Noticing Newbies 1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! You come across this site, by accident, or perhaps following a link from some entrenched Writing.com'mer. Soon you are drawn into the supportive community who all share a common dream and passion - writing. After that initial excitement of finding Writing.com there comes the need to make the most of the many opportunities afforded. This newsletter is to welcome you, our 'Newbies' and to help make you experience here an exciting, friendly and rewarding time. In this newsletter we will showcase some of our talented Newbies as well as providing handy tips and advice. We welcome you to submit questions, ask for help or say hello. We are here to help. Many non-newbies read this newsletter to. A warm welcome to them and a huge Thank You for helping to make our new members feel welcome and supported. Your host this week is: Puditat Passionate about writing? Take your passion to new heights - with an online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, available only from top ranked National University. Choose workshops based on your interests. Work with experienced and published faculty. Prepare for a variety of career opportunities. Use a state-of-the art online system: Study where and when you want. Click here to get more information! Making Titles Work For You It is very easy to overlook the titles we give our work. You're flat out writing the latest creation and at the end you assign a title and that's it. Or perhaps you start with a title, but do you go back and see if the original title matches the end result? Titles are very important. They are critical for your writing. Here's why: Your title is a summary of the story/poem etc. It says something about the subject or your point. Does your title do that? A title draws in the reader. It is often the only drawcard in the first instance. So is your title interesting? Thought provoking? Intriguing? Mysterious? Fun? Think of the difference between a poem entitled "Love" and one called "Love Uncompromised" - which one would you be more likely to read, given the choice? Which one says more about the type of item it is likely to be. Is your title explained in the item? By this I mean, does the reader understand the title once they have read the item, or is too obscure? Is the title snappy, catchy or memorable? Long titles can put people off before they even open an item. Alliteration (same letter used for each word) is a common tool in titles. Sometimes long titles are in order, but think carefully before doing so - does it have other necessary ingredients to draw in the readers? Is every word in your title spelled correctly? Inattention to the title will not leave a favourable first impression of your work. Does every word in your title count? "The" is not a prerequisite for a title. You owe it to your item, to put a shiny bright face on it. Think of it as the glitzy gold bow on a gift-wrapped present under the Christmas tree. Presentation can make a world of difference. Well, that's all for now. I will see you again in the New Year. For now, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. May the season bring peace, joy and happiness to everyone. Thanks for reading. Puditat This time, I have looked for Newbies items which have titles I thought were interesting. I hope you enjoy!
And, finally, some resources that you may like to check out:
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! %%NL_AD_BOT%% Great editorial, Puditat! I've often had Newbies respond to my reviews (which included GPs) by asking, "Thank you for the Gift Points. What do I do with them?" You have provided an excellent answer to this question. Perhaps you should think about making this into a static item. Then I could include it in my own editorial under Helpful Places for Newbiew to Go and also send it as a replay to this infamous question! Nice job!!! Love, Cubby ") Cubby Aw, thank you! I will certainly do as ytou suggest - many thanks for that. Just give me a little while as I am bang msack in the middle of a reviewing contest. As always, I found more newbies to review and reward and found myself learning more! Good Newsletter! One of the comments about auto-rewards caught my eye. I only review items in newsletters and ones that catch my eye on Shameless Plug, the Review Request Page or a search through a topic I look through. In other words, I review whether there are auto rewards or not. But this piqued my interest in that I haven't been receiving many reviews of late. I went through and took auto reward off my items a while back. My reasoning was that I couldn't control the points going to a less than helpful reviewer. I don't auto reward, but anyone reviewing my work honestly and indepth will be greatly rewarded. Not so much depth? Not so many points! Either way, I continue to review. I make Top 100 Reviewers in months when I can be on here consistently, but I don't get nearly half the reviews that I give. Just a thought. PastVoices This is the opposite side of auto-rewards that I had not considered. It lowers the reviews received by those not using them. This is a shame but I can only say, stick at it. I also review regardless of auto-reward or not and I would hazard a guess that most in the top 100 reviewers also maintain this standard. In the end we do it because we love to help people and support them, not so that we earn gp's. And by continuing to be an example, we are doing our very best for the site. Review on PastVoices ! Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |