CONTENTS FEATURE: Interview yourself to overcome writer's block GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions NET NOTES: Captivating web sites FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: Overcome writer's block by interviewing yourself      Many people enjoy writing as a form of creative self-expression. But it can become a source of torment when writer's block sets in. Confronting writer's block can be somewhat like trying to force yourself to fall asleep when you have insomnia—concentrating on your need to doze off only seems to prolong the time you spend staring at the ceiling.      People may find getting up to read or taking a sip of sherry effective in conquering sleeplessness. Likewise, the shackles of writer's block can be loosened using certain strategies.      Writer's block often results either from stress imposed by a looming deadline, or from disorganization. A writer can be overwhelmed, for example, by the volume of information gathered for a report. Suppose you've been assigned to calculate future staffing needs for your department, or to determine how a proposed city ordinance may affect your business, or to explain a new policy to employees. When you're unsure where to begin, you may discover how to proceed by "interviewing" yourself.      Try composing a list of questions to ask yourself—for example: What is the fundamental subject of this report? What is the purpose for writing it? For whose benefit is it being written? Why should readers be interested?      Suppose the answer to the first question is that the report is intended to announce a new policy. Well, then, how will this new policy affect people? How does it differ from the existing policy? Why has it been enacted? What does it require readers to do? What are the consequences of inaction?      Next, sift through all of the information you've collected and list the points that should be included in your report. Don't try to place them in order; just jot them down.      Using those points, create an outline to help you organize your document—and your thoughts. Use your definition of the fundamental subject of the report to compose a "theme" statement, against which you will measure all content. The theme statement of this article you're now reading is "the shackles of writer's block can be loosened using certain strategies." Your theme statement might be, "The company plans to initiate changes in security procedures in response to the recently completed crime prevention study." Use that theme statement to guide you through the writing process. Every sentence you write must somehow relate to that theme statement.      Using your outline as your foundation, start building the structural "walls" of your document. Do that by expanding on your outline points, referring as needed to the data that you have collected.      Some people insist that the first step in writing is to plant yourself firmly in your seat at your keyboard. However, if you're really stuck, doing so may be as counterproductive as trying to force yourself to sleep. Sometimes alleviating your mind of the immediate burden may be more helpful. Get up and stretch. Pace around the room. Clip your fingernails. Drink a glass of water. Take some relaxing deep breaths. Look out the window—or go outside and walk around the block. Be observant. Something you see may serve as a metaphor to help you convey the point you were struggling to make.      As thoughts begin to crystallize, write them down. Don't be fussy about sentence structure as you work on that first rough draft. Your mission at this stage is to compose your essential thoughts. You'll rectify spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammatical problems when you edit the document later.      If you find you're lacking some information, don't let that distract you either. For the time being, insert a note in the text reading "need more info here," and continue writing. Don't risk losing one thought while you try to expand upon a statement you've already written. You'll fill in blanks more completely in subsequent drafts.      Don't feel compelled to write your report in proper sequential order. If you're most confident about one particular section within the body, start writing there. You may prefer to write the introduction after the body begins to emerge with greater clarity.      Aside from organizational difficulties, writer's block also can be caused by boredom or fatigue. Sometimes the best strategy for coping with "burn-out" is postponement. Giving yourself a break can help you develop a needed fresh perspective. If your schedule permits, move on to something else temporarily. Set the material aside overnight and sleep on it—but in the process, try to avoid giving yourself a case of insomnia. Yes! You also can alleviate your writer's block by assigning your newsletters, brochures, reports and Web site content to EditPros. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions Richard Weiss submitted this month's question:      "When is it appropriate to place sentence-ending punctuation within quotation marks and when is it not appropriate? For example: Johnny asked, "What time is it?" But: Did Jane say "It's ten o'clock"?      This is how I would do it. Where the quoted phrase is a question, the question mark is part of the quote. Where a question is about a quote, I put the quotation marks outside. What do you think?" The grammar coach replies:      Your approach is correct—consistent with the recommendations of the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press Stylebook. Those and other style guides specify placement of commas and periods within closing quotation marks, while colons and semicolons always should follow closing quotation marks.      The placement of question marks and exclamation points, however, depends upon their function. If the quotation itself is a question, the question mark should appear within the quotation marks. However, if the writer is asking a question about a declarative statement, the question mark should follow the closing quotation mark; that's because the question mark applies to the entire sentence, and not just to the quoted matter.      Therefore, your examples are correct as you wrote them: Johnny asked, "What time is it?" Did Jane say "It's 10 o'clock"?      Thanks for submitting your question, Richard!      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. NET NOTES: Captivating Internet resources Wi-Fi Zone Finder      Computers can connect with the Internet using radio transmission by means of a technology called "Wi-Fi," which is shorthand for "wireless fidelity." This Web site identifies the locations of wireless base stations operated for notebook computer users in public sites, including airports, hotels and restaurants. Enter the city of your choice and the site generates a list that you can download to your computer either as a Microsoft Word document or Excel spreadsheet. The site is operated by the Wi-Fi Alliance of Austin, Texas, a non-profit organization composed of manufacturers of wireless systems and companies that offer Wi-Fi services. Bank Rate Monitor      Use this Web site to obtain comparative rate information on more than 100 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, automobile loans, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, checking and ATM fees, and home equity loans, based on frequent surveys of about 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states. Bankrate Inc., based in North Palm Beach, Fla., also produces the Bankrate Personal Finance Minute for the AP Radio Network. Better-Whois.com domain name search      A few years ago, identifying the owner of a Web domain was simple to do when all domains were registered through a single organization. Doing so has become complicated, however, since deregulation of the domain business has permitted numerous domain registrars to administer and grant domain names. Each domain registrar maintains a separate "WHOIS" database that excludes domains registered by competing registrars. But through the Better-Whois.com site, you can access a "shared domain registry" through which you can determine which registrar has reserved the site you're seeking, and you can query that registrar's database for the site information. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.      EditPros performs writing, editing and publication management services for newsletters, sales literature, brochures, Web sites and other informational and marketing materials.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to clients for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.