How to Lift Your Writing to new Heights – in Just 10 Minutes

By Mary Jaksch

Want to Write Better? I mean, a lot better – in just ten minutes. I’m not talking about some kind of writing Voodoo; I want to show you a no-fail way that can improve your writing dramatically in minutes.

Let’s start at the beginning. And that means starting with the brain, because that’s the main machine we use for writing. Whether it’s having great ideas, or choosing a structure, or dancing with words – it’s all to do with brainpower. So a simple way to write better is to boost the performance of your brain.

How to boost brainpower in only 10 minutes?

Here’s what made me consider this question:  I was recently in Las Vegas at Blogworld where I spent 5 days in canned air with piped muzak. I tried to write – but my imagination was sluggish and my focus scattered.
When I got back home to New Zealand, I inhaled the pure air deep into my lungs. And I got really excited about raising my fitness. After all, as a writer I tend to sit at my desk a lot. Maybe you do too?

I started an 8-week Fitness Challenge and wrote a post, called Want to be Fit, or even Ultra-Fit? Join the 8-Week Challenge People are joining in droves. (Leo Babauta joined too and is super helpful in the Challenge forum).

As soon as I started cranking up my fitness, my creativity flooded back. It’s not only the oxygen that sharpens our skills, what makes a difference is that exercise is a circuit breaker that lifts us out of the writing rut.

Here is how to lift your writing to new heights in 10 minutes

  1. Exercise briskly for 10 minutes
    If possible, exercise outside so that you have a change of environment. Once you’re outside, walk briskly or run. If you can’t go outside, use whatever is at hand for exercise. For example,  a staircase is a great exercise tool. Run or walk up one flight of stairs. Then take some deep breaths and repeat.
  2. Raise your pulse rate
    It’s important to raise your heart rate substantially. When you do that, the mind lets go of worries and preoccupations and focuses on the exercise itself. This means that you can return to writing with a clear mind.
  3. Get out of breath
    Being out of breath is good! Use it as your benchmark for brisk exercise.  When you are ‘out of breath’ you are gulping huge amounts of oxygen which will refresh your brain.
  4. Be mindful
    When you exercise, leave mp3 player and phone behind. Focus on your present experience. Notice the color of the sky, the ground under your feet, and the sounds around you. When we are mindful (which is really a form of meditation), the mind becomes expansive and open.
  5. Drink water
    At the end of the 10 minutes exercise, drink a couple of glasses of water.  Hydration also helps your brain to function well.

Taking ten minute breaks like this is a great habit. Not only does exercise boost brainpower,   it also acts like a circuit breaker. This is especially helpful if you get stuck with the piece you’re writing, or if progress is sluggish.

Once you get back to your desk, remember to sit upright. Good posture helps your mind to focus. That’s why most forms of meditation include instructions for upright posture. When the spine is aligned, random thoughts die down and you are less likely to get caught in endless cycles of ‘what if’ or ‘if only’ thought patterns, and can open up to your full creativity.

Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. Read more on her blog Goodlife ZEN. Together with Leo Babauta, Mary runs the A-List Blogger Club, an ongoing training for bloggers that members rave about:

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft, Fiction, Habits, Productivity

What are YOU writing?

By Mary Jaksch

What are you working on right now?

A blog post? A novel? Your best article ever? A poem? A film script? An Ebook?

Maybe you’ve just finished something you’re really proud of? Or you just can’t tell whether it should get a Pulitzer or be thrown into the trash?

Or maybe you’re noticing some barriers that are getting in the way of your creativity?

Here’s your chance to share and discuss with each other what you are writing about. And how it’s going.

Whet our appetite with the opening paragraph of your future bestseller, give us a link to your best article, or tell us what you are writing at the moment.

Who knows, your piece might even attract the notice of a major publishing house!

Here are some guidelines:

A. Writers:

  • State what aspect you’re working on. For example, you might want to say, “Here’s a link to my article “The Role of Rabbits in Nuclear Science”. I’m currently working on eliminating superfluous words.”

B. Commenters:

  • When commenting, first list everything you really like about a piece.
  • Only then offer careful suggestions.
  • Treat each other with respect, friendliness, care, and honesty.
  • Remember that we are all still learning.

Now it’s over to you. Take a deep breath. Then jump into the comment section and bring out your treasures!

Mary Jaksch is the Editor in Chief of Write to Done and writes the blog Goodlife ZEN. Together with Leo Babauta, Mary runs a spectacular training environment for bloggers: the A-List Blogger Club.

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Tip: If you’re keen to join the A-List Blogger Club, whip in now. In 7 days we’re going to close the doors until end of December. (People will have to go on to a waitlist during that time.)  So, go and check it out here. Join our over 700 motivated and supportive members!

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft, Fiction

Are you using protection? Free speech, libel, and covering your ass

A guest post by Alison Kerr of Loving Nature’s Garden

Do you consider yourself a risk taker? What about a risky writer? Whether you think taking risks is in your job description or not, get informed, use protection, bad things can happen to writers.

Picture this, you write and publish a scathing review of some books you were sent, or maybe you’ve heard tell of some dubious business practices behind the success of a gaming company. You feel people need to know and you mention it at your blog. Do those sound risky? What about if you had a bad case of customer service from a printing company and you mention it at your blog? All of these are real life scenarios where the bloggers received letters informing them that they were involved in libel.

Who are these bloggers and what does their experience mean for you?

John Pozadzides, who writes at One Man’s Blog, is an American, an early contributor to the development of HTML and CSS, and an all-around-intelligent-sounding guy. He wrote about his experience with a print service at his blog back in 2007. There have since been many comments left on John’s post. In September of 2010 John received an email which he considers a threat to sue. The email related to what someone else wrote in the comments on John’s post, a comment written by another writer.

Bruce Everiss is a British gaming blogger who received notice that he was being sued in Australia by an American-registered company over his online accusations of dubious business practices.

And Paul Z Myers is an American associate professor at the University of Minnesota and professional reviewer who published an overwhelmingly negative review of two books by Stuart Pivar at ScienceBlogs.com.

I don’t know about you, but when I learned of these I was rather aghast, and just a bit worried. I’m not getting rich any time soon from blogging; taking risks is not my gig. The thing is, anyone can be sued for pretty much anything. The important thing to look at is real consequences. Were these writers doing anything wrong and what happened to them? What freedoms of speech do we have as professional writers, what exactly is libel, and if you should be covering your ass what kind of protection should you use?

Free speech

Democratic nations, including English-speaking America, have established legal protections for those who disseminate information through the written word:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press… The Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — Dec. 15, 1791.

There’s no legal protection against stupidity

There are plenty of cases where damages have been awarded to individuals who were libeled when a writer threw caution to the wind.

You don’t even have to be a professional writer to be sued. Take a look at the case of the £10,000 awarded to the UK law student who’s former friend ranted about him on Facebook. Or there’s the first blogger in the USA to lose a libel suit back in January 2006; David Milum was ordered to pay $50,000 to the lawyer he libeled.

Now, writing defamatory stuff online about a lawyer or law student… well, let’s just say it’s not too smart. But John Pozadzides didn’t even write the words he’s being sued for. I’m not calling him stupid.

So, what is libel anyway and what about comments at a blog?

“Libel and slander are legal claims for false statements of fact about a person that are printed, broadcast, spoken or otherwise communicated to others. Libel generally refers to statements or visual depictions in written or other permanent form…” – Media Law Resource Center. It’s not only individuals who can bring a libel case though, businesses can too.

Is John Pozadzides liable for a comment at his blog? Under American law Section 230 “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” – Electronic Frontier Foundation. It’s unlikely that John is legally responsible for the comment in question at his blog, though he may have to pay some legal costs just to check.

John Pozadzides is lucky he’s in America

It turns out, at least for the moment, that if you’re an American you’re ahead. Laws related to libel vary depending on where you live, where you publish, whom you write about, and where your readers are. Earlier this year British gaming blogger Bruce Everiss was sued in Australia by an American-registered company adding to growing concerns of tourist libel.

Where will it end? For American writers the good news is that President Obama recently signed into law the Speech Act, which aims to curb libel tourism, protecting the freedoms of speech for Americans provided by the First Amendment.

London – libel capital to the unlucky

British writers and non-Americans who’s writing can be read in England, are not so lucky. According to the BBC Outdated Libel Laws Need Reform. Libel laws which are too strict ‘are used by wealthy foreign individuals to “bully people who try to hold them to account”’ and are a magnet for tourist libel cases, leading to London being named “a town named sue”.

But the fun doesn’t stop there: under English law “If you don’t pre-moderate your blog’s comments you can be held responsible…” What to do? Taking down your content and offering a written apology might be sufficient to solve your problem if you receive a libel letter. Alternatively, your ISP might just take down your content for you over fears of their own liability. And being in America is no protection if you don’t know your rights, as demonstrated recently by the 70,000 Blogs Shut Down by U.S. Law Enforcement.

What kind of protection works?

Just like in other areas of life, protection is advised.

  1. Start with exercising morals and ethics in your writing. You’re a professional. Despite the traffic it might bring, not all sensational content is advisable. Here are a couple of starting places: The Responsible Blogger’s Guide to Dealing With Big Brother at CopyBlogger.com; also, read these defamation avoidance tips from Australia.
  2. Keep up to date with your rights and responsibilities as a blogger, freelance writer, or publisher. Unfortunately claims against professional writers are more often than not an attack on free speech. Find out how defamation laws apply to you at home and abroad. Consider this part of your professional training. American bloggers can consult the Electronic Frontier Foundation for a comprehensive guide to bloggers rights. The organization International Pen defends freedom of expression for writers across the globe and English Pen is working to reform English libel law.
  3. Have the name of a good lawyer handy – someone you trust to answer your questions without charging you a fortune. Organizations which may be able to advise you and who represent some writers for free in cases which champion free speech include the already mentioned Electronic Frontier Foundation and English Pen.
  4. When you write for others freelance, pay attention to your liability under the contract you are given. The American Society of Journalists and Authors has a guide to dealing with indemnification clauses in contracts. You can request wording changes on contracts rather than just signing what you are given.
  5. When you conduct interviews, archive your source audio recordings and keep your written notes. Professional freelance journalists told me that they archive these for five years. Consider it part of covering your ass on topics where your sources could be called into question.
  6. Look into liability insurance coverage for your business or blog. Commercial general business insurance can cover advertising injury (related to what you write about your products and those of your competitors). If you are consulting, for example providing software services, as part of your blogging you may want professional liability coverage. And media insurance is available to American writers and online publishers through Author’s Guild (annual cost is $1,500 and up).

So, what happened to Bruce Everiss, the gaming blogger with the libel lawsuit brought against him in Australia? And did Paul Z Myers have to eat his words over the laughable science books he reviewed? Bruce was required to hire legal services – he was taken to court. However, the game company Evony dramatically dropped the case against Bruce Everiss after just two days in Australian court. These days Bruce is writing more about English libel law reform and less about games. As for the case against scientist and book reviewer Paul Z Myers, Pivar voluntarily withdrew the libel claim against him eleven days after filing the complaint.

I’m a writer, not a lawyer. Please do not consider this information a substitute for legal advice.

How do you feel after reading this, are you surprised? What free speech protections do you think bloggers should be due? Do you feel the need to know more about this? Please share your response in the comments.

Alison Kerr is a down-to-earth gardener, naturalist, self-confessed bookworm, writer, cook, and homeschooling mom to two teens who blogs at Loving Nature’s Garden. You can follow Alison Kerr on Twitter.

Categories: Uncategorized

The Flip-side to Authenticity: What You Stand to Gain from Sharing Your Dirty Laundry

A guest post by Gianpaolo Pietri of Simply Optimal

Lately, I have been contemplating the issue of authenticity.  Are we what we write? Do we practice what we preach as bloggers and authors?

Letting the “real” you shine through in your writing has become a staple of the blogging culture. Authenticity has become so important that potential readers have come to expect nothing less than full disclosure from the bloggers they follow.

The case for authenticity is usually presented from the side of the reader, and how they benefit from your total exposure. There are several reasons why you, as the author, stand to gain just as much, if not more.

Nowadays expectations are so high that it’s no longer enough to be honest about the value you offer new and existing readers. In other words, it’s not enough to let them into your office or living room. They demand the keys to the bedroom, and will be hard pressed o stick around if you don’t let them in.

It’s not enough to state your qualifications and the mission to which you apply them. They want your dirty laundry as well.

Why are readers so demanding these days?

Well, in a nutshell, because we’ve trained them to be. For years bloggers have been laying it all on the line to establish a personal connection with their audience.

Readers benefit from full exposure because they get to connect with you on a more profound level. They learn to trust you and the value you provide. I want to look at the flip-side of that equation and show what you, the author, can learn from baring your soul on the page. Here are just a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy by letting it all hang out.

How Being Authentic Helps You No Matter What You Do

1. Find your true authentic voice. This is something many A-List bloggers talk about. A great way to get down to the brass tacks of what you have to say is to not hold anything back from your readers … or yourself.

2. Feel the freedom. With stark authenticity comes great freedom of expression. It’s very liberating to not have things hanging over your shoulder.

3. Reconcile with your weaknesses. Encourage your strengths. Putting everything on the table and taking a good look at it is a great way to see what’s working and what’s not. It’s great way to decipher what you’re good at, and what you may need to work on.

4. Nip potential naysayers in the bud. It’s a known fact that working on something unique that develops a loyal following inevitably attracts naysayers and critics hell bent on bringing you down and hurting your brand. When you’ve put everything on the line, it makes it that much harder to find things to give you a hard time. If there is one thing they can’t accuse you of, it’s being dishonest.

5. Give others a reason to trust you. Baring your soul makes people believe in you. Showing them that you’re just like them makes them want to stick around and get to know you better.

6. Give yourself a reason to trust yourself. A lot of bloggers like to play themselves up. They want to look like they have tons going on and are having huge success. Stretching the truth about how well you’re doing hurts no one but yourself. Stick to what you know. Write about what you can prove, and don’t be afraid to prove it.

7. Let go of fear. Baring your soul is one of the most daring, hence most terrifying things you can do. Doing it will bring you face to face with some of your deepest fears. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of rejection. Talking through those fears will help dissipate them.

8. Learn from your readers. When you share mistakes with your readers, they will be eager to help whether its through encouragement or through advice of their own. They’ll also feel comfortable sharing some of their own woes. Blogging is a two way street and the wisdom goes both ways.

9. Learn from yourself. Create optimal conditions for mutual growth, discovery, and self-realization by being honest about who you are, what you’ve done, and what you hope to become.

10. Be true to yourself. There are times in life when we take liberties with our transgressions. Keeping the light on with your writing will make it harder for you to keep yourself in the dark about what’s really going on around you, and what your role is in it all. Make being ‘frank’ your default setting.

11. Stand firm on the side of your values and beliefs. Being authentic about who you are, what you go through and how you are progressing keeps you motivated to stay true to your values. Blogging about them openly helps you understand them more precisely. If you’re confused about what they are, writing openly about it may help you figure it out.

12. Take responsibility for “all” of your actions, both good and bad. Blogging about your faults, mistakes, grief, suffering, and struggle helps you take responsibility for the actions you take, for better or worse. When the eyes of thousands are following your story, there’s no excuse to hide behind.

13. Get a better picture of your purpose, talents, and virtues. When you do something right, you’re readers will laud you. When you do something wrong, you’re readers will be quick to call you out. They’re brutal honesty will help you hone in on what you’re good at, and what you need to work on.

Authenticity is great for growing an audience by gaining people’s trust, but the reason it’s so important goes beyond what it can do for your blog or your writing.  Being authentic won’t just make you a better writer, it will make you a better person, and that’s what this is all about. Isn’t it?

There are many reasons why we should stay true to who we are. But importantly, I can’t think of any reason not to.

Some may not like what they see when you show them everything. They may walk away and never come back. That’s ok. Let them. From their shadows many more will walk into the light. Those are the people you want around anyways.

What have you learned from opening up to your audience and showing them all your dirty little secrets? How has it helped you’re writing?

Gianpaolo Pietri is an architect, blogger, brand designer, and entrepreneur who blogs at Simply Optimal. He’s a committed minimalist and the author of the upcoming ebooks Ideate! and Revolution 2.1. You can subscribe to his RSS feed, or follow him on Twitter.

The A-List Blogger Club is the most comprehensive resource on the web for bloggers.  It is an encyclopedia of blogging, and an interactive one at that providing instant feedabck from experts as you go. I cannot think of one aspect of my blogging journey that has not improved dramatically as a result. ~ Gianpaolo Pietri of Simply Optimal

Categories: Blogwriting

How to Use Vivid Descriptions to Capture Attention

Do you pay attention to detail?


A guest post by N. Strauss from Creative-Writing-Now.com

Have you ever read writing so vivid that you felt as if you were actually experiencing the story first-hand?  Would you like to make your own fiction writing that vivid?  Here are some tips that will help.

Use specific details.

Let’s play a game.  Imagine a room.  Before you read on, take a moment to form a mental picture of this room.

Okay, now what if I tell you that the room is a restaurant kitchen?  Did your mental picture just change?

What if I tell you that the restaurant’s closed for the night, and the kitchen is dark except for the streetlamp shining in the back window.  Did your mental picture just change again?

Using specific details in your writing will guide the reader’s imagination, helping the reader to imagine a scene the way you have imagined it yourself.

But use the right details.

The more details, the better?  Not exactly.  The key is to choose the right ones.

If you describe the contents of every inch of that restaurant kitchen, it will be information overload.  Readers cannot hold an infinite number of details in their mind at the same time.

If you describe every pea in every can of peas in the restaurant pantry, readers will fall asleep.

Which details should you choose?  Look for…

  • Details that differentiate. If you tell me that the man picking the lock on the kitchen door has two eyes, a nose, some hair, and quite a lot of teeth, that is not very informative.  If you tell me that he is tall and has wavy hair, that gives me more information.  But I still might not be able to pick out this man in a police lineup.  If you tell me that he has a long upper lip that gives him a certain resemblance to a camel, this helps me form a picture of the man.  It is a detail that distinguishes this man from other people.
  • Details that suggest a larger picture. If you tell me that the kitchen counter is littered with a mixture of sugar, crumbs, dead ants, and ashes from the pastry chef’s cigar, I understand that this kitchen is not likely to pass a health inspection.  Even if you don’t describe other surfaces in the kitchen, I will naturally imagine them as dirty.

Remember your narrative point of view.

The details you should choose will also depend on the narrative viewpoint you are using in the scene.

By narrative viewpoint, I mean the perspective from which the reader experiences it.  If the scene were in a film, where would the camera be located?  Is the reader observing the scene through a particular character’s eyes — or even from inside that character’s head?

Let’s say you want to write from the point of view of the burglar who is entering the kitchen.  You’d describe details that the burglar would notice, especially details that he would find important.  You might describe the lock that the burglar was picking.  You might describe the butcher knife that the burglar takes from the counter.  You wouldn’t describe the burglar’s face (he can’t see his own face) — unless you are describing the way it is reflected in something; for example, in the blade of the knife.

Now, let’s say you’re describing the same scene from the viewpoint of the burglar’s accomplice, who is waiting for him outside.  What would you have the reader see?  Maybe the light going on in the kitchen window?  Does the accomplice creep up to the window to peer inside?  Fine, then the reader can see the burglar pick up the knife.  However, the reader can’t see the oily fingerprints that the burglar carelessly leaves on the knife handle.  They would be too small and faint to be visible from the window.

Make your descriptions work.

Descriptions are more than decoration that you add to your fiction’s surface.  They are building blocks in your story.

You can use descriptions in many ways; including all of the following:

  • to help a reader imagine the sights, sounds, smells and textures of a scene
  • to focus the reader’s attention on a particular aspect of the scene
  • to communicate background information
  • to express a character’s thoughts and emotions
  • to set a mood
  • to slow down or speed up reading.  For example, you can use a description to slow down the story at a crucial moment in order to increase the tension.

If you choose the right details and use them in the right places, your descriptions can do a lot of work for you, although your reader might be too absorbed in the story to notice.

N. Strauss directs the online creative writing courses program for Creative-Writing-Now.com, an online resource offering writing prompts and education on a variety of creative writing topics.


Categories: Craft, Fiction