Still with me? Good, let's look at powerful writing concepts:

Simplicity Lack of clutter Brevity Style.

These will ensure your articles live long enough for you to retire, collecting pension they've earned.

Maximum Simplicity: ------------------ The secret of good writing is stripping every sentence to its cleanest components. Each word serving no function, drop it. Every long word that could be shorter, make it so. Frequently higher writer's education or rank worse their addiction to unnecessary words. This affliction is not recent.

In 1942 a Presidential senior staffer wrote concerning blackout required by war-time conditions:

Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by Federal government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination.

Roosevelt suggested:

Tell them that in buildings where they keep working to put something across windows.

Minimum Clutter: --------------- Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds - writer is always slightly behind. New varieties sprout overnight and by noon they're part of everyday speech. Nixon's aide John Dean said on television during Watergate, "at this point in time". By next morning this had replaced word "now" in American language. By sunset it had spread across English speaking globe faster than a Love-Bug virus!

Word meanings get twisted creating more clutter. It seems that today people always "address" things instead of actually dealing with them. "Experiencing" is another splendid example. Your dentist may ask if you're experiencing pain. What he'd say to a five year old is: Does it hurt? Any doubts which is most effective?

Brevity: ------- Mark Twain: Had I more time, I should have written less. Enough said!

Specific Style: -------------- Few of us realise how badly we write. First it's essential to strip sentences to bare bones, ensuring removal of all surplus baggage. Only then can we consider style - that with which we to seek to charm our readers.

Style is where we focus our words on distinct audiences. Here sonnet and recipe part company. Though going their separate ways, they must still share same powerful common ingredients.

August 1994 was magical turning point: I went online, signing up with CompuServe, solely for purpose of marketing my business. Little did I know what doors I was opening. I was like a kid in a candy store, roaming around forums, reading postings, and chatting with people online. I saw opportunities to market everywhere I looked.

The third day online, I exchanged email with a man in Milan, Italy, who has a marketing company. I read his post in a forum. I asked who his client base was. When he said small business and vendors to small business, I told him I had something he might find useful. I asked his permission to send him a sample of my tips booklet. Eighteen months later, he wired me several thousand dollars for royalties on first sale of Italian version of my booklet. We had struck a deal for him to translate, edit, produce, and market my booklet contents in Italy. The first sale was 105,000 copies to a magazine. To this day, we have communicated solely by email, fax, earth mail, and electronic funds transfer. I have no idea what Italian version says, although my former hairdresser said it's a great translation. What I do know is that deal was a good one.

I am currently talking with others to translate my publication into other languages,again from connections made online, connections I doubt would have happened any other way. Those connections happened by others seeing posts I placed, and by my responding to things I saw posted. Another language happened after Italian version. It is now also in Spanish...all from online contacts.

The results I've had come from my using a buffet of basic online formats:

Email * Submit articles and queries to online and hardcopy publications * Send promotional information to media and prospects * Answer questions from prospects and clients * Process orders directly

Seminars * In real time * Post in forums * Participate in others' seminars

Listservs and Discussion Boards * My own discussion board * Initiate postings * Responses

Web site * My own web site * Linked to others * Articles posted to other people's sites

Online newsletters * Write an article * Be written about