I started writing when I was 16 years old. To this day I love writing; I love the fact that we can translate words into images. It is incredible when I think about it. Everyone should write, writing is a way to express your feelings, what you want, what you are.

There is no excuse. With word processors, which are a godsend by the way, you can just start writing and you don’t have to worry about spelling mistakes, having to retype anything, and many other things. If you are reading this is probably because you want to write, but for some reason you haven’t done so.

If you think that writing will only take time away from you, you are wrong. Writing improves you in every way you can imagine. So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy of Microsoft Word, and start writing!

Before you do that, there is something you must ask yourself. Would you write even if nobody read it? If you answered yes to that question, you can be a great author. It is true that writing doesn’t become real until you have an audience, but remember that at first no one will want to read what you have to say. Perseverance is the key. If you want to write well, you have to practice, practice, and practice.

For your writing to be successful, you also need to read a lot. Reading is great. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. If you are deciding whether you want to be an author or not, keep reading.

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about authors such as Stephen King and Dan Brown. You probably think that they are the only authors that really make $$$, well that’s simply not true. When you go to a bookstore, you see thousands of books. That means that there must be at least a few thousand successful authors out there. That’s without counting e-books, online articles, newspapers, etc. And you can be part of that! The internet is growing like never before, people from all over the world are starting to read whatever you write. It’s just an incredible opportunity.

So what do you think now? Writing is not only good for making money. Writing is also good for advertising purposes. A teacher of mine once told me “There are only two useful skills in life; to read and to write.” That’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard.

You are probably thinking that if you want to write, then you will have to put aside other activities. That’s completely wrong. This day I write, I work, I have a beautiful wife, I study and I’m as happy as anyone can be. You tell me if you can’t do anything other than writing. I consider writing a hobby.

So now you are probably thinking what kind of author you want to be. That’s totally up to you. Remember that you must write about a subject that is familiar to you. Ideas will just flow through your mind if you write about something you like. If you decide that you want to write a book, do so. Perhaps write about something that happened to you, or about something that you thought about at some point in your life. The things you can write about are endless! If you write a good war book, be sure to tell me, because I’m going to buy it.

Remember that success is achieved by 99% of failure. So if you were to fall, remember this and keep writing. Never stop writing. One thing that the world lacks of are good authors, there are so many open positions. If you start now, who knows, in a few years you could be making more money than Bill Gates can count. There are more and more people every day that like to read. Not because of the TV, which doesn’t help at all, but because education is greatly increasing all around the world. And since you are reading this you know how to read English and therefore, you can take advantage of this revolution.

So the bottom line is that you should start writing, and keep writing until you think about writing when you are not even writing.

Technology is one of the most interesting subjects to follow. As technology is constantly evolving, you get new and exciting stuff happening on a daily basis. It is fun and exciting to check on the latest headlines to see what is new, what is in, and what is out. You can get your daily dosage of technology news from various sources.

Established technology sites.

These are huge technology sites that are well recognized in the industry. Sites like CNET, Tomshardware, etc. offer fresh and interesting news on a daily basis. In fact, some sites are so popular that hardware manufacturers actually send them free hardware so that the editors can test them out and post reviews on their sites. That means, you, as the reader, get first hand information on the performance of the latest hardware.

News search engines.

News search engines are not dedicated to technology news, but you can use them to search for your favorite news. Simply type in the keywords (e.g. “latest CPU”), and the latest and most relevant news will be presented to you. You can even subscribe to the news based on those keywords.

Technology blog search.

Technology blog search engines like Technorati are very interesting. They do not work the same way as search engines. You have to wait for the search engines to crawl a site before you get updated content. For blog search engines, the blog actually sends a ping to the search engine, letting the crawler know that there is new content. It’s interesting to observe that blog search engines always tend to get the word out faster than traditional search engines. Perhaps that’s why they are gaining in popularity.

Technology blogs.

From the search engines, you can easily locate technology blogs. There are thousands and thousands of technology blogs on the Internet. So what is it that separates the quality blogs from the not-go-great technology blogs?

Usually, you can tell if a blog is a quality blog or not just be reading the first few posts. On the Internet, everything is about content. So killer content is what you are looking for. For technology blogs, killer content means more than just being grammatically correct. It also means more than just copy and paste specifications. Specifications of technological gadgets are important, but once the specifications have been publicly released, almost every blog can post such information. In other words, the information is not unique.

What you want is unique information – information that cannot easily be found elsewhere. For example, a technology blog can hand pick interesting technology gadgets and write exclusive reviews on these gadgets. You can read about the latest voice activated alarm clock, or the latest gaming laptop, 3G iPhone, etc. Since these gadgets appeal to the masses, you are assured of interesting content. Those are the blogs that are worth reading and following.

You may then choose to follow those news sources by subscribing to their RSS feeds. You can do this using an RSS reader. If you do not want to use a feed reader, you can simply bookmark the sites and visit them at a later date.

You’ve seen audio books in many formats, haven’t you? Recorded books, as they are also called, come on CDs and tapes. The latest technology has created MP3 books. As weird as it may sound, many people like recorded books on tape better than books on CD. Read along to learn why.

Although CDs are great, but when it comes to listening to recorded books, books on tape are the long-term consumer’s favorite.

As a sideline, MP3 books are the new kids on the block. They offer even more flexibility and convenience. Above all formats, MP3 books cut out the fancy packaging, the mail carrier or extra shopping trips. How would an instant download at home suit your busy schedule?

Overall, their superior storage, unnoticeable portability and better price make them superior above other formats so far.

But what’s with recorded books on tape being superior to books on CD?

1. Most audio books on CD are incapable of holding more than 75 minutes of content. On the other hand, books on tape cram 90 plus minutes of voice-over.

Sure, you can have the complete audio book copied out over several CDs. But who wants to haul around a heavyweight case with CDs, right?

So, a few tape cassettes will do you for a particular audio book. In contrast, you will need many more CDs for that same audio book.

2. Would you spend extra money for audio books on CD when you can get the same book on tape (or in MP3 format) for less?

Here’s a quick example to explain:

An unabridged version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” slims down to nest in 12 audiotapes. It sells for a mere $31.96 on the Barnes & Noble. Ready for the CD numbers now? The same version there, on CDs, costs roughly double the amount – $55.96. And you’ll have 5 more items to handle ’cause there are 17 sets of CDs.

Now, you are thinking … “What a rip off!”

Whoa!

It’s far from being fleeced. CDs simply cost much more time and money to produce. Because of the extra outlays, the price tag is higher than the one for the tapes.

3. This one’s clear. When you turn off your CD player while listening to an audio book, often, you won’t be able to carry on from the exact spot you left off. With a tape, you can continue from the exact track location you left off.

Imagine how annoying this can be if you are driving and you turn off your car. You’d need to kick-start the audio book CD and patiently locate the spot where you stopped at.

If you have a more advanced CD player that saves your location when you turn off your car, then it’s no problem until …

You shut off the car and pull out the CD.

Oops.

If you do the same with an audiocassette, the spot where you left off is waiting for you when you push the tape back into the player.

4. You may or may not agree with me here. Audio books, after all, are narrations. Many recorded books enthusiasts are smart. They say …”Why would I spend the extra cash to buy CDs because of recording quality level when I can snatch near enough the same quality on audiotapes for much less?”

It boils down to the reality that a human voice recording has little to gain in depth and clarity when recorded on a CD as an alternative of a tape cassette.

Recorded books are here to stay. You, too, may prefer books on tape over books on CD. The tape benefits clearly outweigh the ones of CDs. Have they surprised you at all?

With the entrance of MP3 players and MP3-enabled cellular phones, you can be in good company with audio books MP3 of your choice anywhere you go. The pure ease of use for MP3 books pushes them to the top of modern portable conveniences. They allow for a fun-on-the-go cruising or an educational makeover without trying to find the extra time.