Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

I travel a lot and I’m away from my family one week every month. I miss my wife and son terribly while I’m on the road but there is one advantage to this situation. Every time I go, I learn how much my two favorite people mean to me. Distance gives me perspective and strangely, it brings me closer to what really matters.

I’m on the road again this week and I thought I’d send a note out to my wife:

I’ve lied to you and I’ve hurt you.

And you forgave me.

I’m deeply flawed.

And yet, you see the light coming out from the cracks in my personality.

I’ve lied next to you in our bed and felt your warmth.

We’ve done so much together, you and I.

You smell good and you look even better.

I feel like every day is a journey, and it’s a journey I want to take with you.

We’re on a road-trip babe, with the music cranked and our feet hanging out the window.

You stick your tongue out at the world and I’m right there with you, laughing at it all.

I love you Charlene.

Take time to appreciate the people that make life worth living. If you want to improve your friendships, relationships, or marriage, why don’t you tell them exactly how you feel? Send a note like this and make it count.

Nobody’s keeping score and paying attention to your vulnerability. The best thing you can do is connect to another human being with real feeling and passion.

Now, go for it.

What separates the best artists from the rest?

How do amazing minds create revolutions?

How do great thinkers change our world view?

They speak their minds no matter what the consequence. Speak your mind and ignore all the advice coming at you from every corner. You’re breathing and living now. You owe it to all of us to tell us what you’re thinking and feeling.

Forget political correctness or polite exchanges when what we really need is sincerity and truth. Bad things happen every day. You’d better make sure you speak your mind and tell your loved ones how much you care.

Imagine a world where everyone spoke their mind, for better or for worse. I guarantee it would be for better.

Do it today. Don’t wait for a better time.

The best time is now.

Here’s day four in my six part series designed to help an absolute beginner learn how to build a web site. If you’re new to computing or you have no idea what skills and tools you need to become a web developer, this is for you. The articles aren’t designed to teach you web development skills; they’re meant to give you a push in the right direction so that you can quickly learn those skills on your own. I hope you find my guide helpful. If you do, please Stumble it, so that others can benefit.

Article Outline

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development

Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development

Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development

Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level

Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level

Day Six - Wrap-Up - Summary of Tools, Skills, Books, and Tutorials for Website Development

Day Four - Tools To Take Your Site To the Next Level

HTML Editors

Once you get a handle on HTML and CSS, there are many tools to help you automate the process of building web pages. They aren’t necessary, but certainly help speed things up for you. There are many HTML editors available - some are text-only while others are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), meaning you can view the web page while you code it. Here are my top four suggestions, in order of preference:

Adobe Dreamweaver (Windows / Mac) - $399.00 - Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG editor and handles HTML, CSS, most scripting languages, and also automates the process of uploading files to your FTP server. Dreamweaver is part of the Adobe CS suite, so it really shines when you’re also using Photoshop, Illustrator, Contribute, or Flash. Dreamweaver is expensive but easily my top pick for commercial HTML editors.

TextMate (Mac only) - $59.00 - Textmate is a powerful text-only editor. It might not be WYSIWYG, but don’t let this fool you. Textmate is capable of handling any web language and most programming languages as well. If you’re a Mac user, this is the best text-only editor available.
Coda (Mac Only) - $79.00 - Coda is an easy to use, WYSIWYG editor. The feature set isn’t amazing but it has an excellent interface. If you’re a Mac user and you want a basic WYSIWYG editor, then buy Coda.
UltraEdit (Windows) - $49.95 - If you’re using Windows, UltraEdit is the best text-only editor available. Like TextMate, it handles web languages or programming languages with ease.

Image Editing Software

Even the most austere sites require some use of graphics and images. Images make your site more readable an interesting. Here are two high quality image editing programs for your viewing pleasure:

Photoshop - ( $649.00 - Windows, Mac)

Gimp - (Free - Windows, Mac, Linux)

Photoshop is easily the best in the field but unless you’re aiming for a career in graphic design, Gimp will handle most graphic tasks quite well. If you discover a passion for creating high quality graphics, the high price for Photoshop is well worth the investment.

Content Management System / Blogging or Forum Software

You’re viewing this web page as the result of a content management system. Blogging or forum software automates the task of coding your pages and delivers them to your viewers quickly with a lot of cool features.

If you want to start a blog, there are a few choices for you, but I highly suggest using Wordpress. Forget Facebook, MySpace, or free Blogger accounts. They work, but you’re at the mercy of those websites and their software - if their site goes down, so does your blog. If you want to start a successful blog, you need Wordpress. It’s free, and you can control every aspect of the user experience. Typepad is used by a few high-profile bloggers but you’re locked into a monthly payment plan and it’s not as flexible as Wordpress.

If forums, or bulletin boards are more your thing, I suggest phpBB http://www.phpbb.com/. It’s free and easy to install on your host’s web server. I think vBulletin http://www.vbulletin.com/ is actually better software but, again, it’s expensive at $169.00 for a lifetime license. What is it with me and expensive software?!

Bonus Tools for Mac Users - CSSEdit and Scrivener!

CSSEdit - If you’re interested in learning CSS, immediately download and purchase CSSEdit. We reviewed the Firefox plug-in, Firebug, yesterday. Firebug is extremely powerful but if you’re interested in honing your CSS chops, CSSEdit has many features that Firebug does not. This is an exceptional tool for web developers on the Mac.

Scrivener - I’m writing this blog every day on Scrivener. I can’t say enough about this program - if you’re a serious writer and you want to write the next great American novel, or you’re blogging like me, Scrivener has it all. It’s not a word processor; it’s a writing program. It also lets you collect online links and media so that you can refer to them while you write. It’s truly inspiring. If you’re a writer or blogger and you’re on a Mac, please try it out. It’s a steal at $39.95!

That’s It For Today

Thanks for reading! I hope you join me for tomorrow’s article - Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level.

When tragedy struck, I reached down into the depths of human despair.

To my surprise, I found no bottom.

At the moment of my greatest triumph, I looked up, and met nothing.

Just endless sky.

Today, we’re on part three of a six part series designed to help an absolute beginner learn how to build a web site. If you’re new to computing or you have no idea what skills and tools you need to become a web developer, this is for you. The articles aren’t designed to teach you web development skills; they’re meant to give you a push in the right direction so that you can quickly learn those skills on your own. I hope you find my guide helpful. If you do, please Stumble it, so that others can benefit.

Article Outline

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development

Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development

Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development

Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level

Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level

Day Six - Wrap-Up - Summary of Tools, Skills, Books, and Tutorials for Website Development

Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development

The most powerful secret to learn how to build websites, is right in front of you. Your internet browser is your most powerful tool to becoming a skilled web developer. Books and tutorials are great but did you know that you can actually view the HTML and CSS for any website on the internet?

Think Like Reverse Engineer

Reverse engineering means to take something apart to learn how it works so that you can build it for yourself. You can learn to build amazing websites of your own with only three items in your toolbox:

• The Firefox internet browser
• The Firebug plug-in installed on Firefox.
• A website you wish to emulate or improve upon.

Step One - Install Firefox

It’s critical you’re using a quality browser for this lesson - Internet Explorer or Safari won’t cut it. If you haven’t already done so, download and install Firefox on your computer.

Step Two - Install Firebug

One of Firefox’s strengths is that it allows you to add any number of plug-ins to it. A well designed plug-in can add a lot of new functionality to the browser. Firebug is probably the most powerful and ingenious plug-in ever created for Firefox. Watch this video tutorial to help you install Firebug quickly.

Installing Firebug

Step Three - Find a Target Website

Have a look at this quick tutorial to explore the basic interface of Firebug. It’s so simple, your jaw will drop!

The Firebug Interface

Step Four - Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

Firefox and Firebug are the most powerful free tools to help you learn how websites are designed and coded. It’s truly amazing the first time you realize you can go to any site, peek inside of it, tweak it, and begin to understand how the designer put it together. If you followed my advice on Day One and Day Two, you will already have begun to learn about HTML and CSS. Now, with Firefox and Firebug, you have the power to learn from HTML professionals, any time of day or night.

The best way to learn HTML is by emulating other designers’ work that you admire. Feel free to copy HTML and CSS from all kinds of sources and keep a personal library of your favorites in a it’s own folder. I highly recommend emulating examples of code from your favorite sites but I do not recommend copying code from an entire page or site and using it as your own. It’s not illegal to copy HTML code but you’ll never learn and improve if you just copy and paste it into your own domain. Imitation or emulation is a powerful learning tool. Copying is just lazy and unethical.

Bonus Step - Firebug’s Baby Brother

A less functional, but useful, feature built into most browsers, can be located on your right mouse button. Go to any website and right-click anywhere on a blank area of the page (without links, images, or ads.) A context menu pops up - click “View Source” (Internet Explorer, Safari), “View Page Source” (Firefox), or “Source” (Opera). A new window appears with all of the source HTML for that web page. This is also a great feature most people don’t know about or utilize often.

You can’t view CSS stylesheets or inspect and edit web pages this way, so I suggest you focus on learning to use Firebug. Go to http://www.getfirebug.com/docs.html and read the Firebug documentation to get the most out of this amazing tool.

That’s It For Today

Your browser is the most powerful learning secret for website development. Satisfy your curiosity. Immerse yourself in the work of others. Go out there and visit all of your favorite sites to see how they’re built; then apply what you learn to your own work. With this knowledge, you’ll become an HTML pro in no time at all.

Thanks for reading! I hope you join me for tomorrow’s article - Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level.

Yesterday, I started a six part series designed to help an absolute beginner learn how to build a web site. If you’re new to computing or you have no idea what skills and tools you need to become a web developer, this is for you. Follow my steps and suggestions and follow the links I’ve provided - these are a wealth of knowledge you’ll need to get started. These articles won’t teach you how to build web sites. Instead, it will teach you what skills you need to learn and where to find the information and resources to learn them. I hope you find it helpful.

If you haven’t read Day One - Tools Required for Website Development, do that first; then come back here and continue along.

Article Outline

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development

Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development

Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development

Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level

Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level

Day Six - Wrap-Up - Summary of Tools, Skills, Books, and Tutorials for Website Development

Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development

Step One - Learning HTML and XHTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.

XHTML stands for Extensible HyperText Markup Language (the X doesn’t mean it’s extreme, or refer to some sort of trans gender inside joke.)

HTML and XHTML aren’t programming languages - they’re markup languages. That means, you take standard text and you mark it up with “tags” your web browser can understand. Tags give your text structure and tell the browser everything it needs to know about your site. In a few days, anyone can learn enough HTML and XHMTL to build basic web page or even a whole site. It won’t be elegant or flashy at first, but as your coding skills expand, your pages will become more functional and beautiful. I learned HTML 5 years ago and I had my first site online about 3 days later.

Here’s an example of what the this sentence looks like to a web browser. HTML can be extremely simple and easy to learn.

<em>Here’s an example of what the last two sentences look like to a web browser</em>. <strong>HTML can be extremely simple and easy to learn</strong>.

Here are two types of tags surrounding the text. The first sentence is in italics, so we use <em> where italics start and </em> where italics end. We do the same thing for the sentence in bold, except the tags we use are <strong> and </strong>. Pretty simple, huh?

HTML and XHTML? Why two languages?

XHTML is just a newer form of HTML with slightly different rules for the tags you use. I suggest getting a firm grip of HTML first and then learning XHTML. The two languages are almost identical. Once you learn one, you’ll have no problem learning the other.

I suggest two methods of learning HTML - books and online tutorials.

The best HTML book on the market today is Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML by Eric and Elisabeth Freeman. The publisher is O’Reilly. Pick it up at your local book store or purchase it online at Amazon using the link I provided. A good HTML book is an essential tool and this one is the most thorough and approachable book on this subject for a beginner.

For web tutorials, I suggest HTML Dog. Follow the “HTML Beginner” tutorials and when you feel comfortable, move on the the intermediate lessons.

Another great site for HTML resources and tutorials is Webmonkey. Follow the link, “HTML Basics” in the “Authoring” section of the how-to library.

Step Two - Learning CSS

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.

HTML gives your web pages structure; CSS gives them style. CSS is a stylesheet language that is written as a separate document from your HTML pages. The CSS stylesheet describes what every element on your web pages will look like. Elements like text color, fonts, size, and background images or colors are all separated from the HTML structure.

Here is a short sample of some of the CSS for the pages on the page you’re reading right now:

p.center { text-align: center !important; }

p.bottom { margin: 0 !important; }

p.unstyled { font-size: 1.4em; }

.flickr_blue { color: #007ae4; text-transform: lowercase; }

.flickr_pink { color: #ff2a96; text-transform: lowercase; }

You can use HTML without ever learning CSS but there is a reason web developers use it. At some point your web pages will grow in size and in quantity. If you want to change the colors or fonts for your site and you use HTML only, you’ll have to manually change each and every tag for those fonts and colors, on every page - this is a major pain in the butt. If you use CSS as a separate document, all you have to do is change the stylesheet once and all your pages change with it. CSS is flexible and a major time-saver. Your web pages will also load faster when you use CSS.

I suggest learning HTML and XHTML first, then progressing to CSS as you become more comfortable coding your pages. A web site without CSS is like life without laughter - you can live without it, but it isn’t much fun.
I recommended Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML because it covers everything you need to know, including CSS. This book has it all!

Both HTML Dog and Webmonkey are good resources for CSS tutorials. Once you’re an HTML master, check out cascading style sheets!

That’s It for Day Two

The resources I’ve pointed you towards will keep you busy for days and weeks to come. Come back to join me for tomorrow’s article - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development.

People ask me all the time, “How do you build web sites? How do I learn?”

There are thousands of sites that teach you specific skills and tricks of the trade but only a handful actually walk you through the steps and show you what you need to know to become a web site developer. I’ve written a series of six articles here to help you learn those basic skills. If you’re eager, you can easily be up and running with with your own site in a matter of days.

Building your own web site is rewarding, fun, and easy. If you’re an absolute beginner and you want to learn how to build web sites, this is the guide for you. You don’t need a lot of money to start writing websites. You don’t need to learn computer programming. All you need is a desire to learn.

These articles won’t teach you how to write or design your site; they’re designed to point you in the right direction so that you can learn for yourself. Just follow the steps and explore the links I’ve given, and you’ll be well on your way.

What We’re Going To Learn

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development

Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development

Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development

Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level

Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level

Day Six - Wrap-Up - Summary of Tools, Skills, Books, and Tutorials for Website Development

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development

I know you’re probably in a hurry to learn as much as you can about building websites right away. Great! The first thing you need to do is gather together all the tools you need to get started. Follow my suggestions one step at a time, and tomorrow, I’ll point you toward the skills you need to learn.

Step One - Get a Better Browser

I assume you already have a computer with an internet connection. The first step is to install a decent web browser. A browser is a piece of software on your computer that allows you to view web pages over the internet. Windows computers come pre-installed with Internet Explorer - IE, for short. Apple computers ships with the Safari browser. They both allow you to view web sites but other third-party browsers are faster and more functional. Most people don’t realize they can install a different browser on their computer. You can, and you should. Firefox or Opera are both great browsers. I lean towards Firefox but don’t take my word for it - download and install them both. Play with them for a while to figure out which one you prefer.

Download Firefox Here

Download Opera Here

If you have a long list of websites already bookmarked on IE or Safari it’s very simple to import them into Firefox or Opera. Here’s how:
Importing Bookmarks into Firefox

Importing Bookmarks into Opera

Step Two - Use a Simple, Built-In Text Editor

You don’t need to spend a dime to begin writing a web site. All you need to start, already comes with your computer - a simple text editor. On Windows, you can use “Notepad”; for Mac users, there’s “TextEdit.” There are other dozens of other programs that are designed to assist you in writing web pages. Programs like Dreamweaver are excellent but, as a beginner, they will stifle your learning. For now, stick with Notepad or TextEdit. Later on, when you’re comfortable writing web pages, you can explore some of those tools. I’ll talk about them in day four’s article.

Windows users - to open Notepad, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Notepad.

Mac users - to open TextEdit, click Applications, and then click TextEdit.

Create a shortcut for either application on your desktop; you’ll be using it a lot in the days ahead.

Step Three- Download an FTP Client

An FTP client is a program that takes the web pages you write on your own computer and uploads them to a web server so that you can view it on the internet. If you have a Windows computer, download SmartFTP - it’s free and it works well. If you’re on a Mac, the best free FTP client is Cyberduck. I use Transmit, for Mac, because I like the feature-set, but it will set you back $29.95.

SmartFTP (Windows, free)

Cyberduck (Mac, free)

Transmit (Mac)

For now, just install the FTP software and forget about it. I’ll cover uploading files to your web server in tomorrow’s article.

Step Four - Choose a Domain Name and a Host

Before your pages can be viewed on the internet, you need to choose a domain name for your site and someone to host it for you on a web server. Choosing a name for your site can be difficult. Take your time to think of a memorable name. It will pay off in the long run.

Here are a few tips:

• Try to keep the name short, simple, and relevant to your web site content. If your site is about gardening, www.homegardening.com is much more memorable than www.allthethingsiloveaboutgardening.com
• Domain names are restricted to letters, numbers, and dashes. No spaces or special characters, like “@#$%^&*” are allowed. Avoid dashes if you can.
• Sometimes a play on words or made up words can be very memorable to your audience. Some good examples of domains like this are www.flickr.com and www.squidoo.com.
• Ever notice how every domain name ends in .com, .net, .org? Those are called domain name suffixes. When you buy a domain name, you also choose the suffix attached to it. One person can have www.makemoney.com and another person can have www.makemoney.net - they’re two different domain names. There are many different domain name suffixes available, but if you can, purchase the .com option. Most people remember .com because it’s been around the longest and is the most common.

To secure a domain name, you need to purchase it from a certified registrar. I suggest GoDaddy.com - they’re inexpensive and are the largest registrar in the world. It only takes a few minutes to secure a domain name and costs around $10 a year.

Once you buy a domain name, you need to pay a host to serve your web pages from their web servers. Web servers are computers that are designed to store and display your web pages. A host with high quality web servers rarely go down and are backed up frequently in case of a failure. It’s a bad idea to pay for a cheap host if their web servers frequently crash. GoDaddy also provides web hosting very inexpensively. For a basic server, you can pay as low as $3.99 per month. I suggest buying an inexpensive hosting plan at the same time you purchase your domain name. I’ve been doing this for years, and I’ve been very happy with the service I receive. If you want to move your domain to another host in the future, it’s very easy to do.

That’s it for today!

We’ve covered:

• Internet browsers
• Text Editors
• FTP Clients
• Choosing a domain name
• Domain name registrars
• Web servers
• Hosts

Now gather those tools and explore them! We’ll get into the meat and potatoes of building a web site in tomorrow’s article, “Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development.”

If you want to bring meaning and passion to your work and relationships, you need strong values - but are your values healthy or harmful? Are they rooted in a desire to improve the world, or are they based on ignorance, fear, and greed?

The Odd Couple

A few weeks ago U.S. President George W. Bush invited the Dalai Lama to the White House.

President Bush speaks of peace and goes to war; the Dalai Lama speaks of peace and lives in peace. What do you think each man’s lasting legacy will be? Whose words carry more power to capture your imagination?

Armed with a strong set of beliefs, we all have the power to manifest peace and happiness or to create immense human suffering. Here are a few photos of famous people you may know. Each of these people were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were doing the right thing.

Having strong convictions aren’t enough.

The Blame Game

People that create vast human suffering often make excuses and blame others for their failings. If you talk to 100 inmates at a federal prison, you’ll get 100 excuses and 1000 different people to blame. Don’t play the blame game.

Lasting peace and happiness can never come by forcing others to agree with your values at the end of a gun. In your own life, in your own way, do your actions create happiness or do they create suffering?

Choose your values carefully.



Links to learn more about the people shown in this article:

The 14th Dalai Lama - Tenzin Gyatso

U.S. President George W. Bush

Mother Theresa

Adolf Hitler

Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln

Joseph Stalin

Mahatma Gandhi

When I was 9 years old I read the book “My Side of the Mountain.” It was the story of a young boy named Sam, who ran away from home and learned to live in the wilderness of the Catskill mountains. The book captivated me - it became a long-time dream of mine to do just what Sam had done in the book. I didn’t run away for two reasons; I worried about devastating my mother, and I realized that the batteries for my Sony Walkman would eventually run out.

I still think about what would have happened if I’d followed though with my plan for adventure and solitude, but the real value of that dream for me, was to open my mind to the world of possibilities.

How the Hell Did I End Up Here?

I’ve met many people with a promising professional career and buckets of money who wish they’d become an actor, painter, or musician.

Ask a ten year-old kid, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They’ll never say, “I want to be a regional manager for a large insurance firm. If I can’t do that, I want to sell carpet.”

When we’re kids, we want to change the world and explore our curiosity but we get lost in a sea of other voices telling what is possible and what is not. Don’t ever lose your curiosity - it is the one quality that will always bring true meaning to your work and to your relationships with others. Be a kid again. Allow yourself to dream and plan. It takes guts to admit you’re not happy and then do something about it.

Show Me What I’m Made Of

You will bring meaning and fulfillment into your live when you align yourself with what you value most. Unfortunately, most of us don’t really know what our values are. We say we do, but too often they are the values and expectations of the people around us. We make poor life choices when we listen to the voices of others and mistake them for our own.

The Search For Meaning

Look within yourself and question what really makes you tick. What makes the hair stand up on your neck? What are your real ideals? What motivations you? Are your daily actions in accord with your dreams and ideals?
Are your actions bringing value to others as well, or are your motivations selfish and hurtful? Goals that bring no value to the people around you will prevent you from having lasting success. Life is meaningless without love.

Saintly patience doesn’t happen overnight - it’s like a muscle and needs to be exercised every day. You don’t just step into the gym and lift 500 pounds on your first day - you patiently work up to it. You build the strength and tolerance to lift 500 pounds over a long period of time by training your body every day. One day, after months or years of training, you are able to lift 500 pounds and everyone will be astounded by your strength. Instead of admiring your strength, they should be admiring the patience that allowed you to train so hard for so long.

Life gives you opportunities every day to exercise your patience, if you recognize them for an opportunity instead of an obstacle. I used to say, “I’d be more patient and calm if everyone else weren’t conspiring against me. The world just keeps throwing obstacles in front of me! Why are people so crazy, slow, dumb, difficult, etc.?” Now I try to look on every delay and every difficult situation as an opportunity to exercise my patience. I simply smile and recognize that the universe is giving me an opportunity to become a better, stronger person. It’s now become a challenge to see just how long I can drive in the city without throwing a fit and cursing out loud (I’m up to four hours now). Bring it on, old people, logging trucks, and red lights; I’m exercising my patience! Pretty soon I won’t be honking my horn and flipping you the bird; how are you going to piss me off then?

Patience Isn’t Inborn - Just Ask a Two Year-Old

I’m not a naturally patient person. In fact, I’ve gone through life continuously moving from one frustrating delay to another. I’m improving my patience by repeating the following phrase whenever I encounter delays and setbacks in my life:

Life’s delays aren’t life’s denials.

Just because you don’t get what you want immediately doesn’t mean you won’t get it eventually. If I’m stuck in a traffic jam and late for an appointment, my plans might not work out according to schedule. Getting angry and upset will do nothing to improve the situation - when I’m angry and impatient, bad things happen.

Develop Universal Patience

The power of water is an example of how patience can be applied to your life with amazing results. One drop of water falling on a stone does nothing but make it wet. But if that same drip is repeated over and over again for thousands of years, water will easily drill a hole right through the middle of the stone. Consider blogging: if you write three, five hundred word articles a week, for one year, you’ll have written an average length fiction novel at the end of that year. Just to give you perspective, J.R.R. Tolkien spent 14 years writing the Lord of the Rings; it’s word count is just over 300,000. If you apply the same blogging example above, you can easily write over 1,092,000 words - enough time to write two epic novels with room to spare!

Write your great novel one blog entry at a time.