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As a student of Spanish, my goal was to think in Spanish. Skip the word-by-word translation so I'd have the necessary speed to speak and listen. I know words in Spanish that I'd be hard pressed to translate. Usually profanity, I confess. Chingow!

For years my students here in China have studied grammar, and know it better than you or I. They read. They write. But speaking involves moving faster than that. In conversation, we don't have time to write it first and make sure it's all grammatically flawless, then read it aloud, perhaps after a bit of rehearsal.

So, I try to give them a chance to practice putting words together on the fly, rules be damned. The rules they've internalized will kick in and keep them comprehensible, which will build their confidence in their ability to keep creating conversation that way.

This is not unlike what we go through as authors. First we study rulebooks, perhaps take some classes, and conclude just about everything we're is doing is wrong. So many rules to memorize. We might dread sitting down to write with all those constraints.

But really, it's not about memorizing rules at all. It's about internalizing the rules, following them (or not if you prefer) without being consciously aware of what they are. They're there, but in the background.

The story's what matters. You're supposed to be having fun, not "working." At least not during the creation phase.

We don't always take the time to say, "I've written ten active sentences in a row so maybe I'll whip in a passive one now" or "I need a beat for every X lines of dialogue." I published four novels and edited dozens more before I learned what a beat was. (It's a pause so the reader can catch his/her breath.)

And, of course, since it is writing and not speaking, we can always go back and revise later. Then rely on editors to catch what we missed, or at least make us wonder why we wrote it this way instead of that way.

Some authors aren't even consciously aware of "the rules." They've never taken a class, never read a book about writing. They're simply avid readers who one day decided to write. But they've internalized the rules as well. It comes from reading.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you want to write, you must read. If you don't like reading, maybe writing isn't for you. It's not about writing because you want to say, "I am a writer." It's about writing because you enjoy writing.

And, it's really nice when you've been writing for a long time to go back and read a book about how to write. You might find one or two things to tweak in your technique, as opposed to a daunting laundry list of flaws. It's much easier to internalize one or two new rules than 50 or 100!

Michael LaRocca

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It's been a little over a decade since I was first introduced to the internet. I can remember how slow small businesses were to adapting the new idea of marketing their products and services in a way they never had seen before. Even for some larger corporations, it took awhile for them to accept the new concept of e-commerce. I guess no matter how profitable an idea maybe, it still will take a couple of years before the larger population can become comfortable with it. Ironically, I find small businesses are in the exact same place they were 15 years ago as an affiliate with VM Direct.

VM Direct - a streaming video company out of Las Vegas, Nevada. VM Direct, is a streaming media service provider offering web-based technology services: Video email, blogging, video instant messaging, podcasting, and live broadcasting. Their all-in-one media packages start as low as $9.95 per month.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I had a few hours of free time to dive into the achieves of VM Direct's weekly newsletters. As a new affiliate, I wanted to learn more about how other VM Direct affiliates are using the products as marketing tools for their small business. Immediately, it became apparent how a small business can take advantage of this new technology and have a competitive edge over their competition by simply implementing streaming video into their current marketing plan.

Video Email

Word-of-mouth advertising is the least expensive marketing tool a business can use in marketing. What better way to get people talking about your business than to use the latest technology like video email? Let's imagine for a moment, that you meet someone at a business networking event. After a few minutes of small talk, both of you exchange business cards. Monday morning, you put your new contact information into your database. However, rather than making a typical follow-up phone call, you decide to send a quick video email expressing how much of a pleasure it was meeting them, and how you look forward to calling them later in the week. What type of impression do you think that email will leave with that new contact? During the course of their day, they might receive a few dozen emails. However, which one do you think they might remember? Could the impression from your new form of communication be so strong that they will forward your video message to someone else in the company, creating a bit of viral marketing for you along the way?

VM Direct web-based video email application incorporates a custom design function for its subscribers. There are three places which users can put their own advertisements; the header, the card, and the footer. Both the header and footer act as banners which are positioned above and below the video screen. The card acts as a business card where subscribers can advertise a simple message. Users can easily upload their custom graphics and have readers click on the graphic icon to open up another webpage of their choice.

Video Newsletters

Successful businesses, both small and large, understand the power of having a database list. Rather than sending a two-page newsletter to opt-in subscribers, the sender can have messages sent to every subscriber in a new, refreshing email format. Think of it as having your own "60 Minutes" weekly television show. How many of your competitors has their own weekly video show?

Personally, I still have a number of email newsletters I've yet to open. Many of those email newsletters have given up hope themselves, as they wait for me eventually open or delete them. Shamefully to say, some date back as far as four years ago. I keep promising myself that I'll get to them one day. I can honestly say, I've yet to let a video email I've received go unopened.

Live Broadcasting

Incorporating live broadcast into your marketing, opens up an untapped realm of possibilities. I didn't know the many applications in which it could be used until I watched some of the live broadcasts that were created by Razor Stream's Chairman of the Board, Richard Kall. Every Tuesday, Richard Kall broadcast his show live over the internet called, "Summer Chat with Richard Kall." For about 30 minutes, from his home-office in Las Vegas, he offers words of encouragement to new affiliates that have recently joined VM Direct family, and shares his insights on building a home-based business from his years of experience in the network marketing industry. People from all around the world can log onto the broadcast, even if they are not an affiliate with VM Direct. At the moment, I happen to be watching a video Richard Kall recorded on November 11th, 2006. All live broadcasts can be achieved. So whatever time subscribers broadcast their live show, it's easily accessible for others viewers to later watch if their scheduled didn't permit them to catch it live.

We've come along way from being habitues of those now antiquated bulletin board services. We've become comfortable with instant messaging and text messaging. As the advancement of new technology continues, I imagine that one day cellphone users will have streaming video coming into their cellphones. I am just as confident that small businesses owner will eventually start to take advantage of the applications and uses of streaming video as more and more companies start using it to market their own products and services. I only hope they get to use it before their competition does.

Article written by Eric P. Martin. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Eric P. Martin is currently a part-time, pre-journalism college student at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Il. He's also an affiliate with VM Direct. To learn more about VM Direct services or business opportunity. please visit http://www.chicagovideoemail.com or contact via email at epm1013@helloworld.com for a example presentation of the video email application.

This being the age of internet, chat rooms, blogging and innovative hackers, their expectation never gets fulfilled. The news always leaks out or is methodically publicised by a rival or a gleeful hacker. Thereafter, insult is added to their injury as irate customers and the eager press demand explanations about every unsavoury detail of the incident. But data loss is not a problem affecting only the big players only any more. All of us deal with some amount of data and almost all of it is important to us. Albums have been replaced by .jpeg files, our music is inside the hard drive of our pc or laptop, and our emails are stored in offline folders or software like Microsoft Outlook. Students keep their study material in their machines, and a doctoral thesis is usually a file on the hard disk instead of being a thick volume bound in leather covers. It is, therefore, strange that we keep losing data because we have not taken the precaution of backing it up elsewhere. Several start-up home businesses have not seen the light of the day anymore after an initial incident of data loss. All of this underlines the importance of backup, which really cannot be overstressed.

Some Methods of Obtaining Backups

The method, or rather, the medium chosen for backing up data will depend on the volume of data to be stored, as well as the nature of the data. Some common methods are being enlisted below:

CD and Floppy: The floppy has largely gone out of use by now, due to its many limitations, small capacity and security problems. The CD is a good choice for obtaining backups, and is one of the favourite choices in both domestic and corporate spheres. It is cheap, readily available, portable and compatible with several file formats. Storing a CD and sharing information from it are also quite simple.

DVD: The DVD is a good choice for storing audio visual information. It may not be as cheap as the CD, but offers better quality, often lasts longer, and has way more space. DVD RWs can be used in such a way that literally every bit is used to store information. A DVD also has the same facilities when it comes to sharing and easy transporting. However, the DVD RW, many market observers feel, may turn out to be an intermediate technology and be replaced by something superior but very similar in function, or may evolve in such a way that the problems would get solved. It must be noted here that the constant research in this regard, and inventions like the Blue Ray disk etc. point out that we can hope for a better technology soon.

USB Devices: These are the new favourites all over the world. The greatest proof of the popularity of this technology lies in two facts. Firstly, the storage space of pen drives / flash drives/ memory sticks is constantly increasing. Secondly, their prices are plummeting downwards rapidly. Almost all kinds of files can be stored on these; they are very easy to carry, do not require a separate software or booting up of the machine to start functioning, and it is very convenient to share the data stored on them. For storing smaller music libraries, an iPod may be an option too.

External Hard Drives: For larger data storage requirements, external hard drives are excellent solutions. Arrays or stacks of hard drives are available for corporate purposes and are provided by all good hard drive manufacturers. Seagate, Maxtor, ASB, LaCie all make external hard drives of varying capacities and prices.

Online and Offline Storage Spaces: These are spaces provided by professional firms, and are extremely secure for sensitive data storage.

Tapes and Printouts: Traditional storage should not be left out of the list. There is some information that one simply needs to see on the good old piece of paper. Tape has been in use for a long time now, and will probably continue for some time.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk