Lease Arbitration Clause and Rights to Sue a Landlord

Lease Arbitration Clause and Rights to Sue a LandlordLease Arbitration Clause and Rights to Sue a LandlordMany residential and commercial leases contain an arbitration clause that will come into effect if there is a lawsuit. If either party in a lease agreement breaches the agreement each party has the right to sue the other. However, these rights and other legal remedies may be limited by the terms contained in the arbitration clause of the lease itself. For example, if your lease contains a mediation or an arbitration clause, you may be required to seek arbitration before being allowed to file a civil claim.Some arbitration clauses are binding and prohibit your right to file a lawsuit against your landlord. When to Consider Suing If you do sue your landlord, the matter will be handled in civil court. Civil cases are easier to prove than criminal cases, but you mucksmuschenstill should consider hiring an attorney who specializes in business law or tenant-landlord relations. You cannot sue your landlord just because you do not like him/her or have a minor grievance. To hold your landlord accountable for something he/she has to have breached your agreement or caused you or your business harm in some way. There are some exceptions. If you tripped and were seriously injured on a commercial property due to the negligence of the landlord or property owner (i.e., the owner/landlord failed to remove ice or snow or repair substantial cracks in a sidewalk) you may still be able to file a personal injury claim. This type of personal injury claim- known as premises liability- is also handled in civil court is unrelated to the terms of your lease agreement and can be filed by anyone injured on an owners property whether or not they were leasing space. Limitations on the Rights to Sue It is fairly common for agreements, including commercial and residential leases, to contain arbitration or mediation clauses. This means you agree that if there is a dispute between yo u and the landlord you will first try to resolve the conflict outside of court. This is usually a good thing for both the tenant and the landlord as long as it does not state that you totally forfeit your rights to sue if an agreement cannot be reached. ansicht clauses should name a specific mediation or arbitration company - not an individual. The arbitrator should be neutral and not someone affiliated with the landlord or their representative who will serve only the best interest of the landlord. Even if your lease does contain an arbitration or mediation clause, you should still consult an attorney before attempting to resolve the conflict on your own.In some cases, if a landlord was negligent in some significant way, you may still be able to pursue a civil claim, and even with a mediator, chances are good that your landlord will still show up with an attorney. Suing Is Not a Path to Riches It is important to understand that if your landlord breaches your lease agreement you generally cannot sue for tort damages (i.e., what laypeople commonly refer to as pain and suffering.) Only in the case of certain types of conduct or bad faith is there a possibility of suing a landlord for tort damages. You would have to prove that the actions of your landlord caused you some sort of harm (or, a tort.)Otherwise, you fruchtwein likely can only either get out of a lease or be awarded reimbursement for costs you had to shell out that your landlord was required to pay for repairs or improvements. Even then, there may be limitations if you acted without giving your landlord a reasonable time to fix a problem.In other words, your landlord is protected against you taking matters into your own hands to fix or alter something on the property and then simply insisting the landlord reimburse you for the expense. Suing your landlord is rarely profitable (you wont be awarded millions for your troubles), but you may be able to get reimbursement for certain expenses, or refunds o n rent, or have the lease rescinded so you can move your business somewhere else. Only Sign Leases You Understand It is important that you never sign a lease with the idea that if there is trouble, you can just take a bad landlord to court and win. It is always better to sign an agreement you understand and are comfortable with and only with a landlord you feel you can trust. If you are not familiar with the terms of your lease, dont trust your landlord to explain them to you.In fact, the landlord might not even understand all the terms and it is not an attorney who can represent your interests. If you have questions, talk with your own lawyer, or someone who is familiar with commercial leasing that is not associated with the property owner or landlord. When it comes to leasing, the term buyer beware applies as renter beware.The best way to protect yourself from getting stuck in a long-term lease is to get legal advice before you sign on the dotted line.

Should Employers Play `Big Brother with Your Health

Should Employers Play Big Brother with Your HealthEmployers and Your HealthShould Employers Play Big Brother with Your HealthPicture this On one side of the table, you have a well qualified, personable, impeccably dressed and thoroughly prepared candidate who has come in for an interview. The only apparent flaws? Hes quite overweight and, tucked inside the pocket of his shirt is a pack of cigarettes.On the other side of the table is the hiring manager for this demanding, critical job at a busy company that expects a high level of productivity from everyone, many of whom work 50 hours a week or more.So heres your quandary Does the hiring manager hire him even though the demands of the job might affect the candidates health and drag down productivity? Or are his weight and smoking habit enough to make them turn to someone else whos a bit less qualified but appears to be a lot healthier?I got to thinking about this after reading a recent news release from Hewitt Associates, a human reso urces services provider, amid the backdrop of national concern over obesity and the rising cost of health care in the United States. The upshot from the survey? Eighty-eight percent of 500 surveyed companies plan to invest in longer-term solutions aimed at improving the health and productivity of their workforces over the next three to five years. Thats up from 63% in a similar survey conducted in 2007.But Hewitt concludes that employees are bedrngnis so convinced their employers need to get more involved In a separate survey of 30,000 employees, only 12% believe companies have a role in helping them understand how to stay healthy. Employers need to overcome employees skepticism about their intended role, concludes Jim Winkler, who leads Hewitts Health Management Consulting practice. (The employers) messages need to shift from a cost management focus to one that helps employees understand how improving their health can benefit them, as well as the company.Thatll take a lot of work o n the part of companies, but I doubt it has much chance of success. While Americans often complain that the powers that be especially those in government never do enough to ease any burdens theyre bearing, specifically those linked with economics, they also dont want to find themselves under the watchful eye or crushing thumb of anything much larger than themselves that is, government and business. The general attitude goes like this If were overweight or addicted to cigarettes, we can handle it ourselves.Theres nothing wrong with that. After all, its part of our American birthright to have the freedom and personal liberty to handle most of our own affairs, as opposed to having a company play Big Brother and force us into choices we dont want to make. That approach is more inclined to engender resentment and suspicion about the companys motives (like saving on health insurance premiums). But like our overweight, cigarette-smoking candidate above, some of us may require a little nud ge, especially if it means saving some of your money or all of your life.

The comfort trap Why the pursuit of an easier life creates a harder one

The comfort trap Why the pursuit of an easier life creates a harder oneThe comfort trap Why the pursuit of an easier life creates a harder oneOver 10,000 years ago, humans thrived and co-existed with nature.Humans fed themselves by hunting wild animals and gathering plants. Plants flourished and animals bred with one another as nature permitted them to do so.Nature welches left alone. There was no intervention or manipulation of the natural order of things.But, this all changed around 9500-8500 BC.During this period known as the Agricultural Revolution, humans began to intervene with nature and manipulate the natural breeding process of plants and animals.Seeds were sown and watered, sheep were placed in meadows and pastures for grazing and animals were forced to participate in selective breeding.Humans believed that this new way of living would make it easier to provide food to the population, and thus live a better life.Map of the world showing approximate centers of origin and spr ead of agriculture during the Agricultural Revolution. Image by Joe Roe CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons.The vicious cycle of ease and hardshipIn the best-selling book,Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind(audiobook), world renown historian, Yuval Noah Harari, describes the early periods of the agricultural revolutionWith the move to permanent villages and the increase in food supply, the population began to grow. Giving up the nomadic lifestyle enabled women to have a child every year. Babies were weaned at an earlier age they could be fed on porridge and gruel. 1But, Noah Harari notes that this pursuit of an easier life led to unintended consequencesThe extra hands were sorely needed in the fields. But the extra mouths quickly wiped out the food surpluses, so even mora fields had to be planted. As people began living in disease-ridden settlements, as children fed more on cereals and less on mothers milk, and as each child competed for his or her porridge with more and more sib lings, child mortality soared.At the time at least one out of every three children died before living till the age of twenty years old. 2Despite the rapid rise in the mortality rate of the population, its birth rate continued to rise even faster. And several generations later, humans had become dependent on farming for survival.Humans left behind a life of hunting and gathering in a well-sized healthy population for a life of farming and breeding in a rapidly growing, disease-ridden population with high death rates.By the time humans realized that the Agricultural Revolution had failed to live up to its promise of an easier life, it was too late to turn back.They were caught in a trap - the comfort trap.In the pursuit of an easier life, humans had unexpectedly created a harder one, as more people were kept alive but under worse conditions than before.Humans did not foresee that birth rates would rise so quickly or that the increase in wheat consumption would lead to the spread of d eadly diseases and high mortality.They did not foresee that their profitable farms and fields would attract more dangerous threats into their society, including sophisticated intruders, wars and thefts.Fast forward 10,000 years and humans have learned from the mistakes of the Agricultural Revolution. Theyve escaped the comfort trap and today, live a better life.Or did history repeat itself again?The ease of ineffectivenessToday, more so than ever - due to the advancement of technology and sciences - humans are moving at breakneck speed to discover quicker and easier ways to live.For example, a few decades ago, it took an effort to send a message to a loved one, friend or colleague. Messages were letters, handwritten with an ink pen on paper. After writing, people would drop the letter in a mailbox and wait several days or even months to receive a response.And when a reply letter, say from a loved one, was delivered to the rundfunkstations doorstep, it was read carefully with excit ement and appreciation for its delivery.Not so in todays digital era.From the tips of our fingers, we can send and receive a reply within seconds from a friend living on the opposite end of the globe.Gone are the days of messages written with careful thought behind each written word. Nowadays, people send the first thing that comes to mind. Emails, text messages and tweets are rushed and sent on impulse without much consideration for the recipient.Back then, wed sort through a handful of letters each month, but today, were bombarded every day with hundreds of messages from people who expect a prompt reply, even when their demands arent urgent.Instant messaging and emails were supposed to make communication easier, but have they?For most of us, virtual communication has become a source of overwhelm, stress and distraction from effective work.We feel like were on a hamster wheel of busyness and cant find enough time to get things done and focus on what matters most.But thats not all.T he rise of technology and the decline of well-beingThe pursuit of an easier life through technology has led to the creation of more complex problems that span across every single area of our lives.Here are some examples.Social media was created to make it easier for people to stay connected, yet weve never felt so disconnected, lonely and isolated from one other than today. 3The internet was created to make it easier to store and retrieve information, yet it has created the safety risks of data privacy breaches, identity theft, cyber bullying, online predators, inappropriate content for children and online addictions.Dating apps were created to make it easier to find love and a life partner, yet its never been harder in human history for man and woman to come together and find true love.Electronic devices - like the computer and mobile phone - were created to make communication easier, yet nowadays, families spend their downtime together either watching TV, texting on mobile phone s and using the internet on laptops, instead of communicating with one another.The modern office was created to make it easier for workers to stay productive, yet employees spend the majority of their workday sat on a chair, slouched over a desk in front of a computer, increasing the risks of obesity, heart diseases and brain damage. 4We believed that technology would make life easier, but has it? Can we say with confidence that citizens of developed countries, who have access to the most advanced technology, live a happier and healthier life than those living in developing countries?So far, our dependency on technology has created more problems - some even worse than before - and a harder life in many ways.But, how can we revert back to the old way of living when the world has moved on? How can we escape the comfort trap to live a better life?Graph showing the decline in happiness of USA citizens since 1990, despite the real GDP per capita growth of about 30 percent. (Source Worl d Happiness Report)Embrace hardshipOver a 100 years ago, philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche said That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.A 100 plus years later, Nietzsches words still ring true.Various studies have shown that people who experience and overcome adverse events- business failures, divorce, death of a loved one, difficult work- develop the necessarymental toughnessrequired to overcome future adverse events. They also experience improved mental health, well-being and overall life satisfaction. 5In everyday life were faced with the decision to either embrace hardship or avoid it.We have a choice to either send a lengthy email reply or set up a phone call, to either send a long thread of tweets or textmessages to friends or plan a meetup in person, to either drive a mile to a destination or walk instead.And whilst the easier choices are convenient and save time in the short-term, the harder ones save more time and create more rewarding benefits over the long run.In th e same spirit, we could embrace the hardship of pursuing our goals.If youre an entrepreneur, embrace the hardship of spending a ton of time, energy and money building a product that fails.Embrace the unpredictable flow of income and the uncertain future of your business.Embrace the loneliness and pain of sacrificing time that couldve been spent with family and friends.If youre a writer or artist, embrace the hardship of failures and rejections of your proposals.Embrace the struggles with procrastination and creative blocks.Embrace the fear ofcriticismand self-doubt of your creative work.If youre trying to lose weight and get in shape, embrace the hardship of regular exercise, counting calories andeating healthy mealseach day, even whenyou dont have the motivationto do so.Embrace the lack of support and criticism from your friends, family and colleagues.Embrace the long wait of several months before you reap the rewards of your efforts and notice visible changes in your body shape.By embracing hardship, we create new opportunities to become better at what we do, gain valuable wisdom and live a better life.The joys of hardshipTheres an ancient Chinese saying Chi Ku Shi Fu, which means Eating Bitterness is Good Fortune.In other words, embracing hardship and unpleasant experiences today, instead of pursuing easier ones, will lead to a better life tomorrow.No matter how hard your life is today, dont give up. Resist the temptation to pursue an easier life, embrace hardship and escape the comfort trap.Theres light at the end of the tunnel of hardship - a lifetime of joy and fulfillment.Mayo Oshin writes atMayoOshin.Com, where he shares the best practical ideas based on proven science and the habits of highly successful people for stress-free productivity and improved mental performance. To get these strategies to stop procrastinating, get more things by doing less and improve your focus,join his free weekly newsletter.A version of thisarticleoriginally appeared atma yooshin.comasThe Comfort Trap Why the Pursuit of an Easier Life Creates a Harder One (And What to Do Instead).FootnotesThanks toYuval Noah Harari, historian and author ofSapiens A Brief History of Humankind,for sharing the history of the agricultural revolution.Alain Bideau et al,Infant and child mortality in the past(Oxford Claredon Press, 1997)Yi Lin, Liu Sidani, Jaime Shensa, Ariel Radovic, Ana Miller, Elizabeth B Colditz, Jason Hoffman, Beth M Giles, Leila Primack, Brian. (2016).Association between Social Media Use and Depression among U.S. Young Adults. Depression and anxiety. 33. 10.1002/da.22466.Owen N, Healy GN, Matthews CE, Dunstan DW.Too much sitting the population-health science of sedentary behavior. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2010 38(3)10513.Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C. (2010).Whatever does not kill us Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(6), 1025-1041. Croft, A., Dunn, E.W., Quo idbach, J. (2014)From tribulations to appreciation Experiencing adversity in the past predicts greater savoring in the present.Social Psychological and Personality Science,5, 511-516.The argument in this article isnt one for the elimination of the use of technology, rather it argues for the reduction of dependency on it.An extensivestudyof 34 countries found that theres no link between the increase in the economic growth of a country and the well-being or happiness of the citizens of that country.

How To Tailor Your Resume To the Job Description

How To Tailor Your Resume To the Job Description How To Tailor Your Resume To the Job Description If you want your job search to be efficient and effective, preparing your resume shouldnt be a one-time experience. Youll receive more responses from interested companies by taking some time to customize your resume for each new job application.Tailoring your resume connects the dots for recruiters and hiring managers who are overwhelmed by a flood of generic applicants. Instead of proving that youre an experienced professional in general, it shows them that youre a perfect fit for this specific job.What does it mean to tailor your resume?For fruchtwein job openings, a particular skill set is desired to perform specific tasks. Tailoring your resume is about recognizing those skills and responsibilities on the job description and making it obvious that youre up to the task. Your goal is to draw the shortest line possible between your experience and whats stated in the job description.A jo b description says, These are the skills we need and the qualifications were looking for.A generic resume says, I have all this experience. Ill leave it up to you to figure out whether I am capable of doing the job.A tailored resume says, Here is an easy-to-read roadmap of where I acquired and developed each of your required skills and qualifications.A tailored resume is for people and technologyNot only does this help overloaded recruiters and hiring managers do their jobs, it also optimizes your resume for the technology they use. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are used by 98% of Fortune 500 companies and help recruiters sort, filter, and search incoming resumes.For example, the most popular ATS, Taleo, has a feature that automatically scores and ranks your resume based on how well it matches the job description. And most systems have search functions in which recruiters can plug in specific skills and experience to surface applicants with the qualifications they value most. If you applied through an ATS, theres a strong chance your generic resume wasnt even read.How do you know which skills will help you score well or come up in a search?Its all in the job description.How to tailor your resume to the job descriptionOpen up your resume. Compare it to the job description. Go line by line through the description and ask yourself these questionsDoes my resume clearly state that I can do this?How quickly can I point to this skill from the description in my resume? Test yourself.Am I using the saatkorn languagefound in the job description?Match skills and keywordsMirroring the language, keywords, and buzzwords found on the job description is the easiest way prove youre a better match. Start with the job title. A recruiters first search will be for people that have done the job before, so find a place for it on your resume. If you havent actually held the job before, you can list it under your name at the top or as part of asummary section.The next most importan t resume keywords are hard skills. These are often technical skills learned through experience, like project management, reception, writing, or payroll. Whether a recruiter is skimming your resume or an ATS is analyzing it, these are the words that will catch their attention. Match them verbatim when possible.What are they most interested in?Pay special attention to the skills mentioned first or multiple times. If the job description asks for something that you forgot or deemphasized, add it prominently. Start each new job entry in yourwork experience section with skills and qualifications that are found in the job description, even if they werent the most important part of your day-to-day responsibilities.But never lie on your resume. Few applicants have every skill and meet every qualification. Tailoring your resume is about making sure the recruiter or hiring managernoticesthe ones you do have.Get help tailoring your resumeManually tailoring your resume takes a lot of work. Thank fully, Jobscan specializes in tools that speed up this process.For example, with Power Edit, the most important skills and keywords missing from your resume update as you work. You just upload your resume, paste in the job description, follow the keyword and formatting suggestions, watch your score go up, then export your tailored resume.Dynamic resume tailoring, ATS optimization, and formatting all in one place with Power Edit. For a closer look, check out this video.Additional resume tailoring tipsA generic resume is about you while a tailored resume makes it about themUsing bullet points instead of big paragraphs on your resume will make your matching qualifications more skimmableCorporate recruiters prefer to see skills in context. If they see a skill on your resume, they need to understand how and why you used itUse accomplishments with dollar amounts, percentages, or other measurables to prove your effectivenessTailoring is also about removing information that distracts from y our top skills. Look at every line on your resume through the lens of, Does this prove Im a great fit forthis job.

The Pitfall of About Me Generator

The Pitfall of About Me Generator Its possible to click on this to find the random text. Our essay introduction paragraph generator is quite straightforward to use and can generate your writing for you in only a couple clicks of your mouse. Because our images are included in a sprite, all we have to do is create another edition of the sprite thats exactly two times as large. Basically, you will want to create bigger versions of your images to be applied on high-definition screens. CSV files, you allow for many unique forms of dictionaries. An introduction paragraph generator is 1 form of help which you could utilize to offer you that opening paragraph. Below youll find lots of source texts. Nonetheless, if you cant produce a new status message and youre desperate to update it, it may offer you a few ideas even when you dont use the complete claim the program spills out after you hit the generate button. Look over the ideas and feelings you have written, and pick out the on es that appear to truly be important to utilize in your final item. Waiting to call, waiting to begin, all are items that keep you stuck in the inertia of your present situation. There are a wonderful many means by which you may choose to use the random noun generator. To make things worse, crafting a great title is not a simple feat. about Me Generator at a Glance When you exit Free Flash SlideShow Maker, you will be asked if you would like to save your undertaking. Flash SlideShow Maker generates a particular code. With our avatar maker youll be able to choose from several facial capabilities. In case you have any suggestions on how we might improve it, please dont hesitate to speak to us with your input as we always strive to extend the best generators possible. How about that now you understand how to create a layout The project includes the pictures you decide to put on your slideshow and all of your settings. Getting the Best about Me Generator Anyone whos in need to make an avatar can do so in the easiest hassle free way. A lot of things can attract a part to read your About page. Paraphrasing is a tool that may be consummately useful and valuable if you use it in the most suitable way, it may give you accessibility to use considerable amounts of content that wouldnt have been available without having to concern yourself about plagiarism, it can permit you to reinterpret or reuse content in a distinctive way, it makes it possible for you to formulate your own idea about something by interpreting it in your words. Among the biggest reasons for the should create avatars is connected with the rising use of social networks. Several elements are expected to construct the ideal designer bio that hits just the correct note. Our introduction generator has the capability to allow you to generate an overview of the information you have on the topic area which you are writing about. Well, it is possible to easily add an image to a profile with no coding experience. When youve created the bigger images, simply utilize media queries to demonstrate the large images on high-definition screens. If a specific word doesnt fit, attempt to locate a metaphoric substitute. Its essential to note that not all nouns are the exact saatkorn. Which means that you dont will need to shuffle all the words at the same time rather it is possible to edit only 1 word that you find inappropriate for your poem. The internet poem makers are so useful to create sonnets the same as a pro. You may also edit the word even after producing the poem. You may also publish your self created acrostic poem on the website. Reading poems written by other people are able to motivate you to compose similar ones. Most significantly, your readers can observe that youre an actual individual. They want to know what you stand for. Form matters a lot too. Make certain your email address is a hyperlink. Non-famous testimonials also work nicely. Youll observe I didnt say all browsers, since you really just need to make sure your site renders properly for your specific audience. When selecting a domain name, its extremely important your site name is not difficult to spell and pronounce. Longer domain names are difficult to remember, and theyre also prone for more typos.

The Pain of Professional Will Writing

The Pain of Professional Will Writing Making a Will is among the main documents youll ever have to sign during your lifetime. If you are glad to go ahead well then take your instructions. Its our mission to give you an easy to comprehend and professional Will Writing service to make sure that your nearest and dearest are guarded at the time they need it the most. Even in case you have a Will thats been drawn up in your nation, it can be invalid because youve changed your personal conditions. Everybody should have a Will, however much money youve got or how many belongings you have. An explanation of the way to create your own will in Oklahoma. Making the correct choice will showcase what makes you stick out from the competition. Its essential to make a Will. Writing a Will ought to be done on paper and might be typed or handwritten for as long as its legible. Making a Will is among the most fundamental features of estate planning, yet many individuals do not appreciate its importance. If You Read Nothing Else Today, Read This Report on Professional Will Writing Check whether the program gives a crystal clear audit trail which records the info youre provided and the advice youre giving, along with the process you followed. You do, however, have the choice of saving the last document for a PDF or Word document. Quicken WillMaker is the greatest will-making software on the review. The Hidden Secret of Professional Will Writing Will writing software has turned into an important element in offering a quality Will service to clients. A no obligation appointment in the comfort of your own house or place of work to go over your requirements and answer any questions you might have. White collar franchise opportunities are often a perfect alternative for a franchise seeker wishing to have a company and work alongside other small geschftlicher umgang professionals. When you select a will-making solution, you are in need of a program thats intuitive and simple to navigate, especially as there are legal terms and lots of pieces to a will that most individuals dont think about. Mirror wills are two individual wills that reflect each other, appointing precisely the same executors to manage the estate and deciding upon the exact same beneficiaries to inherit the estate. You also wish to engage the services of an attorney to help if you prefer to disinherit a spouse. If you do choose to observe an attorney for advice, go prepared so that youre able to ask certain questions and so you dont pay the attorney to teach you about estate planning. A great estate planning attorney can put extra safeguards into your will to make certain that no one attempts to undermine your will after youre gone. New Step by Step Roadmap for Professional Will Writing You should make certain that you also have told them that your wishes are included in your Will in case they dont have sight of it straight away. Some individuals have never thought about bu ilding a will, and for some, a Will is only essential should they have many possessions or any time they have sufficient amount of money. Most individuals are less aware regarding the value of earning a will but nobody can afford not to earn a will. They do not need a lawyers help to write a basic will. Then you need to get to grips with how youre able to fit your wishes into this which can be extremely frustrating. On occasion a revocation document is nice so you can inform everyone that changes are made to important info and designations in the original document. If you should make any adjustments to your final will and testament, its simple to reopen your files and make whatever changes are essential. It helps you produce an easy, legally binding will quickly and. Writing a descriptive article could be rich and fulfilling experience, but it might also feel a small complex. The short article should concentrate on the vital challenges to Caribbean growth and additionally the way to strengthen resilience. It is going to be marked by your tutor and yet another mark. As you begin on your descriptive article, it is essential that you identify precisely what you want to describe. The New Fuss About Professional Will Writing All our Wills are totally checked by qualified trained staff that will endeavour to provide you with 100% satisfaction and assistance. Similar to the other therapy types, family therapy is going to have an intake procedure and follow-up sessions.

Morris Gleitzman - Childrens Author

Morris Gleitzman - Childrens Author Morris Gleitzman Childrens AuthorPosted October 13, 2011, by Jordan Huidekoper Morris never achieved his childhood dream of becoming a professional football player, but he did become one of Australias most successful writers. After starting as a writer on The Norman Gunston Show, Morris managed to skip the stage of sending off countless manuscripts to publishers only to be rejected. Instead, a publisher approached him to write a childrens book, and hes never looked back.His funny and offbeat books often deal with big issues and are stocked around the world. Two Weeks with The Queen, Other Facts of Life, Misery Guts, Blabber Mouth, Worry Warts, Sticky Beak, Once and the Toad Trilogy are just some of his books which have defined the reading experience of kids everywhere.Did you always want to be an author?I grew up in England and when I welches young my aspiration welches to be a professional football player. I was writing stories by my mid teens, b ut I didnt think of it as a possible career until I was 17 and was looking for a university course. I enrolled in a new professional writing course at Canberra University and, during those three years, I tried my hand at everything from journalism, poetry and advertising copywriting, to short stories and screenwriting.What did you do after university?I distitelblatted that humour was something I really enjoyed, and writing for the screen seemed to be the most realistic way of earning a living. Freelance journalism and humorous writing for newspapers and magazines were not well paid at all, so I started out writing television comedy scripts. I was fortunate enough to be able to join The Norman Gunston Show as a scriptwriter. I wrote various things for TV for about 10 years until a publisher offered to turn one of my telemovies into a book. I had never really thought of writing a book, but it sounded like a bit of an adventure and its a rare privilege to have someone offer to publish your book even before youve written it. Most authors have to go through a much more determined process of writing books uninvited, sending them off and having them rejected.What was the transition from scriptwriter to author like?The single biggest difference between the two is that authors get to pretty much write about whatever they want. Putting a story on the screen is a very expensive process. For a screenwriter, its a case of a limitless imagination being quickly limited by producers, accountants and people that say well, Morris, the climax to your movie of 2000 elephants parachuting into the MCG is a wonderful visual image, but weve costed it and were wondering if you would consider having a couple of mice trampolining in instead. The gap between the two is closing as a new generation of computer-generated special effects emerges, but its totenstill true to say that if I pick up a pen to write a novel, its not going to cost any more money to write a scene with 20 000 people d oing handstands with fireworks between their toes, than to write about two people sitting in a room having a cup of tea and a chat.Where do you get your ideas from?That should be the simplest question to answer of all, but in fact its the most difficult because I cant think of a time when I wasnt habitually making up stories in my head. Ideas pop into my head right through my waking hours and also in my dreams. I was at the movies watching Terminator 2 when I had an idea for a story about a mute girl who has a wonderful relationship with her Country-and-Western-singing, apple-farming dad. However, he does very embarrassing things and she has to find non-verbal ways of telling him to pull his head in. I dont think Terminator 2 has anything to do with that, not on the surface anyway, but for some reason while I was watching it, I had an idea for the book that became Blabber Mouth.Do you think people either have it or they dont?I wouldnt go quite that far because I think there are step s you can take to find ideas. For example, every story is going to be about at least one character with at least one problem. So think about the problems in your life or other peoples lives and come up with interesting and fun ways to solve them. Another approach is to think of things that really interest you, concern you or make you angry. If youre going to be sufficiently motivated to sit down for months with the same characters and story, there will have to be a pretty big personal connection there.Once you have the idea, what is the process for writing a book?I always try to plan my books because I need to know roughly how the story is going to end before I start writing it. If I get powerful feelings along the way that I want to take a different track for that destination, then I allow the story to go off in different directions. I trust that on some subconscious level it says a lot about how I am connecting with the story.What is the lifestyle of an author like?The job has got two broad halves to it that involve very different types of activities, skills and experiences. The first is the process of having ideas, meeting the characters in your imagination, discovering their stories, structuring them, finding the characters voice and sitting down and writing the book. Since I will be sitting in a room by myself day after day, month after month I have to love spending time in my imagination, because otherwise it could be a fairly lonely existence. In my imagination, Im not restricted to a single room and I have the characters in my books to keep me company. The other half of the job is dealing with the business and absatzwirtschaft side of the whole thing. I need a contract with my publisher, and I spend time with a literary editor who refines the creative part of my book, a designer who looks after whole aesthetic feel of the book, and the publicity and marketing department who will arrange media interviews and organise for me to go to literary festivals.H ow important for you is it to go out and speak to children?Its important for a number of reasons. Writing for young people means that every three or four years an entirely new readership comes along. I need to go out there, spread the word a bit and connect with my readers. Its a dilemma because there are thousands of schools in Australia and I could spend all of my working life visiting students, but then I would never write any books and the whole thing would become rather self-defeating. I have a huge number of books that I still want to write so I have to guard my time rather jealously. I have a website which I hope will compensate for that a bit and Im just about to put some video segments up on it with me talking about the kind of things I tend to talk about when I go into schools. Although it wont be as good as a face-to-face meeting, at least students can see me having a chat about some of my books.What gives you the most pleaaya about writing?The short answer is that for th e last 20-plus years I have been able to earn my living doing something I love. I think that is one of the most fortunate things that can happen to you in your life. When a book is finished and its out there, its a wonderful feeling. There is a point where your characters exist but only you know them, then that book is printed and distributed and lots of people read it and suddenly those characters have thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of relationships with individual readers. Another fortunate thing about the work I do is that the trip to work takes me about 14 seconds I have saved hundreds of hours commuting over the years.Anything you wish didnt come with the job?Theres not too much that makes me miserable, but you do have to make sure you spend time in the company of real people. There is also a lot of travel involved on publicity tours, which for me is a joy, but some people choose a life of writing because they prefer solitude they prefer having adventures in their imagi nation rather than physically going out into the world and having adventures there. The discovery that authors do a lot of talks, interviews and travelling can be a bit of a shock for some writers.Whats your favourite book that youve written?I hesitate to say favourite book because when you spend eight or nine months getting inside a characters thoughts and feelings, those characters become dear friends and I dont really like choosing a favourite among friends. But I can say, a book I wrote a couple of years ago has become a special one for me. Its called Once and is about an 11-year-old Polish Jewish boy in World War II. Ive just finished a sequel about it called Then which is coming out in June and is the second half of the same story. Those two books have been the most satisfying and personally important for me.Whats your advice for someone who wants to become an author?If you really want to be an author you have to hold onto that dream despite discouraging setbacks. Its likely t hat the first thing you offer for publication wont get published and you have to be prepared for that. I have a colleague in London who was one of about 15 publishers who rejected Harry Potter. Almost every successful author I know, whose books are now hungrily sought after by publishers, were initially rejected. I think its important to read and write a lot, and let yourself write the things you want to write, rather than trying to write what you think the publishers will want.Put your ideas to paper when you explore a course in Writing or Creative Writing.Bachelor of Communication (Journalism)Study modeOn CampusOnlinePayment optionsHECS-HELPUpfront paymentEnquire Online Enquire OnlineWriting ResourcesPublishing assistant sample resumePublishing assistant sample cover letterInterested in becoming a?WriterJournalistCopywriterEditorAuthorPopular Career Searchesbest journalism course in australiacreative writing courses perth tafehow to become a journalist in australiagov funded writi ng coursesaccredited certificates online in journalismWriting CoursesBachelor of Creative WritingEnquire Online Enquire Online Jordan HuidekoperJordan is a writer and photographer with a keen interest in personal growth and development.Related ArticlesBrowse moreCAREER INSPIRATIONFemale entrepreneursSandra Reynolds - Author and Blogger, The $120 Food ChallengeI am passionate about teaching people not so much how to cook but how to eat, how to plan a menu for the week, how to stock up their pantry, how to use seasonal produce.Creative careersFemale entrepreneursMia Freedman - Writer and Website EntrepreneurI have always been passionate about creating tribes of women, communities of like-minded people.WritingThe Write StuffTheres no more valuable skill in the workplace than the ability to write professionally, and well. 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