Coffee NYT
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Hazelnut Coffee $8.49 Our 100% Arabica gourmet coffee is infused with the smooth and nutty tasted of fresh hazelnut. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Decaffeinated Coffee $6.49 A distinctive and balanced flavor for those who love the richness of a darker roast and the smooth flavor of a lighter roast coffee. Ground 13 oz. |
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Crescent City Blend® Coffee $8.49 A tribute to the rich, bold coffee served in New Orleans. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Dark Roast Coffee $6.49 The rich aroma of our original coffee blend will awaken your senses. Ground 16 oz. |
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Brazil Santos Bourbon Coffee $8.49 This delectable gourmet coffee yields an enticingly smooth cup with a rich aroma and mild acidity. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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French Vanilla Coffee $8.49 A truly delectable and luxuriously sweet French Vanilla coffee you are sure to enjoy. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Pecan Praline Coffee $8.49 Our Pecan Praline flavored coffee is a truly delightful Southern treat. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Fresh-O-Lator® Coffee Canister $29.95 Our airtight canister will preserve the freshness of your favorite coffee. |
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Nyt! $18.99 Proprius-audiosource:PCD 117 |
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Kenya Coffee $8.49 Bright acidity and fruity flavors combine for a wonderfully aromatic cup with a taste that maintains a refined winey character. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Around the World Gourmet Coffee Sampler $34.95 Explore four specialty coffees from distinctive coffee-growing regions around the world. Whole Bean Four 12 oz. packages. |
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Medium Roast Coffee $6.49 This extraordinarily aromatic and light-roasted blend produces a fragrant and mellow cup. Ground 16 oz. |
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Kona Blend Coffee $8.49 Our Kona Blend is light-medium roasted and produces a sweet and mellow floral tone. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Café Special® Coffee $5.99 Roasted medium-dark to a rich brown color for a distinctive café taste and aroma. Ground 12 oz. |
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Breakfast Blend Coffee $8.49 Ease into the day as we do down in New Orleans with the smooth and mellow flavor of our Breakfast Blend. Ground 12 oz. |
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New Orleans Blend® Coffee and Chicory $5.49 Indulge in a delicate combination of fine Arabica beans and high quality chicory that is steeped in the traditions of New Orleans. Ground 16 oz. |
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Louisiana Blend™ Medium-Dark Coffee $8.49 This blend of gourmet Latin American coffees embodies the distinctive flavor of Louisiana. Whole Bean 12 oz. |
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Coffee Candy Chews Bag 13.2 Ounces (376 Grams) $9.95 Between cups of brewed gourmet coffee, you can enjoy the essence of our premium beans with our coffee candy chews. While the majority of coffee candies are artificially flavored, we use only the |
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Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans Bag 6 Ounces (170 Grams) $9.95 Both coffee and cacao beans have a long history in Costa Rica. Hundreds of years ago cacao beans were first used as currency by indigenous tribes. Before the introduction of coffee in the early 1700s, |
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Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans Canister 7 Ounces (200 Grams) $9.95 Both coffee and cacao beans have a long history in Costa Rica. Hundreds of years ago cacao beans were first used as currency by indigenous tribes. Before the introduction of coffee in the early 1700s, |
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French Coffee Press 3 Cup French Press Chrome $16.99 Like many of the best inventions, the French Coffee Press seems to have resulted from an accident. Legend has it that around the mid 1800s, the serendipitous incident happened on a hillside when |
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French Coffee Press 6 Cup French Press Chrome $24.99 Like many of the best inventions, the French Coffee Press seems to have resulted from an accident. Legend has it that around the mid 1800s, the serendipitous incident happened on a hillside when |
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French Coffee Press 6 Cup French Press Gold $28.99 Like many of the best inventions, the French Coffee Press seems to have resulted from an accident. Legend has it that around the mid 1800s, the serendipitous incident happened on a hillside when |
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French Coffee Press 3 Cup French Press Gold $19.99 Like many of the best inventions, the French Coffee Press seems to have resulted from an accident. Legend has it that around the mid 1800s, the serendipitous incident happened on a hillside when |
Why does religion irk atheists?
I listened to someone say they would never let their child be baptised because she did’nt believe in it, and could’nt help but to wonder why? If your an atheist its just water, so its irrational to be upset about it. Why are non-religious people so bothered by religion?
Sure, unpleasant things have been done in the name of religion. Unpleasant things have been done in the name of government and business yet you hardly throw a fit when someone votes or buys a cup of coffee. Some of the logic in religious texts contradict, but the same can be said of the news, and your not exactly protesting the NYT or Wall Street Journal. Sure, many of the public religious figures are pompous, insufferable, full of hatred, and walking contradictions of their own faith, but the same could be said of the green party or the Physics Society any other organization.
Atheists are as irrational and passionate as spiritual people on the topic of religion. Why?
I’ve heard someone else say that atheism IS a religion. Just because they don’t believe in religion is a belief in itself. When it comes to beliefs, people become emotional, protective, and even irrational.
I would not want someone teaching my child something I didn’t believe in myself. I want my child to grow up with my set of beliefs. Why let others imprint their values and ideas on my prescious offspring? I don’t like it when other well-meaning people want to abscond with my prescious children’s impressionable minds. It’s no different with atheists.
So-o-o, as a Christian, I was taught to do unto others as I would want them to do unto me. Proseletizing, no matter how well meaning you are, is a violation of the Golden Rule. Would you want an atheist indoctrinating YOUR child??? Then don’t do it to theirs.
But as an attempt to answer a complex question, Atheists are just people. Maybe not all of them would object, not all are irrational, not all are as passionate.
It’s difficult for me to understand that someone could actually believe that this is all there is–no afterlife, no supreme being, no belief system to help one through the difficulties that life presents. If I were in such a state of mind, I would be grouchy, too. To be hopeless (which is how I view atheism) is so, so awful. I have encountered people after all hope has been stripped from their thought, and it’s a travesty. They are destroyed emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This could be a contributing factor to the atheist’s frame of mind and lack of hope.
Also, I think, secretly, atheists are jealous of those who have had their spiritual questions resolved. A happy Christian is a force to contend with, and an in-your-face Christian would be verrrry annoying, to say the least.
God, Spirit, speaks to everyone in a way that resonates with that person. Even if they don’t recognise it as God, He will lead them to what they need to know. It may not manifest as a belief that would be acceptable to YOU, but it’s not about you. It’s about them and their realtionship with the divine. Only God can fix that. He gives man a curious mind and an open heart. When Life leads them to question their hard-held beliefs, He will be there to guide them (“I will write it on their inward parts”), and love them.
We, as Christians can love them, too.
DealBook – It’s Time to Make the … Coffee?
How To Make Your First Five Pages Grab an Agent or Editor by the B—-
You might think that an aspiring writer has a tough enough time coming up with an enticing query letter. Yet it’s nowhere near the real challenge. There is loads of advice; articles and people who can help you change a query letter into something that will get you a request for your fiction manuscript. Aspiring writers pour their souls out by getting queries in the best shape possible. One day they hit gold and an agent or editor requests their manuscript! They jump up and down, shout and even post the news on their favorite writer’s forum. A “request for a full” for an aspiring writer is like telling a seasoned pro their book has made the New York Times Best Seller List! It’s amazing!
The only problem is that while the writer spent 85% of their time beating that query into something exciting, they neglected problems in their manuscript. Maybe they’ve edited and revised their manuscript a million times and honestly believe it’s ready. But the problem is, most aspiring writers are so new to the game they have no idea what a truly “ready” manuscript looks like. Previously published and veteran authors can spot the mistakes in their work. It comes from time of dealing with agents, editors and others who’ve shared different techniques and who have helped them shape their work before. All traditionally published novelists know one thing: the manuscript must pull the reader in immediately or they’ve lost them forever. So while newbies are pounding away on that query letter, they often do not realize their manuscript could use more work.
Sometimes the work isn’t much but sometimes it consists of doing an entire rewrite. Things need to be switched around, some characters need to be cut or maybe your word count is too long or short. Oddly though that is not the number one reason newbies are rejected. There is one thing that can make and break any aspiring writer. It’s called the dreaded First Five Pages. If your first five pages don’t sparkle, shine or grab the agent and editor by their b—-, then your query letter pounding was all for not.
What aspiring writers don’t get is that this is the technology age so it’s much quicker to get your partial or full rejected. Agents and editors read manuscripts on e-book devices, on their cell phones, on their blackberries. So they only have to scroll up a few paragraphs and they can tell what type of writer you are. They can tell if you’ve edited, if you use too many metaphors, if you use too much needless description and just if the writing doesn’t work. At least for them. Agents are all different with different opinions but if you are getting rejections, it’s often because your work doesn’t stand out, is bland and boring, or the writing just isn’t there yet. People wonder if agents and editors can really tell a saleable manuscript by looking at the first page let alone the first five. Oh yes…they can. Why? It’s their job and duty. Agents look for manuscripts that will put their clients on best seller lists, have critics salivating, lead their client to multi book deals, possible film deals, a spot on the NYT list, and yes, the kitchen sink as well.
But despite them wanting to find clients that will be bigger than big, which is for your benefit too, they want a book that’s interesting first of all. And most novels by newbies don’t bring the “bang” that’s necessary to get an agent or editor to continue past the first page. It might seem unfair, but this is a business.
Calm down and relax. That’s what I am here for, to help you. Through my career and journeys of publication, I’ve learned a lot. I also know many reasons why aspiring writers’ work finds fast homes in that dreaded slush hell. I’ve provided some tips that can point newbies in the right direction. Once you see this list, go over your manuscript to see if your work would most likely make an agent snooze in their chair or have an orgasm while waiting for the AT&T repairman to pinpoint what’s happened to their Internet connection. Yep, agents read manuscripts whenever and wherever they can. That’s why a newbie’s work has got to keep them interested.
Now to the tips:
1. Don’t Start Your Story Off With “the waking up, breakfast and coffee”. Start with the Actual Story, Conflict and Action!
You don’t want to start off with your character doing ordinary, boring everyday things like waking up, having breakfast and getting dressed, etc. Yet a lot of newbies do. This will get your work tossed out before the first page. Unless something important to the story or something amazing is about to happen in these instances, do not start your story with them. You’ll only bore the reader. Start with the beginning of the story. If it’s a mystery, start off with the murder and crime or after it’s already happened. If you write fantasy, start out with the main character’s dilemma right away. If you write romance, start off closest you can to the beginning of the romance.
Example: Your novel is an action/adventure spy thriller. Think the Jason Bourne series-type books. You must start your book off with what its audience would expect from the very beginning. In your book, Joe Blow is going to get robbed at the airport by foreign spies on his way to Turkey to sell a top-secret disk with US military secrets to a secret terrorist group. Okay we realize immediately that Joe’s a traitor. But how can you make an agent or editor care enough to keep reading?
You should start with Joe already at the airport or better yet, start off with the robbery in progress. Do not start off with Joe getting up that morning, dressing, brushing his teeth, feeding the cat, thinking of being dumped by his girlfriend, driving to the airport, at the security gate, lounging around the airport or anything else that comes off as “fluff”. You might want to be detailed about these things but you’re writing for an audience. If you don’t want to be published then you can write the book how you want, but once you embark on publication you are no longer writing for yourself. All published writers know and understand this.
You see I cut out what would have probably been five chapters of nothing. The fluff version would only make the agent and editor push “reply” to send you that little line of rejection or they’ll just throw the hardcopy away and not think of it again. But if you eliminate the fluff, you might get a request for a full and if you’ve sent the full, you might keep the agent and editor reading on. From there you might be on your way to publication.
Ask yourself. What type of beginning would keep you reading on? I hope you picked the one that starts off with the immediate plot because agents and editors will.
2. Do Not Place Backstory and Info Dumps at Beginning of Story
You might want to sit there and type out tons of backstory about your character but guess what, no one wants to read it. Not starting off anyway. Let readers learn about your characters at their own pace.
You should treat backstory like it’s a spice. Sprinkle it gradually (if needed) as the story goes along. Don’t pour in eight pages of backstory at the beginning. This is important in making your first five pages come alive. You should be quick and get to the point. Backstory and info dumps will bore a reader the moment they pick up your story. There are techniques to backstory and info dumps. Research and you’ll learn methods that make backstory useful.
3. Too Much Description
A lot of newbies start their stories with loads of unneeded description. That’s cool if you are competing to see how fast your work can be hauled to the slush pile with all the others. Description is only necessary when it moves the story or is important to a particular scene. You can add in a few lines of the scenery, smell and if a character’s eating something, taste. That’s fine but do not force it in just because you feel you should. In a fast-paced scene, description can have a negative effect if it’s irrelevant to what’s happening that moment. If two characters are in a bloodied brawl in a crowded bar, the writer shouldn’t stop in mid-scene and describe the color of the bar’s walls and floors.
Avoid describing things when people already know what they look like. You don’t have to spend eight paragraphs describing a tree. Just say what type of tree it is if it’s not important to the story. If a reader is interested and doesn’t know the type they can look it up on the Internet themselves. Your book isn’t the National Geographic channel. It’s a novel that must be page turning! So stop describing things like trees and flowers when people already know how they look. Writers who do a lot of lame description are usually covering up for a lacking or weak plot and relying on description as a filler. Too much slows down, bores and frustrates the reader. Get on with the story!
4. Write Dialogue that Reflects Characters’ Emotions & Jumps off the Page!
Bad or wooden dialogue hurts any time in a story. You must have exciting, realistic dialogue throughout but it’s crucial if you want readers to get past the beginning.
5. Don’t Try to Introduce Every Character Right Off
Don’t force introductions of your characters at the beginning of your story. Introduce characters as they are needed and when they are doing something important. The reader doesn’t need a list of characters thrown to them in a heap. It slows down the plot and confuses the reader. Introduce your characters gradually unless the very beginning calls for all characters.
6. Show Don’t Tell!
Telling and not showing can kill any book no matter how good the plot is. It’s another sign of an amateur. If you insist on getting published you should know the difference between showing and telling. Readers want to “see” what’s going on, not have the author point it out to them. Avoid long passages of narrative right off. Use dialogue and make readers interested at first glance.
7. Introduce Your Main Character Correctly (First Person)
First person books are a very hard sale and agents know this. There is an art to writing first person stories effectively. The main problem with beginning first person writers is that they do not introduce their main character right off. How are we to know whose eyes we’re seeing the work through if you don’t mention a name? Readers do not want to follow a story through five chapters before recognizing whom the main character is. There are ways first person stories should introduce the main character. Not introducing the main character is a sign that the book isn’t written to the best ability.
8. Abandon False Beginnings
Resist the urge to cheat readers with cheap thrills such as dreams or flashbacks that have nothing to do with the story. You’re tricking your readers when you get them involved in something that turns out to be a dream or fantasy. It will hurt instead of help.
9. Strong, Compelling Hook
You might be surprised I saved this for last. Every writer should know what a hook is. The catch is finding the hook of your story. Hooks are not the same. They vary depending on the type of story you write. Don’t believe that a hook means a first scene loaded with action or violence. A hook is anything that keeps a reader wanting more. It can be as subtle as the first sentence. Research will broaden your mind as to the variety of hooks and how many different possibilities there are.
Sticking to general tips like these makes any writer’s work polished and tempting to agents. The publication process involves a lot of roadblocks that you must conquer one at a time. Give your work the best chance it possibly can have. You are competing with millions of writers who would kill to see their dreams come true. Act like you’re the best in the pack and write like it then agents and publishers will take notice.
Your 2011 holiday gift guide, brought to you by the news (Nieman Journalism Lab)
If you want to save journalism, you might turn to journalism this year for all
your Christmas shopping. This weekend at NewsFoo, an O’Reilly “un-conference”
for about 170 journalists and tech disrupters, the tech writer Mónica Guzmán
posed a question: “Can’t we [news organizations] sell anything besides
articles?” Yes, it turns out, and there are numerous examples of them trying
it.
Why Choose A Coffee Franchise? (By Celyna Vang)
See more on the related subject: Franchsing
A coffee franchise might very well be the perfect business for many “would be” enterprise owners searching for the safety of buying into a reputation that is well known and well loved rather than engaging in the riskier business practice of building an enterprise and a brand name from the ground up. If you are searching for a franchise alternative, consider carefully the gold mine that a coffee franchise could be in the coffee tradition of the new millennium.
Some say, it all began with Friends though there are those who will argue that the growth of the coffee industry has been a very long time in the coming and that the popular situation comedy is barely a testament to only how popular and iconic coffee houses were becoming. No matter why, one factor is certain. Espresso has become big business and those that are searching for a franchise business to build would do well to think about the value of proudly owning a coffee franchise when making commercial plans and decisions.
Click here to read more about franchising: Expand your business
A coffee franchise would require lower start up expenses than many restaurant companies, and the working costs for lots of the smaller coffee companies are lower than a typical full service restaurant and even the common fast food restaurant on a normal day. There is less employees involved in working a coffee franchise and, in lots of instances, there are decreased energy costs involved in the every day operations of these types of businesses.
Another reason to think about a coffee franchise for your investment enterprise is that they’re popular and seem to be rising in popularity each day. Some communities are more open to a coffee house or coffee cafe than others, but those that accommodate these types of companies usually find that they perform quite well and bring nice tidy profits. The days of one big kid on the block when it comes to coffee are long gone. There are many options available when it comes to coffee franchises and, believe it or not, there are many clients that are both brand loyal and that take pleasure in switching things up a bit. This means that there are many opportunities for new clients on a regular basis as people expand their horizons, try something new, or find a new favorite brand to be loyal too.
In addition to a coffee franchise that deals solely with Serving Coffee to the demanding public, there are lots that also provide items and services that go with coffee quite nicely and go well with your coffee time. From wi-fi access and Web cafes to those coffee franchise houses that have smoothies, bagels, sandwiches, baked goods, and numerous different enticements to get clients in the door. So, there are many options when looking for an excellent coffee franchise investment.
There are many reasons why a coffee franchise is a sound funding decision. The bigger question you may need to ask yourself is, why not choose a coffee investment with all the great issues going for them?
Brought to you by Celyna Vang
How To Make Your First Five Pages Grab an Agent or Editor by the B—-
You might think that an aspiring writer has a tough enough time coming up with an enticing query letter. Yet it’s nowhere near the real challenge. There is loads of advice; articles and people who can help you change a query letter into something that will get you a request for your fiction manuscript. Aspiring writers pour their souls out by getting queries in the best shape possible. One day they hit gold and an agent or editor requests their manuscript! They jump up and down, shout and even post the news on their favorite writer’s forum. A “request for a full” for an aspiring writer is like telling a seasoned pro their book has made the New York Times Best Seller List! It’s amazing!
The only problem is that while the writer spent 85% of their time beating that query into something exciting, they neglected problems in their manuscript. Maybe they’ve edited and revised their manuscript a million times and honestly believe it’s ready. But the problem is, most aspiring writers are so new to the game they have no idea what a truly “ready” manuscript looks like. Previously published and veteran authors can spot the mistakes in their work. It comes from time of dealing with agents, editors and others who’ve shared different techniques and who have helped them shape their work before. All traditionally published novelists know one thing: the manuscript must pull the reader in immediately or they’ve lost them forever. So while newbies are pounding away on that query letter, they often do not realize their manuscript could use more work.
Sometimes the work isn’t much but sometimes it consists of doing an entire rewrite. Things need to be switched around, some characters need to be cut or maybe your word count is too long or short. Oddly though that is not the number one reason newbies are rejected. There is one thing that can make and break any aspiring writer. It’s called the dreaded First Five Pages. If your first five pages don’t sparkle, shine or grab the agent and editor by their b—-, then your query letter pounding was all for not.
What aspiring writers don’t get is that this is the technology age so it’s much quicker to get your partial or full rejected. Agents and editors read manuscripts on e-book devices, on their cell phones, on their blackberries. So they only have to scroll up a few paragraphs and they can tell what type of writer you are. They can tell if you’ve edited, if you use too many metaphors, if you use too much needless description and just if the writing doesn’t work. At least for them. Agents are all different with different opinions but if you are getting rejections, it’s often because your work doesn’t stand out, is bland and boring, or the writing just isn’t there yet. People wonder if agents and editors can really tell a saleable manuscript by looking at the first page let alone the first five. Oh yes…they can. Why? It’s their job and duty. Agents look for manuscripts that will put their clients on best seller lists, have critics salivating, lead their client to multi book deals, possible film deals, a spot on the NYT list, and yes, the kitchen sink as well.
But despite them wanting to find clients that will be bigger than big, which is for your benefit too, they want a book that’s interesting first of all. And most novels by newbies don’t bring the “bang” that’s necessary to get an agent or editor to continue past the first page. It might seem unfair, but this is a business.
Calm down and relax. That’s what I am here for, to help you. Through my career and journeys of publication, I’ve learned a lot. I also know many reasons why aspiring writers’ work finds fast homes in that dreaded slush hell. I’ve provided some tips that can point newbies in the right direction. Once you see this list, go over your manuscript to see if your work would most likely make an agent snooze in their chair or have an orgasm while waiting for the AT&T repairman to pinpoint what’s happened to their Internet connection. Yep, agents read manuscripts whenever and wherever they can. That’s why a newbie’s work has got to keep them interested.
Now to the tips:
1. Don’t Start Your Story Off With “the waking up, breakfast and coffee”. Start with the Actual Story, Conflict and Action!
You don’t want to start off with your character doing ordinary, boring everyday things like waking up, having breakfast and getting dressed, etc. Yet a lot of newbies do. This will get your work tossed out before the first page. Unless something important to the story or something amazing is about to happen in these instances, do not start your story with them. You’ll only bore the reader. Start with the beginning of the story. If it’s a mystery, start off with the murder and crime or after it’s already happened. If you write fantasy, start out with the main character’s dilemma right away. If you write romance, start off closest you can to the beginning of the romance.
Example: Your novel is an action/adventure spy thriller. Think the Jason Bourne series-type books. You must start your book off with what its audience would expect from the very beginning. In your book, Joe Blow is going to get robbed at the airport by foreign spies on his way to Turkey to sell a top-secret disk with US military secrets to a secret terrorist group. Okay we realize immediately that Joe’s a traitor. But how can you make an agent or editor care enough to keep reading?
You should start with Joe already at the airport or better yet, start off with the robbery in progress. Do not start off with Joe getting up that morning, dressing, brushing his teeth, feeding the cat, thinking of being dumped by his girlfriend, driving to the airport, at the security gate, lounging around the airport or anything else that comes off as “fluff”. You might want to be detailed about these things but you’re writing for an audience. If you don’t want to be published then you can write the book how you want, but once you embark on publication you are no longer writing for yourself. All published writers know and understand this.
You see I cut out what would have probably been five chapters of nothing. The fluff version would only make the agent and editor push “reply” to send you that little line of rejection or they’ll just throw the hardcopy away and not think of it again. But if you eliminate the fluff, you might get a request for a full and if you’ve sent the full, you might keep the agent and editor reading on. From there you might be on your way to publication.
Ask yourself. What type of beginning would keep you reading on? I hope you picked the one that starts off with the immediate plot because agents and editors will.
2. Do Not Place Backstory and Info Dumps at Beginning of Story
You might want to sit there and type out tons of backstory about your character but guess what, no one wants to read it. Not starting off anyway. Let readers learn about your characters at their own pace.
You should treat backstory like it’s a spice. Sprinkle it gradually (if needed) as the story goes along. Don’t pour in eight pages of backstory at the beginning. This is important in making your first five pages come alive. You should be quick and get to the point. Backstory and info dumps will bore a reader the moment they pick up your story. There are techniques to backstory and info dumps. Research and you’ll learn methods that make backstory useful.
3. Too Much Description
A lot of newbies start their stories with loads of unneeded description. That’s cool if you are competing to see how fast your work can be hauled to the slush pile with all the others. Description is only necessary when it moves the story or is important to a particular scene. You can add in a few lines of the scenery, smell and if a character’s eating something, taste. That’s fine but do not force it in just because you feel you should. In a fast-paced scene, description can have a negative effect if it’s irrelevant to what’s happening that moment. If two characters are in a bloodied brawl in a crowded bar, the writer shouldn’t stop in mid-scene and describe the color of the bar’s walls and floors.
Avoid describing things when people already know what they look like. You don’t have to spend eight paragraphs describing a tree. Just say what type of tree it is if it’s not important to the story. If a reader is interested and doesn’t know the type they can look it up on the Internet themselves. Your book isn’t the National Geographic channel. It’s a novel that must be page turning! So stop describing things like trees and flowers when people already know how they look. Writers who do a lot of lame description are usually covering up for a lacking or weak plot and relying on description as a filler. Too much slows down, bores and frustrates the reader. Get on with the story!
4. Write Dialogue that Reflects Characters’ Emotions & Jumps off the Page!
Bad or wooden dialogue hurts any time in a story. You must have exciting, realistic dialogue throughout but it’s crucial if you want readers to get past the beginning.
5. Don’t Try to Introduce Every Character Right Off
Don’t force introductions of your characters at the beginning of your story. Introduce characters as they are needed and when they are doing something important. The reader doesn’t need a list of characters thrown to them in a heap. It slows down the plot and confuses the reader. Introduce your characters gradually unless the very beginning calls for all characters.
6. Show Don’t Tell!
Telling and not showing can kill any book no matter how good the plot is. It’s another sign of an amateur. If you insist on getting published you should know the difference between showing and telling. Readers want to “see” what’s going on, not have the author point it out to them. Avoid long passages of narrative right off. Use dialogue and make readers interested at first glance.
7. Introduce Your Main Character Correctly (First Person)
First person books are a very hard sale and agents know this. There is an art to writing first person stories effectively. The main problem with beginning first person writers is that they do not introduce their main character right off. How are we to know whose eyes we’re seeing the work through if you don’t mention a name? Readers do not want to follow a story through five chapters before recognizing whom the main character is. There are ways first person stories should introduce the main character. Not introducing the main character is a sign that the book isn’t written to the best ability.
8. Abandon False Beginnings
Resist the urge to cheat readers with cheap thrills such as dreams or flashbacks that have nothing to do with the story. You’re tricking your readers when you get them involved in something that turns out to be a dream or fantasy. It will hurt instead of help.
9. Strong, Compelling Hook
You might be surprised I saved this for last. Every writer should know what a hook is. The catch is finding the hook of your story. Hooks are not the same. They vary depending on the type of story you write. Don’t believe that a hook means a first scene loaded with action or violence. A hook is anything that keeps a reader wanting more. It can be as subtle as the first sentence. Research will broaden your mind as to the variety of hooks and how many different possibilities there are.
Sticking to general tips like these makes any writer’s work polished and tempting to agents. The publication process involves a lot of roadblocks that you must conquer one at a time. Give your work the best chance it possibly can have. You are competing with millions of writers who would kill to see their dreams come true. Act like you’re the best in the pack and write like it then agents and publishers will take notice.
Your 2011 holiday gift guide, brought to you by the news (Nieman Journalism Lab)
If you want to save journalism, you might turn to journalism this year for all
your Christmas shopping. This weekend at NewsFoo, an O’Reilly “un-conference”
for about 170 journalists and tech disrupters, the tech writer Mónica Guzmán
posed a question: “Can’t we [news organizations] sell anything besides
articles?” Yes, it turns out, and there are numerous examples of them trying
it.
Why Choose A Coffee Franchise? (By Celyna Vang)
See more on the related subject: Franchsing
A coffee franchise might very well be the perfect business for many “would be” enterprise owners searching for the safety of buying into a reputation that is well known and well loved rather than engaging in the riskier business practice of building an enterprise and a brand name from the ground up. If you are searching for a franchise alternative, consider carefully the gold mine that a coffee franchise could be in the coffee tradition of the new millennium.
Some say, it all began with Friends though there are those who will argue that the growth of the coffee industry has been a very long time in the coming and that the popular situation comedy is barely a testament to only how popular and iconic coffee houses were becoming. No matter why, one factor is certain. Espresso has become big business and those that are searching for a franchise business to build would do well to think about the value of proudly owning a coffee franchise when making commercial plans and decisions.
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A coffee franchise would require lower start up expenses than many restaurant companies, and the working costs for lots of the smaller coffee companies are lower than a typical full service restaurant and even the common fast food restaurant on a normal day. There is less employees involved in working a coffee franchise and, in lots of instances, there are decreased energy costs involved in the every day operations of these types of businesses.
Another reason to think about a coffee franchise for your investment enterprise is that they’re popular and seem to be rising in popularity each day. Some communities are more open to a coffee house or coffee cafe than others, but those that accommodate these types of companies usually find that they perform quite well and bring nice tidy profits. The days of one big kid on the block when it comes to coffee are long gone. There are many options available when it comes to coffee franchises and, believe it or not, there are many clients that are both brand loyal and that take pleasure in switching things up a bit. This means that there are many opportunities for new clients on a regular basis as people expand their horizons, try something new, or find a new favorite brand to be loyal too.
In addition to a coffee franchise that deals solely with Serving Coffee to the demanding public, there are lots that also provide items and services that go with coffee quite nicely and go well with your coffee time. From wi-fi access and Web cafes to those coffee franchise houses that have smoothies, bagels, sandwiches, baked goods, and numerous different enticements to get clients in the door. So, there are many options when looking for an excellent coffee franchise investment.
There are many reasons why a coffee franchise is a sound funding decision. The bigger question you may need to ask yourself is, why not choose a coffee investment with all the great issues going for them?
Brought to you by Celyna Vang
