So You Want to Write (2nd Edition): How to Master the Craft of Writing Fiction and Memoir by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood

So You Want to Write (2nd Edition): How to Master the Craft of Writing Fiction and Memoir by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood (Paperback - Aug 1, 2005)

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Leapfrog Press; 2 edition (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097289845X
• ISBN-13: 978-0972898454

Product Description

“This is a great book, no matter what stage of writing you’re at!”—The Writer Magazine
“Here is a must-have for would-be writers. Put this on the shelf right beside Strunk and White.”—Booklist
“Addresses all the elements of successful writing.”—Tampa Tribune
“Advice on getting your work published is worth the cost of the book alone.”—St. Petersburg Times
A featured selection of the Writer’s Digest Book Club; chosen by The Writer Magazine as a Best Book of the Year; compared by the American Library Association to Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style; acclaimed by critics, students and teachers and adopted by universities across the country, the unique collaboration between a major American novelist and a publisher is back in a revised second edition, bigger and better than ever.
The most useful and entertaining writing book on the market, the updated second edition has new exercises and expanded essays, covering every aspect of writing and publishing fiction and memoir:
How to begin a piece so that a reader can’t put it down
How to create compelling characters
How professional writers use dialogue
How to narrow a strategy for telling the story of your life
How to write about painful material without coming off as a victim
Included are hundreds of insider tips, such as:
The seven important things when writing about loved ones
The 10 most destructive things writers do
What no one will tell you about rejection letters
FAQs about agents and how much writers really earn
What to do if your work is continually rejected
Marge Piercy is a New York Times best-selling novelist and memoirist. Ira Wood is a novelist and publisher. Their workshops, given nationally, address overcoming the inner and outer barriers to creativity.

About the Author

Marge Piercy is the author of 16 novels, including the bestsellers Gone to Soldiers and The Longings of Women and the classic Woman On the Edge of Time, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir, Sleeping With Cats. The author of 16 books of poetry, she is the most anthologized poet of her generation. Her work has been translated into 18 languages. Ira Wood is a publisher as well as the author of two novels The Kitchen Man and Going Public and the co-author (with Marge Piercy) of the erotic thriller Storm Tide. His workshops, given nationwide, emphasize the importance of the writer's craft and overcoming the inner and outer barriers to creativity.

Stephan Schiffman's 101 Successful Sales Strategies by Stephan Schiffman

• Hardcover: 275 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593373767
• ISBN-13: 978-1593373764

Product Description

You know you can sell, but you’d sell more—faster!—if you could avoid the most common sales mistakes that eat away precious time and commission dollars. With sales guru Stephan Schiffman at your side, you can fine tune your sales strategies, and get results immediately! Stephan Schiffman’s 101 Most Successful Sales Strategies includes crucial advice on:

Building leadership skills

Using E-mail to your advantage

Getting return phone calls

Following the nine principles of cold calling
Chock-full of expert insider advice to put you at the top of the sales game, Stephan Schiffman’s 101 Most Successful Sales Strategies shows you how to beat out your competition and become number one in the field—starting now!

About the Author

Stephan Schiffman, America’s #1 Corporate Sales Trainer, is the author of dozens of bestselling books, including Cold Calling Techniques, (That Really Work), 5th edition; and The 250 Sales Questions to Close the Deal. His clients include Aetna, AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Boise Office Solutions, ChevronTexaco, Cox Communications, EMC, Federal Express, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, The New York Times, Sony, and Waste Management.

Confucius and Lao Tzu: the analects of Confucius ; Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching by Arthur Waley

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375412042
• ISBN-13: 978-03754120

roduct Description

Confucius has become synonymous in the West with Eastern wisdom: profound and mysterious. He was, however, one of the most humane, lucid, and rational moral teachers of the ancient world, concerned not with arcane metaphysics or invisible gods but with the practical issues of life and conduct. How should the state be organized? What makes a good ruler? What is virtue? What is the proper relationship between man and nature? Above all, how should individuals behave with one another and toward their environment?
Confucius addressed all these questions in dialogues, stories, and anecdotes gathered together as The Analects, which offers not lofty moral prescriptions but sensible advice based on principles of justice and moderation. So timeless was his thinking that even now, after two and a half thousand years, The Analects remains one of the most influential texts ever written.

From the Inside Flap

Confucius has become synonymous in the West with Eastern wisdom: profound and mysterious. He was, however, one of the most humane, lucid, and rational moral teachers of the ancient world, concerned not with arcane metaphysics or invisible gods but with the practical issues of life and conduct. How should the state be organized? What makes a good ruler? What is virtue? What is the proper relationship between man and nature? Above all, how should individuals behave with one another and toward their environment?
Confucius addressed all these questions in dialogues, stories, and anecdotes gathered together as The Analects, which offers not lofty moral prescriptions but sensible advice based on principles of justice and moderation. So timeless was his thinking that even now, after two and a half thousand years, The Analects remains one of the most influential texts ever written.

About the Author

Arthur Waley (1889_1966) is highly regarded for his many translations of Chinese and Japanese literature.
Sarah Allan teaches classical Chinese and Chinese philosophy at Dartmouth College.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

About the Book (Wikipedia)

The book is a collection of economic articles written by Levitt, an expert who has already gained a reputation for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists; he does, however, accept the standard neoclassical microeconomic model of rational utility-maximization. In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives.

The book's topics include:
Chapter 1: Discovering cheating as applied to teachers and sumo wrestlers
Chapter 2: Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents
Chapter 3: The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low earnings and abject working conditions of crack cocaine dealers
Chapter 4: The controversial role legalized abortion may have played in reducing crime. (Levitt explored this topic in an earlier paper entitled "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.")
Chapter 5: The negligible effects of good parenting on education
Chapter 6: The socioeconomic patterns of naming children

About the Author
Levitt was born in 1967 and attended St. Paul Academy and Summit School, graduated from Harvard University in 1989 with his B.A. in economics, and received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1994. He is currently the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor and the director of the The Becker Center on Price Theory at the University of Chicago. In 2004 he won the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded bi-annually by the American Economic Association to the most promising U.S. economist under the age of 40. In April 2005 Levitt published his first book, Freakonomics (coauthored with Stephen J. Dubner), which became a New York Times bestseller. Levitt and Dubner also started a blog (www.freakonomics.com).
Dubner grew up in Duanesburg, New York as the youngest of eight children in a devout Roman Catholic family. His parents, Paul and Veronica Dubner, had converted to Catholicism from Judaism. Stephen Dubner explains his own choice to practice Judaism as an adult as follows: "I did not grow up Jewish, but my parents did. . . . But for my parents -- and now, for me, as I am becoming a Jew -- there is a pointed difference. We have chosen our religion, rejecting what we inherited for what we felt we needed."
Dubner's first published work was in the American children's magazine Highlights for Children.[citation needed] Dubner received a scholarship from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, and graduated in 1984. At Appalachian he formed a band, "The Right Profile," which was signed to Arista Records. In 1988, he stopped playing music to focus more on writing, going on to receive an MFA in Writing from Columbia University (1990), where he also taught in the English Department.
Dubner currently resides in New York City with his wife, Ellen Binder, and their two children

Integrity Service: Treat Your Customers Right-Watch Your Business Grow by Ron Willingham (Hardcover - Sep 27, 2005)

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743270274
• ASIN: B00164GECW

From Booklist

Willingham, founder and CEO of Integrity Systems, Inc., has helped large organizations around the world (including Johnson & Johnson, IBM, and the Library of Congress) enhance their customer-service skills through his seminars and training sessions. The major tenet of his philosophy is that the success you achieve directly relates to the value that you create for others. This success secret applies to both large and small companies and is particularly effective for the small entrepreneur, because the lessons in this book must be applied at the personal level, where the interaction between customers and company reps occurs. Willingham does much more than provide training for improving customer service; although he never comes out and says it, there is a spiritual component to his viewpoint. He asks the deeper questions such as, What is your purpose and what brings true happiness? Through this discovery process, Willingham helps anyone from CEOs to office workers discover the rewards of creating value by taking responsibility and tackling problems. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

"A tremendously enriching book filled with deep-rooted, unchanging principles that work. Trust, the glue of life, is founded on integrity."-- Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness


"Based on the belief that 'success is the by-product of the value you create for others,' Ron Willingham guides the reader through a series of thinking patterns, actions, beliefs, and behaviors that cannot fail to increase levels of success and personal growth. Integrity Service is a book not to be missed."
-- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Customer Mania!


"Ron's unique ability to connect with his readers and use real-life examples to find the relationships among integrity, service, and results makes his new book compelling and timely. His call to service will challenge and reward you both professionally and personally."
-- Marvin Girouard, chairman and CEO, Pier 1 Imports


"After forty years in the hospitality/services industry, I know that Integrity Service effectively explains all aspects of service in the business world. It confirms the same philosophy and integrity I have used with my own employees and customers over the years. I strongly recommend and encourage those starting their career, or anyone at any level seeking synergy, to read this book."
-- Armando Arribas, director, Catering and Convention Services Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Company, Orlando


"Integrity Service provides terrific, practical advice for professionals who truly desire to develop a customer-focused culture. As always, Ron Willingham puts the focus on people: their needs and desires and those who serve them."
-- Beth Daniell, vice president, sales and marketing, American Red Cross --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Every company today recognizes the importance of good customer service and putting the customer first. Why, then, do service people so often treat us as though we're supposed to serve them, rather than the opposite? How often do we feel neglected, frustrated, or just plain unhappy -- wondering what happened to basic civility and common courtesy? Why do things seem to be getting worse rather than better? And how can businesses train employees to offer customers the courtesy and attention they are entitled to?Ron Willingham, whose seminars and training sessions have helped big companies around the world change their employees' behavior, offers a new and subtler way of looking at customer service. Instead of the traditional "paint an artificial smile on your face" approach, Integrity Service brings the whole person into the service experience, showing that good customer relationships grow from employees' beliefs about who they are and what's possible for them to achieve, what career rewards they deserve, and what value they can give customers.
Integrity Service presents fundamental principles that lead to individual success and gives readers specific action guidelines for on and off the job. Willingham's documented success through his seminars and programs ensures that the hands-on help in this book will bring employees and managers to a new understanding of the nature of service.
In a world of automated phone systems and constantly frustrated customers, Ron Willingham provides a proven program that empowers employees to provide the superior service that people really want and deserve.

xcerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

IntroductionThis Book Is About Your Success
We can have one of three views in all relationships:

• It's all about me.
• It's all about you.
• It's all about us.

The view of me is a self-focused one that's all about getting you to do what I want you to do for me. The view of you can be a sub-servient one, where I indulge you to win and myself to lose. The view of us is a win-win one, where I first give you the value you want and then allow you to return the value I want.The last is the paradoxical Integrity Service view -- one of mutual prosperity and abundance for everyone.
Yes, this book is about your success. It's about your life and your possibilities for enjoying more of the prosperity and abundance that await your quest.
Since you're reading this, I assume that you have a strong desire for greater success in all facets of your life -- in your career, your relationships, and your personal effectiveness. I'm trusting that you're serious about your future hopes and dreams coming true.
I'll share with you time-honored principles that will surely lead you into ever-increasing levels of personal growth and goal achievement. More than 1.5 million people have participated in my personal growth courses in sixty-five nations, and what I'm offering you now is what has worked so well for them.
At this very moment, it's the level of your desire for life's richness that will determine the results you enjoy from reading these chapters.
It's not enough to simply read this book. The book must be experienced. I'll continually challenge you to spend whatever time you need on each chapter -- practicing the suggestions that I'll share with you.
With a sincere desire plus application, you'll soon begin to enjoy expanded success -- on and off your job.
That's my promise to you.
Why Do You Work?
Why do you do what you do? Which of the following career views is yours?

• "It's spending eight hours at my job."
• "It's doing a good job."
• "It's creating value for internal and external customers."

Each of these career views results from a choice you've made. This choice predetermines your job satisfaction, compensation, and success level. The cause, your career choice, is inseparable from the effect, your personal degree of success. Every choice ultimately produces a predictable result.
Why You Succeed
Here's a success secret that many people don't know...or practice. They don't practice it because it runs counter to our self- focused human nature. Yet this ageless principle is unerring in its results. It always works in a paradoxical way. Here's the secret: Your success is the by-product of the value you create for others. Your actual level of success is then measured by the amount of benefits you create for the most people.
Are you disappointed with my advice? Or excited? Will you quickly dismiss it as too simplistic, or will you see it for the wisdom it contains? If, indeed, you do understand the common sense of this eternal success principle, and if it's consistent with your values, then you're ready for this book. In the pages that follow, I'll serve as your guide and lead you through a series of thinking patterns, actions, beliefs, and behaviors that will surely elevate you to in- creased levels of success and personal growth...if you make them your own and practice them in your daily life.
Your Two Life Directions
The truth is painfully simple...and paradoxical. We -- individuals and organizations -- have two basic life directions that influence our career success and personal happiness. One is to focus on ourselves, get what we can get, and keep all we can keep. The other is to focus on others and to create as much value for them as we can, knowing that we'll be compensated, rewarded, or respected according to the amount of value we create.
Think about these two life and business views a moment. One is driven by our natural, human, ego-focus. The other evolves from an external, outer, success-oriented focus. As you begin this book, take a few moments to review the Integrity Service Values and Ethics mentioned at the beginning of it. After reading them, ask yourself these questions:

• If the people in an organization practiced them, would that company be more profitable? a great place in which to work? ensured of its successful future? trusted and respected?
• If an individual faithfully practiced them, would he or she be more successful? more valuable to his or her organization? happier and more personally fulfilled? more highly compensated?

If your answer to these questions is "yes," then your values are in line with the success principles of this book. You'll discover that it lays out for you a road map for your personal success with

• external customers,
• internal associates,
• friends,
• family members, and
• relationships.

Practicing these values-driven principles in your real-life experiences will put you into the free-flowing stream of personal and career success, happiness, and self-fulfillment. This state only comes as a result of serendipity -- the gift of accidentally discovering good and valuable things in unexpected ways. When you make your goal or aim to serve others, you'll dis- cover riches that otherwise would have been hidden from you. Success is the by-product of practicing time-proven, customer- focused behaviors that I'll share with you. Let's begin at the beginning.
A Customer-Focused Individual
Start by defining your job as helping your organization:

• 1. Get and keep satisfied, loyal customers.
• 2. Get and keep satisfied, loyal employees.
• 3. Enjoy growth and profitability.

To the degree that you have this view of your job and make these your overall goals, you'll enjoy the elusive rewards of per- sonal growth, high self-esteem, and increased value to your organization.
A Customer-Focused Organization
Organizations are made up of people. Organizational effectiveness results to the degree that these people can work together in a spirit of unity and harmony toward a common goal. Many organizations miss this point.
Billions of dollars are spent on organizational development. Even more billions are spent on reorganization after reorganization, driven by the assumption that once the company finds the right organizational strategy, everything will be great. So, when it isn't great, what do companies do? They call in new consultants and go through yet another reorganization.
While the proper organizational structure is important, many managers overlook a more important issue -- their people. Often their people feel like mere numbers, inanimate statistical units that are passed around, handed off, and in many cases made to feel paranoid and insecure. Even in the largest of organizations, it's the development and uniting of people that get the least attention and budget, and too many organizations pay the price of this oversight.
Managers don't harness their people's energies and creativity. They can, though, by developing a customer-focused organization. This gives people a common vision that transcends their own self-focus. Take a look at the following "Customer-Focused Organizations" model. Let me explain the model.

• 1. The purpose of any organization is to serve its owners or stake-holders with growth and profitability. To do this, the organization must get and keep loyal, profitable customers and loyal, productive employees.
• 2. The point of contact includes anyone who touches customers.
• 3. The pillars of the organization are the people and systems that make up the different departments and divisions. They must view their jobs as supporting those who touch customers.
• 4. The foundation is the company's mission, vision, and core values.

Organizations achieve their growth and profitability goals to the extent to which everyone works together, synergistically, to help get and keep loyal customers and employees.A few years ago the Harvard Business Review published an article called "Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work." The service-profit chain established the links in the chain that lead to growth and profitability. Here are the separate links:

• Growth and profitability are driven by
• Customer loyalty, which comes from
• Customer satisfaction, which is driven by
• Value provided to customers, which comes from
• Employee productivity, which is driven by
• Employee loyalty, which is caused by
• Employee satisfaction, which is driven by
• Internal quality, which is a result of
• Leadership.

The study points out the sequence that leads to growth and profitability. It also makes the point that a "chain is only as strong as its weakest link." This means that all the links must be healthy in order for an organization to be vital and productive. Examine each of these links, and you'll see that it must be valued before it can be actualized into strategies or results. You'll also notice that some of the links are overlooked in the allocation of training budgets and importance to senior managers. It's people who do all this. So here's where you come in, and where you establish your individual value. Your worth to your organization will be determined by the extent to which you know these factors:

• 1. Who your customers are.
• 2. What their unique needs are.
• 3. Why they choose to do business with you.
• 4. What unique value you give them that they can't get elsewhere.
• 5. How well your role creates value for customers or ... 

The Book of Virtues for Young People by William J Bennett

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689816138
• ISBN-13: 978-0689816130

From Publishers Weekly

Having scored a resounding success with The Book of Virtues (more than 2.2 million copies sold), erstwhile politico William J. Bennett now turns his attention to what his publisher deems the "growing demand for character education" with The Book of Virtues for Young People: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories; included under such headings as Self-Discipline, Responsibility and Loyalty are works by the likes of James Baldwin, Emily Dickinson, Victor Hugo and Thomas Bulfinch (S&S/Silver Burdett, $14.95, ages 7-12 ISBN 0-382-24923-2 July).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up?Bennett has compiled fables, stories, and poems that have served as inspiration since time immemorial. Courage, friendship, loyalty, honesty, self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, and faith are represented, with an introduction and commentary for each. Classics such as O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and "Echo and Narcissus" are indicative of compassion. A sweet, illuminating letter from "F. Scott Fitzgerald to His Daughter" lays out her responsibilities. An account by Helen Keller of meeting her teacher, Anne Sullivan, provides a beautiful portrait of friendship. And poignant examples of courage are presented back to back in "Excerpt from the Diary of Anne Frank" and the poem "If?" by Rudyard Kipling. This old-fashioned volume may not be picked up by today's world-weary readers, but those who do dip into it will find that every generation had its share of problems addressed by eloquent and, yes, virtuous writers.?Julie Halverstadt, Douglas Public Library District, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-6, younger for reading aloud. Following his best-selling book for adults The Book of Virtues (1993) with a similar volume for young people, the former U.S. secretary of education offers a collection of readings, grouped by theme, on the virtues of self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty, and faith. Each section begins with a photograph and a short essay on the particular theme, addressed to young people. Drawn from a variety of sources and executed in different styles, black-and-white drawings, engravings, and photos accompany some of the pieces. Typical selections include myths, folktales, historical tales, fables, poems, hymns, Bible stories, and excerpts from diaries and letters. Parents looking for short readings to entertain and possibly inspire their children will find much to their liking here. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Stories from the best-selling Book of Virtues target a younger audience and include material from O. Henry, Tolstoy, and Guy de Maupassant, along with tales from Aesop, poetry from Emily Dickinson, and many other selections."

The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham

The One Thing You Need to Know: About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success by Marcus Buckingham


About the Book:-
Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group Mar 2005

ISBN-13: 9780743261654
ISBN: 0743261658

Firnando Chau Review


Table of Contents:-

1: A Few Things You Should Know About the "One Thing"
"Get me to the core": "If you dig into a subject deeply enough, what do you find?"
A lifetime of "why"s: "What drove this book?"
The tests for the "one thing": "Why are some explanations more powerful than others?"
One controlling insight: "What is the One Thing you need to know about happy marriage?"
Part I
The One Thing You Need to Know
Sustained Organizational Success
2: Managing and Leading: What's the Difference?
A vital distinction: "Are they different? Are they both important? Can you do both?"
A view from the middle: "What do great managers actually do and what talents do you need to do it?"
A view from the top: "What do great leaders actually do and what talents do you need to do it?"
3: The One Thing You Need to Know: Great Managing
The basics of good managing: "What skills will prevent you from failing as a manager?"
Great managers play chess: "What is the One Thing you need to know about great managing?"
A walk through a walgreens: "How does one truly great manager do it?"
Great managers are romantics: "What are the benefits of individualization?"
The three levers: "What are the three things you need to know about a person in order to manage him or her effectively?"
The most useful questions: "How can you identify these levers?"
4: The One Thing You Need to Know: Great Leading
A leader wins our loyalty: "What did Giuliani say to calm ourfears?"
Five fears, five needs, one focus: "What are the universals of human nature?"
The points of clarity: "Where are your followers crying out for clarity?"
The disciplines of leadership: "How do the best leaders achieve this clarity?"
Part II: The One Thing You Need to KnowSustained Individual Success
5: The Twenty Percenters
Dave, Myrtle, and Tim: "What does sustained individual success look like?"
The early contenders: "What explanations seem like the One Thing, but aren't?"
What is sustained success?: "It's a broad term. How do we define it?"
6: The Three Main Contenders
Contender 1: "Find the right tactics and employ them."
Contender 2: "Find your flaws and fix them."
Contender 3: "Discover your strengths and cultivate them."
7: So, How Do You Sustain Success If...?
You're bored
You're unfulfilled
You're frustrated
You're drained
Conclusion: Intentional Imbalance
Acknowledgments