Feb 14 2009
How Do You Write About Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma?
At this stage, I don’t even know what it means!
But that is one of the keywords in an assignment I have from my editor under the primary keyword of asbestos testing. So I will begin researching it.
What these articles will attempt to do is share my personal experiences in pursuing writing as a profession and not just as a really rewarding hobby. By sharing successes and tips, then maybe others out there will gain some insight into what will work for them and that is key. Everyone has there own style and shouldn’t look to changing it because someone says you shouldn’t do this and you shouldn’t do that.
But you have to keep the target in sight. Most of the jobs will involve writing stuff that you may or may not be interested in and you are a means to an end. That’s why you will receive compensation for your writing. It certainly helps that it your writing is interesting, informative and even potentially thought-provoking or humorous or both.
So some good starting points might include the following ideas.
Start a blog
You can use your blog to test and try out all kinds of different ideas in writing. You can even find ways to get feedback about what is interesting to others. It isn’t a bad idea to use Facebook as a method to get friends to help you with feedback. It is surprising how helpful and honest they are about your understanding of the subject.
This site, today.com, pays enough that it will cover your monthly expenses for your Internet connection so it is not a bad place to host your blog. The following link will take you directly to the site and start you on your way to blogging.
Learn how to create links
This is an essential way to help your blog to become a useful source of information for others utilizing the Internet. Here’s a simple example. It is very handy to have two browser pages open for this exercise.
The project here is to create a link that you can use to get driving or walking directions between your house and anywhere else that you would like to go. The link will be to Google Maps.
- Go to your a blank browser page and type in Google Maps in the search box.
- Select the link that says maps.google.com/
- Now highlight the address link in the box at the top of the screen. It will be shaded blue when you have done this successfully.
- Now hold down both the Ctrl key and the C key. This will copy the link to your temporary clipboard.
- Go to a place in your browser like Google docs, notebook or your blog editor and type something like “My Maps”.
- Highlight My Maps , select the chain link symbol and now hold down both the Ctrl key and the V key.This will paste the URL link and use the term My Maps as the link. You can make it anything you like.
So we should have a link called My Maps here. Now you can go back into this link at anytime and use it for a point A to B route planner. Feel free to experiment with it.
You will use links in emails to prospective employers and editors to apply for assignments or jobs. The traditional resume is not that useful on the Internet and well written blog posts can use graphics, white space and even video and music. Keep it simple for applications. They are interested in your writing ability and not necessarily in your presentation skills.
Learn how to use graphics in your blog editor
There isn’t enough room here to cover this subject but it is important to understand the concept of a picture is worth a thousand words. The correct picture can help set the tone for your story. It also helps to learn how to manipulate graphics to customize your blog posts. I can’t draw a stick man to save my life but I have taught myself how to play around with graphics to develop art that is pleasing to my eye. I use Picnik for my graphic editing.
That’s probably enough as a starting point for now. I have to go and research that malignant alphabet thing now. Since I only know it has something to do with asbestos and probably relates to something to do with asbestos insulation installers, I will start with Wikipedia which is where I usually begin research. Use the language link that you are moist comfortable with.
It didn’t have anything so I went to WebMd which I figured would be more appropriate and it was, albeit far too clinical
I’m hoping that I might find something humorous to say about Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. I’m not holding my breath.
And for those that have been suffering from this type of lung cancer, there is nothing too funny about it. I am reminded of a gentleman that played in one of our many golf tournaments at the club where I work in the summers. The group in this tournament raises money for insulation installers and this gentleman was playing with the assistance of an oxygen supply and guess what. He was having a lot of fun with this group and so were they.
There’s a bright side to everything if you look hard enough. Some of the copy here will be used in my assignment.
