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How to Write Nonfiction | Turn Your Knowledge into Words

How to write nonfiction – Turn your knowledge into words that can be shared in books and articles. Your life has given you a lot of experiences. From those experiences, you have gained knowledge. That knowledge can help people, and that’s what you want your book to do. But how do you go about putting that knowledge into words?

Writing From Mountains to Molehills

Several years ago, I wrote a book called From Mountains to Molehills: Overcoming and Celebrating Your Differences in Marriage.

The process of writing this book was easier than it was for some of the others That was because I already had some chapters written from a previous book that was divided into six parts.

I later decided to revise the original book, but then I decided instead to write a series of six books. Each new book corresponded to one of the parts in the original book. So, I had several chapters that related to that content that was about “Overcoming.” I think there were probably about 40 or 50 pages that came from those chapters. To come up with the new book, I thought more about the topic. How could I expand it from about five chapters to anywhere from 12 to 20 chapters? The final product ended up being 14 chapters after I got it all put together.

Then I thought more about what I had covered in the chapters that were in the “overcoming” part of the original book. As I thought about that, I looked for the gaps. What else did I need to talk about on that topic? Then I did research.

Part of that research involved putting out a survey, and surveying other books that related to this topic. Then I went back and filled in the gaps, and outlined those other chapters. Having completed that research, I was able to finish the book.

After that, I was able to go in and put in some of my own personal touches. I added some personal stories out of our own lives. Then, as I recall, I made up some fictional stories in that particular book and put those in at the beginnings of the new chapters. They were stories of Ralph and Elizabeth. Of course, Ralph and Elizabeth were not people that I really knew, rather they were composites of people who were experiencing the things that I was talking about.

Brainstorm What You Know

First of all, brainstorm what you already know. Just get a piece of paper, and start writing down ideas on that piece of paper. Set a timer for 15 minutes and write as quickly as you can. After the timer goes off, set it again if the ideas are still flowing. Keep doing this until things slow down and you run out of ideas. At this point, things will not necessarily be in order. After that, one of the ways that you can handle that brainstorming and reorganizing would be to put little symbols beside the topics. For instance, sometimes I put a little box beside sentences or phrases that are similar. Next, I find another group of similar phrases or sentences, and I put a circle beside those to differentiate between them and those with the boxes. You can think of other symbols for that purpose. I remember using a triangle one time when I did that. I also remember using a 5-pointed star, and an asterisk. I was able to group those ideas together. So you use a process like that to brainstorm what you already know.

Look for the Gaps

Then, you try to find the gaps. Ask yourself, “Will this cover the topic? Will this give my audience the help that they really need?” Once you answer those questions, you can do further research.

Research for Info to Fill the Gaps

When you find the areas where the information is lacking, it’s time to research your topic. With that added information, you can come up with chapters to fill in the gaps.

Get the Rough Draft Done

The next step is the most important: Get the rough draft down, just get a draft down. In most cases, that will help.

Some people are really good at writing and editing the same day. If you do that, then you just need to have a word count for each day. Others do really well by just rough drafting each day until they’ve got the whole book done. Sometimes those people use a timer, and write those sections until the timer goes off. They have a time goal for the day instead of a word-count goal. Then they go back and do the editing and refining. Either way though, get the rough draft down.

In some of the coaching that I do, I help people with writing rough drafts of books. I have two different methods of fast writing that can be used. I also have two different methods of how they can “talk” their content out. They can utilize their phone, even do a live video like my “Walking with Randy” videos. They have an outline, and speak the book. There are two different methods for doing that, but going into more detail goes beyond the scope of this blog post.

So, you brainstorm, fill in the gaps, research, and get the rough draft down. After that, you make it even more interesting.

Add Your Personal Touches and Stories

Go in and add your own personal touches and stories. Now the stories don’t all have to be yours, they can be stories of other people (with their permission to tell their stories). But, tell your stories where you can. That adds the personal touch. You can also make up stories that are actually composites of people you know. That’s what I did in the case of Ralph and Elizabeth.

You have knowledge, and you have knowledge that will be helpful to other people. I hope that this blog post will help you to be able to turn your knowledge into written words.

So, how to write nonfiction-turn your knowledge into the words. Again, I hope this has been helpful to you.

I will remind you that you can go to Randy’s blogs.com to get more writing tips like these. If you are already on the blog, you can click on the “Writing” tab on this page.

You can also get videos like this on YouTube. I would even recommend that you subscribe to my YouTube channel to get a sample of more videos like these. if you are a subscriber, on a rainy day, you can binge watch the whole set!

Incidentally, if you are interested in the above mentioned, From Mountains to Molehills: Overcoming and Celebrating Your differences in Marriage,  you can find more info here.

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Writing Nonfiction Narrative: How to Spice Up Your Helpful Information

Would you like to know how to get more people to read your helpful information?

John and Bill were mentioned in my last blog, Bill was having a problem with his Internet business. John saw a way that he could help his friend. He had very helpful information that he knew could help many people. But he could not get many to read it. Whenever he would go to his analytics, there were not nearly as many views of the articles as he would have wished. Then he tried some different things.

First of all, he started off telling, at the beginning his article, why the reader should read it.

Then he went to his analytics. He found that the number of views jumped up a little bit.

Then, whenever he told about why someone should read the article, he presented the problem. Then he agitated that problem a little bit before he gave the solution.

After he did that, he went to the analytics, and he was very hopeful. He clicked the button to look, but he was disappointed. Still, though, that result was better than what it was previously.

Then his friend John came along and gave him just one helpful suggestion. After implementing the one change, he kept clicking on his analytics report throughout the rest of the month. By the end of that time, he found his views had risen dramatically.

There was just one simple suggestion that caused that great result to come about. What was that suggestion? Here is the answer: John simply told Bill to add some stories.

We’re talking about writing nonfiction narrative Of course the word “narrative” is where the story-telling comes in.

What is A Narrative?

Let’s look at the definition of nonfiction narrative: It would be similar to historical fiction. Maybe in its truest sense, it would be one narrative that would go throughout the whole article, story, or book. There is another definition, though. That is, facts, told as a story, or facts that are illustrated by a story. That’s the one I’m focusing on. That’s the one that helped Bill’s views to jump dramatically.

You’ve probably discerned by now that Bill and John are composites of many different people, and yet these ideas are very true.

The Three Types of Narratives

In storytelling, you’re able to connect with your audience in a much better way. There are three types of narratives.

One of the first is to tell your own personal narrative.

The second one is to tell the experiences from your clients or your friends. You have to be careful with this one, though. If you have been engaged in confidential discussions, and you don’t have permission to use their names, then you must change the names and some other elements to present the facts, but to protect the innocent (or sometimes the guilty). Sometimes you will have permission to use other people’s stories.

The third kind of narrative will have fictional characters that are composites of many clients. They have true characteristics, and the facts, the things that are involved are true, but the character is a fictional character that has those true characteristics.

What Makes a Good Narrative?

What are some elements of good narrative. The first one has to do with the setting.
“They were standing in the desert. They had been there for several hours and the sun was going down. Though they’d been terribly hot, they had been told that the temperature would drop dramatically.”

There we are. We’re at the beginning of the setting for a good story. It helps you to identify with your audience. The setting should be similar to those to whom you’re writing. If you can involve the five senses in describing that setting, that helps create the image in the mind.

Then you want to introduce a main character. Since you’re doing these very short stories within the rest of your book, it’s best to focus on one character. However, you may have to introduce at least one more to have some type of conflict, setup, or to carry the story, but you focus on a single character.

When you introduce another character, you can make the story more interesting by including their dialogue.

Then you have the conflict. The conflict is related to the pain. It is related to the problem, and the problem can be agitated. It can be set up. The conflict, tells why there is a problem. It’s okay for things to repeatedly look like they’re going to succeed, and then fall apart. That makes for good fiction. So you have the conflict, you have the pain, you have the problem, and you have the tension and surprise.

At this point you can put in additional characters. Sometimes it’s man against nature. Sometimes it’s a person against a certain situation.

Then it builds to the climax. This is when the good finally triumphs. This is when the success finally overrules defeat. This is what this solution is. After that, you don’t really want to just cut it off abruptly. Sometimes you need to tie together the loose details,

The problem is solved. The satisfaction is there. This is where you dial it down a little bit, and perhaps you give a summary of the steps that were involved.

So those are some of the elements of putting stories within your nonfiction writing. Most of us like stories, and stories will keep us involved. Well, I hope that this has been helpful to you.

To recap, the elements of a good narrative are setting, character conflict, climax, and resolution.

If you’d like more writing tips like these, go to www.randycarney.com or www.randysblogscom. 

Click on the writing tab if you are already on the blog.

I always suggest you go to YouTube and do a search on my name, “Randy Carney” and you’ll find the videos all in one place. While you’re there, please subscribe so you can get back to it again.

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How To Use Your Questions to Complete Your Amazing Writing Plan

Today, we are going to add “triggers” to your questions in order to help you complete your amazing writing plan. In previous sessions, I talked about how to come up with a writing plan for your book. I’ve called some of the special parts of the plan, “block parties”. Today we are going to see how to finish setting up block parties for each of your chapters.

What I talked about in the past, for a non-fiction book, was to come up with a list of 9-15 questions that are grouped with various headings. For fiction, you may just have 9-15 questions (with no headings) that are grouped in the best order. This is what to do with those questions to come up with a great writing plan.

Three Things to Put With Your Questions in Order to Complete Your Amazing Writing Plan

Begin by coming up with a list of trigger words or phrases. Look at the first question, come up with a list of three trigger words, or three phrases that would remind you of the answer to that question. Or it could be a combination of trigger words and phrases. You might have: trigger word, trigger phrase, and trigger word; or you might have: trigger phrase, trigger phrase, and trigger word. You might have some other combination, but you will end up with a list of three trigger words or phrases for each question.

Then when you get ready to write, you don’t have to worry about writer’s block; you just read the questions and look at your trigger words or phrases. Set your timer for five, six, or up to 10 minutes (whatever length allows you to consistently complete 250 words or 2/3 of a page), as I talked about in previous sessions, and press start. Then write as quickly as you can. This is how the creative side of your brain kicks in and helps you to produce a sparkling rough draft.

Now, this is just a rough draft. Later on, you will leave out some things, you will add some things, and you’ll revise some things. The point is, that you will have something that you can edit.

So, as you look at a plan to complete your book, the best way to do it is to have this writing plan set up ahead of time for all of the chapters. Usually you will have anywhere from 10 to 20 chapters. Once you have all of that data you are ready to write, and you’re good to go. Most of all, you’ll be reminded that writing is fun! You don’t have to worry about writer’s block because you have those trigger words or phrases to get you started.

Whenever I did this with my first book, I did it with just three words per question. (Sometimes, the trigger “word” was a combination of two actual words that fit together. For instance, if you needed to have a negative in there, like, “Don’t quit,” you might need both of those. I let those count as one trigger word.) But I just had three trigger “words” to remind me of the answers to each of my questions.

Three New Items to Put With Each Question as You Complete Your Amazing Writing Plan

More recently, I have used suggested trigger words or phrases. I find it much easier to think of the phrases. So here is my suggestion and what I’m going to do the next time I use this method. I’m going to have the question, and I’m going to have the list of three trigger words or phrases. Then I’m going to pick out three powerful trigger words: A powerful trigger word can be a sight, a sound, or something to do with the senses. It can be an action, or it can be a particular noun that fits the answer to your questions. (Some of your already written trigger words may fit these categories. If so, feel free to list them again for your power words.) Those three Powerful trigger words will be written right below my three trigger words or phrases.

When you start the writing process for these questions, try to incorporate those three powerful words or phrases into the first paragraph. That will kick in the creative writing process even more. I would recommend this expansion of my original idea for you.

Anatomy of A Chapter Writing Plan

So here’s what your chapter your writing plan would look like. You have the working title of your chapter. Then you have your list of questions, and those questions would be grouped with headings. Underneath each question, you’d have three trigger words or phrases. Under that, you would pick out three of the most powerful trigger words. This will help you add the finishing touches as you complete your amazing writing plan.

When you get ready to write, look at the question and fix in your mind the three trigger words or phrases that are the answer to the question. Then Look at the powerful trigger words. Start writing with a goal of using those power words as quickly as possible. I’m looking forward to trying that the next time I use this writing plan.

I can tell you this: Having such a plan is great. It helps prevent writer’s block, and it helps you to write on days when you feel inspired. On those days when you don’t feel inspired, this process is very, very helpful. Then later on when you go back and look at the end result, you will have trouble figuring out which days you felt inspired and which days you didn’t. At least, I often find that to be true.

Well I hope this will be helpful to you. If you use these tips, you will complete your amazing writing plan.

If you find these tips to be informative or inspiring, you can find more here. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you put in a comment or a like, that will be helpful too. I also have a great course that puts all this together.

Would you like an example of how using these techniques to complete your amazing writing plan will work?

Try this little exercise: Write down a question. Below that, write three trigger words or phrases that remind you of the answer to the question. Right below that, write your thee powerful trigger words.

Now, don’t mull it over. If you have a timer, set it for five minutes. If you don’t have a timer, just look at your watch or a clock.

Now, without giving any more thought. Start writing as quickly as possible. Work in your power words ASAP. Then keep writing as fast as you can, including your other trigger words or phrases. Just keep going. Don’t think. Just write.

When the timer goes off or you see that five minutes are up. Stop!

Look at what you have written. How do you feel? Did it surprise you a little what you came up with?

This is how you can come up with a fun rough draft. Remember you can always edit later.

Please let us know, the results of this experiment for you. Just comment below.

Happy Writing!


Writing tips to use your questions to help you complete your amazing writing plan!
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What to Do With Your List of Ideas – Planning Your Great Writing

Today we’re continuing to talk about planning your writing. During the first session, we talked about the need of coming up with a list of 12-18 chapter ideas. The second session in this series explained how to tighten those ideas by eliminating three of those items. So now you should have ended up with a list of 9 to 15 ideas. [Editor’s note: In the video, I talk about narrowing down to 12 ideas, but, actually it could go down to 9 ideas. In the written article, I correct this.] Now, what do you do with those 9 to 15 ideas?

I’m going to give you three optional things you can do, and two required things for planning your writing. When I say required, I mean they are required from the sense of using this quick-writing system.

Mind Map – Optional

The first one is, you can do a mind map. Now you may have already done that. However, after you have refined your list, you may want to do it again. It depends on how much you like mind maps. Mind maps are great tools for planning your writing.

At the center of your page, you write the topic or title of your chapter. Then you take your 9 to 15 ideas and run them out as strands, away from the center of the page, and that central idea. Draw a line out and put one of your 15 ideas there. Then write in another one that is related to that continued in a strand of thought. Draw another line up from that to the other one. You draw little circles around those, so it looks like cartoon thought bubbles.

Once that strand has run out, return to the center of the page. You draw another line out from the center, put another one of your ideas there; one that relates. After the first grouping of those, you continue that strand of thought. Keep doing that until you’ve used all of your ideas. This step is optional, but it would help clarify things in your mind.

Outline – Optional

Another optional thing to do, after you have made your mind map, is to reformulate it as an outline. Use Roman numerals for your major points, and letters or numbers for your sub-points.

Add Headings within Chapters – Optional

Here is another optional thing for planning your writing, but it is highly recommended. Put some headings within your chapters.

This is especially for nonfiction books. When we talk about fiction, then you don’t usually put the headings in. You would just want to have the order of your ideas, and they are arranged in the best way that fits your story.

Again, for nonfiction, this is optional, but I recommend you break up your chapter with some headings.

Now if you have done an outline. You have already figured out some likely content for headings because you have come up with some Roman numerals. Those more than likely would be your headings.

If you haven’t done the mind map and outline, and you just came up with your order of ideas, then look to see where you could insert some headings. Three to five would be a good number. But see what fits best in your mind with the topic of your chapter.

So we’ve got our three optional things: the mind map, the outline, and for nonfiction, it’s optional, but highly recommended, that you insert some headings.

Arranging Order – Required

Here’s what’s really necessary for using those 9 to 15 ideas. You need to arrange them in the best order. A mind map would help to clarify that somewhat because you had to group them together in strands of thoughts. You need to list these 9 to 15 ideas in the best order for you and for your reader.

Turn Ideas Into Questions – Required

After you have these 9 to 15 ideas, you’ve arranged them in the best order and possibly inserted some headings. The next thing for this system is to turn each of those ideas into a question.

Just put “who, what, when, where, why, or how” in front of your statement. Put a question mark at the end, and rearrange it to where it sounds right. You now have a list of 9 to 15 questions for each chapter of your book. If you had inserted headings, you would now have those headings sandwiched in between those questions at the appropriate places.

Remember when we talked about some secrets for writing? Getting your mind to get in gear? For instance, we said, write about cars. It may take you a while to think about that. But if you were to ask, “What kind of car do you have? What was your earliest car? What was the make of your earliest car? How did you like your earliest car? What kind of car do you have now? What color is your car?” you would find it much easier to write by answering questions.

When it comes time to write your chapters, you can just start writing by answering those questions. This is a great way to get away from writer’s block.

That’s the secret. Put those 9 to 15 items in the correct order, and then turn them into questions.

You can do that for fiction too. You will have a list, and it will probably be mostly composed of chronological events. You can turn those into questions. Then you will be ready to start writing.

I will have one more post following this strand of thought.

Today we’ve talked about what to do with your list of 9 to 15 items. To review: Optionally, you can do a mind map, form an outline, and (for nonfiction) add headings in between those ideas. Steps required for this method are: Put that list of 9 to 15 items in the correct order, and then, to really make this work, turn each of those ideas into a question.

So next time I post about writing, it will be telling you even more about how these questions can benefit you and get yourself triggered to write.

If you want more tips like these, check out more posts on my blog. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you put in a comment or a like, that will be helpful too. I also have a great course that puts all this together.

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Learn to Figure out What Kind of Book You Want to Write – Just Like a Pro

What Kind of a Book Do I Want?

Writing a book is something that over 80% of Americans would like to accomplish in their lifetimes. Yet, far less than five percent, maybe even less that one or two percent seem to actually accomplish their desire. That does not have to be you.

One of the most basic things you can do to write like a pro is to clarify what kind of book you want to write. There are several options from which to choose. Let’s begin by discussing three basic questions.

Question #1 – Fiction Or Nonfiction?

Do you want to write primarily fiction? Who doesn’t love a good thriller or a mystery? How about historical fiction?

Genres such as mystery, thriller, and romance are just a few of the options here. If fiction is your choice, you will want to learn about the “Hero’s Journey”. You will use a lot of elements of storytelling. The hero’s journey has been broken down to show elements that are often seen in three act plays. You can see these in movies and television shows as well.

Do you want to write primarily nonfiction? It may be a “how-to book”. It may be a descriptive book. It may be a book about history or some aspect of a religious text. You can still use many narrative elements. In fact, adding narrative elements will make your book with necessary information in it much more interesting for the reader.

What about Memoirs? Unless you are nationally famous already, the story of your life may be hard to market.

Here is a way to use your life story, or at least parts of that story in your nonfiction books. Intersperse your nonfiction book with all kinds of stories from your life. Interesting stories may help generate positive buzz about your work.

Question #2 – Digital Or Print?

Why would I even ask this?

A few years ago, the sales of digital books surpassed those of print books according to estimates of sales on Amazon.com. Those statistics were mainly for the years of 2011 and 2012.

Since then, the popularity of print books returned.

What that means for you as an aspiring author is that your first book does not have to be a lengthy book. An ebook may be the way for you to go as you wade your way into the process of being an author. An ebook may be much shorter than a print book. The additional appeal of “instant gratification” for the consumer makes the idea of an e-book a good choice for some authors.

Question #3 – Long Book Or Short Book?

I will just give some general observations at this time. At a later date, I will discuss this a little more.

Several years ago, a chapter was considered to be about ten pages long-the amount of time it takes to read one on your lunch break or right before going to sleep.

Just as a chapter was considered to be 10 pages long, an averaged-size book was considered to be about 200 pages long.

Research gave the following generalizations: Nonfiction – 200 pages; mystery – 280; novel 400-500. Ebooks – 25 pages-to the size of print books. (Some are even shorter, down to 8 pages.)

An ebook can be as long as a print book because it is a good idea to have your book in both print and digital form. If you are producing only an ebook, 25-100 pages is quite an acceptable length.

So, here are the big takeaways for every author:
Use these questions to figure out what kind of book you want:
Do I want fiction or nonfiction?
Do I want digital or print?
Do I want a long book or a short book?

The point here is that you can clarify what kind of book you want to write without having to be afraid of going about planning a book in the wrong way.

Now, if you’re an author who is genuinely interested in how to make this even easier, drop what you’re doing and check out my course on How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less Without Stressing Yourself to Death! To find out more, Click Here.

With this tool, you can clarify what kind of book you want to write and write a good book swiftly… without having to be afraid of going about planning a book in the wrong way!

If you would like more writing tips like these, you can click on the “writing” tab above

Happy Writing!

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Start an Online Business Fast – Why You Should Consider Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing

Would you like to be able to start your own business quickly? Would you like to be able to do it in a low-cost way? Would like to be able to make money of of other people’s products that have already been created? Would you like to be able to produce and market your own products? Would you like to have a business that can reach the world?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, I would urge you to consider Internet marketing when it come to creating a new business. Why should you consider Internet Marketing? Let me give you some reasons.

You Can Start Your Online Business with a Low-Cost Initial Investment

Here’s one reason, it’s a relatively low-cost way of starting a new business.  If you think about some of the well-known franchises, you will find that thousands or tens of thousands of dollars are required to start such new businesses; however, getting into internet marketing is a relatively low-cost way to be able to start a new business.

It may be that you likely already have some of the tools that you would need to be able to do that. You may be watching or reading this on your phone. Or you may be watching and reading on your laptop, desktop, or some type of computer.  Good news: that’s just what you would need to be able to get started with internet marketing.

Oh, yes, you may end up having to have some internet service. And most of you that are watching my videos or reading this today, already have that. But if you don’t, you can go to a restaurant or someplace where they offer free Wi-Fi.

All I’m saying is, Internet Marketing is a relatively low-cost way to get into starting a new business if you’re an entrepreneur. Aside from the relatively low-cost for starting, we can see other reasons for considering Internet Marketing.

You Can Start Your Online Business without Even Having to Have Your Own ProductsAffiliate Marketing

The second reason for getting into internet marketing is because you don’t even have to have your own products. You can promote other
people’s products: you can become an affiliate of their business. This is called affiliate marketing.

You can promote other people’s products. You can find something that relates to your niche, your business, that would help people—something that you highly believe in and something that you would be glad to recommend. Once you have found that beneficial product, you can recommend it to other people through the Internet.

Affiliate marketing involves you pointing people to the products that you have an affiliate relationship with. Whenever someone decides to purchase the product, then you would receive a small commission for it.  Or, depending on what the product is, it might even be a large commission in some cases. But Internet Marketing is a relatively low cost and easy way to get started with your own online business.

While you do not have to have your own products, what if you do already have one or if you desire to develop one in the future?

After You Have Started Your Online Business You Will be able to Produce and Market Your Own Products When You are Ready

Now, after you’ve done affiliate marketing for a while, even though you don’t have
to have your own products, many of you will want to produce your own products.

In past blogs and videos, I have talked about many of us about writing our own books. And then I encourage having spin-off businesses from those books.

Many people dream of becoming an author, and then sitting back and enjoying royalties for the rest of their lives. While it is nice to receive royalties that come from having written a book, many authors talk about how they make much more off of the residual incomes their books produce. They make more by having multiple streams of income that come from writing that book.

So writing a book would be an example of a product you could produce. You could develop online courses. You could start business coaching or life coaching programs. You could promote physical products you have invented.

Once you have a product, you need to promote it to potential customers. Internet marketing is invaluable for this.

You Can Start Your Online Business and Quickly Reach the World

Well, the fourth thing is that you can reach the world in doing this. In the video above you can see my Australia cap. I’m glad I’ve been able to go to Australia many years ago, through an invitation of friends over there. They invited my son to come over on a
mission trip. My wife and I used that as an excuse to go over and pick him up. He was there for three months, and we were there for a month. It was a wonderful experience.

While physically going to Australia was great, the travel can be quite expensive.

My son and his family are now missionaries to Japan. We have visited them twice during their terms on the field, and we plan to go again in the near future. Even finding good deals on airline tickets is expensive.

While we can travel to those places, I can write a blog post such as this one, and I can get comments from Australia, Japan, and other parts of the world. I do this promotion from my own home.

You will see an endorsement for one of my books on marriage from Mrs. Constance McKenzie. I appreciate her doing that, however, she is from Africa, and we have never met in person.

If you would like to know more about Internet marketing, please check out this site for great resources and even training for success with internet marketing.

If you are serious about writing a book, I recommend you check out my course on 6-Figure Writing.

Finally, If you would like more videos, like these, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

Thanks for reading.

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Video for Blog Posts – The Covid Video Blessing

Watching Video on Computer
Watching Video on Computer

Forced into doing things we are not used to describes the year 2020 for most of us. Video for blog posts is something that some of us discovered as a transferable skill that resulted from us meeting a need during the pandemic.

Along with being a speaker, writer, and book-writing coach, I serve as a bi-vocational minister. Several of my friends in this same category got thrust into some new experiences.

Many of us, as a precautionary measure, quit worshiping at our local churches for a while. That is when many of us started doing online services. I already had a YouTube channel and some experience producing my own videos. Others, though, learned how to do this for the first time.

The Background of the Transferable Skill of Using Video for Blog Posts

I had some experience with Facebook Live, but, as often happens, I had to learn the process all over again in order to record some of our messages. For a while, that was simply done in my home office, but when we decided to return to our church, we continued broadcasting live through Facebook.

Apart from that, I have a wonderful assistant who helps me carry out many tasks that can be time consuming. So, after I learned how to transfer the FB Live videos to YouTube, I trained her in that process too.

We edit the live recording to shorten it somewhat, and to remove any copyright claims for the wider YouTube audiences.

I know I can include the YouTube videos here on this blog, but I wondered if a link could go directly to the Facebook Live video from over a week ago too.

Trying the Temporary Links for Using Video for Blog Posts

So, here goes the experiment.

First, we will include the YouTube video. Some like for me to have these replays up anyway.

Here is the video from a week or two ago:

Here is a listing of that same link:



Now, here is the attempt to go to the original Facebook Live version:

And, again, here is that link:

https://www.facebook.com/randy.carney1/videos/10224508277198421

I guess one way to check this is to publish it temporarily, and then come back and finish editing the bog post.

Since I am writing in real time, let me just say, “I will be back in a minute.” 🙂

I left and published temporarily and both of the links worked. So, you can use Facebook Live videos as well as YouTube links. (I will have to keep checking back to see how long the Facebook video links will work.)

Using Facebook Live to Produce Video for Blog Posts

How To Use Facebook Live To Get More Traffic To Your Website could be an alternate heading for this section.

Facebook Live is a quick and easy way to produce a video for a blog post that assists Internet marketers to get more traffic to their websites.

The bottom line here is that this is a quick way to produce a video for your blog post. Doing this gives you an almost unfair advantage. You will get more traffic to your website over other Internet marketers by inserting videos into your blog posts.

All Internet marketers should check out this tool because using it is a very quick way to produce videos. Once the video processes where it comes up when you open up Facebook, all you have to do is copy the url and use it as a link to a picture in your blog pos

Here’s why Facebook Live is so important…

You can start on an article, cut away to do a video, and then come right back.

How can you get started with video very quickly?

  • Go to your Facebook page
  • Click on the “Live Video” link
  • Your camera will come on and you will see yourself in the lower right corner
  • About half-way down on the left side of the page, you will see the word, “post”
  • You can go down two items below that and click on the down arrow to choose to share to your timeline, to a page you manage, or to a group
  • I would recommend putting in a title, but it is optional
  • Then put in a short description
  • When you are ready, click on “Go Live.”
  • After your presentation, click on “finish,” and then choose where you want to share the video on Facebook.
  • Wait a while for the video to show up on Facebook where you shared it
  • Start the video, and copy the url from the top of the page
  • Then you can place that link in your blog post

And the great news is, this incredible tool costs nothing at present.

You can check out this quick way to produce a video for a blog post by going to your own Facebook page.

If you would like more tips on writing, click here.

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Take a Chance – The Tree Fell Perfectly

Take a chance in business. Sometimes (many times) you have to do that to make progress.

In baseball, you can say that you miss all the pitches you do not swing at. In football, you miss every possible completion you do not throw. In basketball, you miss all the shots you do not take.

When it comes to business, you miss all the sales you do not ask for. You miss all the opportunities you do not attempt.

Thank you to Son-in-Law Brian Barker for cutting down a hickory tree in our back yard. We have wanted it down for quite a while. We either want to build an add-on dining room, or at least a deck. at some point.

Take a chance. My son-in-law did, and he got a tree to fall perfectly. Your business chances may turn out just as well.

He looked doubtful when he saw where it was located, just three lawn-mower widths away from our kitchen window.

We had noticed the leaves had spots on them, and we wondered if the tree were coming down with some kind of disease. He had asked about cutting down a tree in our woods for firewood. I don’t think he expected for us to suggest a tree in our yard.

He had to land the tree between our house and a pear tree, and it had to miss a pine tree at the edge of the yard.

Brian could have just not attempted to fall the tree. In fact, he suggested I talk to one of our mutual friends to see if he could suggest someone to do it for us. I think Brian was really worried about how we would feel if it went several feet farther south than where we were looking. If it did, it would hit the corner of our house and possibly tear off a gutter. I was able to persuade him that I really hoped he would try it, and we would not hold it against him if it did fall off course a little bit.

Brian said, “When you hear the saw start up, tell the girls (my wife, Rhonda, and his wife, Rachelle (our daughter)) to get out of the kitchen. … I’m serious.”

It fell perfectly!

Take a chance in your business efforts, just like Brian did with the tree. Sometimes, you will fail, but you will learn something. Sometimes, though, a surprising opportunity may come your way. You may be afraid to follow up on it. If you don’t, though, you will never know if it could have been good for you.

Maybe your skills are not good. They will never improve if you don’t try.

Be wise. Do your due diligence, but when the time seems mostly right, take a chance. The results may pleasantly surprise you. Maybe it will fall perfectly!

Would you like to write a book? Every book you do not attempt has no sales. It has no impact on anyone. Have you never done it before? Are you willing to take a chance? Would you like some help from some who have gone through the scary path before you? Would you like some time-management skills to help you in your writing?

You could check out some more writing tips here.

When have you taken a chance in business? How did it help you? Do you have a breakthrough moment, you would like to share with us?

We would love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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Overcoming Obstacles to Success – Reflections on the Way to a Speaking Engagement

Overcoming obstacles to success came to my mind on the way to, and following, a speaking engagement.

Occasionally, I meet with a group of pastors for breakfast. Those are always great times of fellowship.

Overcoming Obstacles to Success - Reflections on the Way to a Speaking Engagement
Water Across the Road: A Major Obstacle

A couple of months ago, Harlen Johnson, the moderator of the East Central District Quarterly Meeting asked me If I had plans for Saturday, January 11. He then asked if I would speak on the day of their quarterly meeting. I checked my calendar, and I was glad to accept.

We reconfirmed the next time we ate breakfast together. Then he said he got a text from one of the men in his church saying that it looked a little like the weather might be dicy that day. So, he asked if I would also be able to come the following Saturday if they had to cancel that day. I said I could, so I penciled in the next Saturday, hoping that it would become available when I got to keep the first date.

Two days before the event, we confirmed we were having it on the original date. The weather was not predicted to be the best, but it was mainly going to be a rain event and not one of ice and snow.

Oak Valley church is just a little over 60 miles north. It could take any from somewhere between an hour and an hour and-a-half to get there, depending which route I took. I had directions for a safer route, but I opted for the shorter route that was listed on the GPS program.

I knew that could be dangerous. The road could be blocked at some point because of the abundance of rain we had the night before. It was not storming, but the rain was still gently coming down too.

Would I make it? Would I have to call and tell them I would be late? Would I have a cell-phone signal if I had to make that call?

It turns out that there was only one spot where water was coming across the road. The weather forecasters always tell us not to drive through water because even as little as four inches can sweep a car across the road. I had to take a calculated risk. It really was not much of a risk at all. I could that there were no strong currents, and the water appeared to only be about a half-inch deep, if that. I made it fine.

I was speaking on Jeremiah 14, and one of the things mentioned in that passage was that of natural disasters.

I was reminded that earlier this year, just south of where I live, there were communities devastated by floods–natural disasters.

Reflecting on this for the business world, when a natural disaster hits a business, there are two options. First, you can rebuild. Secondly, you can regroup and move on.

Unfortunately, there is a third option, and that is to quit altogether.

Among others, there are three major obstacle to success in business. One of the major ones is to quit. Many times, if we could have seen the future, we would have realized that success was just around the corner. It does take a while for the cumulative effect of your efforts to see fruit. Though none of can see the future. Many successful people have the opinion that others quit too easily or too quickly.

Another obstacle is that of fear. I could have allowed the fear of driving through the water keep me from getting to my destination on time. I am grateful that it was easy to see, in this case, that my fear was groundless. How many people are there who miss their dreams because of fear of failure?

A final obstacle is the perception that I don’t have time to pursue my dreams. That can be a tricky one, depending on how many present commitments you have. However, the way to overcome this is to establish whether your dream is a priority in your life. If it is, you will find things to let go in order to carve out time for new things in your life, such as that dream business. Most of us can also benefit from time-management techniques.

I run across many people who would like to write books. In fact, surveys have shown that over 80% of the poplulation would like to write a book. Yet, far less than 10% ever accomplish that goal.

Would you like “Time Management Tips for Writers”? Just tell me where to send it below:




Happy day! Happy life! Happy Business!

Plough through your obstacles!

Until next time,

Randy

P.S. I listed three obstacles to success. What are some that you see? Please comment below.

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Life Is Short – Time Management Techniques and Strategies for Writers

I have three friends who have reminded me that time is short – even when it might seem long. Each reminded me of the need for making the most of the time we have. Since I am a writer and some of you are writers, this concept reinforces even more the need for time management techniques and strategies for writers.

Time management techniques and Strategies for Writers

First, my friend, Roger, with whom I have gone on several missions trips for the ministry of which he was director, had a heart catheterization a couple of days ago. The doctors said his heart is strong, but there were some other issues that would continue to give him some problems. He is still with us, and he even said, “I’ll probably see you Thursday.”

Thursday is when we meet together with a prayer- and Bible-study group. Then after that, I always say, “is when we have the real meeting.” Several of us follow up by eating breakfast together.

Then I had another friend, Jim, who had some heart problems last year, received word later in the year that certain tests showed a high likelihood of cancer. He went back for another test, and the indicators were not as great. So, the doctors then wanted him to have an MRI that would be very specific to their suspicions.

When Jim met with the doctor for the results, the doctor said, “I don’t know how to explain it, but the results are zero.” Jim said he knew how to explain it because many people, and especially his wife, had been praying for him!

Last Sunday we went to the memorial service for Aunt Dorothy, my wife’s aunt who passed away. You see Aunt Dorothy was able to stay in her own home until she passed away. In a couple of weeks, she would have been 100. She said, after a visit to the doctor, “No one knows how much time they have.”

None of us know how much time we have, so we should make the best of the days we do have.

In order to beat the enemy of procrastination, writers have to set up deadlines. If they don’t have those, they may never get done. They can be self imposed or they can be put in place by a publisher.

I would like to give you a free gift, “Time Management for Writers.” Get it quickly because I am going to have to shorten the report. Many of my friends tell me that I have “given away the farm” with this report. In fact one friend put the info in place and finished his book. That is great, but, really I am offering a coaching program that will walk others through the process of getting their dream books done. Some will get this report and still want the extra benefits of coaching, but, like I say, there is enough here to help you get your book done. Just fill out the info below to sign up.




Now, if you wait till the report is revised, you will still get a great value. It’s just that I probably won’t give away the farm completely forever.

Go here to check out some more about writing your book.