What Makes a Good Writer?
So you want to be a writer? How can you be a good writer? It would be difficult to define a good writer with just one definition.
Writing is an art as well as a science. Writing is an art since it has various styles to it and it is a science as you would use different techniques to write it.
Good writing however has much more to it than just the common techniques used. [It depends on who your target audience is and whether you know your audience well]
The parameters for a good writer depend on the audience who is going to read it.
For instance, the differences between the style content writers use and the style full-time is that the content-writers mostly use first and second person; whereas a writer for a newspaper would use an objective tone (third-person reporting). The language used is also different for different media of communication.
The general yardsticks to determine whether one is a good writer are to check whether his/her article has a good flow, eye-catching content and the language. The sentence structure, grammar, ideas and the form used are some of the other factors that play an important role in determining whether one is a good writer.
However, there is no one way to find out who a good writer is.
The Best Meat Loaf in the World
Every family has its own meat loaf recipe and many of them start with a soup mix. However this family recipe, given to me years ago by my mother-in-law, is made-from-scratch meat loaf. I’m not talking about the mushy, mystery meat loaf you may have eaten at restaurants. No, I’m talking about all beef meat loaf with ketchup and brown sugar topping.
Quality ingredients are what make this meat loaf so good. First of all, the recipe calls for only one kind of meat – ground beef. The bread crumbs are fresh, not something from a can. The onion is also fresh, though I’ve used dehydrated in a pinch. As for the topping, it makes every mouthful of meat loaf extra delicious.
To make the meat loaf healthier I’ve changed a few of the ingredients. I use 90% or 93% lean ground beef, not the cheaper, fattier kind. Skim milk replaces whole milk. Instead of white bread crumbs I use whole wheat bread crumbs. Often I use no-calorie brown sugar instead of regular.
You can make this meat loaf in minutes. A family of four, including two teens, will proably eat this meat loaf at one sitting. If you have any leftovers you can make meat loaf sandwiches or crumble the meat loaf into spaghetti sauce. Here’s the recipe, a gift from my family to yours.
THE BEST MEAT LOAF IN THE WORLD
INGREDIENTS: 3/4 cup fresh wheat bread crumbs; 3/4 cup skim milk; 1 1/2 pounds 90% or 93% lean ground beef; 2 large eggs, beaten; 1/4 cup grated onion; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon frershly ground pepper; 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a fork. (Don’t over-mix or the meat loaf will be tough.) Turn meat mixture into a meat loaf pan. Smooth the meat loaf with the tines of the fork. Prepare topping with 1/4 cup ketchup, 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or no-calorie brown sugar), 1 teaspoon dry mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Spread topping over meat loaf. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Let meat loaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Makes 8-10 servings.
Copyright 2005 by Harriet Hodgson.
What is Empowerment?
In management terms, empowerment is the act of giving power and authority to a person to perform his designated tasks in whatever way he wants, and having the power in decision making. Simply to say, a person is allowed to complete his job scope with minimal supervision.
Traditionally, an employee has to seek the permission of a superior before making a decision. In such a system, time is wasted in the process of seeking and waiting for approval. Instead of wasting time in this process, the time can be spent to solve a more critical problem at hand.
After all, time translates to money. As such, an employee should be empowered for the tasks he is very familiar with to begin with.
However, the older generations of management somehow express the difficulty of having to accept such a concept. Instead of giving freedom to their subordinates, they prefer to be involved in every decision to be made. We do see the similarities of this act with the autocratic ruling system where one supreme ruler sits above all.
Those against the concept of empowerment are probably too narrow-minded to accept something new. Either that or they feel more comfortable with the power in their grasp, instead of surrendering it to someone in a lower hierarchy.
Or they simply feel threatened having to surrender part or all of their power to someone else, with fear that the other person might topple him in the near future.
Regardless of the resistant minority, larger companies have adopted this system and the results are somewhat fruitful.