Welcome to ffxiv-knights-ivalice.org
To Enter or Not to Enter Writing Contests
(writing contests)
If you are a freelance writer, it is because you love to write. Why not put those abilities to use and enter a writing contest? You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. You can find writing contests by simply searching the Internet. Writing groups and message boards may also have listing for these contests. No matter what you writing genre maybe poetry, fiction, non fiction, there is a contest out there for you. Read about them and choose which ones are right for you. It is not necessarily about winning or loosing but about the experience and knowledge that you gain to get there.
Whether you win or not there are still valuable things that can be learned or gained by entering into contests. Entering writing contests will help you hone the skills that you have. Try something new, you may choose to write in a niche that you normally wouldn’t. You get constructive criticism from someone new. Someone that doesn’t have to worry about hurting your feelings and that is unbiased can be a wonderful asset to your career. The feedback you receive can be invaluable to you. It will get your name out there and give you a place to showcase your work.
Depending on how good your story, if you make it to the next round your writings could be in front of editors and agents. This feedback and criticism is even more important than the first. Do not your eggs all in one basket. Enter a couple contests to get multiple feedback sources. Not every editor or agent is going to agree. By entering multiple contests and find common points about your writing that need perfecting you will be able to concentrate on a general consensus about your abilities.
There are some downsides to entering writing contests, too. Chances are that a simple contest is not going to launch your career into star status. Do your research just as if you were going to write an article about contests. For many contests you give up your rights to your entry whether it wins or not. You need to decide whether or not you are willing to give up all rights to your story. If you win it is not a big deal, but if you loose your giving your work away. Are you willing to do this?
Research the contest. You can search the Internet for reports or opinions on contests run by the company. You can find valuable information on if the contest is legitimate, if entering has had any effect of previous entrant’s careers, and if it is really worth it in the long run. The bigger and well-established companies will give credibility to your work if you win. But the bigger and more well know the companies are will also bring in tougher competition with well know authors.
Some companies offer contests as a disguise. Yes they will give away prizes and declare winners but their main goal with the contest is advertising. It can be in the form of offering you to buy obscure book featuring your contest submission. Sometimes it is an editing company that offers a discount for its services or a company that will offer you discounts on writing classes.
A writing contest is just a possible stepping stone. Whether it helps you or not is the unknown, but it definitely won’t hurt you. It may help you reach the next level of your career. You and only you will be able to make the decision on whether or not writing contests are a good move for your career.
Web Hosting - Domain Name Changes and How They Affect You New domain names are registered all the time, and ones previously registered expired. Sometimes that's the result of simple neglect. The owner of the name chose not to renew his or her ownership, so the name became available for someone else to use. In rare cases, a highly original mind managed to think of a new one. In the other common scenarios, someone chose to just let it go or sell it. When you choose to change your domain name, there are actually two separate steps involved: releasing the old name, and adopting the new one. But, just as the postal system can have difficulty forwarding your letters when you change your personal name, changing your domain name brings certain difficulties. One of the most prominent is the fact that any name change requires a change to thousands of DNS Servers around the globe. DNS (Domain Name System) is the set of software/hardware components that allows domain names to map to IP addresses. IP addresses are what are actually used 'under the covers' when one computer communicates with another. Note that there isn't always a 1:1 correspondence between a name and an IP address. One IP address can serve multiple domain names and one domain name can have multiple IP addresses. For the sake of simplicity, we'll stick to the common case here. DNS servers around the world maintain internal databases that match the name to an IP address. Not all servers have all pairs of names/addresses. A series of complex routines allows a request to be forwarded when the particular DNS server doesn't have a needed record. When you acquire a domain name that used to be associated with a given IP address, the odds of you acquiring the same IP address are extremely low. In the unlikely case, for example, that you acquired the domain name yahoo.com, you would almost certainly not get the IP address that was matched with it (unless you bought the Yahoo! company). So, as a result of the change, the name/IP address pair is no longer what it was. A similar circumstance exists when you retain your IP address, but want to change the domain name associated with it. In either case, the pairing has changed. The catch is this: when the change takes place, those DNS databases are not all updated instantaneously around the world. Even apart from the limited speed with which computers and networks operate, (and neglecting the human factor if/when the change is made manually to more than one server) the reason is something called caching. In order to communicate efficiently, DNS servers are designed to assume that changes will be relatively rare. Just as with the postal system, you don't move your address or change your name every minute. Since that's true, in general, the name/IP address pair is cached. A cache is a set of stored information that is reused so that fresh information doesn't have to be communicated with every request for a web page or data. A chain of DNS servers pass requests to the last known address. There is usually more than one system between your computer and the server you want to communicate with. Most of the time, that's your current name/address. When you change the name, that pair is no longer valid. In order to propagate the new name/address pair (so the terminology goes), that cache has to be refreshed. Something similar happens when you establish an entirely new name. That name is first associated with an IP address and that pair has to be communicated to DNS servers around the world in order for you to be able to reach any one of them at random. But DNS servers don't do that until they are requested to do so by your action of asking for information from a remote server. Because of that, but chiefly because of caching, it can take quite a while for the new pair to become known around the Internet. Caches can expire and get refreshed in a few minutes or a few hours. It varies. That time can be as short as an hour or less, if the path between your computer and the web server is very simple and only one DNS server needs to be updated. Or, it can take up to 48 hours or more. Though the 'official' range is often given by registrars as 24-48 hours, the average is closer to about six hours. But that's an average. The actual time in any given case can (and does) vary widely. In the meantime, a number of effects can occur. The most obvious is that, since the name/IP address pair can't be resolved properly, you don't reach the server you want. Your browser points to the old one (in the rare case it's still accessible by that name and address), or it simply reports there's no such name at that address. So, when registering a new name or buying an old one, you should establish the site, but not advertise it for at least a couple of days. Better to wait to get visitors than to turn them off by being 'not at home' when they call. Get Free Healthcare Items through the GSK Company Website Ready for the best in free healthcare items? If so, turn to the GSK company website for your share of healthcare freebies. GSK is an acronym for the GlaxoSmithKline Company, which is a major manufacturer of many healthcare and personal care products and items. If you are a fan of this manufacturer, or you simply wish you had access to more affordable health and personal care items, you will be glad to know that this company often runs special promotions. The company's special promotion often includes discount coupons and free samples. Some of their most popular offers include a handy $20 coupon book, as well as free samples of their most popular products, including Tums. What You Have to Do to Gat Access to GSK Special Offers If you are interested in getting access to the best of GSK special offers, here are some hints and tips so that you always get the free personal and health care items you desire. First, you should know that the GSK healthcare company is host to a special site where you can keep track of all their special offers and promotions. The GSK healthcare site is known as HealthySpecials.com. As the name indicates, this is a website dedicated solely to the special promotions that are being ran by the GSK company at any given time. Get to know this website, and a good idea is to bookmark it for easy future reference. When you get to the website, click on any of the deals or promotions. A special details window will open from the login page. If you are having trouble viewing these promotions, make sure that your Internet surfing preferences is set so that you allow pop-up windows. If you are not seeing the details of the promotions, there is a good chance that you have turned on pop-up blocking. Also, you will need an account to access some of the deals and promotions. If you don't have an account, simply click on the setup link and fill out the whole registration form. This should not take long, and it will allow you easier access to all the promotions on the website. Understanding the Availability of GSK Special Promotions Once you become familiar with the special promotions on this website, you will find that the offers will come and go. However, there is nearly always at least one highly desirable promotion, such as a free sample or coupon offer. Most of the availability of these offers will be limited to the United States. Also, make sure you read all the details, as many coupons and offers carry overlapping expiration dates. Avoiding Risks When Choosing GSK Special Offers and Promotions Are there any risks associated with actively seeking GSK offers and promotions? As with most Internet activity, there is always some risk involved in divulging your personal information. Never give out more personal information than you are comfortable giving. However, GSK is a well-known and respected company that offers visitors access to their privacy policy. Their privacy policy states that they will not share your personal information with partner companies or vendors. They ask for a phone number, but it is not required to take advantage of most offers. You will also be asked to enter your date of birth on the initial registration form. For the most part, you will not have to worry about privacy issues when dealing with this well-known and regarded company. However, always make sure that the company or website that you are dealing with offers you a look at their privacy policy. It is a bad sign if the company does not have any sort of privacy policy. As always, use your better judgment when releasing your personal contact information. |