Questions

Wannabe writers, are full of excuses as to why they aren’t writing yet. Many of these excuses can be changed to proactive statements with a mere switch in attitude and perspective.

How many times have you read an article, and said to yourself, “I could have written this.” Well, why don’t you?

It took me a long time to discover that my passion in life was writing. Even though, as a teenager, I filled a whole blank book with poetry, which I wrote while trying to recover from the “first love’s” broken heart type of feelings.

It wasn’t until I made it a habit to start writing in my journal every morning, that I found out just how easy it was to get the writing juices flowing. Below is a list of some common excuses writer wannabe’s make for not writing. You will find suggestions along with each excuse on how to counteract those excuses and move forward to success.

1. EXCUSE #1 I don’t know where to start, or what to write about.

—Just get up each morning a few minutes earlier than the rest of the household, and start writing in a journal. Write about anything and everything that pops into your mind. Try to write at least 3 or 4 pages. Devote at least 10 minutes each morning to this ritual.

Do it with a pen and notebook, rather than the computer. There is a physical connection between the brain and your fingers on the paper.

Keep your statements positive. Try to eliminate words like, “I need to” or “I should” or “I have to” replacing them with more affirming phrases. Using “I am” and “I can” changes your whole focus. I find just replacing the three phrases above makes the writing process much more positive and results oriented.

You will be amazed at the material that you can pull from this journal that can be used in your daily projects.

2. EXCUSE #2 I don’t have any experience or formal schooling in writing.

—-With the internet, and all the writing books available today, it is easy to teach yourself what it takes to write successfully. Just jump in and get your feet wet, give it a try.

Have someone you trust read over your writing, and then give you their opinion. But don’t stop with one person’s point of view.

Some of the best feedback I have received, has come from people wanting to use my “free to reprint” articles. I remember one lady email me saying, “I really enjoyed reading the passionate article you wrote on this subject.” Up to that point, I had never looked at my writing as passionate.

3. EXCUSE #3 I don’t have enough confidence in my writing abilities, I can’t measure up to what is already out there.

—-Following the same advice as above, as you jump in and do it, your confidence will grow. Publish some free content articles, to promote a website, and discover just what people like and don’t like. With feedback comes confidence. It is hard not be confident in your writing abilities when you get showered with requests to use your articles in others ezine’s and on their websites. :o)

4. EXCUSE #4 Writing will take too much time away from my family and other responsibilities.

—-On the contrary. Writing can actually benefit and help you with your other responsibilities. By establishing a morning routine of writing in your journal, you will get to know yourself better, and grow both in professional and personal development. These positive changes to you will affect everyone you come into contact during the rest of your day. This includes members of your family.

5. EXCUSE #5 I am not very creative.

—-Everyone has creativity in them. Some people have a harder time tapping into it than others. By creating a time and space for writing in your life, you are giving yourself permission to tap into your own creative subconscious resources and intelligence. You may be surprised and amazed at your own creative results.

6. EXCUSE #6 What I know has already been written.

—-Did you know, you could give 5 writers an assignment on the same subject and each one of them will come back with an article with a very unique and different focus. It is because we all look at things from different perspectives. Our perspectives are developed by our own individual life experiences and the lessons we have learned. You can take what is out there and put your own unique slant on it.

7. EXCUSE #7 I am scared, not sure I can handle criticism and rejection.

—-As mentioned already, by just doing it, jumping in and giving it a try, you will gain confidence and grow. Rejection is just someone’s opinion. Get another opinion, and then another.

Some of the best books published in history were rejected dozens of times before someone took a chance on them and would eventually hit the New York Times bestseller’s list.

So there you have it. Stop making excuses and jump in the water and get wet. It will be more fun, rewarding and maybe even profitable for you once you actually take some daily action steps. Who knows, you might even make a big splash upon entrance to the pool of what’s floating around. . :o)

As you begin getting your work out there, ideas will come to you so quickly it may be overwhelming at times. Just remember to write down your ideas, keeping notes on topic ideas, titles, and themes to research. The list will be endless.

Use these intuitive thoughts to spark your thought process when you actually sit down with pen to paper. You will find many stories, experiences, and lessons learned that can easily be incorporated into a promotional article. “So start writing now, may the force of your creativity be with you!”


- Dolly Kapil

ok, so used be a really good writer, I would write all the time, story’s, poems, scrips i would write all the time! But now i just don’t anymore, I never get good ideas and when i sit to write nothing comes out. I’ll just sit there with My fingers poised over the key bored and i might write a sentence or two. How do i get my creativity flowing again? how do i get back to the way i was????
- warriorcat60

u know exactly how your story ends before you start or leave it to chance? Different writers go about it in different ways. Find out what suits you best.

Here are four ways to arrive at how your story will end:

1. Just do it.

This is where you start writing from page one and hope it will all turn out right in the end. Fingers crossed.

Some writers deplore this approach, others find it works for them.

You’ve got an idea for a story and maybe the main characters are coming alive in your head. You’ve no idea how it’s going to turn out, but you want to go for it anyway. And with luck and a dry wind you may well get there. So go for it. Only time will tell if the creative tide is flowing strongly enough to get you to the promised land or not.

The danger here is that your story might get stuck on the sandbank of I-don’t-know-what-to-do-next or totally shipwrecked on the rocks of This-is-a-load-of-rubbish. If it’s the first then you might just get rescued. Read your story and jot down the main events so far. Now put your thinking cap on and decide seriously how you want it to turn out. Then do ‘what ifs’ to find a path into clear water and on to landfall.

2. Bare bones.

This is where you write down the beginning, middle and end of the story, but otherwise leave it to develop itself.

Not a bad plan this one unless you’re writing a mystery or detective novel and you need to plan things out more thoroughly than that.

For short stories it should work well.

3. The whole caboodle

This is more applicable when writing a novel or a very long short story.

Write a detailed synopsis, maybe broken down by chapter or section, so that you know exactly how it’s going to work out in the end.

Some authors use the ‘cover-the-wall-with-A4s’ method. Take a sheet of A4 for each chapter and write on it what is going to happen in that chapter. Then stick them on the wall in chapter order. This makes it easier to see at a glance what’s going on and how everything links up. Use different coloured pens if you want to follow say a subplot through so that you don’t forget anything.

This has the advantage, providing you’ve got the wall space, of being able to change things quickly, add, delete or merge chapters as you go along. You could use Word for Windows and read it all on screen, but it’s just not the same.

4. Suck it and see.

Get the first chapter down on paper to give yourself an idea of whether you can visualise it running on to a satisfying conclusion. You may or may not know what that is to begin with.

This method is good if you have a novel in mind and don’t want to work out a detailed synopsis to start with.

When that first chapter is finished and it excites you, gives you goose bumps or simply that yeesss! feeling then you may be onto a good thing and it’s worth taxing the brain cells to get the whole framework sorted out.

Conclusion

From personal experience this is what I think works:

Methods 1 and 2 work well for the short story; 3 is best for the longer story or novel, and 4 works OK for either.


- Mervyn Love

Before I attempted to write this issue, I was sitting at my desk at work board out of my skull. I sat there with a notebook in front of me pen at the ready. You see, we had no work to do. Normally when that happens I whip out my journal and attempt an article before the work comes in. So, I am sitting at my desk flipping the pen through my fingers trying to engage my brain eyes glazed over and nothing happens. Then the lines in my notebook began to blur. I am sitting there in a silent panic screaming in my head. OMG I CAN’T THINK OF WHAT TO WRITE!

What did I do?

I got up and headed to the common area. I needed to jump start my brain cells. It doesn’t look good to the boss if your head hits the monitor. So, I’m on a mission for coffee. I needed the caffeine to ignite the currents moving in my head. As I make the coffee, I am running off a check list in my mind.

1.       Classifieds? Check.

2.       Guest Articles? Check.

3.       Tip of the week?

4.       Sponsor ads? Check.

5.       Research? Check.

6.       Off Beat Section? Check.

Now, what about the tip of the week? I really had no idea how I was going to write the article. Quite frankly I didn’t know if I even want to write it. So, I am sitting there waiting for the coffee to finish brewing and still no epiphany. Even though I am listening to my co-workers banter good-naturedly, still nothing zip zilch. It’s not break time yet but I stay in the common area (Kitchen) to get my coffee.

Well, Steph; you say. What else? What in the world did you do? Well, I decided to map out this current issue. I know it doesn’t sound very dynamic but that’s what I did. To start with, anything having to do with a newsletter you always plan the issue first. I wanted to get everything else in order. Hence, the little check list in my head. I found a few things that needed attention. After that I drank my coffee at my desk, I went outside for break time. I said to myself, self you need a good brisk walk. I took a walk and went trolling around the drug stores. I needed a snack. Discounts are your friend.

Next, I sat at my desk and started the first sentence of the Tip of the Week. You see, even though I had the material I still couldn’t formulate the proper phrasing. I couldn’t call to mind what where and why of the article. Also, there were so many concerns I had. Am I offending anyone? Am I getting my point across with out going off on tangents- that sort of thing? So when lunch came around I found that I needed another walk and I decided to troll around the Music store. That was a real treat. I then realized I needed to do an outline of what I was writing. As I tooled around the music store, I said to myself, self what is so special about link Referral? Why should people; my fellow business people start using their services? What are the benefits? Where can they find further information? Why can I say that this method is the best course of action?

After that little self interrogation, I then wrote down the answers to the questions. Then I decided to listen to my co-workers banter back and forth again. Then it hit me. The reason why I wasn’t able to prepare for the tip of the week was that I didn’t listen to the atmosphere around me. I didn’t pay attention to everything else. What do I mean? Well, I needed to have some coffee. So I went to the common area right? Right. I listened to my co-workers. Sometimes I have found that most of your epiphanies come from what a person said in another conversation or in an email. Sometimes keywords just jump out at you.

Also, recall that I went out for break time to tool around the drug store for low price snacks. Why? I needed to feed my brain. When I am hungry I cannot formulate an intelligent thought even if it hit me in the face. So I had crackers with peanut butter. That is very good with coffee. That is how I was able to start the first sentence of the Article I was writing. At lunch time however, I had a little patty called an empanada. It had chicken in it with potato and some spices. Anyway, I was in the music store trolling around. That is how I came to interrogate myself on how the Tip of The Week should be written.

I did my research as well. I decided to tool around the Link Referral website one more time. I also checked to see if I put the snippet of HTML code on my site. Research is very essential to a person’s arsenal of knowledge. It reinforces your awareness to what is going on. What is the Point of this Off Beat Article? How I overcame writer’s block. A few things to consider:

1. Have a good Breakfast. Feed your Brain.

2. Coffee or tea is a good start to jump your brain cells.

3. Go outside and get some air. A good brisk walk makes the difference.

4. Take a look at the things happening around you. You might be surprised at how non committal things can help you write your true article. People are especially helpful even if they don’t know what you do. People are far more entertaining and interesting than anything else.

5. Eat a good lunch. Feed your brain with food and you find you can think beyond one sentence.

6. Do research before you attempt to write about anything of significance? I am still doing my best to practice the same thing.


- Stephanie Fulcher

Most people think writing a novel is just writing. I have lost count of the number of people who say “I want to write a novel” and think that they will just sit down, put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and the whole thing will just unfold before them. I’ve read a few novels, they think, why can’t I write one?

If only it were that easy!

The process of writing any story is exactly that, a process. And whether you are tackling a novel, a short story, an essay or a non-fiction book, you need to begin by planning your story.

This is the most ignored stage in the writing process, and yet it is by far the most important. JK Rowling spent five years planning the Harry Potter novels. And that certainly paid off, didn’t it?

The key to writing any story well, is to find the story that only you can write. This story carries your own emotional truth, and as you progress through the story writing process, your character will take you on the journey of emotional growth just as they will your readers once it’s published.

The Deeper Character Journey

The deeper character journey is the most important aspect of any story. It is what your readers will remember and it is what makes the process of writing a story so worthwhile for the writer. Every time you take your character on a journey, you go on that journey yourself.

So how do we find that deeper character journey? Where do we begin?

We begin with this simple exercise:

Without thinking too much about it, finish this sentence:

? I am interested in writing a story where the main character discovers the importance of ………………

Write for 5 minutes, preferably in long hand, allowing whatever comes up to just flow onto the page.

When you have finished you will find that you have written a lot of different values into your answer. Values are universal qualities of human experience, either positive or negative. Take a few moments to divide these values into their positive and negative groups. You’ll find that a few similar ones in each group will stand out, so isolate these and then decide on the most important ones from each group.

Once you have done this you can now write your deeper character journey in one simple sentence.

? I am interested in writing a story about a character who goes from being….. to being…..

What is your character’s weakness?

Every character has a weakness - something they need to learn to have a better life. Your character’s weakness should now be pretty clear to you, as it is strongly connected to what they need to learn the importance of from the above exercise. With your character’s weakness in place, you can now begin to put them and their weakness under pressure and suddenly your story is off and running.

Predicament

Stephen King says he starts a story with a character in a predicament and watches them to see how they get out of it. So at the start of your story your main character must be in some sort of predicament or stuck in some way. The predicament your main character is in should be a symptom of their weakness. They are aware of their predicament, but they are not aware of their weakness.

For example, a character who needs to learn the importance of patience, is stuck underground on a broken down train. He becomes more and more exasperated and angry as the minutes tick by as he needs to be at an important meeting. As he’s underground his mobile phone has no signal, and he also can’t just jump off the train, as the doors are electronically sealed, and besides he’s underground so he can’t just wander off up the tracks in the dark.

So we know our character’s predicament will expose his weakness, which is impatience. The question for you to answer is, what does he do? How does he respond? What choice does he make? And he will make that choice based on his personal values.

Values in Conflict

Conflict lies at the heart of all powerful stories. It is a well worn adage in story writing that nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.

But a good story also isn’t just a sequence of random conflicts, things that happen with no apparent pattern or meaning. It is a series of events, putting your character(s) under more and more pressure, forcing them to respond. This then shows us their true character.

Values underlie our choices, our decisions, and in storytelling they drive the story through the characters being forced to make difficult decisions where their values are challenged. A value is a belief system based on what is important to the individual. A value represents something in your character’s life that they are willing to fight for. So if you have a married woman who is attracted to another man, her choice of whether to go with the other man or stay with her husband will be based on the values of romance versus fidelity or loyalty.

Once you have nailed the values underlying your character’s choices, you will have connected strongly with your character’s deeper journey. This in turn connects you to your readers, who will recognise similar conflicts in their own lives.

And you also have the essence of the story that only you can write.


- Suzanne Harrison

My Boyfriend and I are playing a game to spice up are sex life. The game is to Orgasm as many times you can in 24hours without using the same thing once, example if you used your fingers you can’t use them again.

I need help on what I can do, I need ideas and the best creative ways there possible is. I have ideas but none is creative as I could be, I need something out of the ordinary something huge. Any links or ideas can help , Please.
- Kaoru T