Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Choose a subject you’re passionate about. Read similar books. Outline your plot or structure. Outline your characters or major events.

Answer: Writing a book is a significant undertaking that will require a lot of time and energy. Choosing a subject you know and care about will help propel you through the daunting process. Explore your passions and interests when choosing a topic and make sure you have something important to express on the matter.   Choose a genre that you love to read and have explored in depth, whether it’s horror, romance, or political intrigue. Choose a genre that others will find interesting as well. You’ll also find it easiest to write in a genre you’re familiar with, since you’ll have a good grasp of the common tropes and conventions of the genre. If you’re writing non-fiction, make sure that you have a level of expertise and credibility on the subject. You should read other similar books within your genre both before and during your writing process. Read these books with a critical perspective, noting which aspects of the author’s style you like and which you would do differently. Doing this will keep you connected to the reader’s perspective throughout your writing. It will also keep you aware of what has already been said on the subject so you can produce an original work of your own. Make notes while you read so that you can keep track of your reactions and observations. You might keep a notebook or journal on hand as you read, use sticky notes, or start a document on your computer where you can make notes. The plot of your book will likely change as you go through the writing process. Still, it’s good to begin with a rough outline of the major events and points of interest you wish to emphasize. Focus on how your content can be organized to best achieve your book’s purpose, whether it’s to entertain, inform, or titillate your reader. You can take note of valuable plot sub-points, methods of describing imagery, or how the dialogue is developed.  Don’t focus too heavily on chronology or dividing the content into chapters with your initial outline. You can consider these aspects before writing but a general plot outline should come first.  For non-fiction books, outline the core concepts you are trying to express in the book and fit specific examples and plot devices underneath them as subpoints. There are a lot of different outlining techniques out there, for both fiction and non-fiction. If you’re not sure where to start, do a quick online search for “book outline templates.” You can also try more specific search terms, like “romance novel outline template.” One popular outline style is the Freytag Model, which allows you to diagram the plot structure of a work of fiction. Do an online search for “Freytag Model” or “Freytag’s Pyramid” to find templates and resources for making this kind of outline. If you are writing a fiction novel, your characters will be critical to conveying the story. Start by outlining their function in the story, whether they are protagonists, antagonists, neutral, supporting, or ancillary to the main plot. Then develop more specific characteristics pertaining to their function in the story like their personalities.  Developing backstories for your characters, even if those stories don’t factor into the actual content of the book, will help you conceptualize how they might react to plot points or interact with each other. Try to make your characters realistic so they will be relatable, even if your book does not take place in a realistic setting. If you do have a mythical-type setting, like a world with dragons, try to consider how real people would react in that environment.  If you’re not writing fiction, then key events may be the major “players” in your book. Spend time early on familiarizing yourself with the major events or concepts that form the core of your book, since this will help you think through your book’s organizational scheme.


Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Know that abnormal sperm count and ejaculation could be a sign of infertility. Monitor any erectile dysfunction you have been experiencing. Consider any medical conditions you have. Know that certain infections can play a role in infertility. Be aware that your lifestyle can affect your fertility. Go to a doctor for testing.

Answer: Abnormal ejaculation would be an ejaculation with a lower sperm count or total absence of sperm. Abnormal ejaculations and unhealthy sperms can result in infertility. This is normally due to a problem arising in your seminal vesicles which produce the sperms and hormonal imbalances.  Varicocele or an enlarged testicular vein leads to abnormal sperm development and results in 40% of infertility cases. Abnormal ejaculations such as retrograde ejaculation or ejaculation into the bladder and premature ejaculation due to physical or hormonal causes also lead to male infertility. Erectile dysfunction is also known as impotence. This issue affects almost 20 million American males. It can be a result of psychological factors or inherent medical disorders. Almost 90% of erectile dysfunctions are due to medical causes.  Performance anxiety, guilt, and stress are the common psychological causes of erectile dysfunction. Type-2 DM, hypertension, hormonal imbalances, heart diseases, and pelvic surgery or trauma may also result in erectile dysfunction and subsequent infertility issues. Various underlying medical conditions affect your androgen or male hormone levels. They could also affect your sperm count and increase your chances of infertility. These conditions include: Anemia, type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, pituitary disorders, hyperprolactinemia, hypothyroidism, testicular torsion, hydrocele, and obesity Various infections such as tuberculosis, mumps, brucellosis, influenza can affect your infertility. STDs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis lead to low sperm count and sperm motility. Some STDs also lead to blocking of the epididymis which transports the sperms to the seminal fluid, leading to infertility. There are quite a few lifestyle choices and habits that can result in a decreased sperm count. These include:  Unhealthy eating habits, like eating a diet that is lacking in zinc, vitamin C and iron could affect your sperm count. Wearing tight underwear can lower your sperm count as well, by increasing the scrotal temperature. Long standing use of steroids also results in infertility from testicular shrinkage. Extreme exercise routines may also lead to infertility in men. Cigarette smoking and excessive or chronic alcohol consumption leads to hormonal imbalances, low sperm counts and infertility. Dealing with excessive amounts of stress at work or home could affect your sperm count and hormonal balance. Your doctor will run tests to determine your sperm count. He or she may also run blood tests to check androgens, postprandial blood sugars, and thyroid functioning. Further tests may be done if these tests are inconclusive.


Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Seek feedback from your boss. Ask your peers how you are doing. Ask your subordinates how you can improve. Implement the feedback you receive. Be honest about the results of your work. Make time for solo work. Prioritize your tasks Set specific time limits. Keep a time log of how you spend each day for a week.

Answer:
A great way to begin building accountability at work is seeking feedback from the people you work with. Depending on what your job entails, specifically regarding your position in a hierarchy, you can seek feedback from those above you, those on your level, and those under you. Your job may already have specific performance standards in place which are reviewed periodically by supervisors, but you can show your boss that accountability is important to you by actively seeking extra feedback about your performance. You might seek feedback regarding a specific project or assignment you recently finished, or you might want get a general idea for how you are doing. It’s also good to seek feedback from the people you work with day to day, even when they have no power or authority over you. You need to know whether the people you work with can count on you or not. Be sure to ask questions that are specific to get the feedback you desire. For example, you might say something like, "I worked really hard on that presentation, but I'd love some feedback on where I could improve. Do you have any input?" As a manager, or any upper level position, you don’t want to make all the decisions on your own and never ask how people feel you are leading. Approach subordinates in the right way so you don’t seem like you lack authority. Just be genuine and tell those below you that you want to know how they think you are doing at your job. Try creating an anonymous survey that you can distribute to your employees. This may provide you with more honest feedback because they will be less likely to worry about the comments they make backfiring on them. Asking your boss, peers, and subordinates for feedback on your performance is useless if you don’t take the feedback into consideration and find ways to implement it. Maybe you can’t do exactly what the critique entails, but you can use it as a springboard for making changes. Make sure that you do not take the feedback personally. Look at it as an opportunity to improve. You may spend a lot of time working with a team, and the results are the culmination of everyone’s effort. In some settings, it may be possible to hide or be a little dishonest about the work you accomplished. Being accountable means fully owning up to whatever comes of your work.  This is hardest when you have made a mistake or have not quite made the best of an opportunity you have been given. It may feel natural to shift the blame or make excuses that focus on outside forces, but being upfront and honest about your work is an important aspect of accountability. Owning up to shortcomings will show the people you work with and for that you are not trying to hide anything. When you do mess up, and you have to be honest with someone about the mistake, it is always good to have an idea or plan for how to remedy the situation. Being honest and owning the mistake is the first step, but there is most likely still something that needs to happen. Having a solution to the problem ready when you admit the mistake will help ease the tension and show that you are not giving up. If you work in an office and you usually have your door open, try shutting it for a couple days. An open door invites people to stop and talk, even if it isn’t about work. Closing the door more often will give you the privacy to focus more on work and less on interacting with people. Be sure to avoid digital distractions during this time as well. Log out of your social media accounts and shut off your phone. . In a given day of work, you might have five or more things that need to get done. However, not all of the tasks have the same level of priority. Get in the practice of working on the most important things first and putting off the things that can wait. For less important tasks, force yourself to limit how long you spend on them. Don’t spend a whole hour clearing out spam email if someone is waiting for an email response from you. Knock out an important task that you know will take a while, and then balance it with a short, lower priority task. Alternating in this way can boost your efficiency. At the end of the day, or periodically throughout the day, write down what you do and how long you spend doing it. You may be surprised where your time actually goes. It’s probably best not to show your boss this log, but it will help you see what is draining your time and you can work on reducing those time-wasters.