The Mysterious Plain of Jars Often referred to as “an Asian version of Stonehengeâ€, the Plain of Jars is one of the most enigmatic sights on Earth. Shrouded in mystery and myth, this ancient place has fascinated archeologists and scientists ever since its discovery. [Photo Credits] Thousands of giant stone jars scattered around the Xieng Khouang plain, in Laos form one of the most bizarre archeological collections in history. [Photo Credits] More than 400 sites have been discovered around the Plain of Jars, but only three of them have been opened to the public. [Photo Credits] But if you ask the locals, they’ll tell you of an old race of giants who once lived in these lands. [Photo Credits] Though there aren’t many roads leading to the Plain of Jars, and tourist numbers are still at a minimum, man still managed to exert his destructive influence over this place. [Photo Credits] Perhaps one day, people will be able to access this mystic place more easily, and discover the legacy of an ancient civilization.
Procrastination The Misconception: You procrastinate because you are lazy and can’t manage your time well. The Truth: Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking. Netflix reveals something about your own behavior you should have noticed by now, something which keeps getting between you and the things you want to accomplish. If you have Netflix, especially if you stream it to your TV, you tend to gradually accumulate a cache of hundreds of films you think you’ll watch one day. This is a bigger deal than you think. Take a look at your queue. Psychologists actually know the answer to this question, to why you keep adding movies you will never watch to your growing collection of future rentals, and it is the same reason you believe you will eventually do what’s best for yourself in all the other parts of your life, but rarely do. A study conducted in 1999 by Read, Loewenstein and Kalyanaraman had people pick three movies out of a selection of 24. Sources:
English 50 Exercises for Story Writers English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. Nevertheless, a narrative voice that sounds like it could be anyone's voice or is bland and boring, or riddled with pointless clichés will fail to capture and hold the reader's attention. NOTE: It is quite common for writers in the early stages of their careers to imitate the writers they are reading or admire most. The T.S. Go back to the previous page?
Positive Psychology Resources, Happiness, Tips and Techniques Active and Constructive Responding Shelly Gable, assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, has examined the different types of responses we give to other people's good news. How do you respond when people share good news with you? The manner in which you respond when others share triumph with you directly builds or undermines your relationships. Research into couples and intimate relationships suggests that supporting partners when good things happen is as important in building a relationship as supporting when bad things happen. You can learn how to build relationships by focusing on good news through a technique called ? The quadrants above utilise four possible ways to respond to someone? Important Note:When giving an active and constructive response you do not need to overdo the praise and positive feedback.
How To Buy New Must-Have Products For Next To Nothing Last Updated: 4/01/2014 15:47 PST Have you ever heard of "Penny Auctions?" They’re a new online auction model that is becoming hugely popular. Penny auctions allow individuals to do just what the name implies--buy new, popular products for just pennies on the dollar. One of the most interesting and successful companies offering penny auctions is called QuiBids. This Oklahoma based company auctions off brand new products such as iPads, Macbooks, HDTVs, Digital Cameras, Gaming Consoles, and more for steep discounts, often as much as 85 percent off their retail price. So, how do they do it? Savvy bidders have recently been able to buy a brand new Apple Macbook Pro for $23.90, a Nikon D90 Camera for $45.84, and Sony Playstation 3 for $12.32. The auctions are also insanely fun. But, the best part of QuiBids may be the “Buy-It-Now” feature. Some customers have really made out like bandits on the site. Click here to check out the great merchandise on the site and see how low it’s being sold for.
36 Writing Essays by Chuck Palahniuk 1: Establishing Your Authority Chuck teaches two principal methods for building a narrative voice your readers will believe in. Discover the Heart Method and the Head Method and how to employ each to greatest effect. 2: Developing a Theme At the core of Minimalism is focusing any piece of writing to support one or two major themes. 3: Using “On-The-Body” Physical Sensation Great writing must reach both the mind and the heart of your reader, but to effectively suspend reality in favor of the fictional world, you must communicate on a physical level, as well. 4: Submerging the “I” First-person narration, for all its immediacy and power, becomes a liability if your reader can't identify with your narrator. 5: Nuts and Bolts: Hiding a Gun Sometimes called "plants and payoffs" in the language of screenwriters, Hiding a Gun is an essential skill to the writer's arsenal that university writing courses almost never touch upon. 6: Nuts and Bolts: “Thought” Verbs 8: Nuts and Bolts: Using Choruses
Creative Writing Ideas, Courses Online, Free Classes for Writers The Complexity of the Creative Personality Researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi includes in his books and other writings descriptions of the diversity and multiple characteristics of creative people. In a post of hers, Juliet Bruce, Ph.D. notes that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced me-high chick-sent-me-high-ee) wrote, “If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude.” “Like the color white that includes all colors, they tend to bring together the entire range of human possibilities within themselves. Creativity allows for paradox, light, shadow, inconsistency, even chaos – and creative people experience both extremes with equal intensity.” Here are a few qualities he lists, as Bruce summarizes: A great deal of physical energy alternating with a great need for quiet and rest.Highly sexual, yet often celibate, especially when working.Smart and naïve at the same time. Do you relate to any of these qualities?
New Year's Resolution Reading List: 9 Essential Books on Reading and Writing by Maria Popova Dancing with the absurdity of life, or what symbolism has to do with the osmosis of trash and treasure. Hardly anything does one’s mental, spiritual, and creative health more good than resolving to read more and write better. Today’s reading list addresses these parallel aspirations. And since the number of books written about reading and writing likely far exceeds the reading capacity of a single human lifetime, this omnibus couldn’t be — shouldn’t be — an exhaustive list. If anyone can make grammar fun, it’s Maira Kalman — The Elements of Style Illustrated marries Kalman’s signature whimsy with Strunk and White’s indispensable style guide to create an instant classic. The original Elements of Style was published in 1919 in-house at Cornell University for teaching use and reprinted in 1959 to become cultural canon, and Kalman’s inimitable version is one of our 10 favorite masterpieces of graphic nonfiction. On the itch of writing, Lamott banters: On why we read and write: