Shortcuts to Fame: 5 Tips for Writers
By Mary Jaksch of Goodlife ZEN
Do you dream of being discovered? Imagine if someone spotted your novel, dragged you into the limelight – and publishers came crawling. Or what if your blog post went viral, admirers crashed Twitter, and readers scrambled to subscribe – wouldn’t that be great?
It happens. New writers are discovered every day. It may look accidental, but there are ways to become ‘accident-prone’. Here are five shortcuts to fame that work:
Tip #1: Throw yourself up the learning curve.
Every worthwhile endeavor has a steep learning curve. If you want to have success as a fiction writer, you need to learn how to create a compelling novel or short story. If you are a blogger, you need to learn how to write a blog post that can go viral. Make sure that you learn what has made others successful. Money spent on education and training is always a good investment. And if you can snag a mentor on your learning journey – you’re allready half-way to fame.
Tip #2: Hang out where you can be spotted.
One of the sure-fire ways to fame is to be endorsed by an expert in your field. You can see how that works when you read the blurb on the back of books. Be discovered and endorsed by a leading exponent, and you are on the fast track to fame.
But how to get discovered?
It’s simple. You need to figure out where the experts hang out and join them there. Let’s say for example that your dream as a blogger is to have a guest post on Zen Habits which was recently listed by Time Magazine as no. 1 of the 25 best blogs of 2010. Zen Habits now has about 200,000 subscribers, so a guest post there catapults you automatically into fame.
How do guest posters snag a primo gig like this one? Well, the last two posts on Zen Habits were from Jeffrey Tang of The Art of Great Things and Barrie Davenport of Live Bold and Bloom – both of whom are members of the A-List Blogger Club. That’s where their talent was spotted by Leo Babauta. They both hung out where they could be discovered.
Tip #3: Be insanely useful.
I was recently writing up my blogging experience as a case study. I noticed a weird pattern, over and over. I’ve always tried to help others, whether they were newbies or experts. Being helpful is the main reason behind my success. It’s the same with people I’ve pushed into the limelight: their relationship with me usually started with consistent offers of help. So, be insanely helpful to others in your field.
Tip #4: Grab opportunities as they flit past
The Internet is a place of fast change. Opportunities only come around once. If you’ve built a connection with an expert and they ask for help, say “yes” – even if you are over-committed and unpaid.
Here’s an example: a joint-venture project that emerged from the A-List Blogger Club is just about to launch. The Daily Brainstorm – a blogazine to rock your mind – has turned into an amazing opportunity for three Club members destined for the A-List: Barrie Davenport is the Editor in Chief, and Katie Tallo with Jean Sarauer are Managing Editors. They embraced this opportunity without hesitation. The combined count of monthly unique visitors of all the blogs contributing to The Daily Brainstorm is already in the millions – and that’s even before today’s formal launch. This thing’s running hot and is going to be BIG!
Tip #5 Use ‘vitamin’ C in high doses.
Vitamin C is something that aids vitality. But I don’t mean pills here. C stands for Connection. Because connection is what makes opportunities happen on the Internet.
How can you connect? Start with your end of the conversation. If the expert you want to connect with is on Twitter, send him or her regular Tweets with relevant comments. If it’s a blogger you want to connect with, comment on her or his blog. In time the expert will notice you, and a connection will form. Once you’ve forged a connection, make sure that you’re insanely helpful.
Meet good fortune half way – and don’t sit around, waiting for it to find you.
But what about those who are disadvantaged? What about those who are eager to become top blogger – but they can’t afford the cost of training? I’m thinking in particular of writers in the Third World.
In my experience, blogging is the quickest way to create a career with fast fame and a solid income.
The A-list Blogger Club has grown to more than 500 members, and as a celebration, Leo Babauta and I want to offer five scholarships, each worth $20 a month. We’re looking for talented writers who can’t afford the A-List Blogger Club membership fee (although it’s less than the price of a cup of coffee per week). If you would like to put someone forward, or nominate yourself, please write a comment below and tell us why we should consider them or you.
If you have some more tips to add about shortcuts to fame, please share that in the comments as well, ok?
Mary Jaksch is the Editor in Chief of Write to Done. You can enjoy more of her stuff on Goodlife Zen. Remember to check out the A-List Blogger Club.
How to Write When You’re Scared Spitless
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Secret Black Belt Technique for Writing Knock-out Posts
A guest post by Doug Armey of The New Wealth Paradigm.
“Without the commentary in my mind, I could gather myself in silence of body and mind, and then explode into action from within that deep silence.” Mary Jaksch
David, a 3rd degree black belt in karate, was standing across from me ready to attack. It was one of my first voyages into formal sparring as a lowly orange belt, one step up from karate kindergarten. We were given a preset attack and defense by our sensei. Then he commanded, “Attack when ready.”
David stood there for a moment, his eyes half closed, totally relaxed, the picture of serenity. I remember thinking, “What’s he doing?”
Then, I made a mistake. I blinked and he hit me. I never even blocked. Never saw him move. My initial thought? “What the hell just happened?” I realized that day there was a whole other level in karate.
When I became a black belt and teacher I began to understand. One class, I was teaching, we’d been drilling basics and putting them into formal sparring.
After class a student asked, “Why do we practice these formal techniques? In real life I won’t ever use them. Why don’t we just free spar? That’s more realistic.”
I responded, “You’re partially right. You probably never will use that exact technique in a match or for defense. But you’re practicing the techniques and how to move in various ways so in the ring or on the street you’ll just react. You won’t have time to think. You need to trust your skills at that point and accomplish what you need to automatically.
Great writers are much the same way.
They write fast and effectively. When you read their writing it feels like you are sitting having coffee with them discussing profound ideas. Some of them talk about writing posts in an hour or two, though I would guess the norm is longer. They’ve learned to let writing flow naturally and seemingly effortlessly. Yet, it comes out good.
For the rest of us mere mortal writers it isn’t quite like that. We struggle to craft our posts. It can easily take a week to put together a good one. Sometimes it seems to flow and sometimes it’s like trying to push a car uphill. A lot of struggle with very little gain.
It’s easy to become discouraged and think, “How can I ever master this? Why is it so slow and hard for me and so easy for so many others? Will my writing ever just flow consistently each time?”
It first comes back to the basics. Obviously, practice a lot, read about writing, take classes, be a part of a writers group, and write as much as you can.
But then beyond that is what I learned in karate.
It’s called the principle of the “Empty Mind.”
No, not the one my wife thinks I’ve mastered.
It simply means, after all the practice, when you’re in a real life situation in karate or in writing you empty your mind of all the rules and just let it flow. You trust your ability and let your actions go where they need to naturally. And amazingly they will. Your subconscious will take over and you’ll react in effective ways.
So how do we apply this in writing?
For me, I break it down into steps. I try to separate my creative side from my analytical side. You know the whole right brain, left brain thing? Never could remember which is which. That probably says which I am.
When I’m writing I follow this procedure.
First, I research and outline the post. I think about the format, title, focus. I research other articles, get quotes, fill in illustrations and figure out the overall tone. This is analytical and is kind of like practicing the basics to get better at my craft while I’m actually preparing to write.
Second, usually the next day, I write the first draft. I simply open up a blank page, follow my outline and write as fast as I can. I don’t worry about spelling, grammar, sentence structure or any other rules. My mind is completely empty of form and only focused on getting words on paper. Leo Babauta has said about this stage he didn’t care how crappy the first draft was. This is a creative function. It emphasizes flow and natural conversation.
Third, again after a few hours or the next day, I copy edit. I make sure the sentences flow properly. I whack out all the extra words, check the spelling, work on the logical progression. This again is analytical and back to the basics. I try to craft my writing into the rules of effective communication.
Fourth, usually in the same sitting, I style edit. I read it out loud. As I related in a previous post, I picture a friend sitting with me and I talk to him or her naturally. My mind again is empty of all the rules. I’m only focused on conversing with my friend.
Then when it’s polished and flowing naturally I put it in blog post form and publish.
This process helps me combine good structure with natural conversation. It allows me to be creative yet communicate effectively. It’s a secret black belt technique that has helped me in so many ways including writing.
What techniques have you found? What works for you?
If you have found this post helpful please let me know. And share it with a friend. I appreciate it.
Doug Armey is a writer and financial adviser who writes about building true wealth and living richly at The New Wealth Paradigm.
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The A-list Blogger Club has been the best investment I’ve made in my blog. Fantastic webinars, terrific articles, helpful forums and personal coaching. Everything from technical know-how and writing technique to learning how to land guest posts like this one. I would not be where I am today with my blog without them.
- Doug Armey
3 Ways To Breathe Life Into Your Fiction
A guest post by Gareth Powell of GarethPowell.com
New writers are often given the following piece of advice: “Write what you know”. In other words, concentrate on the things you’ve observed and the things you understand about the world around you. If you’re a former journalist wanting to write a mystery, make your main character a journalist; if you’re a coal miner, write about the dangers and camaraderie of life down the pit.
Such first-hand experience can add verisimilitude to your fiction; but what happens if you’re trying to write genre fiction? What if you’re trying to write about a future society so far removed in time that they barely remember the present day? What if you’re trying to write about a supernatural horror preying on a group of cave divers, or a lone warrior on a quest across a mythic fantasy kingdom? In science fiction, fantasy and horror, characters are routinely put in situations in which it would be impossible for the writer to gain any direct experience. How then can you convincingly fill in these scenes using only your imagination?
1. Identify the parts of the scene you do know.
People for example. Your characters should be recognisably human, each with their own distinct personalities and foibles. No matter how fantastical the situation, you can base your characters on your own experiences of people and the way they interact with one another.
Sometimes when writing fiction, it’s hard to keep a consistent mental image of all the characters involved, and mistakes start to creep in. You get muddled and describe your hero as having blue eyes in chapter two and green ones in chapter six. To get around this problem, I suggest casting your story in the same way you’d cast a movie. Go through magazines and pick out photos of actors, celebrities, models, or “real” people to represent your characters, and stick them on the wall behind your computer monitor. Not only will this help you keep their physical descriptions consistent as you write, it’ll also help you visualise your scenes better, and you may even find the pictures suggest things you can work into the story to give your characters added depth, such as facial tics, a preference for a particular style of clothes, or an unusual mannerism, such as a raised eyebrow or twisted smile.
2. Draw on incidents from your own life and try to map them onto the situations in which your characters find themselves.
I’ve never been involved in a gun battle, for instance, but I have been paintballing. I know what it’s like to hunker down uncomfortably behind a tree stump with gravel digging into my knees, to run out of ammo at a crucial moment, and to take a high-velocity pellet to the stomach, head or leg.
It’s easier to write about characters in extreme situations if you’ve had a few adventures of your own. In my time, I’ve also flown a light aircraft; been punched in the face; crawled through potholes; kayaked down white water rapids; jumped off a bridge; taken fencing and shooting lessons; had my heart broken; swum in Loch Ness; and climbed a number of mountains. I know what it’s like to be tired and wet and cold; I know what it’s like to lose someone; and what it feels like to break a bone. Drawing on these experiences can add authenticity to the most fantastical situations, by providing the small details and observations that really bring a scene to life.
3. Know your setting.
In genre writing, it helps if you know your setting inside out. If it’s the flight deck of a space shuttle, research all you can; find images online; try to find a simulator, or at least set foot on the flight deck of an airliner. If it’s an invented city, then make sure you know everything there is to know about it. Visit London or Amsterdam or Barcelona and look at the old buildings. Use Google Maps to “walk” through the streets of cities in Japan, America and Europe. Get the flavour of as many cities as possible, and take the bits you like to furnish your creation. Draw maps. Immerse yourself to the point where you can see your city in your mind’s eye and hear, smell, and feel its hustle and bustle around you.
As my first novel, Silversands, was set a distant planet, I spent months assembling notes about the planet’s climate, orbit, geography and seasons. I researched anaerobic bacteria, magnetic weaponry and weird terrestrial sea life. I got to know the characters, their back stories and personalities. I even based the craggy landscape on my childhood memories of Pembrokeshire, with its plunging rocky cliffs and yellow-tipped gorse bushes. By the time I finished writing the novel, I had an entire box full of background notes, sketches and maps. Most of that information didn’t make it into the finished story, but it played a vital part in helping me convincingly visualise and communicate the setting.
Of course, I’m not downplaying the importance of imagination. A strong imagination is one of the genre writer’s most essential tools, and without it, you may as well be writing nonfiction. In order to write genre fiction, you need the audacity to make bold leaps into the unknown and turn the everyday world on its head. My argument is that if you want to lend authenticity to your flights of fancy, you need to do your research, observe the people around you, and have your own adventures.
Gareth L. Powell is the author of Silversands (Pendragon Press 2010) and The Last Reef (Elastic Press 2008). He can be found online at www.garethlpowell.com.
201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity
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
- Talk to a monkey. Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal.
- Do something important that’s very easy.
- Try free writing.
- Take a shower; change clothes. Give yourself a truly clean start.
- Write from a persona. Lend your voice to a writing personality who isn’t you.
- Get away from the computer. Take pen and notebook, and go somewhere new.
- Quit beating yourself up. You can’t create when you feel ass-whipped.
- Stop visualizing catastrophes, and focus on positive outcomes.
- Stretch. Maybe try vacuuming your lungs.
- 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.
- Listen to new music. Try something instrumental and rhythmic that you’ve never heard before.
- Write crap.
- Finish something.
- Write the middle. Stop whining over a perfect lead, and write the next part or the part after that.
- 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.
- Make a pointless rule. You can’t end sentences with words that begin with a vowel. Limits create focus and change your perspective.
- Work on the title. Quickly make up five distinctly different titles. Meditate on them. What bugs you about the one you like least?
- 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
- Surround yourself with creative people.
- Develop a morning ritual.
- Do an info-dump so your head is clear enough to create instead of worry.
- If you’re a crime writer, read fantasy. If you’re a productivity writer, read something about slacking off.
- Imitate the real world.
- Drink too much coffee.
- Play chess. Go outside. Sing in the shower.
- 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.
- Consume information by the bucket load. The more you know, the more you can create from that knowledge.
- Meet new people from different walks of life. Strike up a conversation on the bus.
- Shut out the world. Instead of sucking in new information, sit quietly.
- Creativity is a muscle. Exercise it daily.
- Carry a notebook everywhere.
- Write down a list of ideas and draw random arrows between them.
- If you’re not on a tight deadline, walk away and do something completely unrelated.
- Create a framework. Instead of trying to rely on pure inspiration, think within the box you create for yourself.
- 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.
- Don’t judge your ideas until you have plenty to judge.
- Keep a journal. It can get your mind working.
- Stop telling yourself you’re not creative.
- Don’t be a workaholic. Take breaks.
- Experiment randomly.
- If one thing isn’t working, try a new strategy.
- Choose a topic and write about it as wonderfully or badly as you possibly can.
- Trash what you’re working on. Start again.
- Exercise every day, before you sit down to be creative.
- Spend time with your children. Or someone else’s.
Tips from Amy Ng of Pikaland
- Experience sights, sounds and smells. Sitting still won’t bring new ideas in; experimenting and trying new things will.
- Maintain a certain pattern to the day. A morning bath can start your work with a fresh mind and spirit.
- Jot down notes every night before bed and actively place worries onto paper.
- Keep a box labeled for each project. Toss everything in the box, and don’t worry about misplacing things or ideas.
- Keep a different sketchbook for different topics and ideas.
- Try and find the pattern between things, and connect the dots between random things just for fun.
- Practice, practice, practice.
Dan Goodwin’s Wakeful Ways at A Big Creative Yes
- Let your mind wander and come up with whatever it wants to.
- Wake up ten minutes early, then go back to sleep and dream.
- Focusing entirely on one sense. Creative stimulation comes through our senses.
- Imagine waking up somewhere distant and exotic.
- 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.
- Count your blessings. As well as feeling happier, it will inevitably help you be more creative too.
- Choose just one creative aim for the day. What one creative project can you begin/continue/finish today?
A few rules from Steve Pavlina
- Define a clear purpose. Vague intentions don’t trigger the flow state.
- Identify a compelling motive. You need a reason to be creative.
- 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.”
- 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.
- Allocate a committed block of time.
- Prevent interruptions and distractions.
- 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
- Clean up your working space. Even if you are not a cleaning addict, a tidy desk helps to create a fresh start.
- Go jogging. Running is a great way to refresh your brain. The effort will also bring satisfaction. Self-esteem is good for creativity.
- 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
- Mindmap. Whether you use key words, images, colours, a hierarchy system, numbers, outlines, circles or random words, mindmapping gets your creative juices flowing.
- 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.
- Take a moment to do something that makes you happy; that brings you joy; that you love; that centers you.
- Give gratitude. Thinking about all the things you are grateful for produces a positive energy flow and vibration.
- 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.
- Flip through a book containing thought provoking images.
- Go to an art gallery.
- Practice asking yourself how to do something differently.
- Be Open. Never shut down or judge any idea that comes your way.
- Think on Paper. With a bunch of loose paper, start jotting ideas down.
Artistic techniques from Karen Daniels at Write to Done
- Get some crayons and warm-up your creativity. Get a piece of paper and draw a totally useless picture of nothing at all.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Get some training. Not only could you learn something new, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to network.
- 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
- Embrace your inner grouch. Discontent may just be a vast, untapped source of creativity.
- Let your mind wander. A wandering mind may allow your brain to search more widely for connections that could trigger a “eureka” moment.
- Play an instrument. It may help you to think with both sides of your brain at once.
- 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.
- Seek out creative company. The best ideas are forged not in moments of solitary genius, but during exchanges with trusted colleagues.
- Be more playful. Horsing around may be better in the long run than hunkering down.
- 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
- Aim at being unique, not ordinary. Go right past the dull.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Let go. You heard me. Let go!
- Start fooling around. Splash the paint on. Scribble the words down. Sing.
- Notice when you surprise yourself. Keep playing around with that one good riff until you find the next one growing out of it.
- Get good amazing feedback. Don’t settle for everyday compliments.
- 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
- Have clearly defined goals. This will help direct your attention to a purposeful outcome.
- Have balance between your skills and challenges. Too easy, you’ll be bored. Too hard, you may feel frustrated.
- Avoid multi-tasking. It is impossible to get immersed in an activity if you are not totally focused on it.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjust your goals as your skills increase.
- 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
- 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
- Avoid logical thinking. It’s often the enemy of truly innovative thoughts.
- 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.
- Stop being practical. Practicality stifles innovative ideas before they can properly blossom.
- 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.
- 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.
- Give yourself permission to turn everything that’s accepted upside down and shake out the illusions.
- Give yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.
- Reject the false comfort of clarity. Ambiguity is your friend if you’re looking to innovate.
- Free yourself to make mistakes. Just try out your ideas. Ask yourself, what’s the worst that can happen if I’m wrong?
- 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
- Practice thinking. Think about things and formulate some opinions. They may be right, they may be wrong, but I bet they’ll be interesting.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Don’t compare your work to other peoples’. Everyone is unique. You have to find your own creative voice.
- Don’t choose the company of doubters and negative people. They will just pull you down.
- Do pick up your camera (or you pen) and start taking pictures (or writing) of anything and everything. One idea will lead to another.
- Do set yourself an achievable target.
- Do challenge conventions and the norm. Challenge everything you’ve learnt.
- Do think in terms of opposites, conflicts and interesting juxtapositions.
- 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.
- 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
- Stop second-guessing yourself.
- Experiment with different media: music, photography, writing or drawing.
- Read one page of the dictionary every day and write down any words that catch your attention.
- Show up even if you’re not feeling creative.
- 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.
- Be curious about everything.
- Exercise during your lunch break.
- Go to the playground. Play hopscotch, jump rope, climb on the swings, and climb on the jungle gyms.
- Awaken your sense of wonder. Take yourself on some small festive adventure.
- Think of something routine you do on a daily basis and find a way to give it a little more pizzazz.
- Let your body contribute to your creative process by blaring the music and dancing around the room.
- 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
- 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.
- Alter your atmosphere. Try putting up some new art, rearranging the furniture or clearing out some clutter.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Identify your creative times. Choose those times when you know you will be the most creative.
- 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
- Generate a boatload of ideas.
- Take a trip outside your personal bubble.
- Criticize later, or some part of your mind may feel threatened and shut up and withdraw.
- 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.
- 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
- Arrive late and leave early. Get straight to the heart of the narrative.
- Learn to say no/no way/go f*ck yourself because no one else will stand up for your work.
- Go out and live your life. Do not allow yourself to become stuck in a hole of your own creativity.
- Make up the rules for what you want to produce.
- Work on several projects. This keeps you energized and working creatively even when one project isn’t firing.
- Try to write every day, even if just for a few minutes.
- Write simply and vividly.
- Don’t hold back and don’t protect yourself. Say things no one else has said before.
- Collaborate with new people.
- 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
- Play.
- Don’t consume and create at the same time — separate the processes.
- Shut out the outside world.
- Reflect on your life and work daily.
- Look for inspiration all around you, in the smallest places.
- Start small.
- Just get it out, no matter how crappy that first draft.
- Don’t try for perfect. Just get it out there, asap, and get feedback.
- Constantly make it better.
- Ignore the naysayers.
- But let criticism help you grow.
- Teach and you’ll learn.
- Shake things up, see things in new ways.
- Apply things in other fields to your field, in ways not done before.
- Drink ridiculous amounts of coffee.
- Write all ideas down immediately.
- Read wildly different things. Especially stuff you disagree with.
- Get lots of rest. Overwork kills creativity.
- Don’t force it. Relax, play, it will start to flow.
- Allow your mind to wander. Allow distractions, when you’re looking for inspiration.
- Then shut them off when you’re going to create.
- Do it when you’re excited.
- When you’re not, find something else to be excited about.
- Don’t be afraid to be stupid and silly.
- Small ideas are good. You don’t need to change the world — just change one thing.
- When something is killing your creativity, kill it.
- Stop reading creativity advice, clear away everything, and just create.
- 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
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