Adult Education

For a lot of people education is a ladder to be used for social climbing. They have issues with class and self-esteem and getting themselves a qualification is primarily a means of dealing with them. Their motivation for those hard nights of slogging through tedious material is getting another rung up and away from where they were born. They have no passion for learning, no desire to achieve anything beyond a better job with a better salary. These are people for whom mere competence is satisfactory,whose dreams are of middle-management and mediocrity. Too often, however, they become so overwhelmed by a sense of self-importance as a result of their achievements that they are unable to perform their jobs well. People whose only interest in education is as a means of getting validation tend not to be happy unless they are recognized, praised,constantly reassured as to their importance. Education is not psycho-therapy, and while personal insecurites might provide some motivation, acquiring a degree will not remove those insecurities. This particular set of problems is

Motivation
A more powerful motivation for study is passion. Simple delight in a certain subject can provide longer lasting fuel and greater satisfaction over a period of learning.than anything else.

Technorati Tags: education, learning, writing, adult+education, back+to+college, mature, adult, qualifications

How to Get Published. Seriously.

It has taken me a while to realize that what I write sounds different to me in my head than it does to someone else reading it on paper or on a monitor. One of the key things in writing is
knowing that the reader has no access to the pictures in your head except what you give them.
If you don't have a clear picture of your readership, you cannot write for anybody except yourself.
The only readership you have whose attention is relatively guaranteed is the set of editors to whom
you submit your work, therefore those are the people you really need to know. Forget about what you like, you do not know shit, write what they will like.

For literary magazines:
Self-conscious, slightly smug quirkiness is your most important asset. Real cleverness will not be understood by most of your editors,
instead what you have to try for is the pseudo-cleverness that 14 year-old girls can get. Think Chandler from Friends, think of him trying to seduce a middle-schooler with wit and charm.

Write adult themes but Hardy-Boy Style. Nothing gets you quick success like writing about rape and murder in simple terms.

technorati tags: writing writer fiction literature publish published publishing write