...C h a p t e r 1 Prewriting GETTING STARTED (OR SOUP-CAN LABELS CAN BE FASCINATING) For many writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may have noticed that when it is time to begin a writing assignment, you suddenly develop an enormous desire to straighten your books, water your plants, or sharpen your pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader,...
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...The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (#15 in our series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission. Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Release Date: March, 1999 [EBook #1661] [Most recently updated: November 29, 2002] Edition: 12 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII 2 *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** (Additional...
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...Sydney Sheldon - If Tomorrow Comes If Tomorrow Comes Sydney Sheldon Hmmm, looks like another genie got out of the bottle Me Fiction Scanned and fully proofed by nihua, 2002-03-24 v4.1 CR/LFs removed and formatting tidied. pdb conversion by bigjoe. IF TOMORROW COMES by Sidney Sheldon, ©1985 BOOK ONE Chapter 01 New Orleans THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20--- 11:00 P.M. She undressed slowly, dreamily, and when she was naked, she selected a bright red negligee to wear so that the blood would not show. Doris Whitney looked around the bedroom for the last time to make certain that the pleasant room, grown dear over the past thirty years, was neat and tidy. She opened the drawer of the bedside table and carefully removed the gun. It was shiny black, and terrifyingly cold. She placed it next to the telephone and dialed her daughter's number in Philadelphia. She listened to the echo of the distant ringing. And then there was a soft "Hello?" "Tracy... I just felt like hearing the sound of your voice, darling." "What a nice surprise, Mother." "I hope I didn't wake you up." "No. I was reading. Just getting ready to go to sleep. Charles and I were going out for dinner, but the weather's too nasty. It's snowing hard here. What's it doing there?" Dear God, we're talking about the weather, Doris Whitney thought, when there's so much I want to tell her. And can't. "Mother? Are you there?" Doris Whitney stared out the window. "It's raining." And she thought, How melodramatically appropriate. Like an...
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