|
|
| Writing Information |
|
|
|
|
Writing Made Them Rich #4: Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was born on August 24th 1947 in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil. At age 17 he announced his intention to be a writer.It was a decision bitterly opposed by his parents,partly because Brazil at that time was under amilitary junta that persecuted writers andintellectuals. Coelho's rebellious behaviour led his parents to havehim confined to a mental hospital in Rio de Janeirowhere he received shock treatment. He escaped - andwas returned - three times. With the arrival of the 1960's Coelho threw himselfenergetically into the counterculture of drugs androck-and-roll. In his 20's he fulfilled his ambition to be a writerand worked as a playwright, a theatre director, ajournalist, and a song-writer for Brazilian pop musicstars such as Elis Regina and Raul Seixas. In 1974, says Coelho "my life collapsed". That year he was arrested three times, the first timeas an innocent bystander at a bank robbery, the secondtime for speaking out against the establishment at apop concert. After being released by the police he wasarrested a third time by paramilitaries who torturedhim for a week. In the late 1970's his life was back on track againand he became artistic director for CBS in Brazil. But in 1979 he was suddenly sacked without explanationand he spent the next 2 years knocking on doorstrying to get back into the music industry. In 1981 he decided to try his luck in Europe and theremet a member of an obscure Catholic Sect that studiesthe language of symbols: RAM or Regnus Agnus Mundi. Heprogressed within the sect and eventually became aMagus. In 1986, on instructions from his mentor within RAM,Coelho undertook the pilgrimage to Santiago diCompostella in Spain. The following year he published The Pilgrimage, anaccount of his experiences on the 'Road of Santiago'. In 1988 he wrote the book that would make him aninternational celebrity, The Alchemist, a story aboutfollowing one's destiny and being open to the universeof signs and symbols. The Alchemist became an instant best-seller and hassince sold over 11 million copies worldwide. Coelho's eight novels have sold over 37 million copiesin 56 languages and have been published in 140countries. In 1998 the French magazine 'Lire' listed Coelho asthe second best-selling author worldwide. Paulo Coelho has won over 15 international awards forhis writing including the prized French award, theInsignia of Arts and Letters (1996). Critics havepraised his writing for its "symbolic language thatdoes not speak to our brains, but to our hearts". In 1998 Paulo Coelho was received by the Pope in theVatican. He has been appointed to the United Nations as SpecialAdvisor for Spiritual Convergences and InternationalDialogues. Coelho's view on happiness: "The most mediocre thingin the world. I'd rather go by the idea of joy." ------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Write A Newsletter In order to be successful with a newsletter, specialize in a subject not adequately covered in existing newsletters. A subject which you can give more, or better information on. Writing Helpful Help ? A Minimalism Checklist User documentation is all too often written by programmers for programmers. It tends to focus on the product's features, rather than the user's tasks. Generally, programmers aren't in the ideal position to be writing user documentation. They're too close to the bits and bytes, and they're too far from the user. To them, what the product can do tends to be far more important than what the user can do with the product. Writing Styles for Fiction: Which Voice to Use I recently set up a website to promote a new suspense novel. Once it started receiving hits I began getting questions about why I chose to write in third person. The truth is, I didn't make a conscious decision to write that way. I just sort of happened and I went with it. As I got through the manuscript, I found that writing in the third person "flowed" better than any other voice since throughout the story I used a lot of dialogue between characters. It just fit. Other people wrote and asked what difference it makes which voice you write in and that's what I'll try to address here. Overcome Writers Block with Snake Dancing Writer's block! Even columnist Dave Berry has it. He admits that at least 30 times a day when writing his humor column, he gets up from his computer to sip his Pepsi to divert his attention when he can't think of what to write. Recently, he reached for the cola and instead found a coiled snake. He tried barbecue tongs to carry it away, but when it landed in his pool, he kept the dance going trying to catch the thing. Writing About Writing What am I going to write about?Which topic is the best?Who is going to be interested in my article? Plotting By Personality - Work With Your Natural Instincts What's the best way to plot? Should You Write a Book? One morning, you open your inbox and find several e-mails that will boost your business. There is an invitation to speak at a local group comprised of your best prospects. Several emails have arrived from people who've "heard of you" and inquire about your services. Written Communications ? 6 Tips on Language & Tone In most aspects of business, we will be expected to write a message to a client or customer, in the form of a letter, memo or e-mail. Language and tone in these communications is vital to the relationship with the recipient, and can mean the difference between a sale and a lost prospect. Therefore, we cannot afford to get it wrong. Following are six tips on how to write to a customer or client to ensure the best possible outcome. Create the Writing Life You Want Ah, writing. For those of us who love to play with words, it's like standing in front of a smorgasbord, agonising over which delicacies to try. You can potter about with your writing as a thoroughly delightful hobby - writing wedding speeches, penning dreadful doggerel for people's birthdays, or writing stories to entertain your children. Or you can work at it, hour after hour, determined that your book is going to be the next bestseller. You can choose the writing life that's perfect for you now, then change direction later, as your circumstances change and your experience grows. Finding The Book Writing Resources, Tips, And Help You Need! Writing can be more difficult that just compiling your thoughts on a few pieces of paper. In fact, it can be a challenge to find something new, interesting, and publishable to write about. Even if you have the basic designs for a book, you still need to fill the pages in with creative, flowing words to convey your thoughts or the actions within the book. What you need is to find book writing resources, tips, and help to get you through the more difficult areas. Even when the words are flowing through the keys or the pen, you may need some additional book writing resources, tips, and help to get you a final product that can be published! Be Your Own Literary Agent and Get Published So you're one of 20 million Americans who want to write a book. If you've already written a manuscript, chances are you're looking for agent representation. In the past few years, as an editor and literary consultant for www.TheOmnibus.org, I've had the opportunity to read more than 1,000 book proposals. Most, I'm sad to report, were inadequate because the author did not follow a few, very simple guidelines. Dont Forget That Manual! No user manual? Surely you jest! 10 Ways to Shatter Writers Block 1. Use Logic: Check for External Pressures 6 Ways to Toot Your Own Writing Horn You know you've got writing talent. Others enjoy your work and you've even sold a few things. You'd like to turn that writing talent into full-time freelancing but you don't enough clients yet. You need to toot your own horn! Writing Internal Newsletters: How to Build Your Network and Your Reputation To help build your profile and reputation within a large company create or contribute to, an internal newsletter. Your company collegues are an excellent network for you - lift your internal reputation by writing an internal newsletter that people will read. This article is full of tips to help you get started. Screenwriting ? The Value of Structure Structure in the form of frameworks, work processes and goals enhances creative output: Scenes and Structure Beginning writers often tend to think of a book as a series of chapters. It's actually more useful to regard it as a series of linked scenes. Why? Because it makes it a lot easier to control the pace of your story. Five Golden Rules for Writers Regardless of what sort of writer you are and how much you love to write, there are probably days when you'd rather clean ditches than face another blank page. Five Tips to Find More Time for Your Writing Life When I asked new ezine subscribers, "What is your Number One writing question?" the answer came back loud and clear: "Time!" Editing Secrets Once you've plotted out your book, developed the characters and written the last word of text, the real work begins. As busy editors are bombarded with hundreds or even thousands of submissions a year, it's more important than ever that authors apply their own editing skills to their manuscripts before putting them in the mail. Checking your basic grammar and spelling are of course important, but authors need to go beyond surface editing if their work has a chance of catching an editor's eye.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2005 |