Come and View… YOUR DREAM HOME!!

This Saturday (5th) between 12-1pm at 8 Runnymede Close, TW2 7BT.

This stylishly refurbished and thoughtfully extended 4 bedroom family home over three floors is situated in a requested residential cul de sac, ideal for local schools and within easy reach of Whitton’s high street and mainline service to Waterloo.

The ground floor accommodation provides an entrance hallway leading to a generous formal reception room offering, a feature fire place, large bay window & hardwood flooring, the second reception/family room has been generously extended and offers amazing open plan living, hard wood flooring with underfloor heating There is a luxury fitted kitchen complete with breakfast bar, handcrafted fitted wall cabinets,and skylight window and useful utility room/wc. There are bi-folding doors out to the rear patio and lawned garden with a private gate giving access to the front. The upper 2 floors offer, 3 double and 1 good size single bedrooms. Excellent bathroom/wc with additional shower cubicle and further en-suite bathroom /wc. There is of course Double glazing, gas central heating and forecourt parking for 2 cars complement this fine home which is too good to miss!

Check out the event on FB

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Phone Sandra: 020 8892 5656 / 07737 465 087

There are two things every beginning writer needs to learn. 1- How to write. 2- How to thicken her skin.

Don’t laugh at me, guys. It’s true. A little known or discussed prerequisite for a writer is a thick skin. It’s the only way you’ll get through it with a half an ego in tact.

Believe me. Not only do editors, agents and copy editors feel free to tell you your work sucks, but so will beta readers, critique partners and anyone who chances upon your work.

Here’s the catch 22 for writers–most people need a good critique group to learn to write, but a critique often rips the hide off your back–resulting in extremely thin (or no) skin.

 But the good news is . . . the more critiques you get, the easier they are to take. Years ago when I got into my first critique group, I survived by laughing. I looked for the humor in what I’d written, even though it wasn’t meant it to be there. Just utter the words, ‘Commencing the trek’ to my CPs and they’ll roll on the floor. And even though the humor is at my expense, I laugh, too.

It makes life so much easier to share the humor.

I’ve had CPs without a sense of humor, and I have to say it’s much harder for them to get through those first growth pains, if they get through it at all.

So why belong to a critique group? Why put yourself through that torture? Because, it’s the best way I know to learn how to write romance. A friend asked me once what one piece of advice I would give to a beginning wannabe.

My answer? Find a good critique group. For a writer, it’s the closest thing to heaven you’ll find.

And a bad one? *snort* Must be hell on wheels.

Who wants a signed copy of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer? If you are a fan of the saga check out The Babbling Flow Of A Fledging Scribbler’s blog -http://www.babblingflow.blogspot.com she has one up for grabs.

You have to answer a few questions about Edward before you can be considered eligible. Okay only one question about Edward but there are a couple of other rules. Check it out.

I have the good fortune to work with a number of wonderful and talented agents whom I feel represent their clients with the utmost respect and care. Then there are the others. It is to that particular group in which this letter is addressed.

———————————-

Many of you are well-known agents and many of you are agents I’ve never heard of. But when it comes to queries, everyone has equal footing in terms of my expectations.

Submission guidelines: I have very clear submissions guidelines. Did you know that? Did you even look at them? And if you did, were you under the impression they were written to keep out the tourists and that you, somehow, were granted immunity from following the rules? Did you not consider that those guidelines are there to keep us from wasting each others’ time? Think of your own submission guidelines and how irked you get when someone doesn’t follow them. There is more than one side to the coin.

Did you believe you could get away from having to supply any semblance of a plot? Did you waste all your time telling me how fahbulous your client is and their platform alone will sell billions of books? Did you stop to think that maybe I’d like to know what that fahbulous book is about?

Word count: And how about that word count? Did it occur to you that I might find that important? 179 pages can mean a lot of things. And can I be a bit catty here? Who in their right mind gives a page count? If your names weren’t known to me, I’d have pegged you for a noob agent who cut your teeth selling to vanity presses and drinking cheap gin.

I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you actually did look at our guidelines and knew your client’s word count was miles too low. But did you say anything to me in your query? Did you not think this was a vital piece of information? Or did you string me along for weeks, forcing me to ask for clarifications at every turn. Did you consider my reaction when I found out your client’s work was only 20,000 words, and I accept nothing less than 50,000 words? How could you possibly assume it wasn’t important when my guidelines say:

Word count: If your word count is over 100,000 words and under 50,000 words, please know that I consider it to be either too high or too low and will reject accordingly. And in the words of Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.

Honestly, do you see any ambiguity? Think of when authors do this to you. “What? No word count?” you mumble as your finger hovers over the delete button. “IDIOTS!” I rest my case.

Formatting: When I asked for pages, did you bother to check the formatting? Is it my job to remind you that no indentations and extra carriage returns to denote a new paragraph is NOT proper manuscript formatting? And please; who uses 10 point TNR? Sure, I’ve seen noob authors try this trick in order to slam more words into those first 30 pages, but they aren’t fooling anyone. To see you do it makes my heart ache.

Did you think the lack of formatting wouldn’t bug the bejabbers out of me? Yes, I jacked up the type point to 12 – where it should have been – but it made me cranky to do so because, hey, it ain’t my job. It’s your job to make sure your client’s work goes out picture perfect.

Syntax: Did you edit your client’s manuscript for proper sentence structure? Or did you not know that sentences like, “They included Sheila and I at the last minute,” and “He brought the car to the front for Amanda and I,” are wrong? A mistake here or there is permissible, but I grit my teeth when the entire manuscript is rife with these sorts of mistakes. It makes me wonder whether you understand the rules that govern our language and whether you care about submitting only your very best.

Proposal: When I asked for a full proposal, did you think it professional to say, “Oh, I haven’t done one yet.” Were you in the least bit embarrassed? See, the thing is, I know you know better. I know you know how to put together a proper proposal and query. You’re a professional, after all, just like I am. Do you think my distributor would keep me around if I told him, “Gee sorry, Sam, I know that new book is due to ship out to the stores tomorrow, but I haven’t gotten the print run done yet.” He’d kick my sweet cheeks from here to San Felipe, which is what I feel like doing to you. If you’re going to query for your client, don’t you think it’s a good idea to be prepared?

To take this one step further, upon asking for a proposal for a novel – yes, this request is becoming more common – did you have the temerity to say, “Don’t you know that proposals aren’t done for fiction?” My answer is, “Do you want to tell me how to do my job or do you want to sell your client’s story?” You may not have one, and I’ll understand while you take the time to write one. But please don’t try to put the monkey on my back by inferring I don’t know what I’m doing. If that’s the way you feel, then why did you query me in the first place?

Preparation: In my crankiness I must remind you that you contacted me, so why am I forced to wait so you can “find out” whether your client’s manuscript is completed or the book’s title comps? Good grief, are you telling me that you don’t know? Far be it for me to tell you how to do your job, but you really need to stop and consider what kind of impression you’re making on me. Stumbling through like this smacks of an agent whose fingertips aren’t anywhere near the pulse of your client’s manuscript.

I read your blogs and I know about all the things that piss you off regarding author queries. So I stand nearly speechless at the inferior quality in which you represent your clients and the lack of respect you show toward me. Are you looking to sell a book or are you merely going through the motions?

I don’t ask for the impossible or improbable. I ask for the same things that you do: plot, word count, genre, is it completed, is it properly formatted, promo plan, full proposal. These aren’t unreasonable requests; they are tools that help us determine whether this work fits our lineup. To do any less wastes everyone’s time.

Honestly, your behavior puzzles me, and you oughta know better – for the good of your authors.

Signed,

Overworked and Underpaid Editor

Ah December.  NaNo is complete so now what? Besides the editing and finishing the story I mean.

I’ve been posing the question of whether or not to query  in the month of December. Should I wait until January to start that whole process again or jump right in? I have a friend who has been waiting for a few weeks and has heard absolutely nothing from any of the agents she qeueried. Does that mean the holiday season should be a time to tweak our queries for a big push in Janaury? It would give me an entire month to get into my suit of armour for the avalanche of no’s to hit. Okay, so I’m hoping there will be a yes buried in the pile somewhere. Does anyone in cyber space have any thoughts on this matter or am I left here to make the decision all by my lonesome. Helllloooooo? 

I seriously have been wondering what is the best time to query. One friend did some research and I think she told me the best day is Tuesday or Wednesday to send an e-query. Is there a f*cking magic formula for sending and writing a query because if there is I’d like to know. I need some good mojo if I’m going to start this process again.

England’s top-flight clubs spent more than 70m on agents’ fees between October 2008 and September 2009, according to Premier League figures…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: world cup history soccer. The blog is also related to: soccer betting.

It is all about the market, we will have fewer of frustrated buyers and buyer’s agents if there were 10 properties for each buyer not one property for 10 buyer’s. In that situation, REO agents will bend backwards to get all the paperwork on one of two offers they get, asset managers will accept buyer’s demands even on AS IS property. When fewer buyers out there one can get away with closing cost and other items but not in current market in 4th Quarter of 2009, when slightly lower priced or at the market priced properties are getting 10-20 offers.

Price is but it is not the only determining factor. I have asset managers declined the higher priced offers for a better-financed offer. Also had the agents get upset why their offer was not accepted. Some even get more upset when they saw the property closed at lower than their offer price. They do not know the details what happened during the transaction, why it closed at the lower price, may be appraisal, may be some other issues with the property, may be first offer fell out then next available best one, who can close quickly was picked,  instead of putting property back on the market.

I am not saying that there are not agents out there who play the system. To buy property for my own self I had to write 5 different offers, offered the full price and over and got beaten up by other offers many times before I could get one accepted. It all matters, financing, FICO score, what buyer have in the bank and under whose name. If the proof of buyer’s funds is not under buyer’s name, then forget about it. I have seen those transactions fall out because of the donor issues. Being an REO agent, I screen all the offers and drawbacks of the offer, are written into my notes to the asset manager.  I even call the lender and to make sure it is legitimate pre approval. I had noticed fake pre-approval letters, written under the name of big banks.

 I had agents who will not listen what is being said, I had agents call and ask bunch of questions and will politely ask, if they read the private remarks in the MLS. Sadly, one answer that I still remember was “what private remarks, oh!  you mean at the bottom, let me read those”.

I have set up an offer submission system through www.eBrokerHouse.com   so everyone gets a confirmation of the submission. Not only that, if their offer is deficient I could communicate with the agent as their contact information is right there and I don’t have to look on page 8 try to read fax of a fax or search my email to  locate it. I have agents call me and ask that they do not know how to upload the file, that they do not have a scanner. In REO world, the whole transaction is done by scanning and uploading the documents. Who would want to deal with that agent for next 45 days? Does that go in the remarks, yes it does.

Not all agents are alike, there are some very savvy buyer’s agents and I wish everyone to be that way. However, there is so much bash about REO agents, that one have to be on the other side to see what REO Agents go through, especially the ones who deal with their transactions first hand. At the end, in grand scheme of things, it is about:  would it close and would it close on time?

http://www.namneet.com

REO Specialist Orange County CA

sponsors site – dating agency software.

It is apparent that in order to survive and spasm in the real estate industry today, agents and brokers must embrace every facet of technology and remain on surmount of the require to contiinually upgrade their systems. Beyond being necessary to our industry it is a melding with known societal standdards.

Buyers have access to enormous amounts of loyal estate data, therefore they will quickly dismiss any agent responds with a shrug and “I ‘t conscious”. When it comes to uses of technology, agents are competing with freshh clique of highlly skilled professionals from other industries have joined the independent sales sector as honest manor agents. They to the real estate industry already using and understanding ring up managemennt systems, PDA’s, virtual aegis, Microsoft products, Applle products, recorders, cameras, and scanners.

The agents’ client base also expects to receive a fax email, auto email alerts of new listings, instant CMA’s emailed over, and more. Technology is not only as a service to a competitive factor; it is originally a convenience middleman for our clients. Once agents learn and use the renewed systems they will inherit convenience factor that on save them without surcease as well as better their client . Per the National Association of Realtors Centeer of Realtor Technology 2007 report, over 75% of real capital agents report they jot down their own listings the MLS. How much time seeking additional tasks does that allow agentts?

The Center of Realtor Technology 2007 measure reports the highest interest of technology devices acclimated to nearby agents are: cell phone (with no email internet) 72%, digital camera 92%, and desktop computers 79%. Theese percentages seemingly reflect that actual state agents over prioritize purchasing and learning to use a digital camera measure than expanding chamber phone Internet tools and use of laptop computers. The majority of listing photo’s woould be better left to a professional who can truly maximize the home, therefore making the most of internet traffic. Let’s look into: ennter MLS on their own, take pictures, upload pictures, mould flyers, etc their own. We can only want the truthful estate agents prospecting does not suffer and that the agents marketing is automated through services as Quantummail.

The introducttion of ZipForm to the estate industry has greatly iimproved transmiittal opportunity of transactions. Agents will help fully utilizing all of the tools made available through ZiipForm. Further training, including electronic signatures, storing and editing templates and more; will be provided at this years National Association of Realtors national conference Expo Orlando Florida this November.

ZipForm provides uncountable additional products to assist agents beyond expediting advantage contracts. They ZipFormConcierge services allowing real estate clients to connect utilities and other servicces onlinee, alleviating time consuming phone calls that add to the stress of moving. ( http://www.zipform./products/ ) Additional homeowner and client serrvices include Homeminders™, a 2 year contribution newsletter reminder, realPING alerts agents and increases effect later, ZipFormEsign for electronic signatures, ClientDIRECT newsletters, and the new Open House Library enhances beneefits to potential buyers attending the open house. The open housee library provides agent tips for a successful open house; sign in registry, purchaser checklist, and mmoving tips.

It is all about benefit to our lifetime clients and the only by means of b functioning as to consign and maintain exemplary real level services is to control superiorsimprove services of time beside utilizing the technology tools created and available to our industry.

The month of November was very productive.  I began the month reviewing the RRL paper.  From there I reviewed from [Luger and Stubblefield 1993] the blocks world and its Prolog version of the blocks world planner.  Next step was to take the algorithm in Chapter 2, Figure 2.14 from [Russell and Norvig 1995], and to create an agent frame work in Prolog.  Upon review of [Covington, Nute, and Vellino 1997], I was able to apply advanced prolog tips to the agent frame work.  My initial objective is to have a functional blocks world planner in an agent frame work.  The basic planner agent has been created and returns an action.  However, the planner agent needs to generate a plan and return each action from the plan.  This needs further development; in other words, a work in progress.  The final blocks world planner agent will be posted upon completion.

I have generated three additional blog entries – Blocks World, Agent Framework, and Advance Prolog Techniques.  During this month there has been renewed interest in the Wumpus World and Wumpus World Revisited blogs.  Also, the Knights Tour Revisited, last month’s progress report as well as the Blocks World had significant interest.

I made a change from SWI-Prolog v5.6.x to v5.8.1 in my Linux test environment.

From a statistical point of view, this blog received over 500 hits this month.

Thank you for your support and interest.

Social learning: my nephew's tool acquisition activities, with two cousins and a mom

Some may question all this noösphere stuff and argue against the existence of any such woo-woo thing as a “group mind”.  You may have more of a “black box” approach, thinking that human learning is personal, kind of mysterious, and that’s it.

“Given that we have for millennia become used to taking learning and thinking as activities of individual minds, it is hard to conceive of them as primarily group activities,” says Gerry Stahl, of of the College of Information Science and Technology at Drexel University.

For a long time I’ve seen everything, everyone, as interconnected and interdependent. That is indubitably a by-product of:

• studying Tielhard de Chardin at Tabor College and Marshall McLuhan at the J-School at the University of Kansas
• going over the top with the psychedelic mushrooms and cactus in my twenties
• a lifetime of meditation
• being a Canadian Mennonite and a Quaker
• being a member of the Benjamin Barber fan club
• too many hours on Facebook
• other socio-cultural factors yet to be analyzed

So for me, social learning is not a question of ontology, but rather of methodology. I am interested in learning the how interdependent cognition works. In other words, exactly what processes are involved in developing shared meaning amongst multiple individuals?  What are the various agents, and what are their possible interactions? What are the artifacts of their interactions?

As a designer of experiences for learning, I want to know what’s in my toolbox. In upcoming posts, I plan to explore those topics, of agents and their interactions in social learning.

Stahl, G. (2005). Group cognition in computer-assisted collaborative Learning. In Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, April 2005, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p79-90.

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I can feel it. That awful sensation where you wonder what the f*ck you are doing . That totally shitty feeling that rolls over you knocking you down to the floor. Why am I writing this blog. You are not a REAL writer. I suck. It’s stupid. Do something real. You’re wasting your time. It will never happen. Quit dreaming. Are you Insane…Well, maybe…The list goes on and on dragging you down into the abyss of  I give up…And then someone looks at you and says “I heard you are writing a book. I can’t imagine doing that. It’s great.” I guess so but I can’t even get an agent to read it. “But you wrote an entire novel.” I know but no one is reading it. “I thought some of your friends read it.” Yep, but they are my friends. They’re not going to tell me they hate it. “But did they read the whole book?” I think so. They seem to want to read the second story. “You wrote TWO books?” I’ve been on a roll and there’s a third story not related to the other two. “Wow, you must really enjoy writing.” I guess I do, but it still comes back to the I can’t get an agent. “You have to keep trying. Agents are people who have opinions. You just haven’t hooked up with the right one yet.”  I guess so. “Let me ask you something.” Okay. “If someone told you that you would never get published would you quit writing?” Heavy sigh…I don’t think I can quit writing…I crave it… ”It seems that you already know what you are.”  Huh? “You are a writer. No matter if you are published or not. You can claim the title, so repeat after me….I am a writer!”  iamawriter… “You can do better than that.” i am a writer. “Oh come on Claim It, Own It, Believe It!”

All right!  For crying out loud.. I AM A F*cking WRITER…

This is a blog post for the agents:

Hello Agents!

You guys are doing a great job keeping the island safe. You’ve been asking about Mission 11 and I can tell you the team’s working hard to make it really exciting. Since it’s being developed right now, we were actually hoping that you’d be able to help us decide on some stuff that’ll go into the Mission!!

Check out these glasses… Would you help us decide which pair you’d like to be able to earn in Mission 11? You’ve got 3 options – Just click on number that matches the pair you like best!!

Also… The team’s busy working on something kinda secret and we wanted to give you a sneak peek of someone who’s gonna be helping Agents in the future… We’ll have more info on this coming in December.

(Compare to Dot the Disguise Gal)

Let us know what you think!

Until then…Waddle on!

She looks a LOT like Dot from the EPF missions. Now they’ve really used up everything from that game. It’s kind of depressing…

MoonFlower09…

Ugh. School’s tomorrow. Oh well. Enjoy Sunday while it’s here. Anyways, there’s a new update on the CP community blog. The You Decide is regarding the next mission! I voted for #2 and it appears to be VERY popular. I’d either have 2 or 3, but 1? Nah!

Hello Agents!

You guys are doing a great job keeping the island safe. You’ve been asking about Mission 11 and I can tell you the team’s working hard to make it really exciting. Since it’s being developed right now, we were actually hoping that you’d be able to help us decide on some stuff that’ll go into the Mission!!

Check out these glasses… Would you help us decide which pair you’d like to be able to earn in Mission 11? You’ve got 3 options – Just click on number that matches the pair you like best!!

If you can see this, your browser doesn’t understand IFRAME tags.

1

2

3

Also… The team’s busy working on something kinda secret and we wanted to give you a sneak peek of someone who’s gonna be helping Agents in the future… We’ll have more info on this coming in December.

Awesome! I wonder who the new agent’s gonna be! I wonder what the mission’s going to be about too! It’s all so exciting! I wonder what Herbert’s been doing all this time. I hope he’s not planning this really big scheme. Than again, part of me hopes he does! Until next time,

Waddle on and discover new adventures!

Agent Bubblegum423

Where does your story begin? Every writer has to draw on their life experiences when creating something someone else wants to read. Everything that you encounter in life can be brought into your story. Were you picked on in school? What emotions did that stir up inside of you? Were you prom queen? Did you lose someone you love?

We are all so different yet so alike. If you can tap into the human experience and convey it to reader’s in a way that makes them tap into it, you have an opportunity to help them interpret life by using the gift of words.

Your story begins at home, takes flight somewhere in the middle and ends wherever you decide. Here’s to your destination. I hope your journey to it is worth writing about.

Here is what CP Said

Hello Agents!

You guys are doing a great job keeping the island safe. You’ve been asking about Mission 11 and I can tell you the team’s working hard to make it really exciting. Since it’s being developed right now, we were actually hoping that you’d be able to help us decide on some stuff that’ll go into the Mission!!

Check out these glasses… Would you help us decide which pair you’d like to be able to earn in Mission 11? You’ve got 3 options – Just click on number that matches the pair you like best!!

If you can see this, your browser doesn’t understand IFRAME tags.

1

2

3

Also… The team’s busy working on something kinda secret and we wanted to give you a sneak peek of someone who’s gonna be helping Agents in the future… We’ll have more info on this coming in December.

Let us know what you think!

Until then…Waddle on!

-Club Penguin Team

Sweet right? I can’t wait for mission 11, and some of my secret penguins REALLY need a good pair of glasses!

Hello Penguins,

You guys are doing a great job keeping the island safe. You’ve been
asking about Mission 11 and I can tell you the team’s working hard to
make it really exciting. Since it’s being developed right now, we were
actually hoping that you’d be able to help us decide on some stuff
that’ll go into the Mission!!

Check out these glasses… Would you help us decide which pair you’d
like to be able to earn in Mission 11? You’ve got 3 options – Just
click on number that matches the pair you like best!!

1

2

3

Also… The team’s busy working on something kinda secret and we wanted
to give you a sneak peek of someone who’s gonna be helping Agents in
the future… We’ll have more info on this coming in December.

I love those EPF missions! What about you? The newest downloaded puffle prankster especially is cool. Drop a comment!

- Pingu Ninja2, president of Club Penguin Cooler Cheats -

What ever happened to Woolworths.

Please sir can I have some more? What the Dickens is going on chaps?

Please choose your favourite composer for a grand finale….

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/2346933/a/Six+Danish+Composers.htm

yours sincerely

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raison%20de’tre&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_en-GBGB317GB317&sa=G&tbs=ww:1&tbo=1

Whatta corker…just going to get a light bulb..

Hello World.

I’m here….