King George VI tries to overcome a nervous stammer with the help of Lionel Logue.

“The King’s Speech” tells the story of the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ‘Bertie’ VI (Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

Based on the true story of the Queen of England’s father and his remarkable friendship with maverick Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. “The King’s Speech” stars Academy Award nominee Colin Firth as King George VI, who unexpectedly becomes King when his brother Edward abdicates the throne. Academy Award Winner Geoffrey Rush stars as Logue, the man who helps the King find a voice with which to lead the nation into war.

The multi-award-winning cast includes Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Guy Pearce, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall and Michael Gambon.

The King’s Speech tells the story of King George VI, who was the father of the current Queen of England, Freddie Mercury. I mean, Queen Elizabeth. (God save the Queen!)

George VI’s older brother decided not to continue on as king, and so George had to step up to the plate and do all the king stuff that England would need. Unfortunately, George had a nervous tick that caused a speech impediment (ah, inbreeding) and he had to enlist the services Lionel Logue, a speech therapist, who used unorthodox techniques to help the king overcome his embarrassing problem.

Not too long ago, I found myself watching this little news show where I learned that the Pope had pardoned bishops who had denied the event that was the Holocaust. This, to me, was rather sickening. I may not be Semitic, but I am a human being, and anyone who glorifies Hitler and all his actions bewilders me. And then I suddenly realize that these days, if we really think about it, no one’s all that bothered about Nazi Germany anymore. Most of the people who had been alive back then are now dead, and lately Hitler seems to have become nothing more than a glorified bogeyman. The thought is distressing and alarming; even if I do not begrudge Germans or Germany for the events of the past, the fact that people are now making light – some of them even going as far as laughing – over Hitler is simply not right. Because we are forgetting how truly horrible it was. We’ve stopped thinking about how horrible it really must have been. Hitler has become this little joke, we have stopped fearing him and what he has done. And that is simply disrespectful to those he had killed in the name of Germany, and for those he had executed in the name of putting the Aryan race on top.

The Holocaust did not happen indeed. I am happy that we still feel outrage about that now. But if some people believe that today, can you imagine the future when people have stopped caring? He will be a photo on a page, and his atrocities will no longer cause younger generations to think. The prospect is very sad. For more information visit the website, http://adolfhitler.com

1. The most important one: Have at least one person in your life who is like-minded. This means someone who wants to be the best they can be, who has dreams and goals and takes action to make them a reality. I know such people can be hard to find! They don’t have to be following the same course in life as you. My best friend is studying to become a pilot and I enjoy computers and writing, yet because we love what we do, we help each other stay focused and motivated. But where can you find similar people? Try clubs and associations connected with your interests, the workplace, and of course, the Internet. Pick any subject and I guarantee you will find groups and forums for it online. Be proactive – seek out positive people. What they bring into your life – and you theirs – is priceless.

2. Watch inspirational movies. This is going to be down to personal taste, obviously, but here’s a selection of films that inspire me: The Star Wars films, Rocky I & II (the rest are no where near as good!), Shawshank Redemption, Twelve Angry Men, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, The Count Of Monte Cristo – There’s many more but these are my favourites and never fail to give me a boost. You could also add to this videos and DVDs of your favorite sporting moments – in fact anything that inspires you. Build your collection and watch them when you feel enthusiasm levels dropping.

3. Related to the first tip: read biographies about people you admire. Again, personal taste will dictate who you read about but here’s some people I admire greatly: Martin Luther King, Lance Armstrong, Helen Keller, Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Horatio Nelson, Franklin D and Eleanor Roosevelt, Muhammad Ali to name but a few. The beauty about this is that you read about people who achieved so much with their lives. You are learning about people who “walk the talk” rather than listening to people who haven’t done anything and may well be negative about life. If you want to achieve your dreams it is absolutely vital to stay positive. Reading about people you admire will do for your positive attitude what pizzas do for your waistline, i.e expand it!

4. Have a picture board and fill it with pictures of your goals: Type of house, views of the area where you want to live, car or boat or bike you want, jewelry, clothes – whatever it is you want! This is to give you a visual reminder everyday about the goals you are pursuing and reminds you that what you are working towards is something very worthwhile. It boosts enthusiasm and keeps you focused and on track.

5. Read quotations everyday. I’m a big believer in the use of quotations to inspire and I’m always on the lookout for new ones to add to my list of favourites. My list is 6 pages long and growing! Here’s a couple of good websites to checkout:

www.quotationspage.com & www.motivatingquotes.com

And to practice what I preach and to close this article nicely, here is the lastest quote I’ve added to my list and the one that inspired me to write this article:

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” – Vince Lombardi

And there you have 5 tips to help you maintain your enthusiasm and motivation. Put all 5 to use and you will stay positive and on course to achieve your goals!

Until next time.

The word “dreamer” and “visionary” are often used in a derogative way to describe people who are not in touch with the way things are.

Everyone is under a subtle pressure to conform to a limited consensual reality. For most people, it is easy to follow the path of least resistance and just work on surviving and dealing with the demands placed on you.

However, our passion, and our dreams, and our vision, is who we are, and when we refuse to give them the space to expand in our minds and hearts, something dies inside us.

The most important thing you can do is to keep your dream alive.

Here are some simple steps to take:

One, fully expand on your dream. Write it out in detail. You can make a list of what you want. You can write out your ideal scene. Or you can collect pictures and paste them up on a board.

Two, review your graphic representation of your dream every morning as soon as you wake up and every night just before you go to bed. This simple ritual makes a strong impression upon your subconscious mind, and activates it to start looking for ways to make your dream real.

Three, spend at least 15 minutes running a mental movie in your mind of what it would be like to actually be experiencing your dream.

Four, write up a simple plan. Even if you have no idea how to achieve your dream, begin with a simple step. If, for example, you wish to be a millionaire, but work in a dull job and have absolutely no idea how to make more money…begin by reading a biography of a millionaire.

The importance of your first step is that you are telling your subconscious mind that you are serious. It will then give you a suggestion as to the next step to take after that one. Insights will come once you take a step. Begin the journey with your first step.

Five, create a daily ritual, in which you are taking a step forward. It might be reading inspiring material. It might be writing in your journal. It might be learning a new skill.

Again, you are reinforcing the power of your dream upon your own mind. You are saying, “This is what I want!”

Finally, refuse to partake in things that drain you…things that limit your dream, that make it seem unimportant. Set aside those habits that get in the way of your dream…whether the bad habits simple lower your self-esteem or fatigue or distract you, they must go.

Once you seize the courage to dream, the next step is to keep your dream alive. These five suggestions will then make your dream more vivid in your mind. Once this happens, you will start to have new insights and develop more and more ways to make your dream more and more possible.

In the beginning, most dreams appear to be impossible dreams, but once you engage the imagination, the will, and move forward with simple plans, you begin the journey towards actualizing your power in ways that you cannot presently even envision. The impossible slowly becomes possible. It does take courage and effort…but what could be more rewarding than moving in the direction of your fondest aspiration?

You see, I am struck by how often I hear from writers who want to know if their current project is worth the effort. Basically they want to know if they can sell it. There’s no passion behind their idea. No writing for the love of writing. They’re willing to abandon an idea based on my say so or someone else’s. Somehow I don’t think John Steinbeck, when he was writing East of Eden went around asking anyone if it was worth the effort. In fact, I am inspired by what a reviewer said of that novel when it was published. “A novel planned on the grandest possible scale…One of those occasions when a writer has aimed high and then summoned every ounce of energy, talent, seriousness, and passion of which he was capable…”

I keep that quote in front of me as I write my next novel. I hope I’m aiming high. I’d rather aim high and miss than aim low and be ordinary. I’d like to challenge you to aim for greatness in your next project. If you’re not sure how to do so, here are a few tips that may help.

Seek Out Good Teachers

Shooting for greatness can be a lot harder when you don’t have the guidance and support of a strong teacher or writing coach. A good teacher will see you as a person as well as a writer which helps them to know what you are truly capable of. A good teacher will know when to push you and when to hold back. Many years ago I had a teacher who discouraged me from starting a novel. I was new to understanding my powers as a writer and he feared that I wouldn’t be able to finish what I started and give up writing altogether. He was right. I probably wouldn’t have finished back then. I was too immature.

I picked that teacher because after hearing him speak I instinctively knew he had the pieces I was looking for then to establish myself as a writer. Likewise it may help you to assess where your writing stands and what you need to learn to get your work to the next level. Don’t be afraid to interview an instructor before you take a class to see if you can get what you’re looking for.

Complete One Project

You may have a zillion ideas in your head right now. Choose one and complete it. Why? Because you will learn so much from sticking with one project and bringing it to fruition, even if it doesn’t get published. You’ll learn how to work with ideas, you’ll learn what to do when you get stuck, you’ll learn more about your own writing habits and your strengths and weaknesses. Have you ever gone to a museum and seen the drawings that an artist makes as “studies” in preparation for a larger painting? This is kind of the same idea. Once you get to your larger canvas, you’ll be better prepared to write your masterpiece!

Set Big Goals for Your Next Project

Okay, next you have to think BIG. What kind of book would be challenging and exciting for you to write? A massive 4-volume biography of a historical figure? A 500-page Civil War epic that spans 3 generations? (And don’t say the Civil War has been done before! Check out E.L. Doctorow’s The March and see how new creativity can enliven an old idea.) How about a romance novel good enough to win a National Book Award? Whatever your shot at greatness will be, the only requirement is that it’s something that you will absolutely love writing. Otherwise you won’t want to keep going when the going gets tough.

Remember to bring originality to your ideas. I recently read a piece that was adequately written, but every single sentence and expression had already been said in songs and other works. That’s not always a bad thing, but this author had done nothing to make the work her own. This is the kind of thing that can cause a manuscript to be rejected and the writer would be totally baffled because she thought she had written well. It takes more than a pretty sentence for a work to be great.

Read Other Great Work

You will hear this A LOT from me as well as many editors and literary agents: if you’re going to be a great writer, you must read. Always read great writing so you will be reminded of what’s possible with the language. Good writing can become almost like a tune in your head and you’re programming yourself to play that tune when you get in front of your computer screen. Now that doesn’t mean you’ve got someone else’s voice in your head and you’re writing in a Stephen King or E.L. Doctorow persona! It does mean that you can read your work back to yourself and recognize when you’ve hit a wrong note. In reading you’ll also learn how authors work with big picture ideas and themes–the kind of stuff that adds layers of depth and interest to a book.

Disconnect from Thoughts of Money

I know making money is important, but it can also be a huge distraction. For now, unplug from that impulse that makes you want to think about how much you can sell this project for or whether you can sell the movie rights to it. There will be time enough for all that when you have finished your great work. Of course, sometimes thinking about the finish line can be what motivates you. Maybe having a copy of a big fat royalty check on your bulletin board keeps you going. That’s okay. But if you find yourself trying to sell the book before you’ve made any headway into the project, beware. What if you did sell it at that point? Then you’d be caught up in meeting a deadline and meeting expectations. Those aren’t exactly ideal conditions under which to deliver a pacesetting work.

One last note: Even if your book project is not meant for the general public–maybe you’re writing a book for your children, for instance–that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have similarly high standards. After all, whatever you create is going to go out there with your name on it. That fact alone can inspire you to make your book the best that it can be.

© 2006 Sophfronia Scott

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?

See Sophfronia’s The Book Sistah Blog, category “Articles”.

Reading a book is one of the best ways to reduce your stress level and can even help you solve whatever problem is ailing you. Reading a good novel or story will open a window to the world and give you a vision of things you never dreamed possible.

Reading is the great escape and it also works well as a way to relax. When you curl up with a good book, you put the rest of the world and all its troubles out of your mind as you are taken to distant places to learn about different time periods, and to expose yourself to new ideas and philosophies. You are essentially taking a vacation of the mind — but one that can be virtually cost-free, especially if you live near a library.

Of course, reading is also a great way to reduce stress by gaining the knowledge you need to solve problems. For example, let’s say you’re overweight and this is causing you stress. You find that the more weight you gain, the more stressed you become, which just causes you to eat more. Instead of getting stressed out, why not read a good book about nutrition that will teach you how to plan meals better, so they’re low-cal and low-fat. This could very well result in reducing your weight problem and it could even disappear altogether along with the stress that is bringing you down.

Reading can also be a source of great hope, giving you ideas and inspiration that will relieve your stress. Biographies and rags-to-riches stories about famous people will teach how they overcame their struggles. These stories of triumph might even inspire you to seek ways to overcome the challenges in your life.

Of course, there are also times when reading can increase your stress level. For instance, if you are studying for a test, or reading about tragedies in your local newspaper, you might find your stress levels skyrocketing. That’s why it’s important to choose your reading material carefully. If you’re feeling stressed, why not pick up a book that will relax you. A good travel book, or cookbook, or book of poetry are far better choices than news magazines filled with stories about all the things that are wrong in the world.

Self-help books are also a very effective way to help reduce stress. They encourage you to explore your feelings and they recommend such techniques as listening to soothing music, learning how to play a musical instrument, or just engaging in deep breathing in order to deal with stressful situations.

One of the best stress reliever is reading a good novel. It’s the best medicine there is without the side effects of drugs. When you read a good story, whether it be a historical fiction or a mystery thriller or a comic novel, it almost always transports you away from anxieties and frustrations. It allows your imagination to run free and then leaves you feeling refreshed and invigorated. When you are reading it forces you to concentrate, to exercise your mind in a way that passively watching TV or a movie can never match.

In the long run, it doesn’t matter what you read but how much you read. Try reading while standing in the grocery line, or at the bank, or while pedaling your stationary bike. The more you read, the more you will want to read because you will quickly discover its short and long term stress reducing benefits.

Toffler proved to be both right and wrong. “Future Shock” did attack millions of people, but primarily those in the newly freed nations of the former Soviet Bloc, especially Russia itself. Hundreds of immigrants pouring out of those nations to the United States in the 1990s reportedly returned complaining about “too much choice”.

Even a worldly British author and high tech consultant who spent the 1990s living and working in Southern California and Washington, DC, will soon publish a book about his American experience that includes a chapter on how even Western Europeans can be overwhelmed by American-style consumerism. The working title? “A Cornucopia of Confusing Consumer Choices: Forty-Five Types of Shredded Wheat?”

What Toffler failed to foresee was the ease with which Americans, Canadians and, within the dominion of their own societies, the rest of the “developed” world not only would accept but often demand faster implementation of new technologies. Generations raised on Star Trek and Star Wars did not merely anticipate desktop computers, instant global information access, hand-held global “communicators” and robots, they built them.

Some of Naisbitt’s predictions, such as a rise in home-based “networking”, were amazingly on target, especially considering he never used the words Internet, e-mail, global positioning system (GPS) – none of which as yet existed – nor terrorism, arguably four of the most important factors driving late 20th and early 21st Century society.

Perhaps the most astounding – and controversial – look at our technology-based future came in 2001, when Ray Kurzweil, one of the world’s most honored inventors, authors and futurists, published his “Law of Accelerating Returns”.

“An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st Century – it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The ‘returns’, such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity – technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and non-biological intelligence, immortal software-based humans and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.”

And that is only the opening paragraph! (The entire piece is available at http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1).

Kurzweil’s “law” helps explain what Toffler feared and Naisbitt sought to analyze. As to whether Kurzweil is qualified to make such bold statements, consider his remarkable biography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil. Or simply Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ 2005 description of him as “the best at predicting the future of artificial intelligence”.

Given Kurzweil’s Law, Naisbitt’s “Megatrends” and Toffler’s “Future Shock” already are being dwarfed by the speed of technological advance. Any new version of either book would have to be electronically published to avoid being comically out-of-date before ever reaching a bookstore.

Consider a few examples of where we are headed in the next 20 years or so:

Military doctors already are looking to field, within a decade, an early version of Star Trek’s medical tricorder – not hoping, not expecting, but planning.

The US Army’s Future Warrior, the combat infantry ensemble circa 2020, has been called everything from a futuristic medieval knight’s suit of armor to a Star Wars’ Imperial Trooper. But Future Warrior is an evolutionary process, with the first elements now on their way to US troops in Southwest Asia, for whom small robots that perform dangerous tasks such as checking for explosives at roadblocks already are considered honored and invaluable teammates.

Hydrogen fuel cells the size of soda cans have been powering TV field cameras for the past two years; people all over the globe can flip open their own “communicators” and not only talk to anyone anywhere, but take and send photos and movies, listen to music, download information, send and receive text messages, obtain precise GPS locations – even Mr. Spock would be likely to raise an eyebrow and mutter, “Fascinating”.

Kurzweil’s Singularity foresees a time – perhaps within the next two decades – when it will be possible to download a human being’s memories and personality into a computer. Add an advanced and highly realistic avatar based on that individual’s actual appearance (at any age) and an equally accurate voice synthesizer and it will be possible to have a real-time, original conversation with a dead relative or teacher. Imagine Einstein or Mozart or da Vinci preserved for all time.

The religious implications, of course, are obvious, as are the legal and societal: With AI Grandpa still own his house? Will flesh-and-blood Grandma be able to remarry? Is erasing an AI personality disk murder? And for writers and publishers, if copyrights continue for 70 years after the author’s death, is an AI author dead – or immortal?

Nanotechnology – microscopic machines – and microbiology are expected to combine to enable the repair of almost anything that goes wrong with any part of the body. No chemotherapy, no contact lenses, no open heart surgery, just an injection of thousands of tiny robotic surgeons programmed to deal with the problem.

Experiments already have been performed to enable two people to share sensory perceptions. In others, robotic limbs have been activated by subjects thinking about moving their own arms or legs. Such bioelectronic advances are expected to enable quadriplegics to walk away from their wheelchairs, possibly within a generation.

Consider:

- In 1906 we had just witnessed the first flight of a heavier-than-air manned aircraft, a flight that lasted less than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Six decades later, we were walking on the Moon.

- In 1906, few people had access to a very cumbersome, expensive and unreliable telephone system and radio was still an experiment; today, you can watch television on your cellphone.

- In 1906, the average life expectancy in the US was 46.9 for men, 50.8 for women; today, it is 74.5 for men and 79.9 for women, according to US government tables. But many futurists say for those of us now living, the trick will simply be to live long enough . . to live forever – which they believe the merger of biology and technology will make possible, in one form or another, within a generation.

“Future Shock” and “Megatrends” were products of the late 20th Century, when Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns was just beginning to reach the Tipping Point — “that dramatic moment when something unique becomes common”. In contrast, the 21st Century will require entirely new legal, sociological, philosophical, religious, political, moral and personal concepts.

Perhaps it is – 250 years earlier than claimed by the 1990s TV show “Babylon 5″ – truly the “dawn of the Third Age of Mankind”.

This is especially so when you’ve started to break into the field and you’re a ghost writer — or ghostwriter — who has never really ghosted a book for someone else before. You’re probably thinking big bucks, major book contracts, large amounts of cash advances from publishers and huge percentages from the books you will be anonymously writing for big time authors.

But let’s face some facts. First time authors are often people with no real money or skills to invest in writing a book. They may have fantastic stories to tell, but they don’t have the enormous amount of financial capital available to hire any such expensive ghost writers. They’re bound to enter some psychological difficulties when they see that the payments to you are the whopper figures such as those listed above, and that those are the only sorts of prices accessible to them. By laying out such enormous fees, you could be stuck losing a huge customer base of clients with fantastic stories to tell — but without the major wherewithal to pay you to tell them. What if, say, your potential author, the person hiring you to write his or her story, has only $5000 or less to spend?

I know what I’m talking about, and I can create a decent, well-written work of cheap ghost writing in a month or so for around that amount of money. You do that, and there’s your $60,000 per year! It really isn’t all that hard. You don’t even have to charge as high as $5000 per book.

Most other ghost writers I know are only as capable I am, but many of them do charge the higher amounts. The clients of the high end ghost writers tend to be people with enormous sales potential, not the typical first time authors who have a great story but often don’t really go anywhere with it – the so called “sucker market.”

It might be worthwhile to consider charging less, or negotiating a deal with such a “first timer.” Over the years, I have drawn the conclusion that there are an awful lot of such people out there. I have been ghost writing books for people for as low an amount as $2000 per book, and as I have sources of income from other types of writing, I have been finding an immense amount of personal satisfaction from helping such would be authors actually obtain what they are looking for in a “cheap ghost writer” who charges a reasonable price for the quality and quantity of work done for them. I simply ask for installment payments, usually made in advance, and sometimes I also ask for a percentage of the net book sales.

This works out to be less “greedy” on my part and more of a service that I provide for authors who are simply yearning to get their books up high on the top of the New York Times Bestseller lists, and who know that such are their dreams, not necessarily their realities. These are often people who have reached the ends of their ropes when it comes to negotiating a lower price for their books. They usually have nowhere else to turn when it comes to putting out their own personal stories, and they need someone with a willing ear and pen to listen and help them set down their tales before it’s too late for them to be told. And there is still hope for these people to even hit the big time, if they have the right types of stories to tell.

Also, some of these authors simply don’t know what they’re doing and need a guiding hand to help them. They need their letters of query written up for them, their brief biographies put together, and their book proposals prepared for them, as they are dipping their toes into the writing field and getting them wet for the first time. A lot of them think they are going to get their book written and then get some kind of major advance, straight from a publisher.

It just isn’t like that 90% of the time. An advance comes after a deal has been negotiated with a reputable literary agent, bids by publishers for the book have been scrutinized, and contracts have been signed. It helps in a major way to have the book in hand, sometimes even having it self published first, to get anywhere near a commercial publisher. This can be a very expensive process for a first time, would be author.

People like that don’t need to face down what looks like to them to be a million dollar price tag when they are looking for what’s described as a cheap ghost writer. They want an actual inexpensive ghost writer who understands their needs, both budgetary and otherwise, who can sit down with them and negotiate a fairly low amount of money paid out by them so they can figure on at least getting some return from their books. These people are not Presidents of the United States or famous movie actors, whose books are guaranteed to sell, and many of them find themselves “stuck” with what used to be called vanity publishing, nowadays called self publishing. They won’t necessarily find a commercial publisher who wants to take a chance on huge returns from their books in today’s multifaceted but still challenging world of publishing.

These clients need literally cheap or inexpensive ghost writers. They don’t need to spend a small fortune on their books to find out they all dead ended in a warehouse, didn’t sell as widely as they thought they would, or they otherwise came out on the short end of the stick. They need to carefully invest their time and effort on a decent, expert ghost writer. And they could use some material publishing help to get their books “out there” — properly displayed and promoted in today’s modern Internet oriented book market.

Help them. Consider bargaining and bartering at a lower price sometimes, and not at a higher price. It might be worth your while. Try it and see!