Showing titles in Words, Language & Grammar

Manon is just about to enter a convent when she meets the young Chevalier des Grieux, a philosophy student. They flee to Paris together, where they live extravagantly off the money the Chevalier makes cheating at cards, until they are robbed of their possessions. Manon becomes mistress to a wealthy nobleman, and she and the Chevalier steal his money. They are captured and sent to a penal colony in Louisiana.

Wordbuilders: the convenient and entertaining way to build a more powerful vocabulary. Each 60-minute audiobook volume within this series features 40 words used in everyday conversation, or in the media and books, but which many people skip, finding these words difficult or even impossible to define or pronounce accurately. Using highly effective mnemonic devices, captivating dramatized vignettes, and a variety of exercises to aid retention, each Wordbuilders program teaches you how to pronounce, define, and use a new selection of common but hard-to-use words.

This 60-minute program offers a convenient and entertaining way to build a more powerful vocabulary. Each hour features 40 words used in everyday conversation or in the media and books that many skip over because they are difficult to define or pronounce accurately. Word Builders uses mnemonic devices, dramatized vignettes, and a variety of exercises to show you how to retain the meanings and pronunciations of these challenging words, as well as how to use them in conversation effectively and naturally.

A must-read for anyone interested in book publishing, Inside the Bestsellers is about ordinary people who became top-selling authors. Discover how James Redfield self-published The Celestine Prophecy and later sold the rights to Warner for $800,000, and how the authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul promoted their book to the top of The New York Times best seller list - stories that have forever changed the business of publishing.

Over a decade ago, when Writing Down the Bones first appeared, Natalie Goldberg started a revolution in the way we practice writing. Now, for the first time, Goldberg reads her classic work, while offering new commentary about the creative, spiritual, and practical dimensions of writing. This collector's edition also includes an exclusive interview with the author.

Whether your presentations are one-on-one or to thousands, Tony Jeary covers everything speakers need to positively inspire any autience.

Penn Jillette, of the world's most famous magic duo, Penn & Teller, reads this original audio guide to the art of schmoozing. Once you learn that schmoozing is the authentic practice of treating others well, you'll be on your way to schmoozing your boss, co-workers and clients, as well as your love interests. Soon your first impression will be a positive, lasting one, leading to happier, healthier relationships in all facets of your life.

Quick: what's the one skill you absolutely need in order to succeed in your career and your personal relationships? Answer: verbal fluency. Expert socializer Susan RoAne, best selling author of How to Work a Room, shows how easy it is to gain the verbal edge. This easy-to-understand and enthusiastic guide, peppered with hot tips and practical suggestions from scores of business leaders, will turn you into a ConverSensation before you know it!

With the expert guidance of screenplay consultant, story editor, and teacher Michael Hauge, you'll learn how to elicit emotion (your primary goal), create strong characters, structure your stories, and conquer the business side of Hollywood. Plus, you'll get groundbreaking information on "feminine mode" movies, a unique approach to character growth and guidance on your life as a screenwriter.

Writing, like life, can be a difficult process, you just have to take it Word by Word. Provocative and witty, Lamott takes you beyond her book Bird by Bird and into her "writer's mind".

Writer, poet, and teacher Natalie Goldberg shows you how to unleash your "wild mind" - the true source of your creative power. In this crisp mix of memoir, teaching guide, nonfiction and poetry, Goldberg strips creativity to the essential mind that is "raw, full of energy, alive, and hungry." Natalie is compassionate, practical, and humorous. "Even if it's just a leg hanging out the window, she says, "write it down." Highlights include: provocative "try this" exercises to compel you into action, advice on how to find time to write, how to discover your personal style, how to make sentences come alive, and how to overcome procrastination and writer's block. She'll also explore the larger vision of the writer's task: knowing when to take risks as a writer and a person, learning self-acceptance in life and art.

Writing, according to Thomas Moore, is sacred practice. Though we often don't think of it in these terms, everything we write - whether a love letter or a shopping list - connects us to the classic tradition of logos, or word. Once a revered practice, guarded by monks in the sanctity of the scriptorium, writing continues to offer us all direct passage to the soul's innermost corridors.

American Book Award-winning author Sandra Scofield will teach you the importance of knowing your underlying theme as you write. Learn how to find a one-sentence premise for your work and how to use that theme to make you write better and to make agents, editors, and readers take your work seriously. Critics consistently place Scofield's books among the outstanding works of literary fiction being crafted by a generation of American women writers. She is the author of Gringa, Beyond Deserving, and Opal on Dry Ground.

Sink into the easy Texas drawl of celebrated Western novelist Elmer Kelton, the son of a Texas cowboy and a five-time Spur award winner. In this live workshop recording he'll share insights about writing in a genre that doesn't always receive the respect it's due. Kelton discusses literary prejudice against Westerns, suggests ways to find a fresh slant and create unusual characters, and reviews trail drive novels. Some of his over 2 dozen novels are: The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time it Never Rained, and Eyes of the Hawk.

Best-selling author Keith Miller details a proven process to take your evangelical writing from idea to completed manuscript. You'll learn how to develop an idea into a working title and table of contents, to gather material, and to choose your audience. Then get advice on the actual writing (Miller prefers "telling"), the inevitable rewrites, working with a publisher, and much more. Miller is the author of The Taste of New Wine and Hope in the Fast Lane.

Gabriele Rico urges you to use the simple act of writing to discover who you are and what you think. She presents her widely-acclaimed "clustering" technique to get you started, then adds exercises to help you reveal your mind's patterns on the page.

Do you wish you could control your fear when speaking in public? Do you worry that you don't command attention? In this program, Caryl Rae Krannich, Ph.D., author of over 40 business and personal development books, reveals the secrets to become an effective speaker.

In this remarkable audio program, Dr. Fleming helps you identify your "voice image" and provides techniques for correcting any communication problem. The Sound of Your Voice takes you step-by-step through the fundamentals of good vocal technique. You will learn what your voice says about you, how to analyze your voice and diagnose its problems, how to modify regional dialects and get rid of annoying mannerisms, how to become more assertive, and much more.

On the morning of July 3, 1994, a misreported forest fire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado became one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting. In this dramatic reconstruction of the disaster and its aftermath, John N. MacLean tells the heroic and cautionary story of nature at its most unforgiving.

This best selling audio program has revolutionized the way men and women talk and listen to each other - at home, at work, and wherever the communications gap between the sexes can lead to troublesome misunderstandings.