Get writing or Get Lost

A guest post by Daryl Sedore

Contracts are being written at this very minute while wine glasses are filled. People are being published as bottles empty. Booksellers are getting books and placing them on shelves. All this happens while other writers are getting lost. There’s much ado about writing out there. Let’s break it down into three categories of A.D.O.;

Advice

There’s an abundance of advice on how to write. Thousands of books cover the topic of writing from Stephen King’s “On Writing” to Donald Maass’ “Fire in Fiction”. There are websites, blogs and conferences where you can do seminars to learn the craft. There’s as much advice on how to write as there is air to breathe.

As a writer you need to get to a place where you combine it with practice. When the writing day is over, make sure you’ve scribed something because one of the best schools of writing is writing. It has been said you need to write over a million words before you consider being published. (Then you can crack open that Shiraz or pinot noir and celebrate).

Dawdle

Writer’s procrastinate. It’s as common as breast feeding, just not as good. You can’t dawdle around and expect to have the next best-seller. Read what advice you want; then write. Come up with reasons to do this or that; then write. People with excuses don’t have book deals and people with book deals don’t have excuses.

If you find you have trouble getting into it, set some time goals. Between 11:00am and 1:00pm, I’ll read, study, take notes and ruminate, but at 1:00pm, I start writing.

Odds

We’ve all heard the odds of getting published. They’re staggeringly against a novice writer. Literary agencies tell us that queries mount into the thousands per year. Hundreds upon hundreds of unsolicited queries hit an agency weekly. And that’s just one agency. There is a phalanx of agencies in New York alone. I’ve read agents who have said they took on two new clients this year. That’s two out of thousands of queries. Wow, you’d have a better chance of bumping into President Obama in self-help section in the Barnes and Noble booksellers on Fifth Avenue.

With that in mind, it doesn’t matter. That’s right, you read it correctly. It doesn’t matter. (Note to self: get wine ready) It doesn’t matter if you wrote something unique. It doesn’t matter if your voice is unheard of, your style a dream and your story telling ability a number one stunner.

So take some advice, don’t dawdle. Avoid thinking about how hard it is to break in to the industry. Just write a damn good story. Write. Make it original. If you knock people out of their chairs with your work, you have a better chance against those odds than if you just knock their socks off. Don’t dawdle, write. Avoid spending too much time with much A.D.O. about writing and get your story on paper.

After all, you’re a storyteller, right?
So write.

Daryl Sedore has written two novels and sold over 40 short stories. He also placed 6th in the 75th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Story competition with 4 other stories in the top 60. Daryl blogs about writing and other motivational subjects at darylsedore.com
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Secret tip: get yourself on the waiting list for the A-List Blogger Club, the amazing ongoing training environment for bloggers that Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch have created.

The A-List Blogger Club has changed my life. A month ago I didn’t know a tweet from a widget. Now I’m running my own blog and the club is right there with me. Everyday I connect with someone new, and not just connect, but get to know them, laugh with them, befriend, share, support and exchange ideas. Mary and Leo have created a community that is a reflection of who they are — generous, genuine and successful!
~ Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft, Fiction

Elevate Your Writing By Using Well-Positioned Quotes

“It is the little writer rather than the great writer who seems never to quote, and the reason is that he is never really doing anything else.” ~Havelock Ellis

A guest post by Bamboo Forest of Tick Tock Timer

Few things will improve your post like well positioned quotes. Many authors are not only more brilliant than we are, but they’re also superior writers. By taking their brilliance and inserting it in your posts, you’re boosting your arguments credibility and making your articles more interesting to read.

Non-fiction book authors virtually always pull quotes from other authors to give their arguments more power and to increase the overall enjoyment of their work. By doing the same for your blog posts you’re guaranteed to increase the quality of your writing.

For an entire week I read every post from five A-list bloggers to see how many of their posts included quotes. Out of 31 posts, only three did.

There are two implications to take away from this: One, if you’re a blogger and use more quotes you’ll definitely stand out. And two: the reason quotes are seldom used is obvious, it makes writing more time consuming. If you want to include this highly beneficial component to your writing, however, you’ll put in the time for it.

How to Find Great Quotes

You should follow at least two blogs within your niche that will give you excellent quotes to include in future posts.

Since I often do guest posts on writing and blogging, I ensure that I never miss a post from Write to Done or Copyblogger; they’re both blogs that offer a constant stream of good material for me to include in future guest posts.

I strongly recommend, however, that you don’t stop with just blogs. Read books and magazines too. It’s always impressive to find material outside the blogosphere inside your post.

Every time you’re reading a book or magazine, ensure your highlighter is handy. By highlighting quotes that stand out while reading, you’re providing yourself amazing material to include in future posts to support your arguments and increase the overall value of your writing.

There’s another bonus of reading more books and magazines beyond acquiring great quotes, and it’s even more significant than the benefits these quotes offer.

Every book and magazine you read is like a garden of ideas. And as much as I enjoy reading blogs, let’s face it, the best writers aren’t posting blog posts; they’re getting paid to write books and magazine articles. You’ll usually find the most profound and well articulated ideas not in blogs, but in books.

Here’s what Brian Clark of Copyblogger has to say on the value of not just relying on blogs for inspiration:

So many people are reading RSS feeds and joining the conversation and blogging about what other people are blogging about and guess what, it’s really hard to stand out when you do that type of thing. So here’s an idea, read more books, read more magazines, take in other media and then add your own perspective to the new ideas that you’re exposed to. And all of a sudden you have a fresh outlook that no one else is blogging about.

Using more quotes and reading more books and magazines is certain to enhance the quality of your blog.

Bamboo Forest created an online timer that helps make bloggers ridiculously productive. He also writes for Pun Intended, a blog that’s hilarious and inspiring.

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Secret tip: get yourself on the waiting list for the A-List Blogger Club, the amazing ongoing training environment for bloggers that Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch have created.

The A-List Blogger Club has changed my life. A month ago I didn’t know a tweet from a widget. Now I’m running my own blog and the club is right there with me. Everyday I connect with someone new, and not just connect, but get to know them, laugh with them, befriend, share, support and exchange ideas. Mary and Leo have created a community that is a reflection of who they are — generous, genuine and successful!
~ Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft, Fiction

How Writing Can Be Like Great Sex: 17 Hot Tips

Guest post by Barrie Davenport of Live Bold and Bloom

Perhaps the title seems a bit gratuitous, but there is definitely truth to it. As a writer, you have likely experienced various levels of intensity and pleasure in the process of working on your craft. There’s writing when you are just slopping words on paper. And there’s writing that is slow and laborious and painfully tedious.

But then there’s WRITING — head-spinning, mind-blowing writing.

The words flow from some supernatural place, and it feels like there is nothing between your mind and your fingers typing away at the keys. It is a totally delicious experience, and often it comes out of nowhere, as a completely unexpected — well, brain climax.

Some people call this inspiration or being in the flow. And like the aforementioned other activity, the rest of the world just disappears. When I feel it coming on, I just have to do something about it — right now. And I want to get the very most out of the experience.

There’s no point finishing dinner or the television program I’m watching, or continuing whatever I’m doing. I have to get to that computer and turn it on. In those inspired moments, the writing is so easy and natural, and it is completely absorbing. Like a lovely out-of-body experience.

Unfortunately, this state of writing bliss cannot be sustained for long.

Don’t you wish you could bottle whatever it is that stimulates the mind to open so beautifully and spontaneously? A mental door has been flung wide, and amazing ideas and words come spilling out, just begging to be arranged into a story or poem or article.

Neurons are ablaze, firing left and right. You can write and write, pouring forth words in great gushes, only to finish feeling completely spent. My, oh my.

“One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment.” ~Hart Crane

And just as spontaneously, that door will slam shut again, and your brain snaps closed like a mental chastity belt. Every sentence is a struggle. Ideas and words evade you like a coy mistress.

Have you ever spent hours with your fingers poised on your keypad, staring at the screen like it might tell you what to write? It is so frustrating. You might as well be under water or in a slow-motion movie. Where did all of those darling words and ideas run off to?

Sadly, if writers waited on the mistress of inspiration in order to write, we would produce work very sporadically.

And eat lots of beans and rice. We have to write whether we are in the mood or not. If you write for your career, then writing must be a daily act of self- discipline , even when it’s lackluster and boring.

Is it possible to put yourself in the mood for inspiration? Can you put on a slinky mental nightgown or pop a cerebral Viagra to prepare yourself to be in the flow? Yes, there are things you can do, and you don’t have to order them from the back of a magazine or get a prescription!

“The great advantage of being in a rut is that when one is in a rut, one knows exactly where one is.” — Arnold Bennett

If you have to produce something today, and your creativity has rebuffed you, here are some ideas to get the mental juices flowing:

  1. Set the stage. You know where you like to write. Clear all of the mess off the desk or table. Put it out of your sight. Be sure you aren’t hungry or thirsty, in pain, or otherwise distracted. If you can write to music, play music that sets the mood for your topic.
  2. Walk outside for a few minutes. Get a change of scenery and some fresh air to distract you from your mental sluggishness.
  3. Re-frame your thinking. When you aren’t in the mood to write, you begin to think you are a bad writer. Don’t focus on the end product or your lack of inspiration. Just have fun in the process. Write without constraints and clean up the messy parts later.
  4. Relax and detach for a few minutes. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and try to empty your mind. Meditate for ten or fifteen minutes if you have the time.
  5. Send your subconscious a message. While your eyes are closed, ask for inspiration. Invite the ideas to come forth and the words to flow.
  6. Visualize your reader. Think about the people who will be reading your words. What can you say that will inform, uplift, inspire, confound, or humor them? If inspiration doesn’t produce the words, use your intellect and refine later.
  7. Do a warm-up. Get your fingers and mind ready for writing by writing mindlessly. Answer some emails. Revise a previous article. Type favorite quotes or paragraphs from other writers. Ease your brain and muscles into readiness.
  8. Think poetically. Even if you aren’t writing a poem, think in the language and nuance of a poet. Make your words juicy and provocative.
  9. Do some reading or research. If you know the topic you are writing about, read from some books you have about the topic or search the Internet to get your mind wrapped around the topic and to get ideas pumping. Look for inspiration in the words of others.
  10. Take a lot of notes. As you are reading, write down everything that might be interesting or potentially pertinent to your topic. As you write enough notes, ideas will amazingly start to formulate into elements of your story or article.
  11. Create a list of interesting words. Find melodious and beautiful words to have handy at your desk while you are writing.
  12. Phone a friend. Call someone with some sense and creativity and talk through your topic and ideas with them. Ask for feedback. Draw from their energy and enthusiasm.
  13. Write an outline or bullet points. Begin putting something on paper. If you have enough material in your head, write a full outline. If not, write bullet points of concepts or ideas that you might want to expand upon.
  14. Set a time limit. Force yourself to write for 20 to 30 minutes without a break. Your writing might stink, but at least get the words flowing and some ideas formulated. Be disciplined even if you feel discouraged. Just keep working.
  15. Take short breaks. Get up and eat something. Walk outside again. Run in place. Listen to music. Do some activities to recalibrate your brain and provide some energy. You’ll come back refreshed and ready for more.
  16. Break your writing into chunks. If you know how long your piece has to be, break down the number of pages and how many pages you will write in an hour or an afternoon. Focus on the writing that doesn’t require a lot of brain power and work on that during your time frame.
  17. Make love to your words. Metaphorically of course. View your writing as your beloved. Treat each word and sentence tenderly, and caress the most beauty and meaning from every one. When you aren’t in the mood, give instead of take. View your writing as an act of love and a gift you are offering. Then you humanize the entire experience.

When inspiration walks through the door wearing its red, sexy dress and inviting you for a romp, jump on it as fast as you can. Enjoy the wild ride and create something spectacular!

But when she leaves you high and dry, don’t cry in your beer or view yourself as a rejected suitor. You can always return to that boy or girl next door, the one who has been true to you all along — the writer who sits down every day and just does the work of writing.

If you’d like to read more about how the spoken word can impact your writing and your life, read this article.

Barrie Davenport is a life and career coach and the founder of Live Bold and Bloom, a blog about bold and fearless personal growth. She is a member of the A-List Blogger Club.
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.Secret tip: get yourself on the waiting list for the A-List Blogger Club, the amazing ongoing training environment for bloggers that Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch have created.

The A-List Blogger Club has changed my life. A month ago I didn’t know a tweet from a widget. Now I’m running my own blog and the club is right there with me. Everyday I connect with someone new, and not just connect, but get to know them, laugh with them, befriend, share, support and exchange ideas. Mary and Leo have created a community that is a reflection of who they are — generous, genuine and successful!
~ Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft, Fiction

12 Life Lessons from Warren Buffett to Being a More Compassionate Writer

Guest post by Scott Dinsmore of ReadingForYourSuccess

Last week I spent a day with Warren Buffett at his annual meeting. The education was profound, and surprisingly serves to make us all better writers, bloggers and entrepreneurs.

12 Life Lessons from Warren Buffett:

1. Lose money and I will forgive you, but lose even a shred of reputation and I will be ruthless. This has been echoed across the business world for years and it applies to us all. Life is too short to cut corners to make an extra buck. Wealth can always be recreated but reputation takes a lifetime to build and often only a moment to destroy. As Warren says, “we will not trade reputation for money.” In the world of blogging, we are writing because we love it. It’s not for the money. This makes reputation more important than anything. Remember this when you are contemplating rushing to monetize your site by filling it with ads, links, etc.

2. The best defense in a tough economy is to add the most you can to society. Your money can be inflated away but your knowledge and talent cannot. No matter the external circumstances, you are always in control of your talent, learning and passion for life. There will always be opportunities for talent. This is the most empowering thing about web entrepreneurship and blogging. Develop those skills with the constant focus on helping others and you will never be without a job.

3. We get worried when people start to agree with us. The best fruit is found out on the limbs. The road less traveled makes all the difference. Make a rule to always stay on the side of the minority in your life’s path and you will be greatly rewarded. Not to mention it will be magnitudes more exciting. These are exactly the topics that people want to read about. Get a little edgy with your posts. Say something fresh. It will stick with your visitors and they’re likely to come back.

4. We celebrate wealth only when it’s been fairly won and wisely used. The goal is not to make money at all costs. It’s easy to forget that in a lot of industries and sub-cultures around the world where everyone is in constant competition. And this can especially be the case when so many of us spend hours upon hours writing and developing our web services for free. Do not rush it and do not get greedy. Help others and the fruit will be there. Wealth is worthless if you’ve destroyed all your relationships to attain it. Take the high road. It’s far less crowded. A bit sad but often true. Makes it pretty easy to stand out.

5. When you are exceptional you jump off the page. There really isn’t that much competition there. Be your own best competitive advantage. Then it doesn’t make a difference what others are doing. You are in control. In blogging, entrepreneurship and life, there are few people really willing to give it their all. Do this and your supporters will love you for it (they will also likely multiply).

6. Do what you’re passionate about. If you do this, there will be few people competing or running faster than you. The best way to be exceptional is with passion! As Tony Robbins says every day of his life, “Live with Passion!” And trust me, life is a lot more fun this way. I cannot think of a better motivator to get you to write for free and love it, than to jump out of bed dying to teach and help others.

7. I think I developed courage when I learned I could deal with hardship. You need to get your feet wet and get some failure under your belt. Courage does not grow on its own. Just like a muscle, it must be constantly worked out and developed. Life begins outside your comfort zone and that’s where courage is developed. Most people don’t succeed because they’re afraid to fail. Failure isn’t that bad anyway. It will make you tougher and more likely to win the next time around. If I had a dime for every time I heard someone tell me about an idea they wanted to pursue or how much they would like to give blogging a shot, without an ounce of action to follow…well, I might own a few more shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock. No one has succeeded without going through their own failures at some point. To try and to fail is much better than to never try. Why not get started early and get some of them out of the way! What’s the worst that could happen? As big wave surfer Laird Hamilton says “If you’re not falling then you’re not learning.”

8. There’s no better way to be happier than getting your expectations down. Most unhappiness comes from misaligned and unrealistic expectations of life. Expect the world of yourself, but expect nothing of the world. Then you cannot help but live your life pleasantly surprised. When I first started blogging a few years ago, I had these huge aspirations of how quickly I’d have a massive following. When it didn’t happen immediately, it got me down. Write and develop your business online with the expectation of it being a charity project to help others. Anything in addition will be icing on the cake.

9. If the only reason you find for doing something is because others are doing it then that’s not good enough. In fact, if everyone else is writing on a topic, maybe that’s the one best to avoid. Tim Ferriss is a master at evading the majority with his 4-Hour Work Week philosophy. Learn to be comfortable on your own path.

10. Decide early in life to make your money by selling things that you really believe are good for the customers. Make this a rule before you write another word to your readers or offer another product to your customers. Life is too short and your reputation too fragile to not have your audience first and foremost in your mind and in your heart. Rules like this make it very difficult to lose.

11. We’ve done a lot of stupid things but we’ve avoided a small subset of stupidity and that subset is important. It’s about avoiding the dumb things. Warren’s success does not come from doing so many things right. It comes from avoiding the things that are terribly wrong. Some say this is two sides of the same coin. It’s not. It requires a fundamental shift in psychology. The stories are endless of people who did a few things right and were massively successful, but then did something stupid that took them back to zero. Before Warren does anything, he and his partner “invert, always invert.” They list every way imaginable in which they could fail at a particular task and then take massive effort to avoid those failures. Do this for your blog or business and the success will come automatically. Always ask yourself, what would disappoint my readers or customers? Then don’t do it.

12. Go to bed a little wiser than when you woke up. This is the crux of the whole meeting. Life is about learning. If you are always learning you can never lose. Keep this as your only rule for the day and the world will be yours for the taking. There has been no better way for me to continue to add value to my readers and followers than this life maxim. Follow it and you will never run out of posts to write or people to serve.

The lessons from Warren are endless. We all stand to learn to be better people, writers and entrepreneurs from what he’s willing to share. He doesn’t charge any money or ask for anything in return. Except of course that we live a life with a burning desire to learn and do all we can to be valuable additions to society. Keep this as the foremost mission of your business or blog and your time spent will be well rewarded.

Read more action-provoking posts by Scott Dinsmore, a writer, and entrepreneur. You can read more by Scott at Reading For Your Success.

Image: The Street

Categories: Blogwriting, Business, Habits, Reading

3 Things Don Corleone Knows About Writing

Guest post by Barry Polansky of  TAOofDentistry

Since the advent of the Internet, the word community has taken on new meanings.  At one time a community was a group of interacting people living in a common location.  These days a group of individuals can meet in a virtual location. That sounds like a blog doesn’t it?

In any case there leaders understand the dynamics of building community and that is the objective of every blogger.  And writing is our tool.

Throughout history there have been communities that have just worked better than others, not because of  laws or rules but because the members worked together through common interests.  The Mafia is a community that succeeded because of the trust built within its membership.  The fictional Don Corleone is someone who knew a great deal about building  community.

Community is mostly based on natural law.  Communities function best when they are based on the Golden Rule, the code of reciprocity. Do unto others…

Below is a scene from one of  my favorite movies, The Godfather.  Early in the movie Don Corleone is accepting visitors when the baker,  Bonasera comes for a favor.

The scene clearly shows how the Don is more interested in having a long term relationship with the baker, rather than have a simple tit-for-tat transaction.  It’s those relationships that kept “the family” going.

Don Corleone in essence tells his friend that you can’t just pay me for a favor.  We need to have a stronger relationship built on trust and respect for one another.

A closer look at the scene reveals three components that the Don uses to build relationships.  It’s an art.

It’s an art…no really I mean an A-R-T. That’s an acronym for
Attention
Reputation
Trust.

Blogger, Chris Brogan’s wonderful book, Trust Agents, describes the ART in his opening story about another Mafia character,  Donnie Brasco.  Obviously the Mafia metaphor tells us a lot about trust.  The lesson here is the theme of the book: become a trusted member of your community to become most effective.  And certainly all writers  want to use their voice to be effective.

And so the first requirement of a blog is to get attention.

1. Attention

There is a quote from the Arthur Miller play, The Death of a Salesman: ‘“Attention must be paid.”   Bloggers  must strive to get attention immediately.   In order to get it we must provide a hook.  Usually that comes early, as in the headline of the post. The Donnie Brasco story in Brogan’s book, or Bonasera’s pressing story about his daughter, in the Godfather scene are stories that get our attention immediately.
Stories reel us in.  We get hooked because we “feel” something.  That’s our emotions speaking to us and we want to learn more.  We are taken by surprise.  We want to find out more.  We ask questions that lead us to want to know more.
In the book, Made to Stick, by the Heath Brothers, two components of creating sticky ideas are surprise and stories. Using stories to get attention, especially surprising stories is sticky writing.  And sticky writing is good writing.

2. Reputation

In ancient Athens, salesman were considered to have the best reputations.  Unlike modern “salesmen” they were known for their integrity and honesty.  They knew the art of rhetoric, or mastery of language.  The bones of rhetoric are composed of three principles: ethos, pathos and logos.
Ethos is your character, your integrity…who you are.
Pathos is your ability to listen to your audience with empathy.
Logos for writers anyway, is your knowledge and ability to write.  If you sold toasters it would be your knowledge about toasters.

All three components, ethos, pathos, and logos combine to create your credible reputation.  All three must be in place for your readers to believe and trust you.  By applying these three principles you will build trust in the community.  Enough trust leads to a solid reputation.
Go back to the video and watch how Don Corleone uses ethos pathos and logos to make his point…or gives Bonasera and offer he can’t refuse.

Consistently producing good writing keeps you visible in the community.  Donnie Brasco showed up regularly at Carmello’s Restaurant in Manhattan.  Don Corleone’s reputation, as they say, precedes him.  Reputation is built over time. Become a great blogger and your reputation will precede you.  Build your reputation for being dependable and reliable by consistently posting good copy.  By developing character, listening to your audience and becoming an expert in your field, you will build your reputation.

3. Trust

Consistent, crisp, informative writing will eventually create a sense of trust in your community.  Without trust your blog will end in a silent death.
People will come to trust you because of your writing and and your display of empathy.  Your writing will become the physical evidence of your listening.

Readers will come to see you as someone who cares about them.  They will see you as someone who is competent enough to express opinions.  They will trust you, and readership will grow.  Trust is nothing more than a display of  competence and caring.  By empathically listening to your audience you will show them how much you care.

These three ingredients are what Brogan calls the new currency of the internet.  Money is not the currency of a “trust agent.”  Let’s take the focus off of monetizing our blogs.  Let’s truly be more interested in our community.  Let’s serve them instead of being served.

As writers we ought to be aware of words like, empathy, dependability, reliability, consistency and professionalism.

The Golden Rule.  This natural law can be the missing ingredient for any good writing.  I like to call it my WIDIOM Rule: Would I Do It On Me.

Reciprocity reveals something about you as a writer and a human being.  It shows your respect for your readers.  It shows that you are willing to go through a transformative process with your reader, rather than a transactional process.  You want to build relationship rather than just sell an idea and walk away.  Get your audience attention.  Build your reputation slowly and consistently with great copy.  Build your community on trust.

It’s all about the relationship.  The Don knew that.  That’s what made him the Don.

On the Internet we are not paying for people’s attention.  We are building trusting relationships over time.
That’s the secret ingredient to great blogging.  And that’s what Don Corleone knew.

Barry is a practicing dentist in Cherry Hill NJ.  He is the author of The Art of the Examination, and TAO of Dentistry, self-help books for the dental community.  His blog TAO of Dentistry is one of that industry’s leading blogs.

Categories: Craft, Fiction

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