However, in this digital era where intrusive technology has consumed so much of our time and energy returning to a print newspaper might be what some people need to break away from the addictive and disruptive nature of digital technology.
Some of the advantages of newspapers may surprise you. So what are the benefits of reading newspapers? Here are 16 unique benefits of reading newspapers in the digital era:
15 Benefits of Reading Newspapers
Staying informed about current events: Newspapers provide a convenient and reliable source of information about what is happening worldwide. Reading a newspaper can help you to stay up to date on current events, politics, sports, and other topics that are important to you and make you stand out as a well-informed and intelligent citizen who stays current with affairs and events happening around the world.
Improving your knowledge and understanding: Newspapers often include in-depth articles and analysis that can help you to learn more about a wide range of topics. Reading a newspaper can help you to expand your knowledge and understanding of the world around you. Reading newspapers gives you time to think about your life and provides ideas, knowledge, and insights that can help you make decisions.
Developing critical thinking skills: Newspapers often present different perspectives on the same issue, which can help you to develop your critical thinking skills. By reading and evaluating different viewpoints, you can learn to form your own opinions and make informed decisions. Builds and reinforces your knowledge on topics that are important to you.
Enhancing your vocabulary and language skills: Newspapers often use sophisticated vocabulary and language, which can help you to improve your own writing and speaking skills. By reading a newspaper regularly, you can expose yourself to new words and ideas, which can help you to become a more effective communicator. Regularly reading newspapers can help you recall important information like names of people, places and things.
Supporting journalism and the free press: By subscribing to a newspaper or purchasing a physical copy, you can support the journalists and publishers who produce the content you enjoy. This can help to ensure that high-quality journalism continues to be available and that the free press remains a cornerstone of our democracy.
Provides you with an entertaining and thought-provoking break free from distracting, intrusive and addictive technology
Helps you analyze and develop a broader perspective of the world and how it operates
Keeps you updated on new developments that could become potential business opportunities. One of the reasons business leaders read newspapers is to see who’s doing what so they can be proactive in making decisions and finding ways to make money.
Gives you an outlet to express your thoughts and ideas by writing letters to the editor.
Makes it easy to archive important articles by clipping them out and saving them in designated folders
Introduces you to interesting events, products, as well as other sources of quality information, education, and entertainment.
Avoid flashy distracting ads that pop up when you read news online.
Save time searching the web for news and get all the important stories curated by professional editors.
Connects us to the community around us.
Helps you relax in ways that electronic devices cannot.
It’s better for your eyesight and vision when compared to reading on a small electronic screen.
There are so many benefits to reading a good newspaper. But to experience any of these benefits, it’s important the newspaper you are reading is a good one, which tells the truth, and is not biased or partisan.
If you wake up and reach for your phone to check the weather, email, social media, and news, these 5 quick tips may help you waste less time and break these reactive habits holding you back.
Habits like starting your day off by sifting through half-a-dozen apps put you in a reactive mode and create a false sense of productivity.
To achieve a more productive start to your day you need to focus on being proactive on high priority items.
The best way to do that is to cut out all the distractions you’re reacting to.
Embrace time management 101 and leverage the benefits of the 80/20 rule with these 5 quick tips to help you waste less time in 2019:
Plan More–Check Email Less
The old saying “plan your work and work your plan” contains a lot of wisdom.
Get into a proactive state where you’re focused and using your brain power to think about your priorities. Thinking about the right things is the first step to accomplishment.
The more you think about and break down big goals into smaller actions, the more progress you’ll make towards your goals.
Instead of waking up and checking email try this instead.
Before going to bed review what you have coming up the next day, jot down things you want to get done and work out a plan.
A couple good app for organizing your daily plan are OmniFocus and Google Calendar.
When you wake up refreshed review that plan to orientate yourself and get you focused on your top priorities. Your subconscious mind may even help you figure out how to get stuff done while you sleep.
Time Yourself
Time Timer
A great way to waste less time is to stay focused on one priority at a time. You can do this with the help of a timer.
Focus on one task for a set time. If you’re new to working in timed sessions try a 15-25 minute session. This is a good timeframe to start with.
You can use a Time Timer or an app like Focus to structure you timed work sessions.
Take More Quick Breaks
You’ve probably heard this one before but before you dismiss it because it doesn’t sound practical with your busy schedule consider a quick break can be 10 or 20 seconds. When the timer rings after a timed focused session stand up and stretch your arms above your head, take a drink of water.
Short breaks like this can help you reset and move on to your next item.
After a few timed focus sessions and you start feeling fatigued, go outside for a walk and refresh.
Change of Scenery
Mixing up your work environment might help your productivity. Go to the library where no chatting or phone calls are allowed.
Go to a nice coffee shop loft or rent a cubical or private office at Regus or WeWork. Breakaway from distractions by changing your scenery to new inspiring scenery with an ambiance to get things done.
Delete Apps
Stay away from unproductive apps. Don’t be afraid to delete apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap, WeChat, and YouTube.
If you don’t need these apps for your job delete them off your phone and take back the time you would have wasted on them.
While local newspapers are in a state of steep decline it’s never been easier to create a local news website.
With access to affordable web publishing tools at an all-time high everybody can become a publisher.
The need for local news in some areas is growing because the local newspapers that once did the bulk of local reporting are in a state of steep decline.
This article offers some information on the content production and business strategy of setting up a local news site. It is not a technical guide to set up a WordPress website.
If you’re looking for a technical step-by-step guide to setting up a news site on WordPress you might find this video useful.
The bigger challenge, however, is how to sustain running a local news site with relevant content over the long term.
Local News in Decline
The once glorious newspaper business continues to decline faster than expected. Warren Buffett who loves newspapers recently announced he’s given up hope on the remaining 1,300 regional papers across the US.
Only the big players like The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal look like they have an opportunity to chase digital subscriptions on a global scale.
It’s the local and regional newspapers that produce the bulk of local reporting that are getting hit the worst.
In Canada, this trend is evident with The New York Times now having more paid subscribers from Canada than any of the Canadian newspapers. As we’ve seen a decade of steady decline you start to see a clear split in the market as the current business model isn’t sustainable for the regional players to maintain a large newsroom.
As we’ve seen a multi-decade of steady decline, you start to see a clear split in the market as the current business model isn’t sustainable for the regional players to maintain a large newsroom.
Why Create a Local News Website?
Under these circumstances, regional newspapers have cut back on local news, creating a gap in local news reporting in many areas.
If these regional newspapers, who played the role of providing local news to their communities, continue to decline at such a fast pace who will step in to fill the role of local community news?
Will local community news become a thing of the past? Probably not.
As local and regional news coverage has shrunk in half over the last ten years, this is opening up a need for local news coverage.
The startup cost of a local news website is minimal, and social media offering a targeting distribution channel, self-publishing has never been easier.
The Challenges with Local News
It takes a lot of hard work to produce news every day.
The primitive online business model has been to make money from online ads. However, since the primitive online ad model is based on a cost per thousand pricing model sites that rely on ads need a lot of traffic to make money.
Local news presents a challenge to this model because compared to online viral content that attracts people from all over the world, local news is limited to a much smaller audience.
Local quality content costs just as much to produce, but has a much lower ROI, compared to a piece of content that appeals to a global audience.
Setting up a local news website is a lot of work. This is not going to be an easy ride. The publishing business is very hard. You need to constantly produce credible content, and creating credible content is very time-consuming.
The internet rewards extremes. Take Buzzfeed for example, they make a lot of revenue off click-bait. The dominant internet publishing ad models need scale, and that’s not something you’ll be able to achieve with a local news website.
The Opportunity with Local News
The obvious solution to the gap in local journalism will see local entrepreneurial journalists set up their own websites to cover local news.
People still need local news and stories, However, because of the broken online business model, the traditional media are forced to cut back on local and focus their attention on topics that have the widest audience.
The key to success for these aspiring local journalists will be the ability to generate sustainable revenue. Making enough money to support a local operation is not a simple task, and much harder than creating content.
Facebook and Google dominate the digital ad market, but that leave local business with very little choice. Facebook and Google have strong data and technology, but they can’t go out and build a personal relationship with each community like you can as a local news publisher.
This market trend combined with the relatively low cost in setting up a local news website has combined to create this new opportunity for independent bloggers and journalists to start their own local news websites.
How to Start a Local News Site?
Starting a local news company can be rewarding, but it comes with big financial risks if you plan to hire professional journalists and editors.
If you’re thinking of taking more of a solo approach you can set up online ad networks like Google Adsense, but the amount of traffic you’ll need to make any money is huge and may not be practical to fund the operation or even cover some of the basic expenses.
If you want to serve your local community by creating more engaged citizens you shouldn’t be thinking about generating traffic with click-bait content.
What you need to focus on is getting good at going out meeting people face-to-face. The best model to make your site profitable is to solve real business problems, also known as the art of direct sales.
Many journalists don’t like the idea of selling. But money will not start flowing to you even if you manage to produce the best local content in the world.
Ask yourself, how are you going to make the best content when you don’t have any money? Who can work so hard day after day to cover stories without a real salary to support them?
If you’re passionate about your community the best way to sustain a local news website is to get out and sell.
You might be thinking mixing journalism and sales is not ethical. To that I would ask; what’s better–to leave your community in the dark or ask people in your community for support.
If regional newspapers can’t afford to cover your community anymore and you’re the only one working on it you need to solve the funding problem.
You can still be an ethical journalist and ask people for support. Think about it, many content creators have set up Patreon accounts asking for support.
You focus on providing value for your readers by keeping them informed about topics that are relevant and of interest to them. And you provide value to businesses by offing them exposure to your audience.
Let me offer you some comfort in relation to selling. As a journalist, the skills you’ve acquired to conduct interviews for a story are the exact same skills you need to build trusted relationships and offer solutions and solve your client’s business problems.
To generate real revenue from a small local community website you need to go out and sell.
Fund Your Local News Site with Direct Sales
You can offer banner advertising, custom content, web services, events, etc. Selling these marketing solutions is where the profit is.
A key to replicable media sales is having success stories or case studies. If you’re starting keep in mind you’ll want to create case studies from your first few clients. These case studies will make things a lot easier going forward.
Before your case studies are ready you can start to bring value to your clients by educating them on relevant and useful information. You can do this by informing them of new marketing trends and approaches. You can do research and on their competition, and the competitive landscape.
Your goal is to become a trusted advisor and someone who can help them make money and grow their business.
Business owners are very pragmatic. They have a lot to do to run their business. You’ll get their attention when you speak to what they need.
Starting your own website is going to be a lot of work, but the profitability can be huge. The challenge when you’re just starting out will be to make content and put energy into running the business.
The only business model that seems to work for local sites is the direct sales approach.
Start with the local community where you live. Your a member of the community already so you’ll notice things and pick up on story ideas. You’ll also save yourself a lot of travel time. Ideally, you’ll need to become an engaged member of the community, so it only makes sense to start with where you live.
Research the area including keywords to find out if how many people are searching for your area. Don’t be too narrow or niche in your coverage area. Unless you live in a very vibrant and densely populated neighborhood you could have trouble attracting a substantial audience to make your local news website a profitable business.
Research the competitive landscape and learn from other local news websites.
For two years corrupt media outlets pushed the fabricated Trump-Russia collusion story non-stop. And finally, the Mueller investigation summary report confirmed there was no collusion.
This $25 million dollar investigation proves what Trump said from the beginning that this was the biggest witch hunt in the history of America.
The no collusion conclusion also reinforces another point Trump emphasized over and over, that the “Fake News Media is the Enemy of the People”.
The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion. They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!
Media outlets like CNN, Buzzfeed, The New York Times, Washington Post, and MSNBC, who pushed the Russia collusion narrative for the past two years should have no credibility left.
A lot of people are probably asking themselves how could these media outlets be so corrupt? How could they push a story for two years that had no evidence? Have these media outlets always been this way and only now they finally met their match with Trump?
The media is one of the most powerful forces in forming our thoughts and opinions. What other stories have they been telling us that were complete fabrications?
This skepticism towards the corrupt media is now reaching The Pulitzer Prize. The once prestigious journalism award for the industry’s best work is being questions about the validity of a 2018 prize awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post.
With Mueller’s no evidence of collusion report does The New York Times and The Washington Post lose the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for their Russia Interference coverage?
As Newt Gingrich pointed out on Twitter, other papers have had to return the Pulitzer Prize for false reporting in the past.
Should the New York Times and Washington Post give back the Pulitzer Prtizes they won for exagerrated and hysterical reporting on President Trump and Russia?It would not be the first time both papers had to returnPul;itzers for false reporting.
Preparing to give a presentation? If you’re like me I would spend hours working on a keynote or powerpoint presentation and think I was well prepared for the big client meeting or group presentation.
And while slides can be a big part our your presentation, working on them doesn’t count as practicing for the actual presentation.
In this article, I’m going to share what I’ve learned in preparing and practicing for presentations.
Start with your goal in mindAsk yourself why you’re giving this presentation, and what do I want to leave your audience with. Do you want them to take action, or to you want to motivate and inspire them?
Brainstorm with a Mind Map
Brainstorm with mind mapping is a great way to get all your ideas out of your head. To get started write down the goal in the top corner. This is not what you’ll start with but it’s there to remind you of your goal and why you are doing this.
Next write down your the topic of your presentation in the center of your page or screen if your using mind mapping software.
Now from the central idea branch out and connect your thoughts on paper. Once you have all your ideas out of your head it’s now time to organize them in a more structured way. It’s important to organize your main points in a logical way first.
TIP: If your stuck coming up with ideas try brainstorming around a problem and solutions.
Mind-mapping is a good way to start preparing for your presentation.
Outline Your Presentation
Use bullet points to structure your presentation in a logical way. The most basic structure is.
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
An even better way to structure your presentation is using A.I.D.A:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Write the outline down on a 3×5 index card or large sticky note. Rework the outline until it feels natural and makes sense to you. As you’re reorganizing the items, remove anything that doesn’t feel right. Don’t force something into your presentation because it came out from the brainstorm session. You only want the best ideas in the end.
Try rewriting your outline until you feel clear about what you’re trying to convey. Once you feel confident and comfortable with the high level outline your halfway done.
Practice In Front of a Mirror
Once you have an outline your comfortable with stand up and practice it in front of the mirror. But wait you might say, I haven’t got my slides started yet. Or I don’t have my stories ready. That’s okay. Having a good outline is the most important step.
The mirror will help by giving you instant feedback. Remember to smile, have fun and relax. You’ll know what sounds good and what doesn’t. Make some notes and adjust your outline based on your mirror practice session.
TIP: Spend more time on your outline. Your slides and visuals will come more naturally when you’re working for a strong outline.
It may seem awkward to stand up and practice your presentation in the mirror this early on. But this step will save you a lot of time wasted playing around with powerpoint or keynote.
Standing up in front of a mirror will force you to think of what you would say in front of real people. Remember to keep a pen handy and write it down your good ideas. By doing this you’ll start to better understand how your stories and transitions will flow throughout your presentation.
TIP: After you’ve practiced in front of the mirror a few time record yourself with a webcam on your laptop or iPad. When you watch the recordings you’ll find new things to improve on.
Only after you’ve practiced like this from the outline and feel confident in your presentation should you start with your slides. Your confidence will boil over into your slides and make them so much better.
TIP: Of course do not use more than 10 slides.
Sleep On It
Take a rest and repeat this process a few more times by practicing your presentation from your outline in front of the mirror. You’ll find that between your practice sessions you’ll be thinking about new ideas, how you can improve points and make it flow together. Practice again, and repeat the process.
The more you practice the better you’ll get. If you want more ways to practice presentations skills–check out this article.
How do you place a legal notice classified ad in the newspaper? Running a legal notice classified ad in the newspaper can seem complicated due mainly to the legal jargon surrounding this process.
It’s also becoming more challenging to find newspapers in 2024 that still accept legal notices, as many newspapers have gone under or no longer have the staff required to sustain the legal notice department.
This article breaks down everything you need to know in simple terms to publish a legal notice at the lowest cost.
What Type of Legal Notice Do You Need?
A legal notice is a general term used to describe a variety of court-mandated public advertisements published in newspapers. The first thing you’ll need to know to communicate with the newspaper is what legal ad you need to publish.
There are many different types of legal ads, with different costs to advertise.
The most common type of legal notice in New York is an LLC formation notice. The State of New York requires limited liability corporations to run an ad informing the public on the formation of the new corporation.
There are also FCC, SLA liquor licenses, sidewalk cafe notices, name change notices, divorce notices (also known as dissolution of marriage notices), and probate notices.
An example of a divorce notice is also known as an absent spouse for dissolution of marriage notice.
Process of Placing a Legal Notice
Based on the type of legal notice you need to have published, contact the local newspaper in the county where the ad needs to appear, which has a history of regularly publishing legal ads.
Explain to the newspaper representative what kind of legal notice you need to have published, i.e. I need to publish an LLC Formation notice. Make sure the newspaper is approved by the county clerk to run the type of notice you have.
Also, let the rep know how many times the ad must appear and send them a copy of the ad or give them the word count so they can provide an accurate quote. Most legal notice ads are charged based on a line rate or how many lines of space it takes up in the newspaper.
You also need to confirm with the rep if the ad needs to run in a daily, or weekly newspaper, or both.
Does the ad need to appear in a paid subscription newspaper, or can it run in a free newspaper like the Metro?
Usually, insurance and bank-related notice ads need to run in a paid daily newspaper.
Once you’ve provided these details to your newspaper classified ad rep, they should be able to tell you the cost.
In some cases, you’ll need to provide the ad’s content to get an exact quote because your rep needs to know how much space the ad will take up.
How much does it cost to publish a legal ad in a newspaper?
Different types of legal ads have different rates. Some legal notice ads are a flat fee, and some will depend on the number of words and space the ad occupies in the newspaper.
For example, a sidewalk cafe or name change notice may cost less than a hundred dollars, whereas an LLC formation notice in a daily newspaper could run upwards of a thousand dollars or more.
Sidewalk cafe notice.
Once the ad copy is finalized, the run date confirmed, and payment is made, your newspaper classified ad rep will create an affidavit and have it notarized.
A copy of the legal ad from the newspaper, along with the affidavit, is then mailed to the advertising client. A scanned copy may also be sent as a back and proof of publishing.
How to Save Money When Placing a Legal Ad in a Newspaper?
The most important thing you need to ensure when placing a legal ad is whether the newspaper where you run the notice meets the legal requirements as mandated by the court.
But once you have established the newspaper you’re working with meets your needs, it’s important not to pay more than you need to. You might be surprised at how expensive some newspaper legal notice advertising can be.
If you pick up the phone and call the big newspapers in town, you’ll probably spend more than you need to.
The major newspapers are usually more expensive because they have a high circulation. But you may not need to run your legal ad in a big newspaper. Often, smaller newspapers are where the bulk of legal ads get placed because the smaller newspapers cost a lot less.
Your goal as a legal notice ad buyer is to 1.) meet the legal notice requirement by placing it in the right kind of newspaper. And 2.) get the ad at the lowest cost.
Remember, legal ads are required advertising, so as long as a paper meets the courts’ criteria, you don’t need to be concerned with the size of the circulation or readership.
What are the different types of legal notices?
For a list of the most common types of legal notices, visit this article.
What are the best newspapers to publish legal notices?
Since legal notices are usually issued at the state or provincial level. Read our post, Best Newspapers in New York for Legal Notices, for a list of some of the more affordable newspapers in New York accepting legal notices.
Legal Advertising Made Easy
Finding the right newspaper that meets the legal requirements at the lowest cost could take you some time.
Don’t just call the first newspaper that comes to mind. You could save hundreds of dollars if you find a smaller paper that can satisfy the requirements.
Remember to make sure the newspaper meets the courts‘ legal requirements. Nothing is worse than spending your time, energy, and money on a legal notice that the court rejects.
If you are pressed for time and don’t want to call around town and wait days for people to get back to you, and if you want to save hundreds of dollars on the cost of your legal notice ads, contact us by filling out the form below.
Good old-fashioned conservative news that reports the facts is rare in America today.
The majority of media outlets in America are dominated by the left. How is it that the newspaper of record for the United States of America, a country with a founding rich with conservative values, is a left-wing propaganda arm for the DNC and Communist China?
During this critical time when the truth is needed the most to preserve the American ways of life, you can do your part to help those around you discover the truth and break free from the communist propaganda that many mainstream outlets promote.
It’s time to pull the plug on and clean out the brainwashing from the warped ideology pushed by progressive mainstream media outlets. Get away from the dominant leftist narratives and support these top conservative news sites. Vote with your wallet to send a strong message to the globalists that no one wants their filthy garbage news.
At the top of the list, you’ve got Fox News, The Epoch Times, and TheBlaze. While at the bottom of the pile you’ll find RedState, Daily Signal, and Infowars. It’s probably fair to say Infowars has more traffic than stated in this ranking because they use other domains like banned.video.
It’s quite obvious Google News is biased against these conservative news sites, with some of the more popular ones rarely showing up in the search engine news tab. Many of these sites are also blocked, blacklisted, or banned from other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
List of Conservative News Sites
US Conservative websites ranked by unique visitors, October 2021
The Epoch Times is an international multi-language newspaper and media company based in the United States. The newspaper is part of the Epoch Media Group. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in China. The Epoch Times was founded by John Tang and a group of Chinese-Americans in the United States.
The Epoch Times launched online in 2003 and in print in 2004. They stand “outside of political interests” and cover a wide variety of topics from local to international news, with a strength focused on China reporting. Their tagline is ‘Truth and Tradition’.
The @EpochTimes gets twice the traffic of @TheAtlantic, which is to say that the @EpochTimes has more cultural reach. Things are changing my friends.
TheBlaze is a conservative news television, radio, and Internet portal founded by Glenn Beck. TheBlaze also has a television network available on cable, satellite, and online streaming that features Beck’s radio and television shows as well as other libertarian and conservative personalities. TheBlaze Radio Network, which carries Beck’s radio show and others, is available on satellite radio and streaming.
From their website ” The Washington Examiner brings the best in breaking news and analysis on politics. With in-depth news coverage, diligent investigative reporting and thoughtful commentary, we’ll make sure you’re always in the know about Washington’s latest exploits.
The Drudge Report could effectively be used to destroy fake news media. With the La Times and Boston Globe getting close to half their monthly traffic from The Drudge Report it would be a big shock if that traffic suddenly disappeared.
Remember when the Boston Globe and hundreds of newspapers denounced Donald Trump’s attacks on the fake news media?
Those newspapers went far astray from the ethics of journalism by coordinating a national campaign of condemnation against Trump.
There is nothing that I would want more for our Country than true FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. The fact is that the Press is FREE to write and say anything it wants, but much of what it says is FAKE NEWS, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people. HONESTY WINS!
It turns out that many of those newspapers get a significant amount of traffic from the Drudge Report. If Mr. Drudge wanted to teach the mainstream a lesson they would never forget, he could simply stop linking articles out to them.
Drudge Report Referral Traffic
BostonGlobe.com SimilarWeb Referral Traffic from The Drudge Report 2019-01-17 at 5.57.26 PM
Regardless of whether the Drudge Report would take such drastic action, Trump himself is fighting back and dismantling the old media guard with his relentless exposure of fake news.
THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY. It is very bad for our Great Country….BUT WE ARE WINNING!
But, there’s still a huge imbalance when it comes to revenue that goes to mainstream liberal media vs. conservative news outlets that support Trump.
Trump supporters, who are business owners and decision makers, should consider aligning their companies marketing budgets with news and media platforms that are not acting as the opposition party.
Writing well takes a lot of time and energy for most people. Today, the pace and speed at which one is required to write can be daunting. So the question you might be thinking about is what apps out there can help me write better?
The truth is there are no shortcuts to good writing. No app can substitute the fundamentals of readable writing.
If you don’t have an editor or a second pair of eyes to proofread your writing it can get tedious to reread the same document over and over.
Fortunately, writing apps can help give you a fresh perspective on your writing and editing. Writing apps can act as a filter. Each time you process your writing using a different app you notice different things.
Proofreading and editing your writing with these different apps can get you a fresh perspective since the user interface provides a new experience of looking at the same document and different app algorithms may point out different areas of your writing to be improved.
Editing and Proofreading Writing Apps
A great place to start with the Hemingway Editor. This free app will help point out long sentences and the use of passive voice. It also gives you a readability score.
After a scan with the Hemingway editor head over to ProWritingAid (which is similar to Grammarly) to scan grammar and style.
You can also use Grammarly within the browser to catch typos while working in WordPress, Gmail, Word docs, and more.
Writing App for Outline and Structure
Organize your writing with a proper outline and structure is one of the most important steps in the writing process. If you’re on a Mac Omni Outliner by Omni Group can help you organize the perfect outline across all your Apple devices.
Bonus: Writing Apps to Transcribe Audio
Happy Scribe: Quickly and affordably transcribes audio files into text.
oTranscribe: takes the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews.
Asking yourself the right questions can have a clarifying impact that will unblock your writer’s block fast.
One of the most important questions to answer is who are you writing for? Once you have the audience in mind things become much simpler and you’ll know what you want to say to them. Another good question is ask is “what do I want to say?”.
Allow yourself to write badly, don’t let yourself mix editing with writing. A useful app to help with breakthrough your writer’s block is the Most Dangerous Writing App.
Tools to Help with Writer’s Block
Transcribing an interview can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. You could have hours of recorded interviews and all you need is a golden quote or two. If you’re struggling to transcribe your recorded interview give Happy Scribe a try. It’s one of the best transcription engines and lowest cost transcription services out there. It also comes with a 30-minute free trial so you can test it out.
Next time you experience writer’s block look at this chart which contains a summary of the guiding principles of journalism. Hopefully one of these ideas will help you unblock that mental barrier in your mind.
If you’re still stuck, try mind-mapping using some of the questions, structure and guiding principles above. You can use a whiteboard, a sheet of paper, or index cards to brainstorm your ideas.
One of the benefits of using index cards is that you can lay them out and reorganize them until you feel confident in your stories structure.
Plan your writing with the POWER technique. Prepare yourself with a mind mapping session. Select the most relevant topics from your mind map and begin to organize them.
A great tool to organize and outline is Omni Outliner which help you draft and move your outline around easily. It’s a lot like using paper index cards only it’s digital and can be synced across all your Apple devices. It’s fast, lightweight, flexible and easy to use.
We hope these quick and practical tips help you unblock your writer’s block fast.
Let us know what works for you in the comments below.
