Bill Sterling
bill@sterlings.us
609.240.2612

In person tutoring for adults, college students, high school students in the Hunterdon and Mercer County New Jersey areas, and everywhere else using Skype.

Bill Sterling

• 10 Years in government
• 20 years in IBM and their competitors
• Published author
• I have created and taught complex courses around the world to all kinds of humans across big culture barriers. There is always a way to communicate.

What I show you 

Tools and tips for organizing your thoughts
How to make writing software work for you instead of against you
Specialized writing styles for business and government
Writing in school; analyzing assignments and planning your work
Minimize writing stress and fear
Conquer your computer, network, and printer
Our partnership

How I show you 

• How to organize – – This is the key to good writing.
  • If it isn’t organized it will never work, no matter how many perfect sentences it has.
  • FIRST make an upside-down outline!  And why to do this.
  • Do not write a single sentence until the upside down outline is finished and flipped over on its head!
  • Use bullet points, numbered lists and headings
  • Use free outlining software
  • Use free Mind Mapping software – Helps you figure out what you think; a simple, brilliant writing tool, and nobody knows about it, but you will.
  • Write in BLOCKS. Organizing a work is like LEGOS. Move whole blocks of meaning at a time.
  • When you are really having trouble organizing yourself to write, use my invention “The Reverse Outline”, virtually guaranteed to launch your enthusiasm.
  • Many other strong organizing techniques
• For content, how to use modern powerful writing software
  • MS Word, Google Docs, Libre Office (Free, and as good as Microsoft’s)
  • Evernote, Penultimate
  • Powerpoint and equivalents
  • On line and local dictionaries
  • “But I can’t think of the right word!”
    • How to use the real thesaurus; there isn’t a great one on line yet; I teach you to use the physical book by the originator, Peter Mark Roget.
    • Yup, the book book.
    • The essential writing tool
    • Hands down, hands up, slam dunk, an absolute winner for good to great writing
    • Good writers use it, poor writers don’t.
• Importance of vocabulary – – use online flashcards to grow yours.
• Cloud storage is a writer’s friend; I show you why and how and when it isn’t.
• How to write a simple web page
• Business Writing
  • Reports
  • Graphics
  • Powerpoint
  • Prezi (hierarchial Powerpoint)
  • Email, how to avoid the dreaded “TL;DR” = ‘Too Long;Didn’t Read’
  • Write with “punch”
  • Portable Tools
    • Tablets
    • Smartphones
    • Bluetooth Keyboards to use with them
    • These tools are overlooked by writers
    • You are not at your desk in Kansas any more. Writing is changing.
    • How to make an awesome presentation
    • When not to use presentation software
    • Work with your stage fright – – they know less than you do about this or they wouldn’t have asked you to present
• Government: How to write in government, to government, and for government.
• Students
  • All of the above as needed plus:
  • Understanding the assignment! Many kids don’t know they don’t get it.
  • Essay writing
  • Test writing
  • SAT’s
  • Persuasive writing
  • Creative writing
  • I review your drafts and your final if you give me time. You do write drafts, yes?
• I give you a plan
• I give you confidence and then you give yourself confidence
• I show you how to simplify. Don’t get tangled up in your own words
• I show you the science of writing and the art of writing and the fun of writing (really!)
• Scribble notes on paper to yourself at first. Don’t censor you too early.
• Edit, edit, and edit again
• We use pencil and paper to the most modern tools
• Read your draft aloud to your family. If it sounds lousy it is lousy
• When to stop writing
• Don’t despair. Some teachers wouldn’t know good writing if it called them on the phone
  • We change your style to get A’s from them anyway
• Computer problems; I will help you, I am a career Geek!
  • Your computer is crawling; click on Task Manager to see what Windows is doing and stop it.
  • Wireless problems
  • On and on…
• End printing despair – – stop fighting with with your printer on the last step when you are tired!
• We together figure out your own writing style – what way do you like to write?
• When you are working on a piece, I take emergency phone calls from you up until 9 PM
• We meet at local libraries or on the web
• Cost $50 per hour
• Your first hour is free
• Guarantee: If a student after four sessions gets below a C twice in a row, the next two sessions are free

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