Quast

Let's start with the obvious: Everything today is revolving around the Internet. Now a day, instead of having teleconferences we have web conferences, instead of paying traditional bills via checks, we pay our bills online via e-checks or credit cards. Anything and everything can be done online; right from getting a job via posting your resume on certain websites to paying your taxes thereafter.

As a professional, there is a learning curve at all times. That's how you climb the ladder of success. I am amazed by how many learning resources we now have on the Internet. Earlier, when Internet was not so popular, people used to go to the library for hours and hope to find some relevant books for the topic they were looking for.

Now, we have so many resources on the Internet that it's a matter of how we can get the right resource at the right time. Let's look at a few handy and important ones.

1. Search Engine like Google has grown so much over the years that now one can actually find answers to basically all the questions in the world on Google. Definitely, for some of those difficult questions, you need to know how to use Google. There is a term "Google-Fu" which is used to describe your ability to use Google. All of us have the access to the same tool, what makes the difference is how skilled we are in using it.

2. Online encyclopedia like Wikipedia is the best resource to get quick overview and introductory material for topics that are new for you. It can be difficult to find such material with a plain search in Google. For example, if I search for knowledge base in Google, I will most probably get a lot of technical resources pointing to various knowledge bases but never explain what knowledge base is in the first place. Using wikipedia under such circumstances is better.

3. Discussion forums like Experts Exchange is where you can get answers for your entire computer related technical questions. You can search over 1,000,000 solutions to retrieve the answer you need. They have almost all aspects of computing covered. Similarly you can find such domain specific forums for your help. Always remember, you are not the only one facing the problem that you are. Learn from others experience.

4. Knowledge base like FAQTs is a growing collection of high quality information. You can browse their knowledge base or perform specialized searches. They have a wide range of topics covered. You can create your own knowledge base as well here.

5. Content Marketplace like Gazhoo is a distinctive portal which has almost all kinds of documents like reports, essays, various business and legal forms and market researches. If you search on Google for various business documents like purchase order etc., you will have to dig into all the search results to see which one matches your needs, and still not find all of them in one location. Under such circumstances, you can visit Gazhoo.

John P Carter is a freelance journalist.

Many women are afraid to have sex during their pregnancy. This is understandable as there is a fear that the baby may be hurt during intercourse. Other women just feel uncomfortable with some sex positions and wish to know which sex positions are best while they're pregnant.

First, is having sex while pregnant safe? The answer is yes. As long as you have a normal pregnancy, you can have as much sex as you want. Some women have sex right until the very end of their pregnancy and find it as fun as ever. The only rule there is on whether or not to have sex during your pregnancy is whether or not you feel comfortable having sex. Some women do develop some bleeding or other phenomena when having sex while pregnant, and if you are one of those women than you should consult your doctor, but these women are a small minority.

Best Sex Positions For Pregnant Women

1. Spooning - spooning is a great sex position during pregnancy, especially the third trimester, because this position has you facing away from your partner, so your belly isn't in the way.

2. Half Missionary - This position has you lying with your feet on the edge of the bed, the floor, or supported by your partner. Your partner is standing over you, supported by his palms so he isn't lying on top of you like in the missionary position.

Positions You Should Avoid

Basically, None! That's the fun part. However, these positions may cause a bit of discomfort:

1. Missionary - This position may be difficult to perform when your stomach shows. During the early part of your pregnancy it's fine.

2. You on top - When you become heavier, it may be difficult to support yourself over your partner, and your belly may interfere.

3. Doggy style - You will have a hard time supporting yourself when you start to become heavy which will interfere with your concentration and pleasure.

You may also feel discomfort with deep penetration, regardless of position.

One Rule

Always remember this rule: The moment it starts to not feel good, stop. Otherwise you should be alright. Have fun and good luck with your pregnancy

To make sure you maintaing a healthy weight gain and a beautiful skin during your pregnancy visit this website How To Look Sexy During Pregnancy. Lucy Doyle is a pregnancy and diet expert. To read how you too can ensure your baby's health and look great at the same time visit Lucy Doyle's expert webpage on How To Not Gain Too Much Weight During Pregnancy.

If you are unpublished, you are one of my peeps. We are a nation of millions of poor saps who scratch our heads in constant angst with every killer query letter returned in standard issue rejection, while we squirm in our Costco leatherite desk chairs to take pressure off the birth of a new hemorrhoid.

For my own sanity, I'd like to share some things I have learned over the past ten years. It is the least I can do. But before I begin, I must warn you, remove any loaded guns, put the arsenic away, tuck the noose under the bed, and pull the box of Kleenex near.

Are you ready? Lets do a little sharing then, shall we?

One: Contests

I dabbled in writing scripts about ten years ago, entering two in some smalltime but legitimate screenplay contest in Monterey County, California. When informed that both made it to the second round, I secretly allowed myself the simple pleasure of imagining my acceptance speech at the Academy Awards. When I daydream, I dont mince fantasies. A month later, I received the sorry but letter for both scripts. I realized later that the second round was reserved for those scripts that were submitted in the correct format and with a payment that didnt bounce. So much for HollywoodI filed my acceptance speech away.

Lesson One: the second round of any writing contest only means two things: 1) your work was formatted correctly, and 2) your check/credit card entry fee was approved.

Two: Paying to be read

Undaunted, I decided all I needed was to have one of the scripts read and critiqued by a literary agency/service. I found one, The Star Literary Service in Tucson Arizona. It was before Google was around. So I forked up $90 to have it critiqued, believing that once read, theyd clamor to represent me. I soon received a boilerplate response with a few standard critique paragraphs essentially saying, "The writer has promise but the script is not marketable. Thank you very much."

In all fairness, having dusted off the script recently for a reread, it was amateurish but not because it was not marketable. In fact, a few years later Youve Got Mail was released, a slightly modified version of my story called Roomance, right down to the actors I had in mindso much for no market. The truth is, the script was amateurish because, other than the dialogue, the scene descriptions read like a Tolstoy novel, making it about sixty-eight pages longer than it needed to be. Regardless, I would have been better served if I had just played the slots in Atlantic City with the ninety bucks.

Lesson Two: if one pays an agency to read her/his work, make sure the cost can be covered by disposable income, as in trash disposable. The good ones dont charge to read!

Three: The International Society of Poets (and all permutations)

Having felt the rush of finishing not one but two pretty lame scripts, I was somewhat satiated. Meanwhile, my full time job was becoming quite intrusive. Happy to have two completed scripts under my belt, I filed the writing away, thinking I was over it. But if you are my peeps, you know the urge to write always lurks below the surface, kind of like a life long skin allergy that suddenly bubbles up on the old epidermis just when you think you out grew the damn thing.

Well the urge hibernated for many years. And when it awoke, it was for poetry of all things. I was suckered into that poetry.com site to submit a poem to its weekly sponsored $100 contest at www.poetry.com. If any of you have stumbled across this little ruse, you know what happens next. You receive an unexpected email or letter from that irascible Howard Ely and the folks from the International Society of Poets (or a handful of other related societies). Before you can say iambic pentameter, you discover you are in the semi-finals of some big contest and your poetry is going to appear in some grand Anthology.

For the uninitiated, I cant say this any clearer. If this occurs, pick up your quill or mouse and run for the hills! It is all about collecting cold cash from gullible poets to buy a copy of a $59 heirloom quality anthology containing their poems. And if that doesnt pull in the bucks, they take it up a notch. How about a recording of your poem read by a professional on a CD? Still not doin it for ya? Why not attend a Poet Society sponsored convention to read your poetry to your peers? Or buy a plaque? Or a pen? Or a glass football? Or a set of coasters? Or whatever you want to imprint your maximum-of-twenty-one-lines poem on? How about dem apples?

I must admit. My vanity leaked out a wee bit when I received that first unsolicited announcement letter from Howie. Fortunately, I was rudely snapped out of it by my son who said he thought the poem I had submitted was somewhat pedestrianpretty harsh for an eight year old.

Now if I could write my query letters to agents like the folks from Poets Society write their anthology invitations, I might not be writing this piece of drivel right now. I might actually be on the other side of the publishing wall, separating myself from my peeps as fast as possible, while hopping from one terraced hot tub party to another with the likes of the Collins sisters, Annie Rice and that wild mother-daughter pair, the Clarks! So call me shallow. I don't care. Been called a lot worse.

Alas, with my vanity in check, thanks to the insight of a second grader, I matured as a writer and human being. This "growing up" is best demonstrated by the good natured fun I have had with the International Society of Poets over the past few years. Ive been submitting really lousy poems from Inlin Freebosh, a North Pole elf friend of mine. In return for his efforts, Inlin has been receiving fantastic accolades and requests for more. He has obliged by sending worse and worse poems for more and more anthologies. There is final payback for my mature ways though. Howie and the gang named Inlin one of the top two hundred new poets in the world. Its true! I didnt even accomplish that! It gets better. Just last week he was officially certified as an International Ambassador of Poetrycool certificate and all. I submit, I cant get any more mature.

Lesson Three: If vanity is your thing, writing can be a fulfilling endeavor. There are ample slugs, I mean caring publishers, ready to turn your paper dollars into paper pages. (Note: if vanity is not your thing, visit www.vanitypublishing.info for a nice 101 course in what to look out forlest you find yourself manipulated into purchasing a depressing, demoralizing, disappointing, heirloom-quality dust collector.)

Four: Rejection Okay, so the poetry wasnt very rewarding. Nevertheless, the writing allergy was back, and I was itching to scratch out a small Christmas novel about an ill-advised journey by that notorious elf, Mr. Freebosh. At the same time, I was tumbling head first towards a job layoff, looming a mere two weeks away. Frankly, there was no decision to be made. I planned to live off the forthcoming nine month severance and turn myself completely over to the urge. I took this plunge a little over two years ago.

With the next great family holiday story in hand after months of writing/editing, writing/editing, writing/editing followed closely by a dozen rewrites/reedits, I started the literary agent query crusade. I did my homework, as Im sure you have all done. I bought all the must-have books and agency lists. I even found some fantastic query examples on the internet, one in particular demonstrating the merits of humorsomething that always resonates with me. Each one pager was agonizingly engineered to open with a clever hook, which shrewdly segued into an assortment of wild, witty claims. I sealed the deal with a silky smooth story summary that led into a lengthy, if not heartfelt, farewell. The queries flew off my deskapproximately an unpublished authors dozento agencies that had childrens stories listed among all the other genres they represented. You know, the typical collage of categories agencies tend to represent: war chronicles, lesbian erotica, Eskimo grilling, New Jersey destinations, and of course childrens books.

I think I must have sent the serious queries to the agents that wanted humor and vice versa. Anyway, the rejection form letters came racing back. Some were completely pre-printed, including the signature. Others were pre-printed, except the signature. Some contained personal responses in real ink, one-liners like, sorry but somewhat pedestrian. All of them claimed their own personal hell of toppling piles of queries and unsolicited manuscripts with only two hands to reject them. All of them closed by imploring me not to give up, "there must be an agent or publisher out there somewhere". If I remember correctly, one reject form had a pre-printed dried tear drop stain near the fake signature. Gee, little did I know about their agony. Frankly, it makes me feel better to know that their lives are more dismal than mine is.

Lesson Four: Writings a joy. Query rejection is a poke in the eye!

[At this point, I want to check-in with you. Im sure there are several of you shaking your heads in agreement, possibly reminded of your own bounty of rejects. What do you do with yours? I file mine away, occasionally pulling them out to read them in worst to best order. Im always filled with the delusion that someday Ill be plugging my book on the public access show Local Corner, at which time Ill build a small bonfire with the rejects right in front of the set's vinyl couch, dancing around the flames screaming thatll learn em.]

Five: Agents live in secret places

However, out of the darkness of defeat, a dull beacon pulsed. There was one response from Rosemary Stimola, of Stimola Literary Studio, that gave me pause to indulge in a morsel of hope. She actually read the three chapters I submitted with the query, and hand wrote a note back to me at the bottom of the rejection. She told me the main character, Inlin Freebosh was charming. I slept with the letterstained by tears of joy and a little champagneunder my pillow that night. I slipped into a deep peaceful sleep, during which I dreamed I was firing off snappy one-liners to Oprahs probing questions! Filled with a renewed passion, I took it up a notch. I wrote a memoir from limited memories of growing up in the Sixties. Its a collection of humorous stories about my pathetic uninformative years (featured on this website). I found a way to buy another year of dedicated time, during which I learned to build my own website to get my work out there. The carrot that dangled from my flat screen monitor was the promise of the next thirst-quenching query letter Id send off to Rosemary, my newest, best friend. It would be brilliantly constructed, reminding her of our past relationship and near connection. Shed be impressed with my persistence, resilience, and most of all, talent.

Well the day came a few weeks ago. Armed with a very carefully worded query letter and best story from the collection, I decided not to just mail it but to hand deliver it. If she saw me, shed see instantly I was marketable, someone shed be proud to send to publishers and public access TV (channel 538).

Lesson Five: The only thing more difficult than finding a literary agent is finding their actual habitat. After a gallant attempt, I could not find Rosemarys office. I ended up mailing it. I think she is squirreled away within the safety of a gated condo complex, possibly drowning in a sad sea of crumpled queries.

[Note: I did hear back from Rosemary. This time the response was a bit cool and aloof, almost as if she sensed a little stalking potential in my latest inquiry. I probably should have toned down the salutation, "To my sweetest angel of agents". Thank god, I didnt find her office, she might have shot me on the spot. Oh well, Im still thankful to her for that original response. It really did make a difference. My gut feeling is she is a real decent person and therefore a good agent to have, if one is fortunate enough. I say this under the remote possibility she might actually be reading this right nowa little pathetic sucking up can be an effective tool in the desperate hands of the miserable.]

Six: Your Own Website

I do recommend building a simple website. It helps a lot. It keeps the brain sharp, well, working anyway. It also can be an endless source of hope. My site has generated many encouraging responses. Okay, so I've received a few um a hundred, all right a few hundred of those obligatory "Hey faggot" emails. I have a theory theyre sent by those kind of people who spend their spare time doing Google searches for porn sites using the word "the"unfortunately the happens to be one of my most creative and effective meta data keywords. Generally speaking though, a few good apples keep the many bad apples from ruining the barrel (or whatever that saying is).

Lesson Six: Building a website with a "comments" form reaps plenty of valuable feedbackmuch of it challenging ones thoughts about sexual norms.

Seven: Writersnet

My most recent endeavor was to join an internet writers group, www.writers.net. I figured it would be a great place to visit and chew the fat with other writers, both published and unpublished. Kind of schmooze with the goods, so to speak. So, I read a few of the discussion threads they had. Instantly, I started to notice a few things. There seems to be a high school cafeteria clique among some of the more successful authors. Actually, thats not fairto high school kids. Its more like eighth grade. With this in mind, I did something really stupid.

I dont know why? I was feeling pretty good I guess. I thought, maybe, if given an opportunity, the kidlets would settle down and act like the adults they surely are. Okay, so I put a query letter out there that I have been struggling over, and asked for help. Okay, so maybe I should not have titled my discussion entry, chum for query sharks. I dont know why but I did. I thought it would be disarming. It took a while for the scent of fresh split infinitives to flow through the bandwidth. But before long, they appeared. One by one, they took a mouth full out of the query until there was nothing left but a few helpless dangling participles. I was chewed up pretty good but was able to swim back to my hell hole of a website.

In retrospect, the query really did suck. It was for STILL LIVING IN THE SIXTIES, the collection of humorous short stories. Lets face it, if you are an unknown, humor is a tough sell. And Im possibly the unknownest. Furthermore, to make matters worse, the stories Ive written are about nothing. Its the old Seinfeld bit. Try writing a one-page query to hook an agent on a manuscript about nothing. For example, me to agent, We had a funny family dinner; agent laughing hysterically, Stop it! Youre killin me with this stuff!

You see what I mean? Mission impossible.

So I took another stab at the query. Moved stuff around. Took stuff out. Added a boatload of missing commas. Trimmed the cutesy stuff. And I did it again. I doggy paddled out to writersnet reef and dropped another round of chum into the depths below. Okay, I probably should have known better than to try it again but I did. Then I did something else. Being the bonehead I am, I opened up the discussion entry with Here Sharky, Sharkies! Come and get it! It didnt take long. Apparently, they stayed in the neighborhood.

WHACK! SQUONCH! GLUMP!

It was worse than the first time. They even ate the two semicolons, which Im sure left a terrible lingering after taste in their mouths. They didnt care. These were Great Writes. Thats what Im talking about.

So there I was, trying to reach out for help, writing something that all agreed was a tough assignment, putting myself on the chopping block again, and one of the self-proclaimed suggested at the risk of being bitch-slapped, maybe you should reconsider your career in humor. This is supposed to help? Some knucklehead reads two first-time queries for a difficult sell, written by a novice, and suggests the writer should give it up?

To my peeps, the unpublished, I highly recommend that you stay out of those waters. You know, anonymity in the hands of a sociopath can be a dangerous thing. I really dont know anything about those sharks, other than their usernames. They claim to be published writers but only a few have links to their books. Interestingly enough, those that did have websites or email addresses were the most helpful. Kind of makes you wonder about the rest. What are they hiding? Huh, Gulliver H?

Well, the truth is the second query wasnt any better than the firststill quite amateurish frankly. Ive scrapped it, as the sharks suggested. Im working on a whole new angle that just might do it. But I have to tell ya, Im not going back for any more help.

Lesson Seven: Writersnet (and other cliques like it) is the unpublished writers Bermuda Triangle. You innocently drift in, never to be read from again!

[Another check-in: Ive been listening to a continuous stream of Nat King Cole classics while writing this. Does that mean anything? Am I close to the cliff? Has anyone experienced this? Just tell me Lawrence Welk isn't next!]

Eight: Paula Abdul

That brings me to the present. Im sending my updated resume out to the corporate world, trying to spin the last two years into meaningful, job-related experienceprobably some of the best fiction Ive written to date. The fact is I need to find income to feed this addiction. Its sad really. At the same time, Im trying the competition route, but a part of me, the suspicious part, thinks it is a waste of both time and entry fees. Im also writing a bunch of political and humor articles for EzineArticles in a desperate attempt to publish something somewhere. Besides, it does keep me occupied and off the streets during the day while I figure out my next project and this little employment dilemma.

All in all, I dont know. This writing is tough stuff. What can I say? It makes those author-rags-to-riches stories almost unbelievable.

Enough already, its time to wrap this up.

My fellow unpublished friends, those anyway who have not poisoned themselves yet, there is little one can do to stop the madness. The truth is, if you are fortunate enough to have writing DNA but cursed with an enduring optimism gene in the mix, you are in for a long, lonely, hurtful ride, one that is best not taken by the timid or weak of spirit.

I think Paula Abdul of American Idol fame said it best recently when she told a really talent-challenged crooner, when I hear your voice ... I mean when you sing ... I mean when I look around, I love the way you stand there. You have the right outfit for that song. Never give that up. Actually, Im not sure that says anything best. What she was trying to say was never let the talent thing get in the way, just dress nice. Even that doesnt make much sense. Oh well, she shouldve said, If you love to sing, then sing already!

I think the same holds true if you love to write.

Lesson Eight: Never use a quote from Paula Abdul as an example of anything!

This article was written by humorist Robert Crane. Author of "Still Living in the Sixties" and "The Single Adventure of Inlin Freebosh", Robert also writes a popular blog of casual observations and polical commentary, almost always unfair and never balanced, all of which can be freely read at his website located in the outer edges of the "internets":

http://www.cranelegs.com