A guest post by Jean Sarauer of Virgin Blogger Notes.

It’s 7 a.m., and I’m in trouble.

I’ve got a guest post due for a popular blog in a few hours . . .  A new writing client expects an outline of a marketing piece first thing tomorrow . . . The pitch I submitted to a local magazine was a hit, and now the editor wants the article for the next issue.

You’d think such a sizzling stack of opportunities would have me salivating all over myself.

Instead, I’m scared spitless. My heart pounds, my stomach lurches, and fear has me pinned to the mat.

If you’ve been writing for more than 7.5 seconds, chances are you’ve spent some face-time with fear too.

Maybe you’ve experienced:

• Fear of failure.
• Fear of writer’s block.
• Fear of rejection.
• Fear of success.
• Fear of criticism.
• Fear of financial ruin.

Whew!

With a list like that cheering us on, it’s a wonder we ever string more than two sentences together.

Still, the show must go on, and just as actors learn to work with stage fright, we writers must carry on with page fright.

For me, carrying on means experimenting with self-coaching techniques to find the ones that let my creativity flow despite an ever-present fear-factor. Through testing, tweaking, and combining these methods, I’ve created a simple process to help myself and other writers move from paralyzed to productive.

Here’s how it works:

1. Recognize fear. Fear is a shape shifter. Although it’s easy to spot when it’s smacking us around in a full-frontal assault, sometimes it’s masked in behaviors like mindless eating or dawdling in the face of deadlines. These forms of fear may seem harmless, but they undermine our work and health and need to be seen for what they are.
2. Return to reality. When I’m in the midst of a major fear-fest, my body is present, but my mind drifts to faraway lands where rejection lurks under every lamp post. To shrink fear and get back to reality where I can get some work done, I breathe deeply and slowly, touch objects in my physical environment, and stretch to release tension from my body.
3. Stop struggling. Just like a snare tightens around a frightened, struggling rabbit, fear’s claws sink in deeper when we resist it. Fear is an instinctive, as well as a conditioned, response to the risk that’s part of living a creative life. When I remember that, I save my energy for writing instead of squandering it in an eternal wrestling match.
4. Listen. Even though I don’t applaud its arrival, fear often delivers important messages. I’ve learned to sit quietly for a moment and ask myself what I’m really afraid of. This helps bring insecurities, triggers, and potential dangers to the surface where they can be addressed as needed.
5. Recommit. Writing is a choice. We have the option to let our blogs sit dormant, turn down writing jobs, and break contracts. When we’re scared, we forget there’s a whole world of ways to be creative and make a living, and that we chose this one. Consciously recommitting to our work, if that’s truly what we wish to do, restores our sense of power.
6. Get in the flow. Practicing the previous steps puts fear into perspective; moving into the creative process helps keep it there. The key is to work quickly, staying immersed in the writing process, without judging the work. For me, this means writing ‘fat and fast’ rough drafts without thought to sentence structure or punctuation. As my fingers move across the keys, words appear on the screen, and momentum builds. If my project is in later stages, I’ll work in quick sweeps, making easy changes without getting bogged down in the pursuit of perfection. My work will need fine tuning soon, but right now, it’s all about building up that momentum.
7. Take a breather. I’ve learned the hard way that fear sneaks up on me when I let my batteries run low. Even though taking breaks is the last thing my creative spirit wants to do when it’s on a roll, I step away for a few minutes here and there to refresh and recharge.
8. Sculpt and polish. Words like ‘revise’ and ‘edit’ make me twitchy, so I use softer language like ’sculpt’ or ‘whittle’ to describe the home stretch activities. At this stage doubts can pop up fast, and doubts are to fear what gasoline is to a flame . . . . Whooosh! If you feel that big fiery rush of fear come over you as you polish your work, acknowledge it, take some deep breaths, and keep working if you’re able. If not, repeat the above steps as needed to complete your project.

I’d love to tell you that practicing this process will eliminate your writing fears forever, but that’s not true. Odds are, fear will be waiting at your desk in some form the next time you start a new project, work with a new editor, or shift writing gears. Perhaps, it’s already there.

That’s okay though. We’re all fraidy-cat writers sometimes, and there’s no shame in that. No, the only real shame would be if we let our fears hold us back from experiencing the wild adventure of this writing life.

Your turn: How do you deal with your writing fears?

Jean Berg-Sarauer is a writer and blogger living in beautiful northwestern Wisconsin. She provides information and inspiration to beginning bloggers at Virgin Blogger Notes.



A guest post by Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering.

Electric flesh-arrows … traversing the body. A rainbow of color strikes the eyelids. A foam of music falls over the ears. It is the gong of the orgasm. ~ Anais Nin

Creativity is like sex. You fumble your way through, you get lost in it, you fall in love. Both are passionate, rhythmic, pleasurable, and flowing. Both can bear fruit. And both can rack your soul with vulnerability, bliss, fear and awkwardness.

I know, I know. Last time I appeared on Write to Done, I was naked so you’re probably thinking, “Is this woman sex-crazed?” Well, I do like to bare my soul once in a while, but what I love even more is exposing other people’s secrets.

The people I speak of are writers. They lust writing. When you’re in lust, you can be desperate to keep that feeling alive. So when creativity goes limp, writers are the ones who know the secrets to keeping it interested. They know how to flirt with it, tease it and arouse it. In fact, they know hundreds of ways to get their creative freak on.

Below, I’ve exposed some of their secret tips, methods, and techniques. After all, they just left them strewn across the web. I lovingly picked them up, adapted and played with them. Some are contradictory and some are in harmony. Dig in. Use the ones that entice your creativity the most. If you want more, link to the source for the original juice.

Now, lie back, relax and take pleasure in these 201 provocative ways to arouse your creativity.

Great hacks from Merlin Mann of 43 Folders

1. Talk to a monkey. Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal.
2. Do something important that’s very easy.
3. Try free writing.
4. Take a shower; change clothes. Give yourself a truly clean start.
5. Write from a persona. Lend your voice to a writing personality who isn’t you.
6. Get away from the computer. Take pen and notebook, and go somewhere new.
7. Quit beating yourself up. You can’t create when you feel ass-whipped.
8. Stop visualizing catastrophes, and focus on positive outcomes.
9. Stretch. Maybe try vacuuming your lungs.
10. Add one ritual behavior. Get a glass of water exactly every 20 minutes. Do push-ups. Eat a Tootsie Roll every paragraph. Add physical structure.
11. Listen to new music. Try something instrumental and rhythmic that you’ve never heard before.
12. Write crap.
13. Finish something.
14. Write the middle. Stop whining over a perfect lead, and write the next part or the part after that.
15. Do one chore. Sweep the floor or take out the recycling. Try something lightly physical to remind you that you know how to do things.
16. Make a pointless rule. You can’t end sentences with words that begin with a vowel. Limits create focus and change your perspective.
17. Work on the title. Quickly make up five distinctly different titles. Meditate on them. What bugs you about the one you like least?
18. Write five words. Literally. Put five completely random words on a piece of paper. Write five more. Try a sentence. Could be about anything. A block ends when you start making words on a page.
    

    Rejuvenating Tips from Joel at Lifehack

19. Surround yourself with creative people.
20. Develop a morning ritual.
21. Do an info-dump so your head is clear enough to create instead of worry.
22. If you’re a crime writer, read fantasy. If you’re a productivity writer, read something about slacking off.
23. Imitate the real world.
24. Drink too much coffee.
25. Play chess. Go outside. Sing in the shower.
26. Don’t be too precious about your work. If the doctor and the garbage man can do their jobs every day, then those in a creative line of work can too.
27. Consume information by the bucket load. The more you know, the more you can create from that knowledge.
28. Meet new people from different walks of life. Strike up a conversation on the bus.
29. Shut out the world. Instead of sucking in new information, sit quietly.
30. Creativity is a muscle. Exercise it daily.
31. Carry a notebook everywhere.
32. Write down a list of ideas and draw random arrows between them.
33. If you’re not on a tight deadline, walk away and do something completely unrelated.
34. Create a framework. Instead of trying to rely on pure inspiration, think within the box you create for yourself.
35. Remove obstacles to creativity. That friend who calls to complain about their life can wait until you can afford to get stressed about their problems.
36. Don’t judge your ideas until you have plenty to judge.
37. Keep a journal. It can get your mind working.
38. Stop telling yourself you’re not creative.
39. Don’t be a workaholic. Take breaks.
40. Experiment randomly.
41. If one thing isn’t working, try a new strategy.
42. Choose a topic and write about it as wonderfully or badly as you possibly can.
43. Trash what you’re working on. Start again.
44. Exercise every day, before you sit down to be creative.
45. Spend time with your children. Or someone else’s.
    

    Tips from Amy Ng of Pikaland

46. Experience sights, sounds and smells. Sitting still won’t bring new ideas in; experimenting and trying new things will.
47. Maintain a certain pattern to the day. A morning bath can start your work with a fresh mind and spirit.
48. Jot down notes every night before bed and actively place worries onto paper.
49. Keep a box labeled for each project. Toss everything in the box, and don’t worry about misplacing things or ideas.
50. Keep a different sketchbook for different topics and ideas.
51. Try and find the pattern between things, and connect the dots between random things just for fun.
52. Practice, practice, practice.
    

    Dan Goodwin’s Wakeful Ways at A Big Creative Yes

53. Let your mind wander and come up with whatever it wants to.
54. Wake up ten minutes early, then go back to sleep and dream.
55. Focusing entirely on one sense. Creative stimulation comes through our senses.
56. Imagine waking up somewhere distant and exotic.
57. Recall your creative triumphs. It means you can create something equally wonderful, if not more so, again. In fact you can go out and create it today.
58. Count your blessings. As well as feeling happier, it will inevitably help you be more creative too.
59. Choose just one creative aim for the day. What one creative project can you begin/continue/finish today?
    

    A few rules from Steve Pavlina

60. Define a clear purpose. Vague intentions don’t trigger the flow state.
61. Identify a compelling motive. You need a reason to be creative.
62. Architect a worthy challenge. If a task is too easy, you don’t need to be particularly creative, so your creative self will simply say, “You can manage this one without me.”
63. Provide a conducive environment. The optimal environment varies from person to person, so you’ll need to experiment to find what works best for you.
64. Allocate a committed block of time.
65. Prevent interruptions and distractions.
66. Master your tools. Creating a tangible piece of creative work requires tools such as a computer, guitar, or pencil. You must achieve basic competency.
    

    Old Fashioned Advice from Mirko of Designer Daily

67. Clean up your working space. Even if you are not a cleaning addict, a tidy desk helps to create a fresh start.
68. Go jogging. Running is a great way to refresh your brain. The effort will also bring satisfaction. Self-esteem is good for creativity.
69. Drink a beer with your buddies. Being happy will make you more productive. It will also give you greater enthusiasm.
    

    Creative encouragement from Jacob Cass at Just Creative Design

70. Mindmap. Whether you use key words, images, colours, a hierarchy system, numbers, outlines, circles or random words, mindmapping gets your creative juices flowing.
71. Finding inspiration in what other people have done and what has succeeded (or failed) is a great way to get your feet off the ground again.
72. Take a moment to do something that makes you happy; that brings you joy; that you love; that centers you.
73. Give gratitude. Thinking about all the things you are grateful for produces a positive energy flow and vibration.
74. Be in the moment. Athletes call this ‘being in the zone‘. Give full attention to whatever you are doing: eating, washing dishes, making your bed.
75. Flip through a book containing thought provoking images.
76. Go to an art gallery.
77. Practice asking yourself how to do something differently.
78. Be Open. Never shut down or judge any idea that comes your way.
79. Think on Paper. With a bunch of loose paper, start jotting ideas down.
    

    Artistic techniques from Karen Daniels at Write to Done

80. Get some crayons and warm-up your creativity. Get a piece of paper and draw a totally useless picture of nothing at all.
81. When you feel done, use a crayon to proudly sign the picture. Now, put your picture in a special frame and hang it on the wall.
82. Name the colors in a box of crayons. Name them with abandon, using words like squashed-pea-green, severed-arm-blood-red, or dancing-fairy-silver.
83. Next time your writing gets stuck, pull out your crayons and look at the colors. Remember the names. Write a few silly sentences. Then keep going.
    

    Inspiration from Jennifer Moline on Fuel Your Creativity

84. Take it outdoors. The best inspiration is often free. Go for a hike. Take your laptop to a park. Look all around you. Soak up your surroundings.
85. Head to a café. There’s a reason home-office folks don’t always work from home; they crave other humans. A change in surroundings can recharge your brain.
86. Get some training. Not only could you learn something new, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to network.
87. Volunteer. Getting your hands dirty for a good cause can be the source of more inspiration than you’d ever imagine.
    

    Guidance from Alison Motluk on New Scientist

88. Embrace your inner grouch. Discontent may just be a vast, untapped source of creativity.
89. Let your mind wander. A wandering mind may allow your brain to search more widely for connections that could trigger a “eureka” moment.
90. Play an instrument. It may help you to think with both sides of your brain at once.
91. Colour your world blue. It may be nothing more than an association with big skies and the open seas, but beholding the colour blue makes you more creative.
92. Seek out creative company. The best ideas are forged not in moments of solitary genius, but during exchanges with trusted colleagues.
93. Be more playful. Horsing around may be better in the long run than hunkering down.
94. Raise a glass. Many of the most creative pursuits – jazz, for instance, and poetry – are associated with heavy boozing, but can a dram or two really help?
    

    The dirt from Joel Reyes on Design Revive

95. Aim at being unique, not ordinary. Go right past the dull.
96. Cataloging your ideas is productive because it allows you to go back and take a second gander while viewing your ideas on much larger scale.
97. Use visual structuring. Getting your paper and pencil out not only lets you see your ideas on a physical level, but it will make you feel like a kid again.
98. If all else fails, keep working. Some individuals work better as they reach their breaking point, they excel and take flight in the hardest of times.
    

    Perfect insights from Diggy on Goodlife Zen

99. Stop being (other people’s) perfect. The expectation of making something perfect uses up emotional energy that you could put to much better use being creative and artistic.
100. Ask yourself if you’re doing it for the right reasons. Even if you are not the best in the world at something, if you are really passionate about it, your passion can be an inspiration and motivation for others.
     

     How-to’s from Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action

101. Don’t plan. Plans are good for buildings, savings, exercise. But there comes a point when it’s time to face the stage, the page, the canvas or the blank screen.
102. Let go. You heard me. Let go!
103. Start fooling around. Splash the paint on. Scribble the words down. Sing.
104. Notice when you surprise yourself. Keep playing around with that one good riff until you find the next one growing out of it.
105. Get good amazing feedback. Don’t settle for everyday compliments.
106. Enjoy not knowing. Isn’t it nice to have one small corner of your life where you don’t know what you’re going to do, or what’s going to happen?
     

     A little advice from Julia M. Lindsay of Our Little Books

107. Have clearly defined goals. This will help direct your attention to a purposeful outcome.
108. Have balance between your skills and challenges. Too easy, you’ll be bored. Too hard, you may feel frustrated.
109. Avoid multi-tasking. It is impossible to get immersed in an activity if you are not totally focused on it.
110. Set aside a time to do non-productive tasks. Activities such as reading your e-mail, tweeting and making phone calls should be done at a defined time.
111. Before you start, clean your desk, make sure you have the equipment you need, adjust the temperature and make sure the noise level is optimal.
112. Adjust your goals as your skills increase.
113. Avoid engaging in mindless tasks such as TV. Mindless activities are usually passive and decrease flow experiences.
     

     One trick from James Chartrand of Men with Pens

114. Just say screw it. What I do know is that everyone gets jammed sometimes, even the pro writers you look up to. And when that jam happens, it’s important to remember that no one forgets how to write well. It doesn’t disappear. It’ll always be there. And maybe… maybe you just have to say screw it and stop looking for it so hard.
     

     Unblockers from Brian Clark of Copyblogger

115. Avoid logical thinking. It’s often the enemy of truly innovative thoughts.
116. Break the rules. Look at creative thinking as a destructive force. You’re tearing away the often arbitrary rules that others have set for you.
117. Stop being practical. Practicality stifles innovative ideas before they can properly blossom.
118. Allow your mind to be at play. You’ve heard the expression “work hard and play hard.” They’re the same thing to a creative thinker.
119. View yourself as an explorer. In an era of hyper-specialization, it’s those who happily explore completely unrelated areas of life and knowledge who best see that everything is related.
120. Give yourself permission to turn everything that’s accepted upside down and shake out the illusions.
121. Give yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.
122. Reject the false comfort of clarity. Ambiguity is your friend if you’re looking to innovate.
123. Free yourself to make mistakes. Just try out your ideas. Ask yourself, what’s the worst that can happen if I’m wrong?
124. Strip away all of your delusions and acknowledge that you’re inherently creative, and then start tearing down the other barriers you’ve allowed to be created in your mind.
     

     Motherly advice from Michelle Mitton of Scribbit

125. Practice thinking. Think about things and formulate some opinions. They may be right, they may be wrong, but I bet they’ll be interesting.
126. Use life markers for ideas. Old photos, family stories, a journal entry, a souvenir from a trip, a collection you love or a piece of clothing–if you’ve saved it for a reason there is most likely a story there.
127. Look at your life as if you’re a stranger. Good writing is made up of details so learn to see the details of your own life.
128. Look at what inspires other people’s creativity and then put your own personal spin on it. But whatever you do make it your own and bring your own life and talents to the task.
129. Make lists. What are your favorites? Foods, colors, flowers, cars, games, habits? What are your pet peeves, your thrills or your favorite vacation spots? Use lists to spark an idea and run with it.
     

     Dos and Don’ts from Paul Indigo of Beyond the Obvious

130. Don’t sit and write lists of ideas. All you’re doing is intellectual foreplay and pussyfooting around the problem. You’re not dealing with it head on.
131. Don’t give up and sit sulking in the corner. Sooner or later you’re going to have to come out. You’re just prolonging the pain.
132. Don’t compare your work to other peoples’. Everyone is unique. You have to find your own creative voice.
133. Don’t choose the company of doubters and negative people. They will just pull you down.
134. Do pick up your camera (or you pen) and start taking pictures (or writing) of anything and everything. One idea will lead to another.
135. Do set yourself an achievable target.
136. Do challenge conventions and the norm. Challenge everything you’ve learnt.
137. Do think in terms of opposites, conflicts and interesting juxtapositions.
138. Do realize and remember that all creatives feel the same as you do from time to time and some of the most successful are driven forward by tremendous self doubt. Turn the negative feelings into positive self motivation.
139. Do surround yourself with people that believe in you and want you to succeed. This kind of support makes a world of difference.
     

     An abundance of ways from Marelisa Fábrega of Abundance Blog

140. Stop second-guessing yourself.
141. Experiment with different media: music, photography, writing or drawing.
142. Read one page of the dictionary every day and write down any words that catch your attention.
143. Show up even if you’re not feeling creative.
144. Immerse yourself in the task at hand: do your research, read everything you can about your subject, attend seminars, ask experts for their input, and so on.
145. Be curious about everything.
146. Exercise during your lunch break.
147. Go to the playground. Play hopscotch, jump rope, climb on the swings, and climb on the jungle gyms.
148. Awaken your sense of wonder. Take yourself on some small festive adventure.
149. Think of something routine you do on a daily basis and find a way to give it a little more pizzazz.
150. Let your body contribute to your creative process by blaring the music and dancing around the room.
151. Surround yourself with inspirational props, whether it’s books on creativity, images you find inspiring, or creativity quotes.
     

     Food for thought from Kristen Fischer on Freelance Switch

152. Set aside a day. By making time to devote one day to your project of choice, you may be able to unblock everything by focusing on just one task.
153. Alter your atmosphere. Try putting up some new art, rearranging the furniture or clearing out some clutter.
154. Battle the blabber. Examining the psychology of feeling blocked may help you to unblock, and yes, writing about it can help you to untangle some knots inside and be able to finally, finally create.
     

     Some juicy tips from Tom Walker on RobsWebTips

155. Hypnosis. Although some people may be skeptics, hypnosis and other forms of meditation can be perfect for relaxing the mind and body and getting your creative juices to running freely.
156. Timer challenge. It might be useful to time yourself when you are working using an online timer. This will show you how productive you are being, and often when we are timed, we simply keep going and going.
157. Identify your creative times. Choose those times when you know you will be the most creative.
158. Don’t Force It. Stop. Do something else. When you get back you will feel far more refreshed and ready to get started.
     

     Positive thoughts from Henrik Edberg of The Positivity Blog

159. Generate a boatload of ideas.
160. Take a trip outside your personal bubble.
161. Criticize later, or some part of your mind may feel threatened and shut up and withdraw.
162. Build it. Like so many things in life creativity is a bit like lifting weights. If you train, over time you’ll build your creative muscles.
163. Sleep less. When I feel a little groggy and sleepy, the words start flowing out of my fingers when I sit down to write.
     

     Black and white tips from Jody Cleghorn at Write Anything

164. Arrive late and leave early. Get straight to the heart of the narrative.
165. Learn to say no/no way/go f*ck yourself because no one else will stand up for your work.
166. Go out and live your life. Do not allow yourself to become stuck in a hole of your own creativity.
167. Make up the rules for what you want to produce.
168. Work on several projects. This keeps you energized and working creatively even when one project isn’t firing.
169. Try to write every day, even if just for a few minutes.
170. Write simply and vividly.
171. Don’t hold back and don’t protect yourself. Say things no one else has said before.
172. Collaborate with new people.
173. Cultivate a community of writers. Writing can be a lonely enterprise, but it doesn’t need to be – other writers understand where you are, what you’re thinking and feeling.
     

     Simple advice from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

174. Play.
175. Don’t consume and create at the same time — separate the processes.
176. Shut out the outside world.
177. Reflect on your life and work daily.
178. Look for inspiration all around you, in the smallest places.
179. Start small.
180. Just get it out, no matter how crappy that first draft.
181. Don’t try for perfect. Just get it out there, asap, and get feedback.
182. Constantly make it better.
183. Ignore the naysayers.
184. But let criticism help you grow.
185. Teach and you’ll learn.
186. Shake things up, see things in new ways.
187. Apply things in other fields to your field, in ways not done before.
188. Drink ridiculous amounts of coffee.
189. Write all ideas down immediately.
190. Read wildly different things. Especially stuff you disagree with.
191. Get lots of rest. Overwork kills creativity.
192. Don’t force it. Relax, play, it will start to flow.
193. Allow your mind to wander. Allow distractions, when you’re looking for inspiration.
194. Then shut them off when you’re going to create.
195. Do it when you’re excited.
196. When you’re not, find something else to be excited about.
197. Don’t be afraid to be stupid and silly.
198. Small ideas are good. You don’t need to change the world — just change one thing.
199. When something is killing your creativity, kill it.
200. Stop reading creativity advice, clear away everything, and just create.
201. Most of all, have fun doing it.

Enough said.

Katie Tallo is a Contributing Writer for Write to Done, as well as a  director, motivator, runner, vegetarian and mother who writes a blog called Momentum Gathering where she encourages simple, positive actions for joyful and vibrant life change.

Read Katie Tallo’s ‘bestselling’ post on WTD: Adventures of a Naked Blogger

A guest post by Karen Daniels of Zen Copy

People are often baffled over creativity and wonder where it comes from – and where, for goodness sake, can we get more of it? What we do know for sure is that creativity is not some mystical magical aha! that descends upon a chosen few who are our creative superiors.

Creativity is, in fact, born with each of us and remains until we die – or beyond.

Observe a child doing everyday activities and it’s hard to miss that they bring creativity with them in everything they do, and everywhere they go.

As adults, on the other hand, for some reason we feel the silly need to plan creative time as if it wouldn’t happen otherwise.

We can blame it on our tight schedules and overly committed lives, but the bottom line is planning for “creating creativity” is a bit like telling a creature, say a lion, that you’ll feed it once a week and it’s not allowed to be hungry beyond that. Under these circumstances a lion will probably do one of two things; 1) Eat your arm the first chance it gets or 2) Wither up and die.

Oh yes, my friend, those brain storming sessions you schedule on your calendar between 10 and 12 on Thursdays is sucking the life of your real creativity.

So what happened? Where is that creative child within you that wants to come out and play? Is she buried too deep? Is he wandering someplace alone and angry inside your head rather than running the hills?

Well, no matter what reasons have contributed to your penned up creativity, it’s not too late. By having a few personal playtimes, you can learn to set your creativity free.

To play every day.

Without planning.

So here we go.

Poof! You’re in Preschool

This first exercise is a warm up – to get your body to remember. Get out a piece of paper and pull out the crayons. What? No crayons in the house? Go get some. We’ll wait.

• Now sit down and draw a totally useless picture of nothing at all. If you have kids, do this with them. If not, turn on cartoons. Now, just scribble some colors – but you must not spend time thinking, just do. You can use one color or forty-two. No matter. Fill in all the white space, or leave lots of white space. Whatever your whim. But, and this is important, no do-overs. What you see is what you get.

• When you feel done, use a crayon to proudly sign the picture. Now, brace yourself – this is the really hard part that may cause you anxiety – I want you to put your picture in a special frame and hang it on the wall. Not in the back of the closet but somewhere prominent.

Let’s Play “Name that Color”

Again, get out a fresh sheet of paper and your handy box of crayons. Before you do anything with them let your eyes roll over the colors.

• Now, touch each crayon and name the color. Not the color it says on the crayon, and don’t say green or red or brown. Listen to all those voices in your head and name those colors with abandon, using words like squashed-pea-green, severed-arm-blood-red, lion’s-mane-brown or dancing-fairy-silver. Unlike in real school, here you are rewarded with high points for outlandish names.

• Select one of the colors that most appeals to you at this moment. Is it crazy-dog-yellow or the ocean-ship-blue? Whatever your choice, write a couple of simple sentences on your paper. And to take the stop-thoughts away, use some of the color words of your crayon in the first sentence to get you going.

• Feel free to write your whole story around your newly named crayon colors. For example; “It’s so crazy dog hot here today. The yellow sun just won’t quit, making me long for an ocean ship, with everything blue.” If you find yourself feeling stuck, don’t spend time. Throw down that crayon and pick up another. The point is, just write something. In color. Your color.

You Are What You Color

Now you are going to play. Every day for a month.

• Don’t plan this last part, and don’t do it at the same time every day. Just keep your crayons handy. Then, when you sit down to write, pick your favorite colors of the moment and scribble before you begin writing. Or when you sit down to have your coffee, write a few colorful sentences. The only rules are – only with crayons and no seriousness allowed.

• When you are writing, if you find yourself stuck, or seeking impossible perfection – Stop. Then pull out your crayons and look. Look at the colors. Remember the names. Think of new names. Write a few silly sentences. Use your color for that day as a method for unsticking yourself and helping you speak with your authentic voice.

These personal play times are designed to help you learn to bring your creativity out – and not just when you’ve marked it on the calendar. We get stuck because we’re trained ourselves that way. Crayons help bring us back to our kid-selves, to a time when we didn’t know what stuck was. Use color to get back in touch with the fun in creativity, and over time you’ll find it gets easier and easier to use your creativity whenever you want.

Feed your creativity with childish fun and you’ll see that it truly is a creature that loves to run wild and free.

Care to share and help inspire someone else? We’d love to hear some of your color names, or read some of your crayon-induced sentences. And next time your boss schedules one of those brain storming sessions, bring enough crayons and paper for everyone and share the fun.

Karen Daniels has her M.A. in psychology, is an author, mom, creativity lecturer, and online content specialist who writes Zen Copy , a blog which promotes creative growth and achieving success through effective online writing.

As a writer, having ideas is one of the most important parts of your craft. But often it seems like one of the most difficult and challenging parts of the whole process.

How do you keep ideas flowing? How do you create a wealth of ideas to choose from? How do you make sure you get to the one killer idea that will make your advert, novel, article or blog post really stand out from the rest?

Some people like to wait for inspiration to strike. Most professional writers, however, don’t have that luxury. You need ideas every working day, not just every now and then.

Luckily, there is a formula for producing ideas on a consistent basis. Of course, like all formulas, it has its limits. You can’t constrain creativity, and to only ever use one method for coming up with ideas would be utter madness.

But if you need to produce strong and creative ideas regularly as part of your writing career, then it pays to know the formula, and how to use it.

First of all, what is an idea? Well, according to James Webb Young in his book ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas’, first published in the 1940s:

“An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.”

So how do you combine old elements into new? Luckily, Young tells us:

“The capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships.”

Young says the ability to see relationships between facts is the most important factor in coming up with ideas. This, he says, is a habit of mind “which can be cultivated.”

How do you cultivate it? By reading widely, taking an active interest in life, the world, people around you, a wide variety of subjects and areas of study.

There is also a formula, however, a five step plan which Young outlined in his book. By adding two more steps, you can complete a virtuous circle with a feedback loop that refines and extends your creativity.

So, the seven steps to having ideas are:

Step 1 – Gather your information

Information is the raw material from which ideas are born. There are two types of relevant information, specific and general.

General information includes just about anything and everything, and gathering it is a lifelong exercise. It basically comes down to general knowledge and education, and can be cultivated through the usual channels: reading widely and having an active interest in life and the world around you, and in particular in people, how they live, what they think and how they behave.

Specific information is directly relevant to the topic in hand. You clearly need to get all the specific information you can lay your hands on. If you’re writing an advert for a product or service, you would expect the client to come up with most of it, although you’ll probably want to do some of you own research as well. If you’re writing a blog post on a topic, you’ll need to gather your information from far and wide.

These days, gathering information is a much faster process thanks to the internet. The down side to that is you’ll need to be judicious, and discard that which isn’t really relevant. Otherwise, you’re likely to get overwhelmed during step 2, where you have to sift the information.

Step 2 – Sift the information

Work over the information, turning it over and around until you see how it all fits together. A direct pursuit of ‘meaning’ might be counterproductive. You may need to try a subtle approach, and sneak up on the topic, looking at things from various angles.

If small snippets of ideas start coming to you at this stage, write them down, even if they seem crazy.

The more you turn and sift the information, the better you understand it, the easier it will be to see and really understand the relationships. And the more ideas you will have.

Step 3 – Let the information bubble

The next stage is to let the information bubble away for a while, keep it on simmer in your mind. You need to let your unconscious mind work on it for a time. It’s a good idea to do something else for a while, to stimulate your imagination and emotions. Try reading, listening to music, meditate, go for a walk, while your mind digests the facts.

Or you could try the traditional approach – take a warm bath and wait for the eureka moment.

Step 4 – Eureka! Let the ideas flow

It’s at this stage that ideas should start to appear, as if from ‘nowhere’. This is where you hope for a ‘Eureka’ moment. The answer to your problem may appear to leap into your mind for no apparent reason.

But what if it doesn’t come? You keep going, writing down the best ideas you can come up with. If your ideas aren’t strong enough yet, don’t panic, because you’ll get to have another go at this part of the process. So take the very best ideas you can come up with, and move on to step five.

Step 5 – Shape and develop your idea

Now your idea needs to be shaped and moulded, turned into something real. This where your writing skills come to the fore.

Step 6 – Share your idea

Now show your idea to others and see what they think. They may be able to add to it and make it better. That may spark new ideas, and so the process becomes ever more creative.

Step 7 – Rinse and repeat

If necessary, use the feedback you got in step 6, and add that to the information you gathered in step 1. Now repeat step 2, sifting the new information with the existing facts. Then repeat steps 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Keep it going, until you have the best idea you can come up with, or you hit the deadline, and have to go with what you have developed so far.

So, the good news is that you can learn to be more creative and have stronger ideas. You:

• Gather the information
• Sift it
• Let it percolate
• Let the ideas flow
• Shape and mould the ideas
• Share them with others
• Put the feedback into the loop; and repeat the process to strengthen your ideas.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, despite what I said at the start about the importance of ideas – and don’t get me wrong they are important – despite that, the truth is that having ideas is the easy part of writing.

Yes, ideas are easy. It’s the execution that is truly difficult, that’s where the real genius lies. And you can only master the craft of writing through hard work and long, steady perseverance.

Simon Townley blogs about all aspects of writing at WriteMindset, and provides professional writing services through his company Simon Townley Copywriting Limited.

Photo: Paranoia by katiew

‘Freelance writer’ is a pretty hard hat to wear at times.

Not only are you the sole – well everything - when it comes to your business, you are also easily susceptible to distractions. Much more easily susceptible than say Writer Jonah that lives up the street and works for that big swanky office.

See, Writer Jonah has a schedule and an office he has to commute to at certain times each day. Heís got responsibilities that he has to leave at home to focus on the job at hand. Not to mention things like strictly enforced deadlines and such. Writer Jonah has a J.O.B.

That means his day and your day as a freelancer likely looks vastly different.

And let’s face it, we like that it looks different. As freelancers, that’s why we set up shop for ourselves to begin with. The allure of freedom, the promise of lazy days, a steady influx of cash, and ahh… “The Writer’s Life”.

Only the “Freelance Writer’s Life” is in all reality a landmine of potential distractions, derailed plans, and a constant niggling feeling that there was something you were supposed to do today and itís still not done, whatever it was.

Sound familiar?

That said there are 6 ways to royally distract yourself and waste some time if you’re so inclined. Although I suggest that if you have deadlines to meet, clients clamoring for your attention, and potential money to be made…

Perhaps skip these 6 time wasters and jump right into the being productive part. You’ll thank me later! And I bet as a bonus, your clients will thank you.

1. Sleep late. Like – every day or something.Seriously, I know it feels great to sleep past 10am on a lazy Sunday morning but letís be real. Everyday isn’t Sunday, and you shouldn’t treat it as such. While you’re happily ensconced in your bed snoring like a freight train, the rest of the working world is up with the birds, and banging out results like there’s no tomorrow.If I start my day at 7am and you get up at 11am… I’ve now got 4 hours of work on you. And unfortunately the later the day runs, the less productive we tend to get. So do yourself a favor and make like the birds. Rise early and start your day off right.Or not, but don’t complain and wonder where all your time went when suddenly itís 8pm and you’re exhausted…and still not done.
2. Keep irregular hours. Break for movies … and brunch … and a haircut while you’re at it.Yes, I know that one of the biggest draws of being a freelancer is setting your own hours, and having the ability to catch a mid-day movie if you feel like it. However thatís not conducive to a productive day, and there is a reason businesses have ‘office hours’.Put simply, having set hours works. It keeps you on track, it keeps your business thriving, and it keeps your cash flow in the black. So keep crazy hours if you want, maybe just to prove you can. But if you’re serious about your success, set yourself a schedule and stick to it.Does that mean you can’t be flexible sometimes?Of course not.You are your own boss after all. Just don’t make it habit if you’re in it to win it with this whole freelancing gig.
3. Forget to hang your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign when you begin working.OK, so really – if you allow yourself to be sidetracked then what are you accomplishing for the day? When you’re working, make it clear to all that youíre working. That means close your door and hang a sign or take off to the library if you must to get some blessed peace and quiet.Peace and quiet means you can think straight which means you can write. If you leave your door wide open, it’s like inviting your kids or your spouse to come inside and interrupt you. And guess what? They’ve got no clue if youíre on a roll and more often than not what happens next?That interruption totally ruined your writing mojo and itís going to take time for you to get back into the ‘flow’. Interruptions = Time wasters.So do yourself a favor and discourage distractions, don’t invite them.
4. On the topic of distractions – go ahead and let technology have its merry way with you.We live in an age of technological wonder. Everything is there, right at our fingertips. Unfortunately for you as a freelancer this means you’re vulnerable to massive amounts of time wasted on a daily basis.And the sad thing is that the time is often gone before you even realize it’s gone!Things like email, web surfing, Twitter and Facebook are all great tools for inspiration. As a writer you need things that can trigger a bit of inspiration sometimes. But beware that these tools don’t end up eating you for breakfast and leaving you wondering where the heck your day went.Not to mention other technology like phone chats, instant messenger, television, video games and the like – all massive time wasters when you allow them to get between you and your goals. So have fun and enjoy technology, but I highly recommend you don’t allow it to rule your life.
5. Think about writing, talk about writing, dream about writing – do everything but…Actually write. Thinking, dreaming, and talking about writing doesnít get it done. Anything youíre doing along those lines, while it may ‘feel’ good, or make you ‘feel’ like a writer – doesnít make you one. It’s a time waster.The only thing that makes you a writer is writing already. And then writing some more.And some more after that.Until literally your poor little brain is so drained not another word can be eeked from within its murky depths. Then you might be a writer. But by all means, if you’ve got time to spare go right ahead and think, talk, and dream of writing. Just don’t expect to get very far, please your clients, or meet your goals. Just sayin’.
6. And finally? Scoff at being organized.Really do you know how much time is wasted each day when you’re less than organized, and less than efficient?OK, so I haven’t exactly timed it, but I know it’s a lot!I know this because I am notoriously disorganized. But Iíve forced myself to become a semi-organized freelancer simply because…stuff gets done.If you can’t even implement a simple system to keep track of your projects, your client projects, your notes and ideas, and your commitments- you can bet that a huge chunk of your time is out the window.It’s gone while you hunt around for that quote you gave that client that time – or you dig furiously looking for that little scrap of paper you wrote that book idea on – or you sit and ponder about that appointment you ‘think’ you made for tomorrow (but in reality it was for yesterday).In that last particular situation, not only have you wasted your time youíve also wasted your potential client’s time who booked the appointment in the first place.Great way to impress folks with your freelancing prowess I might add! (That was sarcasm in its nicest possible form by the way.)

Moral of this little story?

Do all of the above if your goals are to waste time and not actually write. However if you really want to be a writer -

• Rise early.
• Set a schedule.
• Discourage distractions.
• Ban technology.
• Get organized.
• And write already!

Now.

How about you?

Got any tricks to keep your time wasting to a minimum? I’d love to hear them.

Cori is a wildly hire-able freelance ‘ghost’ as well as the creative brains and dubious brawn behind her blog Big Girl Branding. You can also stalk her on Twitter if you really want to.

A Guest Post by Zoey Martin of Good Goog

I am a reformed perfectionist. Not completely. I’m not perfect at it. See? I’m reformed.

Perfectionism is a nice idea, alluring even. ‘Do your best’, ‘aim for the stars’, ‘give it your all’. The problem is that these goals are completely unquantifiable. How will I know if it was my absolute best? Is this the stars or the moon? Maybe I could have done a little bit better. And that’s the insidious nature of perfectionism, you could always have done better.

Perfectionism is a black hole of neediness.

Your best is never good enough. Because ‘good enough’ isn’t in perfectionism’s vocabulary. Unlike ‘die trying’ which I’m pretty sure is. And perfectionists are always disappointed, always. And speaking from experience, they also tend to be paralyzed by fear most of the time.

Example: In my former life, I re-wrote a prologue more than 100 times. That’s not an exaggeration, I’m being conservative. Imagine that, over 100 times, on a manual typewriter. All for two pages of text, at best. Perfectionism sells itself as the ideal, the apex, what you could be if all the stars aligned. But it’s a silver-tongued enemy, holding you back, and down, and out.

Your inner perfectionist will tell you that anything less than full, unbridled perfectionism is lazy, unacceptable and just plain wrong. Don’t listen! Let your passion be unbridled, allow yourself to actually jump into a project rather than agonizing over it and make mistakes fearlessly. People boast about being perfectionists, but deep down, they all know that perfectionism isn’t a friend, or even a frenemy, it’s an albatross around their neck. Because guess what? You could write a prologue 100 times or you could write a whole novel in half the time.

But even reformed perfectionists need a plan. Here’s how I battled perfectionism and won:

1) Realize that perfectionism is the antithesis to happiness This takes time. But whenever you feel perfectionism rise within you, take a moment. Remind yourself of why you have chosen not to see your life and your efforts in this way. Know that if you throw everything at a project, invest your heart and your passion and your mind, you will be entirely secure in the outcome no matter what.

2) Indulge in guilty pleasures Sometimes, us reformed perfectionists need to indulge in certain behavior. I used to alphabetize. It’s therapeutic. All our books, DVDs in a happy perfect order. Because thankfully books and DVDs are not human and they really are that simple. Unleash all that perfectionism in bursts of activity if need be. You’ll be pleased to know that I no longer alphabetize. My bursts of perfectionism are limited to the occasional spring clean.

3) Keep Your Eye on the Prize Perfectionists of have a nasty habit of not getting anything done. If everything is so perfect, why are they so ineffectual? Because a perfectionist starts with the goal of folding the laundry and ends up re-organizing the entire wardrobe, re-folding everything and possibly even moving the aforementioned wardrobe into a better position. Don’t fall in to the trap. Develop a finite goal and stick to it. Trust me, it’s a lot quicker too.

4) Make Mistakes and Like It Mistakes aren’t the problem, being paralyzed into inaction is. Re-frame in your own mind how you relate to mistakes. Don’t think of them as something to be avoided. Mistakes are opportunities. And not in the unrealistic, fake I-am-in-prison-but-it’s-a-good-thing-because-I-get-all-this-free-time kind of way. In the way that anything worth doing risks a mistake (or several). You cannot truly be passionate about something unless you’re wiling to get something wrong. You don’t learn anything by standing back on the sidelines. You learn by knowing that when you fall down, you’ll find a way to get back up again.

5) Perfectionism Isn’t a Personality Trait Seriously. It’s not. Perfectionism is a coping mechanism for unpredictability. It introduces all kind of comforting control. You are not changing yourself by renouncing perfectionism, you’re taking the first step to discovering who you are without armor.

Taking the Plunge

Perfectionism is a habit. A bad one. And change doesn’t always come easy, or overnight. It’s a choice that will be made a million times over. But it is liberating, and it is worthwhile. Start small, set goals and stick to them. Don’t allow relapses into perfectionism dissuade you from your chosen course. Alphabetize at will. Allow yourself to make mistakes – you might finish a book, you might uncover a hidden talent or you might stumble upon something even better – the ability to surprise yourself and others. Reform yourself. Go ahead. I dare you.

The ideal of writing is to be thoughtful, memorable, meaningful and evocative. Perfectionism is an epic deception – promising the pinnacle of achievement and offering only self doubt, procrastination and inaction. The secret to changing it is simple. Don’t stop being a perfectionist. Start being passionate. Start taking risks. Start discovering who you are. Do you want to be great? Then stop being perfect.

Zoey Martin writes about parenting, general neurosis and toddler mayhem at Good Goog. She also blogs about books for little people and their admirers at Little People Books. She takes too many photos and tweets far more than is healthy @zoeyspeak.

A Guest Post by Bamboo Forest of Pun Intended

What’s the ultimate hack for writing productivity?

Set a timer… folks.

There’s no better way to plug into your writing and destroy distractions than by setting a timer and telling your mind youíll write for the allotted time you’ve chosen. It works like Jedi magic.

And come to think of it… Magic is what you need in an online world where you’re distracted every couple seconds.

When you set a timer and seriously commit yourself to writing for a duration of time you’ve chosen, you’ve just single handedly put yourself in a bubble of kick-ass. It’s actually the place I feel most at home.

Nothing can touch you here. Twitter? It’s got nothing on you. Nothing. Instant messenger? Sorry! You ain’t welcome around here, kid. The phone? If you put it on silence for the duration of time your timer’s ticking, I can assure that when your writing time ends, you’ll be looking sharper than ever and no harm will come. You’ll have accomplished something great. You can check your phone when you’re done, OK?

Nothing Grows Our Blog Like Great Writing

There’s a lot of  little ways to tweak your blog. Lots of little tidbits, nuggets and sprinkles you can glean from blogs on blogging that may help you…†a little.

But let’s get real, shall we? None of that, absolutely none of it is really going to grab the attention of prospective readers like prose that grabs them by the throats and keeps them there until the last line has been read. Great writing is the number one ingredient that gets our blogs out there and admired.

Let’s do this.

So my advice if you’re strapped for time as many of us surely are: Use the time you have almost exclusively on creating awesome content.

Here’s what Leo Babauta, who knows a little bit about this, has to say about what worked for him while he was working full time and doing freelance writing on top of it:

“What’s the most important thing a blogger can do to grow his blog and readership? Write great content. Not add links or widgets to the sidebar, not check stats, not reading or commenting other blogs, not even responding to comments or email. Writing great content. That’s by far the most important thing you can do.” [Bold emphasis mine]

And it’s not like you have to complete a full post in one sitting. Nonsense. You could set a timer for 15 minutes a day of hard, focused writing and by the end of the week finish a†solid post or two. Using a timer for our writing sessions forces us to put everything aside and write like maniacs until it sounds. It makes the little time we do have, laser focused. And even if we do have a fair amount of time on our hands, it helps us stay miles away from the distractions that bombard us, keeping us honest.

So yeah… We can say we’ll write five minutes from now and we just might. We can say we’ll write after we’ve eaten supper and… well… maybe we will.

Or…

We can be real. We can be writers. We can do this. We can set a timer, commit ourselves to working non-stop until it sounds and feel proud at what we’ve accomplished. That’s what I’m talking about. You with me on this?

After all this talk about using a timer to generate focused, timely writing, you’d think I’d offer you a resource to use right about now? Wouldn’t ya? Of course I will, child.

Online Timer for Writers

I’ve recently given birth to a little, humble site with a timer you can freely use 7 days a week, 365 days a year (Even during all major holidays). This site was spawned by me, one of your fellow and very, very obsessed writers. Setting a timer has worked wonders for getting me to write and to increase my general productivity and it’ll probably help you enormously as well.

So if you want to kill procrastination and plug into a time frame where you do nothing but write, I recommend you head on over to my little site, Tick Tock Timer.

Oh… and when you hear the gongs going off… after you’ve just finished writing a kick-ass blog post that’ll put massive smiles on the faces of many… I want you to party like it’s 1999.

Bamboo Forest writes for Pun Intended. He’s created an online timer that makes bloggers ridiculously productive.

A guest Post by Annabel Candy of Get in the Hotspot

Have you noticed how easy non-writers think writing is? When you’re a writer that can be frustrating.

There are three main things about writing that make it lack the social proof people expect of professional activities.

• It’s intangible – Many people don’t seem to consider writing a proper job, maybe because often writers type away for days with apparently little to show for it. Yes, there may be the occasional article in a newspaper, possibly even a published book you can actually show people. But even then that small book, an object you can hold in one hand, isn’t a good indication of the many hours, months or possibly years of work that went in to actually writing it.
• It’s unpaid - This is true even of successful, established and published writers, people like Zen Habits and Write to Done founder Leo Babauta who still regularly give away his writing on his own blogs and elsewhere. Many writers have blogs they write unpaid and if you’re not paid for something then other people tend to see it as a hobby and an unnecessary indulgence when for most writers creating a blog is a carefully planned career move.
• It’s intellectual – People see hard work as being physical like laboring, or stressful like being a fighter pilot. They don’t realize the kind of mental determination that writing calls for, the inner motivation that’s required to get you writing and keep you going until you actually finish the work.

No wonder writers often struggle with motivation.

Writing is a common dream for people. Yet most people who dream about writing don’t actually do it. Some of them hardly even read. Meanwhile writers who do actually earn a living from their work still struggle to stay motivated and keep writing.

Faced with all this opposition, both external and internal, how can we motivate ourselves to get writing and keep at it?

Here are six ideas that work :

1. Get motivated
   Accept responsibility for you own actions. Acknowledge that you’re the only person who can do this. That if you don’t glue your backside to the chair and first start, then finish writing your article or book, no one else is going to do it for you.
2. Create tight imaginary deadlines for yourself to spur you on.
   Try pretending you only have one hour to write today and that can be a good incentive to get on with it. Or ask yourself what you’d start or finish writing if you only had a month to live.I motivated myself to write a 70,000 word manuscript by telling myself that if I didn’t write it that year I never would. These scare tactics do work and best of all no one has to die in the process.
3. Commit to your writing.
   Work out how much time you can give to your writing and when. Schedule it in your diary it. Make it a part of your routine and keep at it until it becomes a true habit.Now stay focused. If it’s a book you need to be able to maintain your focus for months. For a shorter piece like a blog post or an article you need to focus for one or two hours.
4. Remove all distractions.
   You know what they are. Unplug the phone, turn off your router, find a place where you can write away oblivious to the household duties which are being neglected.Try using a kitchen timer to keep you seated and writing. Set the timer for an hour and write away. When the time’s up have a five minute break then repeat until the piece is finished.
5. Use motivational tools.
   Don’t dismiss Twitter as a waste of time waster or, at best, a simple networking tool. I’ve found it a powerful way to motivate myself and other people. It surprised me too but here’s how it happened.I followed a well known novelist and journalist called John Birmingham @johnbirmingham on Twitter.I noticed that he constantly tweeted how many words he’d written on a project and how many he was about to write. He’s prolific and his word count put me to shame so I decided to try his tactic and see if it helped me.First thing in the morning, I’d tweet:”Three jobs: edit chap two of fiction manuscript, finish short story for the competition, write blog post for Get In the Hot Spot.”Then I made updates on my progress via Twitter, as the day went on, such as:”Chapter two edited and looking good. About to update my blog now. Hope you’ve had a productive morning too.”

   I know this sounds ridiculously simple and unnecessary too, but if it works as a motivational tool, that has to be a good thing.

6. Try co-motivation
   Sometimes on Twitter I’ve challenge other writers or bloggers to a word race if I know they’re in the same boat as me. As we both write more than we would have otherwise, we both end up winning. I’ve found that innocent bystanders who’ve seen my word count tweets are motivated and inspired by that just as I was by John Birmingham.This type of motivation even has a proper name. Appropriately enough for writers it’s called “bookmarking”.

   Basically, you tell someone your goal and then update them regularly on your progress. It may be a friend, but it can be anyone, and it can also be done on the phone, with a text message, face to face, or on Twitter where you don’t even need anyone specific to report too.One brilliant side-effect of this is that as well as John Birmingham motivating himself and me, my progress reports have motivated other people too.

   One man told me that my tweets about writing and my word count have inspired him to start writing again. Another Australian writer Peter Moore @travdude who’s published six travel books, emailed me saying”I’m impressed that you’re knocking out those kind of numbers in a family environment.”

Final word on motivation

Who cares if writing’s intangible, unpaid and misunderstood? We mark our progress in words written and don’t worry that most of them will be removed in the end. We pay ourselves a favor each time we put pen to paper and practice our craft. We wage a war against lassitude and writer’s block on a daily basis and we win.

We just sit down to write no matter how hard it is, because no one else can write it like us.

How do you start writing and stick to it even though it’s easier not to? Please share your tips in the comments.

On the Internet it’s just the same as in real life ~ if you spend time with positive, inspiring people, you’ll be motivated to improve yourself and work harder.

Brrng, Brrng! Got to go now, the timer’s ringing. Have a super duper and highly productive day everyone.

Annabel Candy writes about self improvement at Get In the Hot Spot. She runs a web design company with her husband and manages to stay mostly focused on her writing despite the general mayhem created by their three children. To have as word count race or boast about how much you’ve written, tweet her @inthehotspot

Image credit: Photo by CarbonNY

A guest post by Bamboo Forest of Pun Intended

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if there was a method ensuring every article you wrote was concise, relentlessly focused and said everything you wanted it to?

There is.

I recommend using a thesis statement and outline for many posts that you pen.

Jesse Hines has written,

“A thesis statement is generally one or two sentences in which you clearly lay out your focus, idea or argument.”

While in an academic setting a thesis statement is included in your actual paper, I’m referring to something you write just for yourself. Write a thesis statement before you begin your post and it will set the tone for the rest of your article. It will encourage you to stay consistently aligned with what you’re trying to get across, making your article stronger and better.

After the thesis statement has been made, you’re now ready for the outline.

Have you ever gone to the grocery store without a grocery list? I don’t know about you, but I have. And the outcome often results in forgetting important items that you really wanted to purchase. It’s a real bummer, isn’t it?

This can happen with your writing, too. If you write a post without first gathering exactly what you want to include, you’re bound to forget a few important points that would have made your article better. Let’s not do that.

Prior to writing an outline, I recommend you first look over any notes you have pertaining to the post you’re about to write.

Then, simply break it down. I take a real relaxed approach to writing an outline and I recommend you do as well. Remember, we’re not submitting this outline to a stuffy teacher. We’re simply preparing ourselves to write the best post of our life.

I break my outline down using capital letters, A;B;C; etc. After each letter I include an important point that I don’t want to forget while writing my article. The outline ensures that everything I wanted to get into my article, does. It also keeps the order and flow of my post logical.

Another benefit of using an outline is it encourages†very tight writing.

Jesse Hines has written,

“Once I’ve developed a solid outline, writing the article is, in a sense, simply filling in the blanks.”

When you know from the beginning exactly what your article is going to encompass, you fill those blanks in with ultra focus. You say only what you need to say to get the specific points across.

Of course, as you’re writing your post and referring back to your outline — you’re not beholden to it. You can change the order as you see fit.

Also, youíll most likely include more information in your post than your outline lays out. This will happen organically from the main points you wanted to ensure got included in your post.

Using a thesis statement and outline in your writing is like laying down a strong foundation before building a house. Your architecture will end up stronger, and more beautiful.

P.S. — This is my outline for this guest post:

A. Wouldn’t it be great…
B. What’s a thesis statement?
C. It helps you stay focused and not drift all over the place
D. An outline works like a grocery list
E. What’s an outline?
F. Conducive to being concise, because now you’re essentially filling in the blanks.
G. Conclusion: The preparation stages are like laying down a strong foundation to a house.

Bamboo Forest writes for†Pun Intended, a blog that will make you laugh and feel inspired. To ensure you don’t miss all the goodies,†subscribe†here.

A Guest Post by Markus Urban of Art of Blog

In December of 2009 I decided to undertake a lofty challenge – to create a website/blog in one week and get 100,000 unique visitors within a week of launching it. I knew it was possible, and the sheer enormity of it was exciting enough for me to go ahead with the project.

I created the Art of Blog “One Week Challenge.” Along the way I wanted to share everything I knew about creating a world-class website. The plan was to launch a photography site called Hot Shot Photo and detail the progress as I went along.

I failed at what I set out to do.

However, I learned many valuable lessons along the way and I want to share them with you:

1. It doesn’t matter where you start, just start

One of the biggest obstacles to my online career has always been inaction. I would read dozens of blogs and countless articles about “how to do this and that”, amass great knowledge about what works and what doesn’t, and generally fill my head with enough blogging/business ammunition to do anything I set out to do.

The problem was that none of it mattered one bit if I didn’t put it to use. The sheer number of possibilities and options had become paralyzing and at the end of the day I would end up doing nothing.

The key was to start. Something. Anything. So I decided to move on something that really inspired me – the desire to share everything I’ve learned over the years and undertake a huge challenge. I took the first step. That’s what really mattered.

Takeaway: All there ever is – is to start. Start somewhere. Start with something that inspires you.

2. Timing is crucial

Like in comedy, timing is everything. One of the biggest mistakes I made was creating this challenge right before Christmas.

There were fewer people tweeting, a lot of the world was distracted by the holidays, and it was more difficult to gain traction during such a quiet time in the tweetasphere / blogosphere.

When Christmas came around, I focused on my family and friends and let the project take a back seat, weakening its momentum.

Takeaway: Be aware of what’s happening within the time frame that you set out for yourself. Avoid predictable distractions and conflicts.

3. You know a lot more than you think you do

I came to this realization after about the 10th video I published. I realized how much there is to know about blogging. Even though I had been putting out a ton of information out there, I was only beginning to scratch the surface.

When we’re caught up in what we do and what we’re interested in – almost every day of our lives – we forget just how much we know about the topic of our expertise.

I would be willing to bet that you highly underestimate what you know. Once you start putting it out there, whether in video form, through writing, or whatever – you will realize just how much you know.

Takeaway: Become aware of what you know – and realize that you have a lot to share with the world.

4. Get people involved

No man is an island. It became a lot easier to continue working when I had support and interest from my friends and colleagues. Not only did they encourage me along the way, but I was able to get them emotionally vested into the project by asking for their feedback.

People who found the project interesting would retweet and share it with their friends. When I mentioned them in the posts or asked for their input & help – then published posts and videos – they were vested into the project and would help spread the message.

Their input was helpful, and so was their desire to spread that which they helped co-create.

Takeaway: Ask people for feedback along the way, attribute their contributions, and they will be more likely to help you spread your message.

5. Put yourself out there

A good friend of mine Vo Megastar always says “put yourself out there. go hard. and someone will notice.”

A lot of people fear being seen. Mostly because they fear failing and being seen as a failure. If you can just take a look at that fear – accept that it’s there – and act anyway, you will be ahead of most people.

You have a unique life experience that no one else has – you have unique combinations of knowledge and a personality no one else has. Don’t be afraid to share that with the world. You will connect and make a difference to people who can identify with your style.

When I first started recording videos, there was that fear of “being seen” that eventually lessened. If you take a look at videos of people starting out, you will usually see then being somewhat uncomfortable in the first minute or so before they settle in and start talking like themselves. It’s ok – we all have that.

Takeaway: Just put yourself out there. You are great just the way you are. And you’ll be surprised at all the positive feedback people will give you.

6. Keep it Simple

One of the things that derailed the project was the complexity of it. People were confused about the concept. The series on Art of Blog was meant to be a behind-the-scenes series detailing the creation and launching of Hot Shot Photo. It was a website series about another website.

A lot of people thought that Art of Blog was the website that the challenge was about. It created a lot of confusion.

There was also confusion about what the “One Week” meant. Was it build and get 100,000 visitors all in one week? Was it build a site in one week, then reach that goal in the following week? To be quite honest, I didn’t define that clearly (even for myself) from the get-go, which fueled this uncertainty.

Takeaway: Define your purpose or goal in super clear terms, and keep it simple, right from the start.

7. When you fail, own up

If you set out to accomplish something and don’t fulfill it – don’t run and hide and hope no one else will notice. Always own up to it.

Own whatever it is you do – the successes, and even more so the failures. Everyone knows what it’s like to fall short. You will get a lot more respect from people when they know you have nothing to hide.

Takeaway: Own everything you do, whether it’s positive or negative.

8. Failure is never failure

Failure by itself never really happens. It is only when you accept that something failed, is it ever failure in reality. You can just as easily look at what opportunities present themselves from the wake of that which you didn’t accomplish. Wired recently ran a whole series of stories about failures that later turned into huge opportunities for many famous actors, politicians, and thought leaders.

Action begets opportunity. Even action that “fails” ends up opening more possibilities and opportunities that present themselves.

Takeaway: Always keep moving, embrace failure, and see where you end up.

9. You Never Know Where it Will End Up

Part of the fun of launching a project is that you never know where it will end up. Be open to that – give up control and see where that ride takes you – and most importantly – enjoy it along the way.

One of the great things that came out of this entire series is this post itself – the one you are reading right now. I got connected to Mary and we discussed writing this very post.

Here I am – a while later – writing this post on a very prominent website, sharing what I learned. Did I know this would happen along the way? No, but it’s wonderful.

Takeaway: Keep your mind open and embrace the opportunities that present themselves along the way. Embrace new directions.

10. Don’t Take it All So Seriously

At some point throughout this whole process (especially when I ended the challenge and changed direction) I found myself worried about what it will all look like.

Then I took a a step back and remembered why I was doing any of this in the first place. I want to have fun and create a life of freedom for myself, where blogging is just one aspect of my own self-expression. I want to help people out – and that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

It’s important to step back and keep it all in perspective. Why are you blogging? Why are you writing? What got you into this in the first place. By all means, come through on your promises to people and keep true to your word, but remember to have fun along the way.

Takeaway: Win or lose, have fun and remember why you’re doing this in the first place. Don’t take it all so seriously.

Markus Urban is a lifestyle designer, travel show host, cat herder, and entrepreneur who can’t keep still (except when meditating). He runs a series of sites about blogging, technology, photography, and unconventional living. Follow his lifestyle adventures on Twitter.