Here's something for you to try...

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig!

Found in a blog: http://michaelwood.com/ Original credit to: http://jme.ca/

Try it yourself. It will be hard to type that way, you'd have to think of each word as you spell it. It wouldn't do to miss a letter or add one twice.

Anyway, I had no trouble reading that paragraph. It really is amazing.

Of course, it would make spellcheck obsolete. Your word processor would have fits checking all that. Grammar and punctuation would be the same. I think.

Also, it only works for words which are longer than 3 letters. You can't scramble 3 letter words and leave the two end letters the same as usual. I noticed words like 'keep' can't be scrambled cause the middle letters are the same already. Change them all you want, it stays the same.

Would it work as a secret code? Probably not, too easy to read. But it might keep them guessing awhile. Wondering what you're really up to.

So, I don't see much practical use for this idea. But, it is interesting.

Waht do you tinhk? Cuold tihs bcemoe ppoluar? It's tkanig me aegs to tpye tihs. I dno't hvae euognh ptaeicne to keep it up.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." -Oscar Wilde

Tonight, in the columnist messageboards at BackWash, someone said "Don't you just love the media." They meant it sarcastically in reference to how an interview was handled. But, what they didn't consider is that WE ARE the media.

I think a lot of writers take shots at 'the media' and forget to count themselves among them. Do you? Have you thought of yourself as a writer or publisher or member of the media in general today?

Well you are. Each time you put something out there for the masses to read you become the media. We may not all carry cards saying we are writers or publishers or editors, etc. But, that doesn't mean we aren't just one more member of the media.

Anyway, the discussion in the boards was about how someone was credited in an article. That is something to consider as you write an article using sources for information such as quotes or statistics. Always make sure you know how your contact sources want to be credited and then do your best to see that it comes out that way in print.

On the other hand, when you are the contact, make sure you tell the writer how you want to be credited. Make sure they have your URL along with your other information. Make sure they know it's important for your website to be included as part of identifying you as a source of information for the article.

If it comes out in print you can't do much to change it. You can get them to add it to a future issue but that's not very useful without the rest of the content of the article. However, if it's on the web you can get them to update the HTML or text quite easily, it just takes a moment of their time. So there is one more benefit to writing for online publications.

Well, members of the media, that's it for this week.

Looking for a writing exercise? Try One Word - http://oneword.invisibleland.tv/index2.html

simple. you'll see one word at the top of the following page. you have sixty seconds to write about it.

as soon as you click 'go' the page will load with the cursor in place.

don't think. just write.

I don't think you can really be a writer unless you are also an avid people watcher. I really like to sit with a coffee and watch the people around me. I don't write stories for them, I just observe and come to my own conclusions about who they are, what they think and feel. Do they seem tired, grumpy, cheery, clever, amused, interesting, rushed or laid back? Are they well dressed or a bit too casual? Does that hair style really suit them? You can go on forever.

What things do you see that cause you to decide who someone is, on one sighting alone? I think the way they dress, their body language and how their face, are big first impression tip offs. Next time you are people watching consider the first three things you notice about people. Do you notice different things than I do?

Do you write that way? When you describe a character do you write about them as if they were someone you just saw at the mall, in the parking lot at work or wherever you happen to be writing them. Do you give details about their appearance, body language and facial expressions?

Have you ever written about a stranger you watched somewhere? Try it. Give yourself a challenge and write in a different venue than your usual. If you write fiction try poetry, if you write non-fiction try fiction and so on. Go nuts and write a greeting card just for them!

Most of all, keep watching those passers by, you never know when they will become inspiration.

Writing Exercise: Write yourself a letter to be opened one year from now. What goals do you have now? What do you hope to accomplish in the coming year? How are you feeling about yourself as a writer? Tell your future self something you want to remember a year from now.

I don't feel like writing cause my bra strap is too tight. I don't feel like writing cause I'm not in the mood. I don't feel like writing cause I'm too tired. I don't feel like writing cause I don't have anything really brilliant to say today. I don't feel like writing cause my typing is worse than my penmanship tonight. I don't feel like writing cause my asthma is bugging me. I don't feel like writing, I just don't feel like writing. Can't I just not feel like writing?

I can always come up with reasons why I don't feel like writing, some of them are real reasons. But, in the end, later I'll still be trying to catch up on everything I didn't write the night before. Time keeps passing, you can't politely ask everything to stop for you.

What do you do to get back on track when you don't feel like writing? Sometimes I have a shower. Going for a drive or a walk also works, weather and gas money permitting. Even just taking yourself away for the time it takes to make a fresh coffee is now and then enough to get yourself back into a writing frame of mind.

If not, maybe you need to make a list instead. Lists are a short form of writing. You don't have to obey rules of punctuation, grammar or spelling. You just make notes for yourself. List your plot developments for fiction you're working on. List possible spin off articles if you're writing non-fiction. Make a list of ideas you could work on if you felt like writing.

In the process of making a list I usually find I suddenly really feel like writing again. In fact, I often start writing right on the back of my list.

Have you ever tried writing exercises? Some are pretty simple but not so effective. Now and then I find one that makes you 'need' to write. There is no way for you to resist writing. Those are the best kind. Who writes those?

Writing exercises from HerCorner.com:

Try this: Pretend you are a gossip columnist. Write about a recent personal encounter. Don't use any names of people, places or things. How does that change your writing? Make you more aware of who, what, why, when and where?

Try this: Think of a place you feel passionate about, somewhere you have been often, whether its your favourite bookstore, garden or town. Now, write a journal about the trip. Include all the details like how it sounds, smells, your favourite spot or thing, where you found free parking, where's the best view? Tell someone else all about your place, as if they were going there themselves.

Try this: Create a character with a secret to confess. Write their journal entries over the days, weeks, months they keep the secret. Show how it effects themselves, the people around them and why they continue to keep the secret.

Try this: Practice paraphrasing. Take a large block of quoted text and pare it down to the bare essentials. This is a great skill to have for interviews or your own writing (if you tend to be wordy).

Try this: Find a newspaper article you feel passionate about and write a letter to the editor. Write as if you are going to send it in to be published, think carefully of each of your points, make sure the style is professional and then actually send it in.

Try this: Write a letter to one of your ancestors, someone you have never met but have heard something about. Or make up an ancestor. Tell them all about yourself, who you are, what makes you the person you are.

Try this: Write a letter to someone from another planet. Tell them about life on Earth. Describe everything to someone who may not know what air is, who has never heard of the fast food concept, etc.

Try this: Write out your favourite joke (or fairy tale or poem). Then rewrite that narrative as a tragedy, as a limerick, as a haiku, as a serious academic treatise, as a breaking news story, or as the script for a music video.

Try this: Eavesdrop on a conversation, capture a snippet of it in your mind. Write a story or scene using dialogue only. Since every scene in every story should contain conflict, you'll want to keep this key concept in mind.

Try this: Watch something happen in public and remember what it was. Try and remember everything and write about it in detail.

Try this: Do a full character analysis. Create a real person: how they walk, the colours they like, who they most admire, where their family came from, their Mother's maiden name, do they have a zit today and so on.

Try this: Your character is suddenly blinded and danger still abounds. Focus on those senses you might normally neglect when writing.

Try this: Design three tools, inventions, or customs for your science fiction or fantasy world.

Try this: In five hundred words or less, choose a superstition or old wives' tale and describe how a character of your design came to learn it and/or who the character first remembers teaching it to him/her.

Try this: Choose a favourite fable, fairy tale or literary story. Pick a character (not the main characters) and tell the story through his or her eyes in five hundred words or less.

Try this: Write a poem describing the colour red to someone who has been blind from birth. Keep in mind, this person has never seen the typical things like fire, the sun, etc which you could use as a comparison. If poetry isn't your thing, write in prose but try to be lyrical.

Try this: Pick out your favourite tape or CD and put it on. Sing a long, dance, pretend you are one of the backup singers or the singer herself. Put energy into it and go wild. Dress up like a rock star, grab a make-shift microphone and sing out loud. When you feel charged up write something.

Try this: Write about a dream, real or imagined. Be vivid. Dreams tend to jump around since they don't have to make sense or be guided by rules of time and space.

Try this: Get away from your usual writing place. Go outside, get a coffee at the local diner, sit in your car and write. You may find it hard to adapt to the change but it could bring you all new perspectives.

Try this: Verbs make the world go round. With that in mind write a story where the characters are running out of time or involved in an extreme sport. Keep the action sharp and crisp with verbs.

Try this: Try a short word challenge. Write a short story using only words that have six letters or less. Really great practice at keeping it simple for anyone who tends to use ten dollar words when a 10 cent word would work just as well.