I read a quote saying something in regards to writing everyday. The exact wording I can't recollect, but it was something similar to, the writing you do not do today is lost forever. I've always been an advocate of writing regularly until I saw the quote, and maybe it was simply the rebellious nature in me but I felt a need to disagree.
I don't believe that going a day or two without writing will result in a loss of words or ideas. Writer's block is not the product of irregular writing. Instead, I feel it necessary to step away from your work and breathe. Allow yourself to gain inspiration from life itself and not just your regular writing habbit.
Sometimes you need that time to miss writing. You can easily take your talent for granted if you are constantly practicing it, but a few moments away to recharge can help you fall back in love with it and avoid tedium.
Now the quote I'm sure was trying to encourage writers to jot down the words they had in the present moment and this I agree with. But I don't believe that what you want to say today will be said in the best way, nor will you lose all your inspiration if you don't write it down. That sort of fear puts pressure on an already fragile and often stressful industry.
Sometimes not writing, and simply observing, feeling, thinking and living is the best way to become a great writer.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Friday, October 03, 2008
Write it down
If I had a dollar for every time I neglected to write down an idea I’d have a lot of money. When you're a freelance writer you constantly need to be coming up with new ideas. This comes easy to folks like me; our minds are a factory of ideas and suggestions, for others it may take you a little longer. These types of people are usually better at executing the idea. But however you are, when you come up with a new idea write it done right away.
Sure you may not have everything thought out in that moment, but you do have something that you can work with. Or at least something you can investigate further.
Who knows your research may lead you to decide to chuck the idea out the window. But as long as you have it, you can come back to it. Don’t think, “I can remember lots of things.” When you work at home you can easily forget even important tasks, if they're not written somewhere because you have so many things to do, so something like an unpolished idea is very vulnerable to getting axed out of your memory.
Don’t sit and ponder whether or not it’s a good idea, simply find some place to store it where it will be in your vision. Then decide how you plan to employ your new found idea.
Not writing down ideas is the fastest way to throw money out. So get yourself a notebook, create a computer file, or at least get some sticky notes and keep all your brilliance close at hand.
Sure you may not have everything thought out in that moment, but you do have something that you can work with. Or at least something you can investigate further.
Who knows your research may lead you to decide to chuck the idea out the window. But as long as you have it, you can come back to it. Don’t think, “I can remember lots of things.” When you work at home you can easily forget even important tasks, if they're not written somewhere because you have so many things to do, so something like an unpolished idea is very vulnerable to getting axed out of your memory.
Don’t sit and ponder whether or not it’s a good idea, simply find some place to store it where it will be in your vision. Then decide how you plan to employ your new found idea.
Not writing down ideas is the fastest way to throw money out. So get yourself a notebook, create a computer file, or at least get some sticky notes and keep all your brilliance close at hand.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Too busy to write?
When we are anxious about writing, our lives suddenly become hyperactive. We fill our days with enough busyness that we can easily believe that there isn’t enough time left to write. This is simply a creative way to boycott writing.
Then, feeling guilty, we become too ambitious in our quest to make up for lost time, and try to force ourselves to dedicate hours to writing. However, this overzealousness simply brings us back to our anxious state and once again we are doing everything but writing.
To put writing in its place, you have to shrink it down to dimensions that allow you to fit it into your life. You can do this simply by giving yourself permission to write for 10-15min each day. The time slot does not matter, what matters is that you are writing.
The goal is to shift your response to writing from negative to positive. By limiting your writing time to a “brief interlude” you lower the threat of walking away and not returning for days.
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Then, feeling guilty, we become too ambitious in our quest to make up for lost time, and try to force ourselves to dedicate hours to writing. However, this overzealousness simply brings us back to our anxious state and once again we are doing everything but writing.
To put writing in its place, you have to shrink it down to dimensions that allow you to fit it into your life. You can do this simply by giving yourself permission to write for 10-15min each day. The time slot does not matter, what matters is that you are writing.
The goal is to shift your response to writing from negative to positive. By limiting your writing time to a “brief interlude” you lower the threat of walking away and not returning for days.
Get notified with updates. Subscribe to write-profits today!
Monday, December 10, 2007
The writer’s office
Good writing skills are no longer enough to make your business a go. It is nearly impossible to work in a professional manner without a well equipped and smartly designed office.
Without the right tools it’s tough to meet those tight deadlines or get inspired to produce high quality work. Take a look at your office.
Do you have an office or do you work wherever you can find space?
Do you make use of digital software to help manage data and research efficiently?
An environment that fosters creativity and allows you to produce high quality work generally results in a high paycheck.
Here are some things to consider.
1. Your computer can help you hold a wealth of data but that’s useless unless you can find everything seamlessly. Create spreadsheets and files for your clients and work.
2. You should always have a separate checking account and credit card for your business
3. You should have a budget for putting together and maintaining an office.
4. Don’t overlook attractive stationary and business cards
5. When putting together your office don’t put desks, tables, files and other equipment into the room in a hap hazardous fashion. Consider what works best, what’s most comfortable and efficient.
A freelancer is a professional thus maintaining a professional image, managing your business wisely and delivering a great product will help ensue a success writing career
Without the right tools it’s tough to meet those tight deadlines or get inspired to produce high quality work. Take a look at your office.
Do you have an office or do you work wherever you can find space?
Do you make use of digital software to help manage data and research efficiently?
An environment that fosters creativity and allows you to produce high quality work generally results in a high paycheck.
Here are some things to consider.
1. Your computer can help you hold a wealth of data but that’s useless unless you can find everything seamlessly. Create spreadsheets and files for your clients and work.
2. You should always have a separate checking account and credit card for your business
3. You should have a budget for putting together and maintaining an office.
4. Don’t overlook attractive stationary and business cards
5. When putting together your office don’t put desks, tables, files and other equipment into the room in a hap hazardous fashion. Consider what works best, what’s most comfortable and efficient.
A freelancer is a professional thus maintaining a professional image, managing your business wisely and delivering a great product will help ensue a success writing career
Monday, December 03, 2007
Why write for the eyes?
If you look at magazines and even books today you’ll notice they have shorter paragraphs and fewer chapters. Some writing experts claim that this is due to the internet boom, where writers discovered that content was frequently read if it was visually digestive.
And this is true, but it’s not just web media that affects the way we read. Though if you write for the web you may want to change the way you write. Here’s why:
Our readers are television viewers first, skimmers second, and readers third. Telling a story or reporting an event is no longer just about captivating the imagination you have to draw the readers in visually.
You have to tell your story within a package as opposed to starting on page one and ending on page one hundred. Your piece needs more entry points, more exist points and more places for the reader to catch his breath than before.
Your job is not just to get your reader to read, but to help your reader read.
Think about it. Your reader has the challenging task of taking in hundreds of little marks that up make your document. They need as much help as you can offer to get them from one paragraph to another.
Writers now write for the eye as well as the brain.
You have to grab the eye first with the visual. If you can turn them into skimmers and then readers, they will sit down and read your lengthy article. But you have to get them excited to get them into that lengthy article to start.
You can achieve this first and foremost by breaking up your paragraphs. If your reader is overwhelmed by the layout of your piece you can almost be certain they won’t want to read it.
Take a look at the following paragraphs taken from an article I wrote
“Many people don’t take internet marketing seriously because they don’t regard work from home agents as professionals but rather dilettantes. And you can’t blame them. Starting a home business has never been easier. Anyone with sometime and a computer can start a business. It doesn’t even take hours out of your day. If you can spare a couple hours here and there then you can become an internet marketer. And there are plenty of net marketers who build successful businesses a few hours at a time.
However, those people are few because majority of net marketers see their business close within two years. The one’s that don’t are dedicated to making it work. They try, fail and try again. They spend less time looking for magic millionaire formulas and more time applying their creative intelligence and learned marketing techniques.”
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“Many people don’t take internet marketing seriously because they don’t regard work from home agents as professionals but rather dilettantes. And you can’t blame them. Starting a home business has never been easier. Anyone with sometime and a computer can start a business.
It doesn’t even take hours out of your day. If you can spare a couple hours here and there then you can become an internet marketer. And there are plenty of net marketers who build successful businesses a few hours at a time.
However, those people are few because majority of net marketers see their business close within two years. The one’s that don’t are dedicated to making it work. They try, fail and try again. They spend less time looking for magic millionaire formulas and more time applying their creative intelligence and learned marketing techniques.”
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I haven’t changed anything about the article except for the layout and the second example is much easier to take in. Some would say that I could have broken up those paragraphs even more.
Make sure your paragraphs are no more than four sentences. And leave enough white space for the eye. Also cut out confusing, wordy sentences. If you can make your statement with five words don’t use ten.
The fact is, your reader does not mind if your piece is long it just can’t look that way.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Why do you write?
I wanted to be an artist. But God didn’t give the gift of hand-eye coordination. And to be honest I’m not entirely sure he granted me the gift of enchanting people with words but that’s the tool I have chosen to take up.
I write to say the things that I can not verbally communicate.
I write to teach myself patience. Each sentence must be formed one word at a time and each word letter by letter.
I write because I need attention. And as you are reading this you are granting me my wish.
I write on the conceited notion that I, through my words, may be able to help someone.
I write because I can, because I have the freedom to do so. It’s how I show myself. My words may be angry though I’ll never shout, sad without revealing one tear and happy without echoing my laughter.
As long as there are no rules against it I will write. I suppose even if there were I would still do it.
Why do you write?
Do you sit there at your computer simply to hear the clicking of your keyboard? Or is it deeper than that?
Are you so in love with the idea and task of creating that you can do it anywhere, like two lovers who feel no shame in expressing their love even on a train platform?
Do you do it to understand yourself—to explore your psyche in a way that no psychiatrist could begin to understand?
Perhaps you do it to take a wild uninhibited ride through your imagination.
Or maybe you do it because it works, because you really couldn’t imagine yourself doing anything else. It’s part of your job, your lifestyle, who you’ve become.
Positive statement, ringing affirmation-- you are a writer.
I write to say the things that I can not verbally communicate.
I write to teach myself patience. Each sentence must be formed one word at a time and each word letter by letter.
I write because I need attention. And as you are reading this you are granting me my wish.
I write on the conceited notion that I, through my words, may be able to help someone.
I write because I can, because I have the freedom to do so. It’s how I show myself. My words may be angry though I’ll never shout, sad without revealing one tear and happy without echoing my laughter.
As long as there are no rules against it I will write. I suppose even if there were I would still do it.
Why do you write?
Do you sit there at your computer simply to hear the clicking of your keyboard? Or is it deeper than that?
Are you so in love with the idea and task of creating that you can do it anywhere, like two lovers who feel no shame in expressing their love even on a train platform?
Do you do it to understand yourself—to explore your psyche in a way that no psychiatrist could begin to understand?
Perhaps you do it to take a wild uninhibited ride through your imagination.
Or maybe you do it because it works, because you really couldn’t imagine yourself doing anything else. It’s part of your job, your lifestyle, who you’ve become.
Positive statement, ringing affirmation-- you are a writer.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Trouble Concentrating?
Did you know that your mental abilities vary by as much as 30 percent throughout the day? While we all have our natural daily rhythm and peak hours, for most, morning is when creativity, alertness and logic are at their peak.
According to Smolensky, a researcher at the University of Texas at Houston, “that makes morning the ideal time for writing, working creatively and discussing tough topics.”
However, what if your most demanding tasks hit late in the day? Don’t fret. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say you can retrain your brain to peak when you need to in as little as two weeks by doing your toughest tasks at that time.
For instance,if you work as an online freelance writer but can only work in the evenings due to a day job start with your most difficult task at the same time each night. You’ll find that even though you may feel un-ambitious your brain is ready to work.
And in order to boost mental abilities at any time, “use relaxed deep abdominal breathing,” suggests Dr. Baker “It raises the amount of oxygen reaching your brain by 33% and it can boost alertness and productivity by 60%
Find more tips to improve concentration
http://smartsolutions-ezine.com/improveconcentration.html
According to Smolensky, a researcher at the University of Texas at Houston, “that makes morning the ideal time for writing, working creatively and discussing tough topics.”
However, what if your most demanding tasks hit late in the day? Don’t fret. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say you can retrain your brain to peak when you need to in as little as two weeks by doing your toughest tasks at that time.
For instance,if you work as an online freelance writer but can only work in the evenings due to a day job start with your most difficult task at the same time each night. You’ll find that even though you may feel un-ambitious your brain is ready to work.
And in order to boost mental abilities at any time, “use relaxed deep abdominal breathing,” suggests Dr. Baker “It raises the amount of oxygen reaching your brain by 33% and it can boost alertness and productivity by 60%
Find more tips to improve concentration
http://smartsolutions-ezine.com/improveconcentration.html
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