The first thing one will need to become skilled at is a method or practice of respite and relaxation of the total mind and body.  This process of learning to clear your mind and totally relax the body is much more difficult than one might think, but once this aspect of astral projecting is learned, bringing about a trance type of state can be initiated fairly easily.  The methodical procedures for achieving astral projection are much too lengthy for this article, but there are a few techniques out there.  There is a technique by Charles Webster Leadbeater in his book called “Astral Plane” as well as a technique by Robert Monroe that can both be downloaded as free ebooks. 

Before going to sleep at night, try mentally planting an idea or a place you would like to visit in the back of the mind.  It can be anything really.  Perhaps, try one of the techniques mentioned above, and remember, concentration is the key to astral projection.

United States Copyright Office

It seems at least once a week I run across a young or beginning writer who seems to have considerable concerns and tons of questions about copyright and protecting their work as if every Tom, Dick and Harry is going to try to swipe it and make a few pennies from it. I usually chuckle at this. It’s not that they don’t serious concerns, and it’s not that plagiarism doesn’t happen on a fairly consistent basis to some extent or another, but most pros I’ve known never seem to worry about such things.

Perhaps that’s because the pros are already well aware of the protections for their works, which in the United States means copyright is secured for a piece of work automatically and immediately upon creation of the piece of work. Please do not over think what I just wrote. It is a rather simple thing, this U.S. copyright protection. You create something, it’s copyrighted, right then and there, without being published, without being made public in any other form, without having to be mailed off, without any fees having to be paid. It’s protected.

Of course many still want to feel better about copyrighting their work, and there’s nothing wrong with having that extra protection. In the U.S., such added levels of protection can be provided by the United States Copyright Office. Please forgive me if you are not a U.S. citizen, because each nation has its own copyright laws and it would take far too long to try to outline all of them. I only point out the United States Copyright Office because I myself am a U.S. citizen, I am more familiar with U.S. copyright law than that of other countries, and the majority of writers I personally know are also U.S. citizens (though not all). Besides, even the website for the United States Copyright Office speaks to some extent to other nations’ copyright laws and International Copyright (which technically doesn’t exist, though there are copyright agreements between some nations).

But what can a writer find at this website? Loads and loads of information about protecting artists’ rights. Much of it is written in legalese or government jargon, but if one can wade through that, there is important knowledge to be gained.

For example, if one wishes to learn about copyright law in the U.S., there are hundreds of official online Publications having to do with such, including a pdf document of Copyright Basics.

One might also wish to peruse the various Laws pertaining to copyright, or learn about Registration of one’s work with the United States Copyright Office. You can even keep up with government News concerning copyright, and search official online Records concerning copyright.

If a writer is concerned about protecting his or her work, this is the place to get started.

Related links

100 sites for fiction writers: #46 – Fiction After 50

100 sites for fiction writers: #47 – The Book Designer

100 sites for fiction writers: #48 – Fictionwise

The death of bookstores should not be celebrated but reacted to with caution. If we are transitioning from physical books to ebooks, we must make sure that doesn’t mean we are translating from reading to little or no reading at all. Will bookstores be there in 10 years? I think they will be, but I am also not naive and know that ebooks are taking over at a fast clip. People are buying ebooks online now at an unprecedented rate. The thing we should all be concerned about is whether we will have a future generation of serious readers or not. The surveys I have seen are not exactly inspiring. Reading just doesn’t seem to be a priority to young adults, and if it is not a priority to them, what makes us think it won’t get worse with future generations?

The age of newspapers dominating is over. The internet took care of that. That isn’t a bad thing, as long as people are still keeping informed. The age of CDs is over. The internet took care of that too. We know people are still listening to music as much as ever before. This is the wave of technology. It brings us great new inventions, and leaves things in the dust in its path. However, let us not be naive and think there isn’t a reading problem in America. Whether it is through ebooks, physical books, newspapers, or the internet, people just aren’t seriously reading as much as they used to. That needs to change, for the good of us all.

Image via Wikipedia

On vacation in Cape Cod I went to church and saw a couple go in wearing flip-flops. I said to myself, “Jim, you need to get flip flops.”

Image via Wikipedia

I asked my kids about it. I said, “If I went into a store, would it be okay to ask if I could buy thongs there?” They said no. “Don’t ask for thongs. They don’t call them that.” I said, “That’s what they used to call them.” They said, “It doesn’t matter. Nobody remembers that anymore. No one who is still working remembers that.”

Image via Wikipedia

I said, “If I buy thongs, will I know how to put them on and walk with them, or will they come with instructions?” They said, “Why don’t you buy some and see if they come with instructions.” So, I went to a buck store.

Image via Wikipedia

I figured just starting out, I shouldn’t try anything fancy, just in case I crashed and wrecked the flip-flops. You know that Jimmy Buffett song that has a line, “I blew out my flip-flop.” I worried about blowing out a flip-flop. I didn’t want to invest in anything expensive. So, I found a buck store, went in, and sure enough, found some flip-flops for a dollar. We took them back to the motel to decide what to do next. I looked at the tag that was on them. It didn’t have any instructions. I said, “I’m going to save the tag, so I’ll know who to sue just in case I’m injured wearing them. You know, fall down some stairs, or trip in front of a car in heavy traffic or something. Did you save the receipt?”

Image via Wikipedia

We looked around for the receipt but couldn’t find it. We were so relieved after waiting in line it seems like we must have allowed it to blow out the window of the car or something. My son walked in flip-flops a lot, so I asked him, “How do you walk in flip-flops?” He said, “The big toe is crucial. Use the balls of your feet. If you hear them slapping against the bottom of your foot, you know you’re doing it right.” I said, “Thanks, but I need it written down first.” I asked my daughter to write out some instructions on how to operate the flip-flops before I put them on.

Here are flip-flop instructions:

1. Insert foot into flip-flop (do not refer to them as thongs).

2. Walk.

“Is that it?” I said. “That’s it,” she said.

I put the flip-flops on. I couldn’t believe it. In just a few minutes I was flip-flopping along. I said in amazement, “I can do this!” I started singing, “I’m flip-flopping—flippety-floppity!” I then flip-flopped my way to the pool, tripped on a rubber duck and flew into the deep end, swallowing a bunch of water. Somewhere along the line, we’d lost the tag, and don’t know who to sue. But I might not, since I’m still flip-flopping away to and fro.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

Bat Masterson worked as a sports writer, editor and columnist. His career as a writer started around 1883 and ended at his death in New York City in 1921.

He wrote a letter published in the Daily Kansas State Journal, on June 9, 1883, that mentioned his arrival in Dodge City, the famous Long Branch saloon, and his famous cohorts who made the Long Branch their headquarters during the so-called “Dodge City Saloon War”. It was during this time that Bat met newspapermen Alfred Henry and William Eugene Lewis. Both journalists were destined to play a role in Masterson’s future as a scribe. Masterson published Vox Populi, a single edition newspaper focusing on local Dodge City politics in November 1884. Masterson penned a weekly sports column for George’s Weekly sometime after his arrival in Denver, Colorado, in the late 1890s.

Image via Wikipedia

Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and others.

Masterson spent a year as marshal of Trinidad, Colorado as well as serving as Sheriff of South Pueblo, Colorado. In 1883, he participated in a bloodless conflict and gunfighter gathering later called the Dodge City War. By 1889, he was living in Denver, Colorado, where he was good friends with and involved with Soapy Smith in the infamous election ballot stuffing scandal. He purchased the Palace Variety Theater and married actress Emma Walters, on November 21, 1891. In 1892, he managed the Denver Exchange Club in Creede, Colorado, and continued to travel around the boomtowns of the West, gambling and promoting prize fights.

Image via Wikipedia

He began writing a weekly sports column for George’s Weekly, a Denver newspaper, and opened the Olympic Athletic Club to promote the sport of boxing.

Masterson lived in the American West during a violent and frequently lawless period. Indian-fighting aside, he used a firearm against a fellow man on just six occasions, far less than some of his contemporaries such as Dallas Stoudenmire, “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Clay Allison. However, the fact that he was so widely known can be ascribed to a practical joke played on a gullible newspaper reporter in August 1881. Seeking copy in Gunnison, Colorado, the reporter asked Dr W.S. Cockrell about man killers. Dr. Cockrell pointed to a young man nearby and said it was Bat and that he had killed 26 men. Cockrell then regaled the reporter with several lurid tales about Bat’s exploits and the reporter wrote them up for the New York Sun. The story was then widely reprinted in papers all over the country and became the basis for many more exaggerated stories told about Bat.

Masterson continued his writing career in New York at the New York Morning Telegraph, (a sporting newspaper featuring race form and results whose reputation was part of what was known as ‘a whore’s breakfast,’ which consisted of a cigarette and the Morning Telegraph) circa 1904. Hired by the younger Lewis brother, William Eugene Lewis, he reprised his role as sports writer, later becoming the paper’s sports editor. The politics, sporting events, theaters, fine dining establishments, and varied night life of his adopted city became fodder for his thrice weekly column “Masterson’s Views on Timely Topics” for more than 18 years. W. E. Lewis eventually became the general manager and president of the company and promoted his friend Masterson to vice president and company secretary.

While in New York City, Masterson met up again with the Lewis brothers. Alfred Henry Lewis eventually wrote several short stories and a novel “The Sunset Trail”, about Masterson. Alfred Lewis encouraged Bat to write a series of sketches about his adventures which were published by Lewis in the magazine he edited, Human Life (circa 1907–1908). Masterson regaled his readers with stories about his days on the frontier and his gunfighter friends.

Masterson himself can reportedly be seen wearing a bowler hat in the 1897 documentary film, The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight.

Image via Wikipedia

Wyatt Earp.

Bat was the subject of films, comics and at least one television series.

Albert Dekker portrayed Masterson in the 1943 film, The Woman of the Town, based on the murder of Dora Hand, portrayed by Claire Trevor. Barry Sullivan played Miss Hand’s killer, named “King” Kennedy in the film rather than Jim Kennedy. The film suggested that there was a romantic relationship between Masterson and Dora Hand. The film’s musical score was nominated for an Oscar.

Randolph Scott played Masterson in the 1947 film Trail Street.

Bat Masterson was a U.S. television series loosely based on the historical character. William Barclay “Bat” Masterson was portrayed by actor Gene Barry, who also played a lead role in later television shows The Name of the Game and Burke’s Law, among others.

“Bat Masterson” appeared on NBC in 107 episodes from 1958 to 1961 and featured Masterson as a superbly dressed gambler, generally outfitted in a black suit and derby hat, who was more inclined to “bat” crooks over the head with his gold-knobbed cane than shoot them. The half-hour series, filmed in black and white, featured fairly literate scripts for a television western of the period. Hundreds of thousands of plastic derby hats and canes were sold as children’s toys during the show’s run. The series was partially sponsored by Sealtest.

Dell Comics also published a short-lived comic book based on the series. The first issue was published as Four Color Comics #1013, followed by Bat Masterson #2–9 (1960–62). All the issues had photographic covers. The stories were scripted by Gaylord DuBois.

Joel McCrea played Masterson in the 1959 film The Gunfight at Dodge City which depicted the famed westerner during his term of office as Ford County Sheriff.

Bat Masterson was portrayed in the movie Wyatt Earp by Tom Sizemore, as well as a number of other movies featuring characters ostensibly based upon historic figures.

The novel “Masterson,” by Richard S. Wheeler, describes a fictional trip from New York to California, where Bat meets film actor William S. Hart and visits Wyatt Earp. The trip takes place in late 1919, just before the imposition of national prohibition of alcohol. Among other amusing observations he makes is the statement that Las Vegas is just an unimportant whistle stop town–”always was, always will be.”

Maybe his best quote was his last;

“There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I’ll swear I can’t see it that way.” (These were also Masterson’s last recorded words, which were in the bit of column found on the typewriter Masterson was using before he died while typing).

Now, a new eBook has been written in which Bat is a character.

A Tough Day In The Old West

http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Day-Old-West-ebook/dp/B004WLOR70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1302978337&sr=1-1

Image via Wikipedia

Bat.

Some who have tried sitting down with a toddler to read to him or her a book such as Treasure Island have struggled and experienced some resistance from the child especially after a few minutes.

However, if you were to obtain the ebook version of Treasure Island, it may even have cool background music and images that help add an improved sensory experience to it.

Several ebooks have an audio option that reads the story page by page.  Some have icons that can help kids learn about phonics and intonations.

A lot of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder have improved their attention ability with the use of ebooks.   Most children who have difficulty paying attention to a regular printed book becomes interested in reading when done at a computer or other multimedia device or an ebook reader such as a Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader, etc.

To many children, reading a standard printed book is a passive and mundane activity but clicking a mouse to flip to another page or clicking on pictures and icons is practically more dynamic.

It is an accepted fact that there are children who are just resistant to reading.  They simply do not want anything to do with sitting down and reading a book and they won’t even let you read one to them.

If this is your dilemma as a parent, try an ebook!   If you select ebooks that are of good quality, kid friendly, and not boring, you may just discover you have a zealous reader on your hands.  Images and sound can really liven up almost any book.  You can even find free ebooks you can download on your ebook reader from dozens of sites online.  Kindle has versions for the handheld device and for the PC.  I have the Kindle for PC version installed on my child’s computer which automatically stores the ebooks I download for them, ready for reading as needed.

Because of the availability of ebooks, the presently out-of-print classic books can now be read in digital formats.

In this age of video games, any opportunity for learning should not be left out and reading through ebooks is an excellent way for beginning readers to learn and fully develop their reading and comprehension skills.

So I am studying for a final exam for law school.  Listening to old quiz questions that I made into a pdf and I have Adobe reading them out loud to me. I think this might be the smartest and most convenient way to read stuff that you may never have read prior. For example, I use this method to read The Wall Street Journal, which I would never read otherwise, but makes me feel cool to say “oh yeah, I read The Wall Street Journal today and there was an article in there on investing in the movie industry and how it only cost 10 grand to make that one ghost movie done entirely with a night vision camcorder, but somehow it earned $800 million dollars.”

There is an abundant stream of free flowing free content everywhere you turn and now I hear The New York Times, as well as numerous musicians and other publications are also going free.  Information wants to be free.  People are still managing to monetize this content through the use of Google ad-sense, pay per click, and referral affiliate programs.  All this also has a feel of being so revolutionary..like on edge…like it won’t last for ever because it’s in a state of constant change.

It can get a bit daunting, but…..I have a prediction for the future

I was watching Book TV because I like boring things and I am a depressing boring turtle, snail, Eeyore of a person and as I was watching the paint dry and watching book TV they were televising a national publisher conference where these five old white men and one middle aged white woman spoke on the future of the book publishing industry (I only make note of their sex and race, because the woman actually took the time to make note of it, as an ironic but real representation of the still hegemonic fraternal nature of the publishing industry).

The woman noted that currently e-books make up 10% of published books, but how they estimate in about 5 years e-books will make up about 60% of published works.

here is my prediction

I don’t own an iPad (yet), or a Kendle. I don’t know all of the names for all of these ebook readers, but you don’t have to be Steven Hawkin to understand the appeal of reading an e-book over hand-held text. Even with the capacity to have links in text and videos on the same screen as the page you are reading, and the ability to impose ads on the page, allowing publishers to make the actual content free, there will always be the debate over whether or not hand-held text is better than this modern-form of reading. I predict what will end this conversation, or at least give it a numbing and halting blow to the jejunum, will be the moment e-books become cross-national through a self translating system.

We already see something like this with social networks and Wikipedia in how you can translate the text on a given page to fit your language of choice.  There is not much else for me to rant about. This is a pretty simple self-explanatory concept.  Google Translator obviously has glitches, and even Adobe’s pdf reader re-siting my contract law quiz questions to me, RIGHT NOW, is not exactly fluid in its pronunciation or even coherent at times, but the technology is getting more refine, soon the organs will be robotic and we won’t know whether the enemy is Skynet or The Resistance.

I think the goal of every author, or creator of some form of art, wants their work to reach as many people as possible. In the past, the capability to cross over boundaries has been the one upper-hand art, photography, and languages like math and music has had on the writing industry, but when it becomes standard for e-books to be pre-translatable into every possible language, I don’t think this will be a barrier anymore. And when this happens hand held publications as mundane and meaningless as a Reader’s Digest will be treated like sacred relics.

Text Books have been used for uncountable amount of years to educate the masses, but is it truly the best way? Or are there other ways that could be more effective and provide more accurate knowledge to youth and adult alike.

Most schools in America have the budget to purchase new, up-to-date textbooks anywhere from every three years to as long as every nine, depending on the school, state, and subject. One subject that is affected greatly is History, in general. As of 2008 most text books do not include the gulf war or conflicts and major events of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, and including very little about Vietnam. This result is the under-education of the youth on issues that still greatly affect the future of this country and the world. One major topic that is barely covered is the start of U.S. involvement in the middle east, and the oil related issues that have come to effect every aspect of our nation’s economy and stand on world issues.  

A possible better way to spread knowledge would be through networks connection teachers, professors, and experts to reliable, up-to-date knowledge to spread to their students. This would eliminate the need to set budgets to get new knowledge, when with the speed and immense power of the internet could so easy provide the necessary knowledge to teach. Not to mention eliminate the stress on the environment caused by the amount of ink and paper needed to make the traditional text book. This idea has lready been used to eliminate the need for books, with products like the Sony E-Book Reader and the Amazon Kindle can provide a great substitute to the standard novels, and have started to stretch to textbooks as well. By providing only one of these products per student this would greatly reduce the cost for education materials, and would also take a large chunk out of the price of text books for  college students.

I have only just touched to possibilities of digital education material and books. And I hope o elaborate on this topic further in the future.

1. Ebooks are an very environmentally friendly purchase, you can carry around your whole library in your pocket without having to have killed a single tree.
2. Buying song down loads is very environmentally friendly, the electricity to run the computer is really the only environmental consequence.
3. A really great thing a shopper can do is shop at second hand stores, many of these send a portion of their profits to charity, and because the things are not always new, you are not contributing to the destruction of the planet. I have found new things there too!
4. Shopping at farmers markets helps keep your money in your local economy and reduces shipping of goods from places farther away.
5. Supporting local artists and artisans, again keeps the money in your local economy.
6. Selecting items that were manufactured in your area, or at least your country. This supports jobs in your country, and keeps the profit within your country. It is sometimes difficult because although the end product may be manufactured in your country, you may not know where its’ parts came from.
7. Buying things from natural or renewable resources, even wood and leather. Animal lovers might be horrified to see me encourage buying leather made products, but in the long run the cattle are slaughter for food, not their hide, and using this is better than throwing it away. Additionally when you use leather it is an alternative for something else. Most other products are not environmentally friendly as they involve manufacturing and this creates pollution. I do not advocate buying fur products where the fur comes from animals raised solely for that purpose.
8. When buying foreign products, select those that are considered “Fair Trade” products, products not made in sweatshops where the factory owners make the big money.
9. Again with foreign goods, look for things that reward people for preserving a natural area as opposed to clear cutting forests, such items are rain forest nuts or shade grown coffee beans.
10. Buying things from garage sales is an excellent way for you to get good bargains and keep things out of the landfill.
11. When shopping for meat, it might surprise you to know that meat from the grocery store is vastly less environmentally friendly than hunted game. Additionally a wild animal lived a much happier life. Therefore if given the option between factory farm raised meat, and meat from a hunted animal, always pick the hunted animal.
12. Of course you can always buy environmentally friendly products, including reusable shopping bags!
13. Alternate, natural fiber items. Look around for clothing made out of things like bamboo, hemp, and even wool. Most people are not aware, but wool has become so devalued in todays society, than many farmers do not even shear their sheep, thus causing them to suffer in hot weather.
14. Antiques are wonderful stories of the past. When you buy antiques you buy a product that was made years ago. You not only keep part of history intact, but are helping the planet, by not buying a new item which required production.
15. Buying plants for your home or garden is extremely good for the environment. Use natural fertilizers, or none at all. Plants you can eat, or those which produce food are the best.

Well there you have fifteen good ideas to keep a shopaholic happy amid global warming cries to reduce our consumption level. Feel free to post your ideas in the comments area.

Have you considered the humble electronic book, or ebook?

Can this simple innovation radically solve the world’s forestry problems? And just what exactly is an ebook?

Well, ebooks have been around for many years: I recall reading Yanik Silver’s marketing ebook 33 Days To Online Profits 10 years ago, and the principles within this classic hold true today. But apart from the convenience of being able to access more material than the contents of the British Library from your hand held portable blackberry, what REALLY excites me about the ebook is the GREEN ecology issue, which is, as more people worldwide exchange the printed book for the online and desktop ebook, so the world’s forests will sustain! Trees will be saved. The air we breathe will be fresher, more oxygenated, more vital. This is an exciting time in world history and we are about to benefit handsomely from the side effects!

Indeed, I truly believe the ebook could single-handedly revolutionise the planet’s ecology and turn us 180 degrees from big problem to comfort zone! Vive la ebook, I say! I continue to collect as many marketing ebooks onto my desktop as I can weekly. The ebook keeps my shelves clear. The ebook allows me to easily transport any amount of written information I require anywhere through my laptop, blackberry, notebook.

The ebook is to the printed page as Caxton’s printed page was to the handwritten manuscript. Each in their own time revolutionize history, the history of mankind!