to the right to visit Lake Eyre,

many the sights you will see while your there.

Back on the Stuart, cross over the line,

a mark on your map, your doin’ fine.

Very soon after,

take the left turn,

headin’ now for the

‘ Rock.

An image will burn.

Sure, it is hot.

But scenery is the very best

part of the plot.

Locked in your memory for now and all time

are Aboriginal stories from their distant

Dreamtime.

Remember them well

Nicola Syme.

©.Rimeriter. 2/2012.

1 of 2.

Riding tandem to Uluru. (Caddie Brain)

ABC Alice Springs.

As the phrase says when life gets tough, the tough gets going.

And that's certainly true for Nicola Syme.

It all got a bit much for the young New Zealander who decided to hire a motorbike with a friend, and ride from Melbourne to Uluru.

"It was a rather large life upheaval really.

"I split up with a boyfriend, I quit my job, I moved interstate.

"And my friend Joel was like 'right, I need a holiday. Come on let's go and do a mission through the centre of Australia.'

"So there's lots of stuff going through my head; there's a lot of thinking going on.

"It's actually quite therpeudic."

The two travellers are riding tandem over thousands of kilometres, through the heat, with just a few small packs of luggage.

"The heat the last few days has definitely been the hardest thing to deal with.

"The sweat just drips down your legs.

"But I would not do it any other way, it's awesome."

***

Job Offers in the Internet Age.

Red Flags on Job Offers

by Lorraine Mace

In this internet age it has never been easier for writers to find work. Opportunities seem to be (and are) abundantly advertised on various sites, including bidding and pay per click revenue outlets. However, the downside of this is that it has also never been easier for writers to be taken for a ride and end up out of pocket in terms of time and effort. There are all too many supposed job offers that are, in truth, little more than slave labour and others that are scams. For the unwary writer looking to make a living from their craft, all too often unscrupulous people are waiting to take advantage of the writer’s readiness to take their job offer at face value.

So, how can you tell when an online writing job offer is better left unanswered than followed up? Fortunately, there are some obvious red flags to look out for.

Deadline for delivery, when paid (publication or on acceptance), the rights being purchased (all rights, electronic, or print), when payment will be made and how.

Remember that your non-fiction writing should be treated as a business. Writing fiction for the love of it, because the characters are burning holes in your brain is one thing, but researching, planning and writing an article should always have a payment at the end of it. If you value your worth as a writer, it is going to be harder for an unscrupulous person to take advantage of you.

Lorraine Mace is a columnist with Writing Magazine (UK) and also deputy editor of Words with JAM. She writes fiction for the women’s magazine market, features and photo-features for monthly glossy magazines and is a writing competition judge for Writers’ Forum.

Find out more about Lorraine by visiting her website: www.lorrainemace.com

BE CAREFUL.

DO NOT GET CAUGHT.

Jim.

Ayres Rock/Uluru.

Ayres Rock.

1952.                                                              

Nestling in a desert wasteland

is this monolith of fame,

perhaps a creature quietly sleeping,

omniscient, oh! so tame.

Knowing all but seeing nothing

as many others pass it by

while it dwells in concentration

underneath a pale blue sky.

Raw,coarse textures paint its surface,

colours vary, changing light.

Intense moods in many hues

deepen with approaching night.

Dark and brooding under starlight,

then with the coming dawn,

shifting shadows swiftly scamper

as new morning sun is born.

Rusty red and ochre orange

burst upon a new day’s page.

Pied Butcherbird trumpets, triumphantly

to announce another stage.

Silent,

ancient and archaic

where those rocky ranges rise

to a vista of extremes

underneath

hot azure skies.

©. Rimeriter. 2005.

Business Branding.

So You’re Thinking of Starting a Business 

Let me get this straight. I’m not going to discourage you in the least. I strongly believe that new small businesses are what are going to save our economy. What I am going to do is encourage you to slow down, think it through, and make some wise decisions. Most small business failures occur before they even open the doors. Poor planning, or worse, no planning can cause a premature demise of your new baby. Here are some key points:

Start with a business plan. Utilize the SBA, SCORE or your local not for profit small business development center and pick their brains. They can be a wealth of information and usually it’s free. Here locally in Johnson County we have the Kansas Small Business Development Center. The service is free. Let them help you develop a sound business plan.

Make sure you’re plan includes branding. You need to think of branding right up front. How do you want the public, you’re potential customers, to see you. As a small business owner you are your brand. You are whom the customer will rely on for a good experience with your company. Branding is not just a well-designed logo, signs, or stationery. It’s how you perform customer service, how you train your staff, even how clean you keep the place. Think McDonald’s. They have branding down pat. When you put branding at the top of the list and make it a priority you also need to figure it in to the budget. Your brand must be in place before you even open the doors. Without it you will have no direction on how you plan on marketing your new enterprise.

Have a marketing plan. A marketing plan will be well thought out. You will know who your target market is, who your customer is. By knowing the nuts and bolts of whom you want as a customer you will then begin to know how to get you message to them. Do they read newspapers, watch TV, or sit in front of a computer a lot? Do they like informational advertising or humorous? These and many questions must be answered before you buy your first ad or place a commercial on TV. Long before you open your doors this homework must be well on its way to completion and the HOW of you marketing must be in place.

Make sure you are funded. Every new businessman thinks he can start a business on a shoestring. Truth is you don’t need millions but having enough money to keep the doors open until your profitable is a goal you should shoot for. Will it take 6 months, 12 months, or 2 years to become profitable? If so you will need operating expenses to get you through. Otherwise you may be tempted to not spend money on your brand and marketing. Without these you won’t last long.

Remember this one thing: Branding and Marketing aren’t expenses but investments. By investing in them you ensure your success over the long haul.

Michael Irvin.

Call of the Outback.

Found on the Internet.

THE CALL OF THE OUTBACK

I wonder what it really is that draws me back each day,

is it the outback calling, urging me to head this way?

What looks like miles of nothingness may greet the untrained eye,

but somehow gets into your blood; it’s hard to reason why.

I leave it for a while at times, but never for too long,

for loneliness soon touches me, despite the city throng.

The bush has compensations bringing peacefulness of mind;

the country folk you meet there; fellow nomads of my kind.

And I can see such beauty where some others may see none,

and love the sound of silence, like old timers must have done.

So when I take a trip away, I know it’s not for long,

I’m fed up very quickly with the nightlife drink and song.

I live the life I want to live, not ruled by clock or phone,

the sun’s my only timepiece and the choice is mine alone.

There’s time to listen to the birds and view the scene at hand,

to pause and breathe the fresh air as it drifts across the land.

I pick a place to camp and stay a month or just a day,

depends on how I’m feeling, but I do it my own way.

I’ve tried to fit into the life that most Australians live,

down in the noisy cities; gave the best that I could give.

But soon was suffocating in a sea of stressed mankind,

trapped in a concrete forest where my life was too confined.

There’s hustle and there’s rushing with the constant tramp of feet,

and I was out there with them as they pound a city street.

My heart was never in it and my mind was miles away,

I missed the open spaces; grew more restless by the day.

I knew I had to leave that life, it wasn’t meant for me,

and urgings grew much stronger as the time approached to flee.

The wilderness was calling, quietly whispering to me,

and nights were full of distant dreams, of where I ought to be.

I felt a sense of freedom as I left that life behind,

my spirits were soon soaring; I again had peace of mind.

I took up where I left off in the gold fields of the west,

prospecting for a living; It’s the life that I love best.

You see the changing country as you’re always on the move,

you choose a road to follow, and there’s nothing more to prove.

I still go to the city for a visit once a year,

and I can see the reason why my heart belongs out here.

And people from the city feel the same about their town,

they hate the isolation of the outback dry and brown.

With numbers slowly dwindling, the future looks quite bleak,

my way of life is fading, disappearing as I speak.

© T.E. Piggott 2/11/2010.

***

“ Bloody beaut aint it.”

Rimeriter.

Related articles

• Field Of Light Inspired By Aussie Outback (gizmodo.com.au)
• Opal Information For Outback Australia (australianalifestyle.wordpress.com)
• VIDEO: Art on an Australian Outback train (bbc.co.uk)

Sense in Selling.

G'day, perhaps writers will find this interesting.

During my working life I was involved with industrial sales. Humour proved to be beneficial.

Therefore, to attract interest to our written words by using 'happiness' makes much sense.

Read anothers thoughts -

The Power of Humor in Blog Writing

Carolyn Cohn

Chief Editor

Butler, New Jersey

There are many different ways to separate yourself from the crowd when it comes to blog writing. One of the most effective ways is through humor. People love humor and generally react to it with interest.

Making use of humor in blog writing is in no way about selling directly. However, it is all about being engaged with your readers, enhancing your brand, and managing what you do in the most effective way possible. When you use humor in your blog writing, you don’t need to hit your readers over the head with it. You can be subtle as long as your content is interesting and attracts your readers. You can use any type of humor you like, provided that you confine it to your particular niche or industry.

The attraction of humor in writing

Humor is an excellent way to break up content that might otherwise be extremely dry. What tends to happen to writers who are tackling serious subjects is that they feel that they need to take themselves so seriously that they forget to make their writing interesting. That concept might be totally fine for the person doing the writing; however, it is not so fine for the person doing the reading. A good way to lighten up your writing approach is to smile as you are writing. Your writing will stand out if you use humor to captivate. An effective approach to your writing is not just to write about what you know well but strive to write about what you want to know better. That will make your writing a pleasure to read for others.

As you are writing, it is very important to try to put yourself in the shoes of the reader. You will want to give your readers the opportunity to get to know you on a human level. The more you allow them to know you, the more they will want to know you. One disadvantage that people who share online relationships have is that they generally can’t see or hear each other. Of course, it is very hard to understand emotions at times through written content.

Making your blog writing humorous

If you inject humor into your writing, you will most likely be attracting many more people than if you have not humor in your writing. There are many reasons to use humor, which will have very positive results.

Making your readers happy: Life is difficult enough for most people. The last thing that anyone wants is to read content that does not allow them any break from their everyday issues. Humor in your writing will provide them with that break and make them feel entertained.

Using humor to teach: One of the main goals of your blog writing is to provide material that is educational for others. There is a great likelihood that whichever points you want to get across and cause to stick, your readers will remember if you use humor.

Avoiding dryness: If you use humor in writing, there is no chance that your content will be boring to others.

Standing out in the crowd: Your readers will remember you and identify with you if you use humor in your writing.

Connecting on a human level: Humor allows your readers to identify with you on a human level. There are some experiences and feelings that all humans have in common.

Humor sells: There is nothing more attractive to readers than reading something that makes them smile and feel good. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Conclusion

Humor in blog writing is an excellent approach if you want to be remembered for what you think and say and if you want to foster relationships with your online connections that will last indefinitely. Human beings share all kinds of basic qualities and senses of humor are definitely at the top of the list. So, start writing in a creative, funny, and compelling way and you will draw people to your blog like bees to honey.

**

These are two from my personal archive -

'the night was dark and stormy

the billy goat was blind

he backed into a barbed wire fence

and hurt his

never mind'.

**

Blinky Bill

once said –

“I’m almost good, nearly everyday”.

**

You also must ENJOY your writings,

Jim.

Sucking the Seed.

Naracoorte Nonsense.

Two tiny steam engines following along

both of them singing their sweet little song,

sucking up dust, spreading to air,

the farmer must feel downhearted despair.

But no !

He is just - clover seed harvesting.

Collecting seeds, expelling some dust,

think him a little deranged if you must.

Five bags to the acre, not measured in tonnes,

compared to other grains, then it’s bag up or bust.

Sixteen harvesters working all day

filling one silo wont bring in much pay.

©. Rimeriter  5/1/12.

Timothy Marshall – ABC Rural, published an item titled  -  Sucking the Seed.

On a quick glimpse as you speed pass the paddock it looks like someone is trailing home made steam engines behind a tractor. If you slow down to take a closer look, the sound makes it appear that someone is vacuuming dust from the paddock and then shooting it high into the air.

Though bewildering this thought might be, it isn't that far from the truth.

Welcome to the world of clover seed harvesting, where a good day's work is measured in bags not tonnes to the acre.

Humble Habitat.

Prologue -                    Gum Tree Reserve, Guildford NSW.

An environmental activist, known hereabouts as

Banjo Hayes,

were it not for his intervention

this habitat,

would now be lost

in haze.

Humble Habitat.

This symbol in a  city, a little west of Sydney Town,

in Guildford a small suburb, deserving just renown.

Gum Tree Reserve is extant.               A piece of Heritage.

This piece of nature’s wonders must be written on a page,

of histories that have lasted long, through trouble and through strife.

A piece of nature’s wonders that have been granted longer life.

Turpentines stand stoutly.                              So does some Ironbark.

It’s trees now number forty, they have made their modern mark

for they are remnant regrowth, from a time when world was new.

They must - yes MUST - be protected, for you- and you- and you.            

Come, see the natural grasses, climbers, herbs and shrubs as well.

A reserve for native creatures, where they can come to dwell.

This wellspring of hope eternal to be nurtured  -  kept alive.

To give some hope for human nature - becoming humble, to survive.

(c). Rimeriter.

19/3/05.

item no.13

Ezee Writer - December 2011

Ten Top Tips For Photography.

I discovered this article.

Perhaps it's useful for you as well.

Jim.

Use this link

Ezee Writer - December 2011

Bookpal Team.

Another item of interest -

Hi Jim.,

I just returned from a trip to China and Taiwan, having done some consultancy work for a Frankfurt Stock Exchange Public listed investment company. For two weeks we evaluated many companies that approached us with products and ideas. Some of them had breakthrough technologies such as a hydrogen-powered generator that can generate clean energy for factories. We also met many other companies with ideas and passion, but sadly, with no market potential. Many of them tended to mask their deficiencies with a lot of talk but no concrete evidence to back up what they said.

So as a publisher, why am I telling you all this?

Firstly, I’m sharing this to emphasise the power of being a bestselling author. One of the reasons I was invited and paid to be on this panel was because I hit the bestseller list on Amazon and that placed me ahead of other candidates for this stint. So pardon me, if I’m sounding like a broken record here for re-emphasising the importance of hitting the bestseller list.

Secondly, investment firms and book buyers share many similarities. Business pitches that are long-winded and have no substance will lose the interest of the investment firm. Similarly, books that are not revised or concise will lose the interest of the reader. So remember, less is often better. For my book, “Your Book Your Profits” I actually revised it three times and used two editors to further help me sharpen it. I wouldn’t call it perfect but at least I believe it is not full of fluff, which is one of the reasons my book reached #83 on the bestseller list in a very competitive category.

Finally, evaluating a business and a book are similar in many ways...a unique business which addresses a real market need has a good chance of getting investment capital. A book that is written in a way that is appealing to the target audience will have a good chance of getting picked up by readers. Ask yourself: Is my book addressing their needs? Is it written in the correct lingo for my audience? Is it written in a way that will engage their interest and attention?

When I wrote my first book on marketing that was published by a large education publisher, we had to write the book using academic language as it was for university students. 

My second book on self-publishing was written to suit the budding author, so I tried to make it an easy and informative read so it would not overwhelm the reader. 

My third book was written for business owners and consultants, so I used a lot of examples and case studies so they could learn and apply lessons from real life scenarios.

As they say, horses for courses...remember that when you are writing your next book!

Terence

The Bookpal Team

Narrator AusWide.

MORE good publishing news -

We are thrilled to announce that the winning entries from all Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands issues of Narrator Magazine have now been released in one free, online compilation, 'Best of the Best 2011'. 

This issue, like all others, is available for free online viewing or downloading in PDF format at http://www.narratormagazine.com.au or in a print on demand version for $12.95 (including postage anywhere in Australia) from The MoshShop at http://www.themoshshop.com.au. 

Free PDF downloads are also available at The MoshShop, or get a plain text version for your ereader from our Smashwords page at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/narratormagazine

Enjoy, congratulations once again to all our winners, but above all, a sincere thank you to our readers, contributors and advertisers alike for your continuing support of Narrator Magazine.

Regards

Jenny Mosher

Editor

CENTRAL TABLELANDS

Best of the Best 2011

A few words from the publisher ...

It‘s with an amazing amount of pride yet sadness that we bring you this first Narrator Magazine ‗Best of the Best‘ collection.

The journey to this point has been fun, exciting, scary, revealing, but above all, rewarding. More importantly than that, though, we hope that it‘s been rewarding for you, our readers and contributors.

What started as a little seed of thought on 10 July 2010 is now being developed into an Australia-wide competition between states, and that‘s where part of the sadness comes. We have grown to know and love our regular contributors, and never cease to be amazed at the different works some of our contributors manage to come up with.

But at the end of the day, this was never meant to be a magazine for regular contributors. It is meant to be a showcase for lots of people, to help as many people as possible get a start in getting their writing careers going, and to present the best that we can in creative writing in Australia. And the only way to do that is to throw the doors open to a wider audience.

As you may have realised, the original plan was to release regional issues of Narrator, but in developing the Central Tablelands issue, we were sad to learn that this brought all sorts of administrative issues that we hadn‘t anticipated, so by the time it was released, we had already started planning to ‗go national‘. I thank all Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands contributors for their support, encouragement and understanding regarding the changeover.

We are very proud of the writings contained within this best of the best issue and we hope that we will see some of these authors again in the ‗2012 Best of the Best NSW/ACT‘!

Jenny Mosher

December 2011

Free publishing - More essays

Date Released: 2011-12-01
Read Narrator offline - click here to download the PDF version!
Read Narrator in hard copy - buy it from the MoshShop here.

Competition.

Blog Viewers.

I have decided upon my own personal competition.


As you will notice, there soon will be the ONE HUNDREDTH American viewer of my postings.


Now, 'listen up' - whomever you may be, a surprise gift awaits.


You will have to immediately send an email to me to claim your gift.


Now do not be too over excited.

It isn't very expensive, but it is very valuable !!!!!


I await in anticipation.
Jim.