Freelance Resume and Writing Samples

John P. Riddle

* ****** *****

Bear, Delaware 19701

302-***-****

ac1ol5@r.postjobfree.com

(Partial list of writing credits)

Newspapers: The Washington Post, Wilmington News Journal,

Cecil Whig, Family Times, The Home Journal, Middletown Transcript

Magazines: Delaware Today Supervision Boston Magazine

Travel & Leisure Theater KidsZone

Lifesports & Fitness Curriculum Administrator

Vim & Vigor Natural Foods Merchandiser

Charisma & Christian Life Airbrush Magazine

Syndicates: Crown Syndicate, Inc.

Vocational Biographies, Inc.

Blue Moon Communications

Books Partial list:

“Writing & Selling Information the Mail Order Way” – Pilot Books

“For God and Country” – Barbour Publishing

“Lintball Leo’s Not So Stupid Questions About Your Body” - Zondervan

“Library Freebies” – Independent School Management Publishing

“Executive Odyssey” (co-researcher) – Wiley & Sons

“Family Health for Dummies” (co-author) Wiley & Sons

“Men’s Health for Dummies” (co-author) Wiley & Sons

“Consulting Business” – Entrepreneur Press

“Become a Consultant in 30 Days” – Entrepreneur Press

“Streetwise Guide to Business Management” – Adams Media

“Managing Stress at Work” – Adams Media

“The Story of the Pony Express” – Mason Crest

“The Story of Steve Wozniak” – Mitchell Lane Publishing

“Streetwise Guide to Nonprofit Management” – Adams Media

“Coal as an Energy Source” – Chelsea House Publishing

“How I Made $66,270 in 9 Months Writing for Web Sites” – Blue Moon

“Getting a Book Contract in 30 Days or Less” – Blue Moon

“The PAC Method for Writers: How Prayer, Attitude and Confidence Can

Lead You to a Successful Writing Career” – Blue Moon

“Careers With Character: So You Want To Be a Firefighter” – Mason Crest

Web Sites: WOW Kids Zone Kids Health.org Adam.com

Chamberbiz.com Discovery Health CBS Medscape

Internet.com E-Sports.com All Business.com

Keep Kids Healthy E-Diets.com PBS/WNET

Workshops Sandy Cove Christian Writer’s Conference

Washington Writer’s Conference

Blue Ridge Mountain Writer’s Conference

Montrose Christian Writer’s Conference

Center for Creative Arts

Maryland Writer’s Association Annual Conference

Write to Publish Conference

Southwest Writer’s Conference

Mid-Atlantic Christian Writer’s Conference

Promotions Founder of I Love To Write Day, a grassroots campaign to have everyone

in the country write something on November 15: a poem, a short story,

a letter to the editor, start a novel, finish a novel…the possibilities are

endless. The first I Love To Write Day was celebrated on Nov. 15, 2002,

and 11,328 schools all across America held special writing events and

activities (now over 30,000 schools are involved!). Several thousand bookstores, libraries and community centers also took part. National media coverage in USA Today and Newsweek helped to spread the word.

FIRST WRITING SAMPLE

Grocery Shopping With Your Toddler

By John Riddle

Anyone who has ever tried to grocery shop with a toddler knows how stressful of an experience it can be. For many parents, they have no choice but to stop at the store with their young ones in tow, and it doesn’t take long before the child is taking control of the trip. Within minutes, the whining, crying and begging for every treat and toy in the store will begin, and continue throughout the visit. Not only is it embarrassing for parents, but for other shoppers and store employees as well.

Smart parents are learning that stopping at the grocery store with a toddler should be executed like a covert military operation: go in with a plan, take control of the situation, meet your goal and exit quickly. Keep these tips in mind when grocery shopping with your toddler and the experience will be a lot easier:

• Try and shop in the morning, when your child is more awake. As the day goes on, children tend to get grumpier, so take advantage of the morning shopping time, if you can.

• Have your shopping list ready, and have everything written down based on the location of the food in your supermarket. The last thing you need is to keep running back between aisles, trying to find another item. Get organized before you leave the house.

• Feed your child before going shopping; they won’t be eyeing the sweets as if they were starving to death.

• But don’t forget to bring a small snack as well. In the ideal world, your toddler would be happy with a small piece of fruit, but just in case, bring a few pieces of cut-up fruit and a few crackers in a plastic bag.

• Have a pocket wipes handy in case they are needed.

• Encourage your child to help you shop and find the items on your list. Some parents have cut out pictures of the groceries they need from the store circular. They tape them in a small notebook, and give them to their child. Children are naturally curious, so often times they will scour the shelves, looking for the pictures of the groceries that are in their notebook.

• Have your child hold coupons for you, and encourage them to look for the items on the shelves. (Note: you should only give them one or two coupons at a time; otherwise, they may drop everything on the floor.)

• Look for “family friendly” grocery stores; the kind with fancy shopping carts that are shaped like trucks and cars. But be aware of what your child might be able to grab off of a shelf when they are that low to the floor.

• Learn how to divert and redirect. If your child starts whining or crying, instead of trying to get them to stop, change the focus of the situation. Don’t get mad, but instead, ask them to help you find something they enjoy. For example, chocolate milk, a favorite snack, etc.

SECOND WRITING SAMPLE:

How Divorce Impacts The Military Man

By John Riddle For DadsDivorce.com

Divorce takes its toll on men and women, and is especially hard when there are children involved. But divorce impacts military men differently than non-military men, according to several experts.

Dr. Roger Schank, Founder of the renowned Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and author of twenty books, says one big difference for military men who get divorced is how they are able to cope with their situation. "Certainly; when men get divorced they tend to rely on their buddies to get them through,” said Dr. Schank.

“But in the military, your buddies are pretty much only the people you work with, and showing one's sensitive side and hurt feelings is never a good at work and is even worse in a military culture. Divorced men in the military have narrower options for new relationships as well, and military men also have a harder time with their children because they are likely to be away from them for long periods."

Divorce is a stressful situation, and the military considers financial support of families a top priority. A military man can be court-martialed for failure to financially support his family, even when there is no support order in effect.

Julia Swain, attorney with Fox Rothschild in the Family Law Practice Group, focuses her practice on all areas of family law, and also handles plenty of military divorces. She also knows firsthand that divorce impacts military men differently than civilians. “This is true from both a legal and a personal perspective,” Swain said. “On the legal front, military men have the protection afforded them by the Service Members Civil Relief Act (formerly the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act). Most importantly, this Act enables military men to postpone legal proceedings for at least 90 days. Practically, given the high level of telecommunications and the Internet, delay of legal proceedings is not often encountered because most military men are capable of participating in legal proceedings by telephone, video conference or other means from almost anywhere in the world.”

Swain believes the personal difficulties for military men going through divorce include the distance that they are stationed away from family; complications in regular communication with children and an inability to be involved in day to day activities and decisions for children. “The geographical distance can severely undermine the bond a military man has with his children, particularly if the mother is not supporting the relationship. When no children are involved, the distance may actually be a good thing because it reduces the chances for contact between divorcing spouses. Some military men get married very young due to the added financial advantages given to married military men. A word of caution however, that marriage is a legal relationship that is much more difficult to get out of than into,” Swain said.

The suicide rate is also very high for military men, according to Dr. Scott Haltzman, a Clinical Assistant Professor at Brown University. He specializes in men, marriage and relationships, and said one of the main reasons the suicide rate was the highest in the military this past year was because of break-ups of relationships. “There are lots of reasons why military men respond differently than non-armed men,” said Dr. Haltzman. “They have access to firearms, and are more prone to successful suicides, and they have split allegiances compared to non-military men: first God, then country, THEN family. And women don’t usually like it that way.” He also believes that age plays a big factor. “Many of the men are young and don’t have great role models for relationships,” he said.

Michele Moore, a social worker at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System, said that divorce is not easy for any family, but it can be especially difficult for military ones.

“The stressors or difficulties are there on the military side of it, but the counter to this is military men most likely have many more resources available to them than non-military men,” said Moore. “If an active duty member is unable to cope with his/her job after divorce...they probably would not have been able to cope as a civilian. In general, the military tends to have a "harder and more intense" lifestyle and work rate than most...but still must deal with life and all that it brings.”

Dr. Schank offers some advice to help military men and their families cope with divorce. "Stay in touch with your kids as often as possible,” he said. “The Internet makes regular communication easy; but the problem is that when you have a baby or a toddler, or even a 5 year old, it isn't so easy to have a conversation on the phone or via Skype.”

The question to address is, what do you talk about? Dr. Schank said it is important to improve communication between parents or grandparents with their families. “I created www.Imissthatkid.com which gives you something to talk about. It gives the divorced dad the chance to be his child's teacher in the best sense of that term, guiding your child through games that teach reading, math or geography. It is possible to establish a relationship with a child when you are away with regular communication, especially in a way that engages the child. It’s possible to fight a war and help teach your child how to read and learn."

Third WRITING SAMPLE

Preventing Holiday Stress

by John Riddle, Contributing Author

The holiday season is here, and if you listen carefully you'll hear more than just the sounds of "Silent Night" playing in the background at your local mall. Those other sounds you hear are the cries of stressed out shoppers, parents, sales clerks and children, who are overdosing on sweets and other holiday goodies.

But things don't have to be that way in your house. You can nip the stress beast in the bud and prevent it from attacking you and your loved ones. It takes a little common sense followed by a large dose of patience. Follow these tips to help prevent holiday stress from ruining the most wonderful time of the year for you and your family:

• The Right Attitude - Face it, with the wrong attitude, a trip to the mall or to cut down the Christmas tree can be disastrous. Everyone needs to have an attitude check at this time of the year, because with the right attitude, people are cooperative and respectful of each other. Parents should set a good example for their children by having the right attitude throughout the holiday season (and it wouldn't hurt to continue that tradition throughout the rest of the year, either).

• Be Flexible - The most common reason people become stressed around the holidays is because their expectations are not met. They thought the holiday meal with all of the relatives wouldn't end up with people arguing. Or they thought that their children would behave and stay happy while being dragged to marathon shopping trips to the malls and outlet stores. Flexibility is the key. When you are flexible, you realize that not everything will always turn out the way you hoped it would. When you are flexible, you realize that if things turn out differently, it's not the end of the world. And when you are flexible, you don't become stressed.

• Eat Right - It's not surprising that the average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day is 6 to 12 pounds. The holiday season is stressful enough without eating all of the wrong foods. At this time of the year people tend to eat more because they are going out more. Try and limit the amount of calories you consume at a party or holiday meal. Have plenty of lower-fat, lower calorie choices available such as raw vegetables and pretzels with fat-free yogurt-based dips or salsa-based dips. Offer fruit along with other desserts for a fat-free choice. Plan at least one healthy meal as a family everyday. And when visiting the mall, don't overdose on too many goodies.

• Children and Routines - If you have small children in the family, you know how their routines will be disrupted over the holidays. The next time you are at the mall take a few moments and study the faces of the parents and their children. Chances are you won't see too many "happy campers." When a child's routine is changed, for example, perhaps you've decided to do away with their afternoon nap and drag them to the mall to sit on Santa's lap, stress can result. They may become cranky, uncooperative, and ruin the trip for everyone. Do your best to keep some sort of order and rituals for your children.

• Get Physical - The best way to ward off a stress attack is by doing some type of physical exercise or activity. Turn off the television, stop playing the video games and get up off the sofa. Find an activity that everyone in the family can enjoy together. Ice skating, walking or even putting in an exercise video and turning your living room into a fun-filled family exercise studio will help keep stress away.

• Take Time to Laugh - Laughter is still the best medicine, and it is a very good way to beat holiday stress. Take time to read the comics, watch a funny movie or video or even write your own jokes. Humor is contagious, too, and when people see you laughing you are actually doing your part to help beat their stress as well.

Don't let this holiday season be a time of stress and unhappiness for you. Embrace the positive aspects of the season, keep the right attitude and always remember to wear a smile on your face. When you do these things, your holidays will be merrier.

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