A professional screenwriter's master class in writing the most critical and challenging script element--the individual scene. No one comes out of a movie talking about structure. What audiences love and remember about a movie are great scenes. Marlon Brando in the back seat in On the Waterfront giving his I could'a been a contender speech. Meg Ryan's fake orgasm in Katz's Deli in When Harry Met Sally with the climactic punch line: I'll have what she's having. In Superbad, Jonah Hill professing I love you to his friend Michael Cera by touching his nose with a boop. Great scenes will elevate your script from ho-hum to extraordinary--and from the slush pile to sellable. In The Craft of Scene Writing, accomplished screenwriter and master writing teacher Jim Mercurio analyzes and systematizes the beats, conflicts, character moments, action, dialogue, and structure that create powerful scenes. Citing examples from scripts old and new, The Craft of Scene Writing breaks down how great scenes reveal character, advance the story, and emotionally connect with audiences, plus demonstrates how to use these techniques in your own scripts. This incredibly detailed exploration of screenwriting technique will help beginning writers to write great scripts and experienced writers to gain a more complete mastery of their craft.

She opened for jazz great Billie Holiday, shared the set with Marilyn Monroe, and flirted on-screen with Jack Lemmon. In her dream role, Gene Roddenberry beamed her aboard the Starship Enterprise as Yeoman Janice Rand in the original Star Trek series. But a terrifying sexual assault on the studio lot and her lifelong feelings of emptiness and isolation would soon combine to turn her starry dream into a nightmare. The life of Grace Lee Whitney is an amazing story. It is the behind-the-scenes story of Hollywood, it is an untold story of the Star Trek world, but above all it is the story of hope, the story of an awakening, the story of a woman who had to sink the deepest depths of self-destruction before she could rise to find her true self.

Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. That's more than a joke; it's solid advice. Consider world-class performers in any field -- golf, figure skating, music, whatever. One thing you can safely say about each is that they achieved their level of skill through practice. To excel in any endeavor, you must work on and perfect your technique. Comedy writing is no exception. In this book, Emmy-winning TV writer and producer Gene Perret and professional writer Linda Perret have compiled a collection of over 100 comedy writing workouts that will challenge your joke writing skills and develop your sketch and sitcom writing abilities. This book suggests that talent is earned through observation, study, analysis, and repetition. The authors also encourage you to analyze your writing, discover where improvement is required, and create your own skill-creating exercises. The work can be demanding, but that's what it takes to become a success in any field, including comedy writing. If you study Comedy Writing Self-Taught Workbook -- with or without the companion volume, Comedy Writing Self-Taught -- when your break comes, you'll be ready.

A fast intro to using the power of effective delegation to get more done with less stress.

In this delightful, quick-to-read business-management allegory, Donna M. Genett, Ph.D., uses an entertaining narrative about identical cousins, James and Jones, to introduce her successful six-step program for effective delegation.

Whether you are the one delegating or you wish to help your boss become a better delegator, these six simple steps are guaranteed to lighten your workload and give you more time to focus on what's really important--on and off the job.

If You Want It Done Right, You Don't Have to Do It Yourself! will show you how to use effective delegation to:

• Increase job performance.
• Relieve job burnout.
• Decrease workload.
• Build teamwork.
• Elevate employee morale.
• And reintroduce energy and passion into your job.

No matter what business you're in, following the six simple steps in If You Want It Done Right, You Don't Have to Do It Yourself! will immediately improve your career and your mental and emotional health.

The new bible for crime writers. --The Wall Street Journal

How does it feel to be in a high-speed car chase? What is it like to shoot someone? What do cops really think about the citizens they serve? Nearly everyone has wondered what it's like to be a police officer, but no civilian really understands what happens on the job. 400 Things Cops Know shows police work on the inside, from the viewpoint of the regular cop on the beat--a profession that can range from rewarding to bizarre to terrifying, all within the course of an eight-hour shift. Written by veteran police sergeant Adam Plantinga, 400 Things Cops Know brings the reader into life the way cops experience it--a life of danger, frustration, occasional triumph, and plenty of grindingly hard routine work.

In a laconic, no-nonsense, dryly humorous style, Plantinga tells what he's learned from 13 years as a patrolman, from the everyday to the exotic--how to know at a glance when a suspect is carrying a weapon or is going to attack, how to kick a door down, how to drive in a car chase without recklessly endangering the public, why you should always carry cigarettes, even if you don't smoke (offering a smoke is the best way to lure a suicide to safety), and what to do if you find a severed limb (don't put it on ice--you need to keep it dry.)

400 Things Cops Know deglamorizes police work, showing the gritty, stressful, sometimes disgusting reality of life on patrol, from the possibility of infection--criminals don't always practice good hygiene--to the physical, psychological, and emotional toll of police work. Plantinga shows what cops experience of death, the legal system, violence, prostitution, drug use, the social causes and consequences of crime, alcoholism, and more. Sometimes heartbreaking and often hilarious, 400 Things Cops Know is an eye-opening revelation of what life on the beat is really all about.

An urgent warning to parents about the crippling dangers of B12 deficiency...

Your child is unsocial, moody, and not hitting standard development milestones. Is it autism? A developmental disability? Or could it be as simple as B12 deficiency? Millions of children and adolescents are at risk of developing serious neurological disorders caused by B12 deficiency, yet B12 deficiency often goes misdiagnosed as autism, depression, and mental illness. B12 deficiency is treatable--but if you don't catch B12 deficiency in time, it can cause permanent nerve damage and disability.

Could It Be B12? Pediatric Edition is the only book for parents that offers a complete guide to detecting and preventing pediatric disorders caused by B12 deficiency. Written by Sally Pacholok and Dr. Jeffrey Stuart, authors of the acclaimed Could It Be B12?, this book offers parents critical information about protecting children from B12 deficiency from early fetal development through adolescence.

Written in a highly accessible style that makes complex medical information clear to general readers, Could It Be B12? Pediatric Edition presents strategies for healthy nutrition for mothers during pregnancy and breastfeeding, early intervention for infants and young children, and detecting subtle to severe symptoms of B12 deficiency in older children and teenagers. Could It Be B12? Pediatric Edition will help readers learns the warning signs of childhood B12 deficiency, prevent serious injury with timely intervention, and work with health care professionals to get effective treatment for their children.

Thoroughly researched, clearly written, and backed with hard scientific data, medical journal citations, and numerous case studies, Could It Be B12? Pediatric Edition is a must-read for all parents and expectant parents.

Expert advice on attracting, training, managing, retaining, and succeeding with America's newest generation of hard-working, tech-savvy employees.

A new generation is entering the American workforce--Gen Z, the age cohort born after 1996. Having grown up with smartphones, social media, emoji-speak, helicopter parenting, and no expectation of privacy, Gen Z has a unique culture and working style that can be baffling to their Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer managers.

In Managing Generation Z, Robin Paggi, a veteran HR manager, and Kat Clowes, an educational consultant who has worked with hundreds of Gen Z'ers, join forces to give employers and managers a practical, easy-to-understand guide to the new generation defining the future of work. Based on Clowes's in-depth knowledge of Gen Z habits and Paggi's real-world experience of how generational miscommunications can cause expensive personnel problems, Managing Generation Z gives managers at all levels a plan for getting quality work from Gen Z employees while avoiding cultural clashes at the office.

Gen Z is highly educated, extraordinarily tech-savvy, eager to meet expectations, and loyal to employers, but many Gen Z workers have never been trained in the basics of professionalism, workplace communication, and the unwritten social rules older generations instinctively expect. Managing Generation Z teaches managers how to bridge the communication styles between Gen Z and older colleagues, how to train Gen Z staff to make work objectives clear, and how to evaluate and correct Gen Z employees so they will listen, accept, learn, and improve.

Like having an expert HR manager at your fingertips, Managing Generation Z is essential reading for both front-line supervisors and C-level executives who want to get the most from the newest generation in the workforce.

The 21st-century guidebook of life safety skills for teens, their parents, and other caregivers, covering physical safety, sexual consent, social media, your rights with the police, situational awareness, dating violence, smartphones, and more.

Gold Winner, IBPA Ben Franklin Award for Best Parenting & Family Book of the Year
Gold Winner, NIEA Award for Best Parenting & Family Book of the Year
Silver Winner, Foreword INDIE Award, Family & Relationships

Young people coming of age today face new risks, expectations, and laws that didn't exist when their parents were young. What They Don't Teach Teens provides teens, tweens, and young adults with up-to-date, realistic strategies to protect themselves against the pitfalls of modern adolescence.

Author Jonathan Cristall, once a troubled teen himself and now a veteran prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles and a sexual violence prevention instructor, works extensively with teenagers and their families to teach physical, digital, emotional, and legal safety skills. Drawing on Cristall's hands-on experience, What They Don't Teach Teens gives parents and other caregivers techniques for talking to their children about these urgent issues.

What They Don't Teach Teens gives sound advice on police interactions and personal safety (your constitutional rights, what to do/not do when stopped by the police while driving, situational awareness, street robberies, gun violence); sexual violence and misconduct (sexual consent, sexual harassment prevention, dating violence, sextortion); and staying safer online (digital footprint and citizenship, cyberbullying, underage sexting, online porn).

A must-read for all families, What They Don't Teach Teens is filled with practical guidance, thoughtful insight, and simple-to-use tips and tactics that will empower young people to make good choices now and into the future.

In a world of constant motion and distraction, we all yearn for a return to the calming world of nature. Take a restorative excursion into the organic world of Crystal Meadows Coloring Book. Lose yourself in intricate, otherworldly images of plants, flowers, and trees. Designed by Lithuanian artist Sigita Alekne, the images in Crystal Meadows Coloring Book reflect Alekne's unabashed love of nature and living things. Thick, high-quality paper, printed on only one side, gives you a smooth, firm coloring surface with no bleed-through, and perforated pages let you share and preserve your creative work. Like a cool walk into a primeval forest, Crystal Meadows Coloring Book will calm your restless spirit and refocus your artistic mind.

Illustrated throughout with color photographs of karate stances and techniques--plus clear English definitions of karate terms--The Shotokan Karate Dictionary is a unique reference guide indispensable for every martial arts library.

The Shotokan Karate Dictionary, fourth edition, is a complete compendium of essential terms of the practice of karate-do, with special focus on the Shotokan style. Clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate English translations of Japanese karate terms, plus color photographs of essential karate stances, movements, and techniques, will give karate students a firm foundation in karate terminology. A Japanese pronunciation guide and exquisite calligraphy of the Japanese characters (kanji) of each term will deepen students' understanding of karate's cultural roots.

This comprehensive reference book covers the Japanese numerical system, different target levels and directions of movement, the basic elements of karate training, basic and advanced katas, as well as the Japanese terms for typical instructions and commands you will hear throughout your karate training.

The Shotokan Karate Dictionary also explores the philosophical background of karate through an explanation of selected terms, the origin of the name karate-do, the Twenty Precepts of Funakoshi, the rules that govern the dojo, karate philosophies, and annotations by famous Zen masters.

A genius to rival Edison, a personality as intriguing as Tesla, Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a key figure in creating the modern world.

Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla have the glory, but perhaps the greatest electrical wizard of them all was Charles Proteus Steinmetz. Revered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a genius, but largely forgotten today, Steinmetz made the modern world possible through his revolutionary work on AC electricity transmission, the technology underlying today's power grid. More than just a great scientist and engineer, Steinmetz was also one of the most colorful characters in American life.

Standing just four feet tall with a pronounced spine curvature, Steinmetz was as well known for his fiery political opinions, his fierce advocacy for social progress and education, his unusual home life, and his private menagerie as for his technical achievements. The first full biography of Steinmetz in many years, Charles Proteus Steinmetz: The Electrical Wizard of Schenectady brings the life, passions, and scientific achievement of this remarkable man to a new generation.

Learn About the Five Essential Legal Documents You Need to Set Up by Age 55!

Many people discover too late that they need some essential legal documents to deal with common health and end of life issues. Failing to prepare these documents ahead of time can create major legal headaches that often require expensive trips to court to resolve.

Written by expert attorneys in the fields of elder law and estate planning, 5@55 is a slim, easy-to-read guide to the five most important legal documents you should have by age 55:

1. Healthcare Advance Directive
2. Living Will
3. Power of Attorney
4. Last Will and Testament
5. Authorization to Access Electronic Records and Media Sites.

These are the documents that everyone says they'll get to eventually. But eventually all too often turns to never. Setting a deadline of age 55 to draft these essential documents ensures that they'll be ready before you need them--and avoid nasty and costly surprises.

With full descriptions of each document, explanations of why you need it, and sample documents you can adapt to your own needs, 5@55 is a must-have manual for the second half of life.

Comedy writing is an acquired skill. No one is born a comedy writer. The desire may be there from an early age, but the techniques must be learned, developed, and honed. Fortunately, the best teachers are readily available. They are the comics of the past and present, the television shows you see daily, both current versions and reruns. They provide your Ph.D. course in humor writing. In Comedy Writing Self-Taught, Gene Perret, a three-time Emmy Award-winner and former head writer for Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller, teaches you how to teach yourself comedy writing techniques by observing, analyzing, and replicating those who have already mastered the skills. This book not only guides you in selecting the appropriate mentors for your writing and helps you decide what to look for in your studies, it also offers drills and exercises that will develop your creativity. A companion volume, Comedy Writing Self-Taught Workbook, provides even more exercises and writing workouts. Whether you're writing stand-up routines, TV sketches, or sitcoms, this book clues you in to the fastest, most convenient way to teach yourself the skills you'll need. You'll do the watching, studying, and learning. You'll do the work -- and it will require work -- but you'll also reap the generous rewards, and have fun while teaching yourself to write comedy.

Dr. Ruth, a trusted name in relationship therapy, presents effective coping strategies for both the practical problems and emotional stresses of Alzheimer's care. More than 15 million Americans are responsible for the care of a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, a situation that can quickly lead to feeling overwhelmed while trying to balance between the full-time needs of a dependent adult and the caregiver's own physical and mental health. The tactics and resources presented in this book build confidence in the caregiver and provide health-guided advice on how to avoid burnout, seek support from family and friends, resolve family disputes, maintain a loving relationship with a spouse or parent with Alzheimer's, manage behavior, and make the home a safe environment. Keeping the best interests of everyone involved in mind, the guide also details how to coordinate effectively with doctors, facilities, and other care providers.

Three-time Emmy-award winner Gene Perrets Comedy Writing Step by Step has been the manual for humor writers for 24 years. With this, his first update, Perret offers readers a treasure trove of guidelines and suggestions covering a broad range of comedy writing situations, along with many all-important insights into the selling of ones work.

The leap from concept to final draft is great, and the task is filled with hard work and horrors. It is here that most writers struggle to get the plot right at the expense of the story's real power. The result is a script that is logical in every way, yet unmoving. Emotional Structure, by Emmy- and Peabody-Award winning producer, writer, and teacher, Peter Dunne, is for these times, when the plot fits nicely into place like pieces in a puzzle, yet an elemental, terribly important something remains missing. The missing piece won't be found by adding action, you can't stir the soul with a car chase. And the problem won't be helped by a change of location, the only location that matters is deep in your protagonist. The solution is to pay constant attention to the inseparable nature of plot development and emotional development. When you create any scene, whether it's a police pursuit on the interstate or a heart-to-heart in the kitchen, the emotional reasoning behind the scene has to be evident. When you develop the emotional current that sustains the action, you create a scene with heart and soul, and you-and your viewers-are going to feel the passion.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership is the most critical ingredient in any organization. We all understand the importance of good leadership and know it when we see it, but describing or teaching leadership is elusive at best. A lot is written about leadership and its many philosophies. Words and phrases such as hierarchal structures, reframing, leader charisma, stewardship, stakeholders, lines of authority, distribution of power, lateral thinking, implementation by objective, systems thinking, group cohesiveness, and transactional leadership, get bandied about. Programs that somehow manage to be both complex and imprecise are offered as the path to effective leadership. But is being a good leader really all that complicated? Are there intricate techniques to be analyzed, mastered, and applied? Or, is it that great leaders are born, not made? The answer to these questions is, absolutely not. With The Shipbuilder, speaker and business leader Jack Myrick shares five simple, time-proven principles that, are guaranteed to make you an extraordinary leader. This delightful business management allegory set in ancient Greece teaches the Five Principles of Leadership.

A veteran police officer gives his thoughtful, balanced views on police shootings, racial profiling, community relations, and every other aspect of policing--and he'll change what you think about the police.

From the author of the acclaimed 400 Things Cops Know, Police Craft is a thought-provoking and revelatory examination of policing in America, as seen by a working police officer. Adam Plantinga, a 17-year veteran sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department, gives an inside view of the police officer's job, from handling evidence and conducting interrogations to coping with danger, violence, and death. Not hesitating to confront controversial issues, Plantinga presents the police officer's views on police shootings, racial profiling, and relationships between police and the community--and offers reasoned proposals on what the police and the public can do better.

Hard-boiled, humorous, and compassionate, Plantinga wrestles with the complexities and contradictions of a job he loves in which he witnesses so much suffering. Transcending today's strident pro-cop/anti-cop rhetoric, Police Craft will give every reader a greater respect for the police and greater understanding of the job they do.

A fun, nostalgic look at the great American stores of yesteryear and their rise and fall.

The wealthy and leisured lady of the 1920s shopped in a palatial downtown department store with a restaurant, beauty parlor, movie theater, and live orchestra--the harried suburban mom of today rushes her purchases through the self-checkout at the big box store. The Great American Shopping Experience explains how this transformation happened in a fascinating and entertaining history of the growth and decline of America's massive retail empires.

From the humble 19th century dry goods store to the majestic department stores of the early 20th century to the shopping malls and outlet stores of today, The Great American Shopping Experience tells the romantic story of Americans' relentless pursuit of the better bargain, surveying the changing fashions, social ideals, and marketing innovations that created shopping as we know it.

The Great American Shopping Experience also takes a nostalgic look back at the stores we loved, from the small regional stores that were gobbled up to the big chains that still survive today. If you've ever wondered what happened to your favorite store, The Great American Shopping Experience has the answers.

A popular history that is both fun and compelling, The Great American Shopping Experience tells an epic story of capitalism's powers of creative destruction, the repeated transformation of American society, fortunes made and unmade--and takes a fond look back at the great times and amazing deals we had along the way.

The definitive guide to making real money as a writer--revised and updated for the online media market of the 2020s.

Do you love educating others? Do you want to make money doing it? The world of how-to writing is waiting for you! In How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit, copywriting legend and self-made millionaire Robert W. Bly shares his secrets to how any motivated person can turn simple information into a six-figure income.

Bob Bly spells out how you can find your writing niche; develop ideas for profitable how-to books, e-books, articles, video, audio content and more; research, write and publish effective, practical, how-to instructional materials; repackage content in a dizzying variety of proven-to-sell products; promote and market your work; and earn $100,000 a year or more.

This revised and updated second edition of How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit adapts Bly's tried-and-true formulas for writing success to the modern online content market, including best practices for monetizing podcasts, YouTube channels, webinars, Facebook groups, social media, software, and more.

You don't have to be the world's greatest writer. You don't have to be the leading guru in your field. But if you have a curious mind and love learning new things, you can be a six-figure success as a how-to writer--and How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit will show you how!