Components of a Successful Newspaper Query Letter

Freelance careers are on the rise, especially for writers. Many writers prefer to spread their articles around to different publications in different media instead of writing for just one type of industry.

The query letter is one of the most important tools freelance writers have at their disposal. Because freelance writers are not full-time employees of a particular newspaper, they must

Free Infographic: A Week's Worth of Quotes for Writers

If you are a member of my Facebook Group, you might be familiar with these quotes which I had designed and posted individually. I have combined seven of my "writing quotes" to create a week's worth of quotes to inspire writers. Now available to you to use as you wish, you can upload this infographic to your website, blog, Pinterest page, Facebook page, or whatever you choose, and treat your

Free Infographic: "Part 3: In Plain English, Please!"

Here is the third and final part of my infographic, "In Plain English, Please!" It provides 54 more plain English words that editors prefer over their "wordy" equivalents. Feel free to use this infographic as you please. To save it, right-click on the graphic and save it to your computer.





Related links: 
Part 1 of In Plain English, Please!
Part 2 of In Plain English, Please!
15 Plain English

My Favorite 15 Plain English Writing Tips

I try my best to follow the rules of plain English writing because it helps me write more clearly and concisely when I write business documents or how-to articles. In studying plain English writing styles, I have compiled my favorite tips. Here they are (in no particular order):

1. Never expect the reader to know everything about your topic. Carefully and thoughtfully explain concepts that

Free Broken Link Checkers to Fix Internal and External Website Links

Broken links that generate numerous "Page Not Found" error messages not only irritate website visitors and cause them to flee, but broken links can also negatively affect search engine optimization. If you run a website or blog, you will need to deal with fixing broken links, both internal links and external links.

Internal links are ones that link to your website's other pages. For example,

Screenwriting: Page Numbering a Screenplay

There are only a few simple rules to remember when numbering a screenplay page:

Rule #1: The Title page has no page number.

Rule #2: The first page of your screenplay has no page number. This is the "FADE IN:" page that begins the first scene.

Rule #3: The second page and every page thereafter has a page number. Since you begin numbering on the second page, you start with the numeral "2."

APA Style: Understanding DOI Identifiers to Cite Online Sources

The American Psychological Association (the organization that governs APA style) and most college professors recommend using a DOI number (digital object identifier ) when you cite material from an online source.

A DOI identifier looks like this:


















A DOI is unique to a specific work. The publisher is responsible for attaching a DOI number to an article when it publishes and

Free Infographic: Sub-Genres of Romance Writing

Here is a free (info)graphic that I designed to show the various sub-genres of romance writing. With each sub-genre, I have included recent best-selling romance novels. To learn more about a particular sub-genre, type the book's title at Amazon.com. Each book as its own page at Amazon.com where you can learn more about the author, the novel's characters, and its storyline. Of course, you can also

Free Infographic: Writing a Love Story

I have designed this free infographic to highlight a few elements that romance writers use to write a typical love story. If you find this graphic useful, feel free to share it as you wish. Click on the image below for the full-size.





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Feel free to visit my Pinterest page where you will find more of my designs.





Here are a few more things that I learned about writing

Free Infographic: In Plain English, Please! Part 2

When readers must pause to understand a difficult or ambiguous word in your text, they are more likely to skip the sentence or quit reading. It's fine to use long words sparingly, but packing too many long words in a sentence creates confusion and chaos for the average reader. Although long words on their own are easy to grasp, you should favor simpler, everyday words to improve your document's

Stupid Stuff I Find in Freelance Job Ads

I think I browse through a couple hundred job ads a week. At least it feels that way. Some job ads irk me because the job poster inserts cliché expressions, slang, or useless phrases. The expression, "Think out of the box" is overused and useless, so is "Must be able to think on your feet." And does any job ad really need the phrase, "Must be willing to work well with others" or "Must be able to

7 Plain English Writing Tips

Here are my favorite top seven writing tips to write in plain English for today's general readers.



Writing Tip # 1: Understand Your Readers

Determine who your readers are and remember their reading level and educational background as you write. Consider what they should know. Write concisely and directly to your readers. If you need to elaborate on a point without breaking the coherency