1) Put a man up a tree
2) Throw stones at him
3) Get him down

Writing short stories are not much different then any other story. First develop your protagonist ( the man up a tree) lay a few problems at his feet for him to over come( throw a few stones at him) then find a way for the protagonist to over come the problems.(Get him down from the tree.)

It is very important to make every word count when writing a short story. It will surely be tempting to show of your gift with words, your descriptive writing skills or your skill with dialogue but don’t do it. Every extra word that is not needed only waters down the impact of the story.

Most short stories happen over a short period of time, or are a single very important event in the main characters life. Pick this time or event very carefully, because it will drastically affect the out come of your short story.

When the reader gets to the end of the story, they first should be surprised and delighted that the story was so good and so short, and most importantly they should not feel cheated.

The topic for a press release should be newsworthy and timely, a recent event which has involved a company or organisation. That company may have just secured a contract with a major firm which may give confidence to potential customers considering their services. Alternatively the topic might be to make public a company success story, backed up by testimonials.

Creating awareness of a new service or product which a company may have recently launched can increase demand. It gives that company a reason to tell everyone who they are and what they do. In a similar way, a press release could be used to announce a sale, forthcoming event such as a trade exhibition or public appearance. It could even be used to announce the winner of a competition which that company has organised.

Press releases give an insight into a business or organisation. Moving into bigger company premises is a good way to be seen to be doing well, which in turn can reassure existing customers and appeal to new customers. As can the announcement of positive forecasts or financial reports.

A press release publicising staff achievements such as promotions, long term service, awards won or qualifications gained offers both recognition to staff as well as illustrating to others that the company is caring.

A company or organisation’s involvement within the local community may also be of interest to people. Contributions, fundraising or sponsorship of a local event or team is definitely newsworthy and demonstrates that they are upstanding members of the community.

Press releases are based on fact. By choosing an event which can tie in with recent trends or social issues, it is possible to make the topic relevant and interesting to a broader audience. Images, audio and video can be used to capture the reader’s attention.

It’s because completing a manuscript from start to finish is a huge undertaking, and it is easy to become overwhelmed. When you think about the myriad of elements that must come together to make a successful novel, it is easy to become paralyzed.

So how are you supposed to continue?

By planning a course of action, and then moving forward deliberately, one step at a time.

When you break a large project down into small, bite-sized components, it can appear less daunting. An effective strategy for doing this is to make a list of each step involved in the project, and to check them off as you go along. Once you have a list of steps prepared, you know exactly where to begin, and what to do next. This counters the paralysis.

It is also helpful to develop a schedule and to set a weekly goal. But don’t be over-ambitious. Some writers sabotage themselves by setting unrealistic goals. It’s a common mistake, and it erects another psychological barrier to completing the project.

My personal approach is to set a very modest goal for each week. Once I achieve it, I give myself permission to pursue other interests.

My typical routine is to spend one week researching and outlining the chapter, and then the following week writing it. This helps me to develop a solid rhythm, and keeps the process from becoming monotonous.

For me this strategy works beautifully. It enabled me to finish my first book in a little over a year. I knew that if I completed one 8-10 page chapter every two weeks, I would have written approximately 250 pages by the end of the year. The finished manuscript ended up being closer to 300 pages.

Psychologically, this relieved me of a tremendous burden. I knew that as long as I met my minimum weekly goals, I would inevitably have a complete manuscript. Moreover, this allowed me to engage in other activities without an inner voice telling me that I should be writing.

Just be sure to keep your weekly goal small. Feeling that you have to reach a high word count can suck the fun out of writing, and make it feel like work. If you keep moving forward at a set but manageable pace, your novel will get finished. And then you can begin the process of revising, which is where the story really takes shape.

If you want your articles to be picked up and massively distributed by others, here are 7 common mistakes to avoid:

Article Mistake #1 Too many grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.

In addition to having your article proofed by others, you may also want to be sure that you have clearly defined paragraphs. Nothing is worse than a big blob of text with 20 run-on sentences.

Readers no longer read articles in depth and often only ‘scan’ your article. They want small bites of information that can be easily digested… also known as “info-snacking.”

Keep your “voice” in the same person throughout the entire article. If you are using the first person voice (I, me) or the second person (you, we, us) or the third person (they, them, he, she)…be consistent by staying in one voice for the entire article.

Article Mistake #2 Too much hype, bragging and self-promotion.

If you are as good as you know you are, there is no reason to fill the body of the article with hype, gratuitous links to your site or blatant self-promotion. Readers are smart and will see right through your “hype-veil.”

Better to only sell or pitch your company in the RESOURCE BOX below the body of the article. Research I’ve done indicates that the resource box often gets a 3% CTR (Click Through Rate). Be sure you take advantage of that by not selling hard in the body of the article.

Article Mistake #3 Content based on what you need to learn, not what your reader needs.

Put yourself in your reader’s shoes and ask yourself, “What does this article offer me?” Research what your reader wants to read by doing survey’s with your own audience or do keyword search engine research to find what people are looking for.

Article Mistake #4 Making your article broad or superficial in content.

It’s better to go in-depth on a narrow topic. Define it. Explain it. Relate to it. Use bullet points or numbered lists. Offer a secret or expertise that you have around the topic. Be original in covering your topic as narrowly as possible in a way that has not been done by others. Brevity is golden.

Article Mistake #5 Headline and article summary does not grab readers’ attention.

The headline is often ~95% of the initial reason why someone might read your article or pass it over for another article. Don’t bore your audience out of the gate with a dull headline or worse, a boring introduction to the article.

If you have to use two sentences to make your headline, you’re thinking too hard. Keep it simple and make it brief. Use keyword research tools to optimize your article title.

Article Mistake #6 Plagiarizing or ‘buying articles’…

It’s ok to research the Internet for article ideas, but it’s not ok to copy word-for-word of any article. Paraphrasing can also be classified as plagiarism. Be original. Let the words flow from your mind into your article. You will sleep better at night and your articles will have a higher value in the marketplace.

Buying articles is not a great idea…especially if you do not get an exclusive license to use them. What good is the same article if thousands of people call it their own? If you do outsource your article writing to ghost writers, make sure you have an exclusive right or license to the works.

Article Mistake #7 Don’t burn out the RESOURCE BOX by overloading it.

The RESOURCE BOX is your pay-off for giving your article up for free reprints, but don’t abuse the welcome mat by including a dozen website addresses. Stick with one website URL or two at the most and you’ll find your article may find a higher distribution rate.

If you want to be really tacky, include an affiliate link in the RESOURCE BOX. A better strategy is to have a domain name registered for every affiliate program that you pitch and include the domain name that rewrites or refreshes to your affiliate link. This is much less tacky and looks more professional.

It doesn’t matter which part you address when. You can write out a first draft and then go back and insert the missing aspects, or you can craft your copy piece by piece and then put it all together at the end. For the most part, I tend to piece together my message, but you can work however you’d like.

Advertising wouldn’t be advertising without psychology. How else would you persuade or convince people that your product is outstanding in its category? What other way is there to go about creating a need for what you sell? Persuasion relies on emotional appeal, and emotions are driven by our psychological make-up. A long time ago, someone thought up the AIDA method, which is good enough to serve my purpose in explaining the psychology of advertising. It’s really very simple. A.I.D.A. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

Attention: Capture your audience’s attention right away, with a riveting photo and headline. Exceptional ads showcase headlines and images that work together. (Read more about this in the paragraph about creativity.)

Interest: If you wrote a good headline, likely they’ll be intrigued and continue reading. Your ad copy is where you can isolate a fear, problem, concern or need of theirs. Then go right into:

Desire. Make them want what you have. Pose your product as the solution to the aforementioned problem. Build your case with examples, or even testimonials.

Action. Finally, tell your audience what to do. Buy Now! Cick here and save! It’s amazing what just a quick directive will do.

The next key feature of your message should be logic. By logic, I’m referring to how you order the words and sentences in your message to make your point. A good writer knows to craft his message in an outline form- with the first paragraph driven by a main idea, and supporting sentences following that premise. Each paragraph should reinforce what’s been said in the main paragraph. This is basic English, and it’s the key to crafting a solid argument. You should be able to convert your sentences to bullet points if you had to- with each bullet logically supporting a main concept. In fact, you may even want to use bullets, as they’re a quick way to sum up the benefits of what you sell with no extra words to dilute the impact of what you say.

Finally, creativity is what will give your ad presentation that POW, and your copy that extra sparkle that makes it interesting to read. Earlier, I mentioned headlines and images that work together conceptually. What I mean by this is a play on words that’s reinforced by an image. This is the stuff of amazing advertising, the kind that brings home a Cleo or an Addy award! Think of those incredibly powerful Nike ads: Just Do It. Tell you customer something they won’t forget, and use a dramatic photo to cement your message into their brains. Map out your long-term campaign, if you plan on having one, following the same creative concept in each ad. This is brand-building at its finest!

Infuse creativity into your written message. Write in a clever and/or amusing way, and make your ad stand out from the crowd. Use a tone that’s appropriate to your audience. Choose words that belong to that particular genre.

At any point during the conception of your written material, you can brainstorm words or phrases that your audience uses and will likely respond to. I call this “learning their language.” What this is, essentially, is imitation. Remember when you were a little kid playing make-believe? (okay, maybe you don’t–but I do!) Play make-believe now. To warm up, read some existing material that relates to your target group. Next, sit in a quiet spot and pretend you ARE your key customer. Write out a list of their expressions. I wrote web copy for a high-end caterer last month. To get my thoughts flowing, I made a list of words. “Sophistication, delectable, tasteful, elegant” so on and so forth. When I was done thinking of as many different words as possible, I was ready to inject them into my copy. Replace lackluster words with more zippy ones. But use your adjectives and adverbs sparingly! There’s such a thing as copy overkill, and it will make you look like an amateur.

No matter how you approach the creation process, the most powerful ads require that each of these key elements are in place. Again: you can implement them in any order. When you’re ready to bring it all together, take a good, hard look at your finished draft. Go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Get a couple of outside opinions. Step away, for a little while, and then go back to it when you’ve cleared your mind. Make your changes, then give it a final once-over. Your final presentation should be error-free and perfect in every way!

To those that think advertising is an easy or slap-dash process: not true at all! The greatest ads are a perfect fusion of three very different modes of thought, expertly combined and presented in a powerfully compelling and persuasive package. Realize this, and you’re on the way to creating magical ad copy; the kind that sells!