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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
What's Your Plan?
What have you been doing or planning lately to give yourself a break from the rat race? What strides — or even baby steps — have you been making toward a more balanced, restful, peaceful life? Even if they haven’t yet been translated into action, what thought-pattern transformations — or paradigm shifts — have been occurring for you lately that have begun preparing you for action?
Permission to Be Human
Personally, I'm choosing to savor small successes, take smaller bites out of bigger tasks, and not allow all the things that still need doing to steal my joy over the things I've managed to get done. In other words, I'm purposefully focusing more on what I have accomplished than what I haven't. Whenever I do that, I usually realize that I've accomplished far more than I thought I had. But even when I haven't, I give myself permission to be human, to be imperfect, and not to beat myself up over it. If something doesn't get done today, tomorrow's another day. And it's perfectly OK for me (and you) to take some time out to enjoy life, relax, and savor the moment, and not be on task every minute of every day.
Mind Over Matter
It's a mindset, really. It doesn't mean you have any less work to do. It doesn't magically give you fewer responsibilities. It doesn't give you an excuse to ignore a job indefinitely. And it doesn't make you irresponsible. It simply means that in addition to work you're also willing to allow a little time for you. Because you're worth it! And because, when you're stressed out, overworked, and overwhelmed, you can't do your work effectively anyway.
It also means you take time out to focus more on the things that are truly important. In the grand scheme of things, will it really matter whether you do the research for that article right now or put it on your calendar for tomorrow or your To-Do list for later this afternoon so you can take a few moments out to call a friend or relative you haven't spoken to in far too long? Usually not. And what an incredible difference that simple gesture can make in your life and theirs. That's just one example of something far more significant than work. No doubt you can think of many others — if you'll pause long enough to think about it.
When You've No Choice But to Work
I understand you may be wrestling with looming deadlines — Believe me, I know them well! — and in such cases that all-important call may have to wait. But, my question is: Will you determine to make the call once you've finished? Or will you fall right back into the old routine, the pattern of thinking there's simply no time for such luxuries, that they can wait for a time when you aren't so busy? Allowing yourself to stop and smell the roses, connect with the important people in your life, and free your mind from the incessant demands of compulsive "doing" will bring new life, new vigor, and new inspiration to your work. Try it and see.
How Will You Break Free?
I've told you a few of the things I'm doing to alter my perfectionistic, inadequate - unless - continuously - overachieving paradigm and given you a few reasons why it's so important to do that. Now, my question for you is this: What will you do (or what are you already doing) to bring more harmony and balance into your own life and work?
To your freedom!
Jeanne
Quotations: A Writer's Best Friend
We writers just love a good quote -- whether we use it to enhance our own writing or simply read it for the sheer pleasure we experience as we drink in the inspiration ... or relish the wit ... or perhaps revel in the humor ... or marvel at the wisdom inherent in an insightful turn of phrase. In whatever way we may decide to use them, quotations can enrich our lives -- and our writing -- immensely.
That's why I'd like to share a website that offers a plethora of famous quotes, arranged by topic, type of author, specific author, favorite authors, and nationality, to make your search for the quotes that will pique your personal interest that much easier. The ability to browse by author's last name, along with the availability of a quick list of popular authors, adds to the convenience and applicability of the site to a variety of reader -- and writer -- needs. The site even offers quotes for the iPhone and features a Quote of the Moment (which changes every time you revisit or refresh the page), as well as over a hundred quotation trivia quizzes to help keep your mental agility in top form. The site is called BrainyQuote -- a deceptively simple yet highly appropriate title for such a rich repository of intellectual fare.
Quotations for Every Area of Interest and/or Occasion
The BrainyQuote website provides quotations on numerous topics, such as business, education, imagination, intelligence, success, and wisdom, to name but a few which might appeal to the writer's creative side. Some of the author types quoted in the type-of-author category are artist, author, journalist, musician, philosopher, and yes -- even writer. My only disappointment is that the site doesn't offer a collection of quotes on the topic of writing, rather than simply providing quotes that originated with writers -- since we all know there's a vast difference between the two.
How About a Regular (Daily) Dose of Brainy Quotes?
One added dimension of this site is that you may also pick up a string of code which allows you to display a Quote of the Day from one of several selected types of daily quote generators on your own website or blog. This is a great way to share the wit and wisdom of some of the better-known -- and some of the not-so-well-recognized -- personages of our times. Displaying a quote a day gives readers more time to ponder each quotation more fully, gaining maximum value from its insights, rather than overwhelming our visitors with too many intellectual gems to assimilate at a single sitting.
The Quote of the Day Widget Here at Writer's Notes
You may have noticed the quotes currently displayed each day in my left sidebar. (If you haven't, why not take a look.) The quotes displayed here come from the general Quote of the Day category of the BrainyQuote website (though at some point, I may decide to try a different daily quote type). Other Quote of the Day types include Art Quotes, Funny Quotes, Love Quotes, and Nature Quotes.
BrainyQuote: A Fount of Wisdom to Visit or Take "Home"
The fact that the site doesn't offer quotes about writing is really a rather minor imperfection. Aside from that, it has a great deal to offer -- both to those who simply want to visit and peruse (and definitely bookmark) the site and those who prefer to give their blog's or website's readers a daily dose of verbal wisdom by posting the automated Quote-of-the-Day widget in their sidebars.
So, why not visit the BrainyQuote site and get your daily dose of wisdom and inspiration? You might even decide to bring some brainy quotes back to your own home page and give your readers some daily food for thought -- aside from the tempting intellectual fare you already provide, that is.
Happy quoting!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? What are your personal thoughts on quotations? How do you prefer to have your quotations served up: all at once, one at a time, in limited groups of related remarks, more than one of the above, or ? What do you think of today's Quote of the Day? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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September 20th 2008 10:39
Need a Bit of Musical Inspiration? Try HD Digital Radio
Music can be a real source of inspiration for writers, artists, and other creative people. Many find that listening to their favorite music while they work sets the appropriate atmosphere to enhance their intellectual and perceptual abilities, stimulate their imaginations, focus their minds, and fuel their inner urge to create. And, while artistic people have been creating to music for years, with the advent of such modern, state-of-the-art HD digital radio systems as the Jensen JiMS 525i, there's never been a better time for enjoying top-quality sound in your home or office.
HD Radio Advantages and Options
Upgrading to HD digital radio can provide many advantages over traditional, analog radio, including better sound clarity, greater convenience, and easy building of your music library through iTunes Tagging. With an iTunes Tagging enabled HD Radio™ receiver, you can quickly and easily tag your favorite songs as soon as you hear them on the radio, conveniently marking them for later purchase and download from iTunes® to your iPod®.
If you live in the U.S., you'll also be able to search for new music stations on the HD radio website, by using the drop-down menu, which lists the stations by city and state. Many HD stations are also offering added HD2 and HD3 channels, which are subscription-free, making it even easier for you to surround yourself with that inspiration that comes from the magic of music.
Price vs. Quality of Life
HD digital radio receivers come in various types, including clock radios and compact desk systems with or without iPod® docks. And while the cost of some such systems can be fairly significant, the JiMS 525i is quite reasonably priced. Offering numerous great features, this system's cost-to-benefit ratio is a solid one, and people whose music systems are an important expenditure for their quality of life will likely find this one well worth the cost.
To your inspiration!
Jeanne
September 19th 2008 06:14
A Writing Project Too Good to Miss
The topic of this month’s WILF (What I Learned From) group writing project at Middle Zone Musings is What I Learned From…My Friends. And while I was unable to complete my post in time for the deadline, I wrote it anyway because I still wanted to contribute my own thoughts on this very important topic. (Be sure to read the other great entries over at MZM!)
As Robert Hruzek comes back online after his recent battle with Hurricane Ike, during which the thoughts and prayers of his many friends went up on his behalf—and were answered in that he and his wife are safe and their Houston home has suffered no damage—I feel that this is a fitting time to broach the topic of friends. (Robert, how did you know that the topic you’d chosen earlier this month would be so timely?)
Here are my musings about the friends I’ve made both online and off and the many profound ways that these fantastic folks have spoken into my life.
Friends: A Host of Gifts, A Host of Lessons
Friends care. They always have our best interests at heart. They’d much rather hear how we’re really doing than listen to a litany of pretentious pleasantries. They teach us that honest communication is absolutely necessary for getting our needs met.
Friends accept us as we are. They don’t expect us to be perfect. By accepting us unconditionally, they help us to accept ourselves—weaknesses and all. They teach us that we have value, that we are worthy of acceptance—regardless of our shortcomings, simply because we are us.
Friends encourage. When nothing seems to be going our way, when the whole world appears to be against us, when we’re most in need of a cheering section, friends are always there to encourage us and build our confidence. They teach us that "two are better than one...for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow..." *
Friends provide perspective. They have an amazing way of cutting to the heart of a matter and pointing out the aspects we can’t seem to recognize for ourselves in the midst of our own hurts, hang-ups, insecurities, mental blocks, and self-imposed limitations. They teach us that things aren't always as they seem--and that, so often, that's very good news!
Friends allow us the luxury of making mistakes—and learning from them—without judging or thinking less of us and without saying “I told you so.” They teach us that it’s OK to be fallible and that when we fail, we will recover.
Friends forgive. They care enough to place the value of our friendship above their own hurt feelings. They don’t close us off when we’ve said or done something foolish but willingly talk it out in a non-accusatory way. And by setting that wonderfully generous example, they increase our capacity to forgive ourselves, teaching us that we aren't the wretched, hopeless cases we sometimes think we must be.
Friends share our joys, as well as our sorrows. They never envy our successes or begrudge us our moment in the spotlight. Instead, they cheer the loudest and step forward to become our greatest fans. They teach us that, contrary to the popularity of the phrase, there’s really no such thing as a fair-weather friend. There are only fair-weather acquaintances--because real friends stand by us through sunshine and rain.
Friends give. They contribute to our well-being in countless ways—from sharing their insights to sharing their sympathy—providing the mental, emotional, material, and even physical sustenance we require in order to thrive. They teach us the wisdom of the age-old truth that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive. **
Friends tell us the truth—gently and with love. They know that dishonesty and lack of candor drives a wedge between people; yet, by the same token, they recognize that tact is one of the greatest ways of showing they truly care. They teach us that harshness is never required for getting one's point across.
Friends help us laugh at ourselves. They never laugh at us but only with us, and in that delightfully liberating way, they teach us never to take ourselves too seriously
Friends inspire us to use our gifts. Through their influence, they bring out the best in us. They teach us that resources reside within us that we ourselves don’t always recognize—or utilize—and they gently remind us to do so. Because of their belief in us, they plant within us the desire to fulfill their highest expectations--and they make us believe we actually can.
Friends smooth our rough edges. Through their example, their patience, their insight, and their counsel, they teach us to see ourselves as we are, and they jump-start the process of gradually narrowing the gap between where we are and where we’d like to be, as they sand away our imperfections and help us refine our personalities.
Friends sharpen us. They help us hone our mental facility to a razor’s edge by asking incisive questions that urge us to analyze, describe, express, explain, and often even defend our motives, opinions, ideas, and perceptions. They hold us accountable for responsibly developing both our humanity and our intellect. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” *** In the process they teach us that, in order to reach our full potential, we need one another.
Friends validate us. They teach us that we are unique, that no one else in the entire universe can take our place, that the air we breathe and the space we inhabit, while gifts, are things of which we are supremely worthy. They teach us, too, that when we are gone and our personal space is empty, we will leave an inexpressible void which no one else can fill—and we will be missed.
The Wonderful Impact of Friends
These are the many lessons I’ve learned from my friends, lessons that impact my life—and my writing—in so many wonderful ways!
Your friend,
Jeanne
* Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 – The Bible, King James Version
** Acts 20:35 – The Bible, King James Version
*** Proverbs 27:17 – The Bible, New International Version
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? How do your friends impact your life? How do they impact your writing? Do they inspire? Encourage? Believe in your talent? Help you sharpen your skills? Hold you accountable for taking care of business? Give you constructive feedback? I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts!
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This post is a reprint of a piece I originally wrote as a guest post for Michele Tune at Writing the Cyber Highway. Some of you may remember that it first appeared there on June 2, 2008. Hope you'll enjoy it--and hope it will give you some helpful tools you can use to find--or generate--the motivation to write.
Motivation to Write: Is There a Magic Formula?
When You Don’t Feel Like Writing
How do you motivate yourself to write when you don’t feel like writing? How do you convince yourself to get down to business when you’d rather do anything but?
Have you ever had those days when you just can’t seem to face the prospect of writing that article that’s coming due, that query letter you know you should write, or that blog post that will remind your readers that you haven’t fallen off the face of the earth…that you’re not only still around but that you’re actually still interested in sharing your wit and wisdom with them? (I thought so!) You want to write, but you just can’t seem to make yourself do it.
Lack of Motivation: A Common Problem
Every writer struggles with these feelings from time to time—many of us quite often. And for bloggers and other online writers who work from home, life can be particularly distracting, as we’re continually bombarded not only with the household responsibilities that continually beckon, but also with the many available—and attractive—alternatives to working.
Such tempting activities as commenting on other blogs, visiting social media sites, checking our site stats, looking for nifty high-tech tools for our web pages, reading unrelated but interesting content during our online research, and any number of other enjoyable and otherwise productive activities often only serve to intensify our motivation problem and derail us from our efforts to fulfill our writing responsibilities.
What’s a Writer to Do?
The most important thing is to realize that motivation is a state of mind. It can come from many sources. Some of them follow.
The Writer’s Most Common Motivation Sources
Enthusiasm
When we’re feeling really enthusiastic about a project, don’t we find it so much easier to throw ourselves into completing it—even when the project itself is difficult or involved? If you can work up the enthusiasm to actually relish the prospect of writing about your topic, you will have won a great victory.
To do that, try taking your focus off the negative aspects of the project and focusing, instead, on something positive about the piece—something you can actually enjoy about it. If the subject matter itself doesn’t interest you, try focusing on a specific writing technique that you’ve mastered which you’re particularly proud of and which you plan to use for the piece.
If need be, you can even focus on a favorite writing tool, some physical part of the writing process that you enjoy, or the satisfaction you receive from your excellent spelling ability, extensive vocabulary, fantastic research skills, or even the way your well-formatted work looks on the page. A little enthusiasm will go a long way toward helping you thrive on the journey ahead, making it so much easier to reach your destination.
Interest
When we’re interested in our topic, writing about it grips our attention, draws us into our content, and keeps us going. It causes time to fly by, making us wonder where it could have gone. Interest can fuel the energy that helps us build momentum, spurring us on toward the realization of our writing goals.
If you’re able to pick and choose your projects so you’re only required to write about topics that interest you, great! You’ll have a much easier time motivating yourself to complete your writing assignments. But, if not, try finding something about the project that captures your interest—even if it takes a stretch of the imagination to discover it. It will be well worth the effort!
If the project itself doesn’t hold any fascination for you, try asking yourself a few questions. Will publishing this piece open your work up to a wider audience, giving you greater exposure? Will it place you before a new demographic or offer you a coveted spot in a brand new niche? Will it add to your credibility as a writer and/or as an expert in your current niche or genre? Will it allow you to showcase your work to prospective new clients? Will it open new doors of opportunity for you in other areas either related or unrelated to writing? These are all great reasons for feeling motivated about your writing project!
Inspiration
Inspiration sweeps us high above the mediocrity of our surroundings, activating our imaginations and infusing us with a power that makes expressing our thoughts via the written word practically effortless. Don’t we just adore the times when we’re fortunate enough to function under the tutelage of this most welcome influence? When it strikes, we see everything in a brand new light, and that helps us rise to bold new heights of creativity. Yet, when inspiration tarries, we often become discouraged.
At times like these, we need to generate a little inspiration of our own. One way we can do this is through the vehicle of high and noble thoughts. Focusing on our ideals and on the meaningful messages we hope to convey to our readers through our writing can jump-start the inspiration process. We can also inspire ourselves through the purposeful recall of vividly meaningful memories, of people we’ve known and loved or joys we’ve experienced. Or we can generate inspiration through the intentional act of surrounding ourselves with beauty. Stirring music, beautiful art, a lovely garden, a distinctively decorated writing nook—all these can help us create an atmosphere that’s conducive to inspiration. And all these can help us motivate ourselves to write.
Reward
The expectation of reward can be another excellent motivator. The reward might be a tangible one like money or an intangible one like recognition. It can even be something as simple—yet sensational—as the sense of satisfaction or feeling of fulfillment we derive from our writing. Just knowing that our work will help someone or that someone will enjoy it can bring its own reward, strengthening our motivation to complete a project.
And though money can often be a great motivator, we sometimes feel we aren’t receiving sufficient compensation for our work—particularly in the web-writing arena, where the going rates tend to be lower—and this can have a demotivating effect on us. That’s why it’s so important not to overlook the intangible rewards—to allow them to provide the impetus to keep us moving forward.
The Role of Attitude in Motivation
We need to realize that we are responsible for our own attitudes. We choose our own thoughts, as well as the lens through which we view the world. We can choose to see our project as a problem—a burden that’s been thrust upon us and one that we must grit our teeth and struggle through, hating every minute of it. Or we can decide to think differently about it—to remain positive and proactively seek ways to make it more than just another piece of writing.
Sometimes it takes sheer willpower to motivate ourselves to write, but I’m convinced that we can make a conscious decision to throw ourselves into our project. (In fact, I know we can, because I’ve proven it to myself again and again in my own writing.) We can make our writing a real extension of who we are, infusing it with that spark of personality, talent, expertise, imagination, and careful craftsmanship that only we can provide, making it a piece we can be proud to write—even if it’s a project that wouldn’t otherwise move us.
The Writer’s Last Resort
When all else fails, we may need to put a popular anti-procrastination technique to work and just do it, trusting that the motivation will follow as we gradually enter into our project. At times like these, it helps to remember that the ability to write when we don’t feel like it—when the intrinsic motivation, interest, enthusiasm, and inspiration escape us—is what separates the professional from the amateur.
And that knowledge alone can serve as our last-ditch motivator—because it’s a truth that carries its own reward.
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Note: I will resume my Guide to Polished Writing shortly.
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Any motivational techniques of your own you'd like to share with us? We'd love to hear them!
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What Our Writing Is Made Of
Writing is a discipline that calls upon so many experiences, influences, facts, ideas, and emotions that it can be difficult to measure the effect of each of these on the literary whole. Because each of our lives, personalities, relationships, and outlooks differ so drastically, our own particular writing style, our tone, content, and insights tend quite naturally to reflect these personal values and combine to create the unique voice that is “us.”
Life Lessons Enrich Our Writing
Everyone and everything we encounter in life has a lesson in it—if we will only look for it. Sometimes that lesson will be glaringly obvious and sometimes buried a bit farther beneath the surface of our experience or our consciousness. Yet, it’s always there patiently waiting for us to discover its wisdom and apply it to our lives, increasing their richness. Only after we’ve done that can we apply that hard-won wisdom to our writing, one lesson at a time, and in that way pass it on to those for whom we write.
Some of My Own Lessons
Here are some lessons I’ve learned* during the course of my life:
School can be a place of real growth—yet not all learning happens there. Or perhaps it might be better said that “school” is everywhere.
Writing gives us the incredible privilege of speaking into the lives of other people. When our readers invite us in and attend to our words, it is we who receive the greater reward.
Children playing outside my window as I work remind me that laughter, simplicity, and chalk-pictures drawn all over the sidewalks of our lives bring a fresh, new perspective to an often inflexible grown-up world.
Television can be an insufferable distraction or a relaxing respite from overwork. At the same time, it can spark new ideas and increase knowledge. It’s up to each of us how we use it.
Recreation is an absolute necessity for a balanced life and an uninterrupted flow of inspiration. It rejuvenates us, recharges our batteries, replenishes our zeal, and renews our zest for life. Like the law of gravity, we ignore this truth to our own detriment.
Relatives shape our lives in so many ways; yet what we become is ultimately up to us. And the manner in which we use the lessons learned from our family ties determines who we will become and what we’ll have to offer those who later enter our lives.
Movies can affect us in powerful ways when artfully produced, touching our core, stirring noble emotions, and spurring us on to greater creativity. Classic movies often do this for me.
Friends help us feel better about ourselves than we think we should, building our confidence and helping us believe that we can accomplish our hearts’ desires—no matter what anyone else may think. They’re always in our corner, helping us fight the next round in the battle of life.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, colors, ages, and abilities—or disabilities. And the majority never receive the recognition they deserve. Yet, we are watching, and they profoundly affect our lives, giving us greater courage to face our own challenges and showing us that doing so is always well worth the effort.
Planes prove to us that we can do the impossible, that mankind—born without wings—can still soar high into the skies on wings powered by the science of aerodynamics, defying the laws of gravity, or by the magic of inspiration, defying the limits of mere logic.
Food of the physical, mental, and spiritual variety is necessary for health of body, mind, and spirit. Yet the single area where we seem to indulge most is the physical, though copious amounts of this type of food contribute the least of any of the three to our creativity.
Pets bring us pleasure and companionship and so often teach us the meaning of unconditional love, loyalty, and trust. Life with our pets is straightforward and uncomplicated, without the emotional complexity that so often plagues human relationships. When we bond with a beloved pet, we receive more than we give.
Trains are virtually unstoppable—as long as they remain on track. They teach us that we, too, will be unstoppable if we maintain our focus, build momentum, stay on track, and keep our eyes on the destination ahead.
Time marches incessantly forward, waiting for nothing, relentlessly passing, and quietly but powerfully leaving its mark on everything within its massive sphere of influence. It reminds us that nothing ever remains as it was, that life is dynamic, that we either grow or decay, improve or regress, move forward or backward with every passing day.
Space symbolizes freedom, the ability to move about without restraint—within as well as without. It represents our ability to break the self-imposed emotional bonds that constrain us and keep us imprisoned within their invisible yet powerful walls—and almost irresistibly beckons us to do so.
Automobiles represent convenience, mobility, “shorter” distances between people and between people and places. They narrow the gap that nature has placed in our path and help us to use the freedom of space to our greatest advantage. Our psychological “automobiles” are any of the things that minimize the relational “gaps” between people—things like understanding, respect, courtesy, love, and forgiveness.
Technology teaches us the vastness of human potential, promising not only future discoveries by the geniuses of the world for the improvement of our lives but also the virtually limitless nature of our own personal discoveries, our own as yet unrealized possibilities. It also connects us to people, products, information, and services in ways we’ve never connected before, enriching us in the process.
Mountains remind us that, though life isn’t always easy, it’s beautiful, glorious, majestic, and wholly worthwhile; and as long as we keep on climbing, we always have a chance of reaching the top.
Keep learning...climbing...and writing!
Jeanne
This post is my entry to the Middle Zone Musings What I Learned From…Mashing It Up! group writing project.
* Just to clarify: The 18 areas in which I've discussed my lessons learned were not chosen by me, but were the 18 fascinating topics Robert Hruzek dreamed up especially for this WILF mashup.
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Care to share any lessons you've learned along the way? We'd love to hear them!
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Happy Mother's Day to All the Moms Who Read Writer's Notes!
To wish all the moms who read my blog a Happy Mother's Day, I'd like to post my poem, "Mothers." (As soon as you begin reading it, you'll recognize immediately the famous poem on which it's based.)
MOTHERS
I think that I shall never see
a brush surpass the artistry
That brings to bud the eve or morn
a helpless little babe is born
The delicate maternal bloom
that sheds a fragrant new perfume,
That nurtures with the nectar of
a sweet and freely flowing love
And fills her field with beauty spread
by outstretched arms and sun-turned head.
Art can tap one well or other,
but only God can make a mother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may have read Mothers on the Orble Poems blog. It's posted there, though on that blog, it's formatted slightly differently.
If you'd like to read some modern quotes about motherhood, here's a link to my post, Cleverly Contemporary Quotes on Motherhood.
Have a very Happy Mother's Day!
Jeanne
Mother and infant thumbnail image comes from the Karen's Whimsy collection of Public Domain Images. (Image also available in larger size.)
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Know any poems or quotes about moms? I'd love to hear from you!
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Part 2: Places, Real or Imagined
Every writer understands the powerful influence our surroundings can exert on our creativity. We all have favorite places where we feel more tranquil, more energized, more imaginative, or more expressive--in short, more attuned to our Muse. These places differ for everyone--and even for the same writer at different times. Yet, they are the places that tend to inspire us the most--to draw from somewhere deep within us the feelings and thoughts and ultimately the words that carry our souls across the miles to connect with those for whom we write.
Real Places that Bring Us Real Vision
For some, it might be a particular room in your home where you're perfectly content and your mind is free to roam, or perhaps a special chair where your relaxation is complete and you’re free to sit back and indulge in grand imaginings. For others it could be a tree-shaded spot in the back yard, where you sit undisturbed for hours with the breeze gently blowing through your hair, while you dream your personal dreams of wonder, weaving fanciful tales of courage and grandeur. Maybe it's your garden, where you dig up the soil, burying your hands in the moist, cool earth as you plant the seeds of thought that bring forth a bountiful harvest of beauty which fragrantly fills the air. Or you might prefer the seashore, where the sound of the breaking surf combined with the crisp salt air invigorates your spirit and fills your heart with high adventure.
Finding Inspiration in Unlikely Places
There will always be places like these, where we know we can retreat, leaving the world and its noise and chaos far behind--places we can count on to gently and quietly woo our Muse. Yet, there are other places, as well--places that bring the delightful surprise of unexpected inspiration. When we visit such places, we may at first be totally oblivious to the internal transformation that will soon occur as our imaginations are touched by the magic of our surroundings. These places are always a delight to discover. And the key to finding inspiration in unlikely places is to always be open to sensing, learning, growing, and perceiving new things--no matter where we are.
Imaginary Places that Clarify Our Vision
Then, there are those places deep inside us that we can visit when we need instant inspiration. Perhaps we haven’t the time or means to visit our favorite temporal places. Perhaps we’re ill or otherwise unable to travel to those locations--physically, at least. Maybe we’re away from home and from our favorite room, or desk, or special easy chair. Yet, wherever we are, there’s always a place right in the center of our souls where we can go and find the inspiration we need to create. Whether we fancy ourselves in one of the places we love, or create magical new realms in our own minds, we’re free to fly there on the wings of our imaginations and drink in the animating power they bring to our art.
Places, both real and imagined, can inspire us in so many ways! So, whatever your place of inspiration, go there--and drink in the magic!
Inspirationally yours,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have any special places of inspiration you'd like to share with us? We'd love to hear about the places that inspire you!
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A Wonderful ProBlogger Idea!
I've just learned from Sharon Hurley Hall, at Get Paid to Write Online, in her post, Appreciating Blogging Writers, that ProBlogger Darren Rowse has proclaimed April 14th, 2008 Blogger Appreciation Day. Read about it in his post, Today is Blogger Appreciation Day [UNOFFICIAL]. Apparently, Darren received three e-mails earlier today thanking him for all he's done for bloggers, and that prompted him to make this pronouncement. What a nice thought!
Darren's Suggestions
Darren recommends that we e-mail bloggers who have inspired, taught, or helped us in other ways and thank them--or better still that we thank them publicly on our blogs. And though April 14th is nearly at an end in Australia (and may even be over already in other parts of the world), it's the thought that counts, and I'd like to thank the following bloggers who have had a profound effect on me and my blogging during my past 15-plus months of blogging:
Joanna Young, at Confident Writing
AmyHuang, at Travel String
Michele Tune, at Writing the Cyber Highway
Raven, at Alaska Chronicle
Sharon Hurley Hall, at Get Paid to Write Online
James Rickard, at Angling Fish
Laura Spencer, at Writing Thoughts
Brad Shorr, at WordSell, Inc.
Liz Strauss, at Successful Blog
Krissy Knox, at Sometimes I Think
Dan, at dcr Blogs
Melissa Garrett, at Lis Garrett ~ Silver-Tongued Writer
Robert Hruzek, at Middle Zone Musings
K-IntheHouse, at ShanKri-la
Tracy, at Movies and Life
Cindy Nichols, at Kaleidoscope
Yvonne Russell, at Grow Your Writing Business
Lillie Ammann, at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
Danielle, The Bipolar Diaries
Robyn, at Brain-Based Biz
Lynn Smythe, at Freelance Online Work
John Hewitt, at Writer's Resource Center
And last, but certainly not least,
Darren Rowse, at ProBlogger
Many thanks, everyone, for all you've done!
Sincerely,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Even if Blogger Appreciation Day is over, it's never too late to thank a blogger for doing something nice! Who would you like to thank and how?
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Still 10 More Quotes to Round Out the Series
Since we're exploring inspiration this month at Writer's Notes, I though this the perfect time for the third and final installment of my "10 Quotes on Writing" series. Some of the following quotes reveal the ironies of the writing life, some explore its subtleties, and some shout its realities. A few evoke a chuckle, while others make us ponder the mysteries of the writer's creativity.
Whatever responses they may elicit from you, may these quotes from those who've shared your passion for the written word provide the inspiration you need to take your innate talent, hone it to razor sharpness, and use it to cut to the heart of your topic, creating a piece of writing that's not just uniquely you, but also uniquely true. Enjoy!
The Quotes
1. The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yogurt. ~ John Mortimer ~
2. Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. ~ Flannery O'Connor ~
3. Really, in the end, the only thing that can make you a writer is the person that you are, the intensity of your feeling, the honesty of your vision, the unsentimental acknowledgment of the endless interest of the life around and within you. Virtually nobody can help you deliberately--many people will help you unintentionally. ~ Santha Rama Rau ~
4. A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others. ~ Leo Rosten ~
5. What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers. ~ Logan Pearsall Smith ~
6. Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for. ~ Socrates ~
7. A writer is dear and necessary for us only in the measure of which he reveals to us the inner workings of his very soul. ~ Count Leo Tolstoy ~
8. I love being a writer, what I can't stand is the paperwork. ~ Peter De Vries ~
9. Good writing is clear thinking made visible. ~ Bill Wheeler ~
10. Writing is thinking on paper. ~ William Zinsser ~
May these words of "writerly" wit and wisdom light the spark of creativity in you!
Literarily yours,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Were there any quotes you especially liked? Any you disagreed with? Please feel free to share your thoughts! I'd love to hear from you!
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Inspiration: A Mysterious Influence
Inspiration: that powerful yet ethereal quality that’s impossible to adequately define or quantify. Every time we think we’ve grasped it, it flutters away in a totally new direction, leaving us to marvel at its breadth and wonder how we’ve managed to miss this latest nuance.
Inspiration: a concept so difficult to capture in all its splendor that touching on every facet of its subtle yet powerful influence would likely take an eternity, were it possible to achieve at all.
Yet, as elusive and mysterious as the concept is, most writers are intimately acquainted with the reality. Though we may lack the capacity to put its effect into words that adequately capture its meaning, we recognize the potency of the influence it exerts on us in our most creative moments. We realize that, of whatever mysterious substance it may be composed, inspiration is the spark that motivates us, moves us, animates us, as we seek to express our inmost thoughts in words upon a page. Were we to ask 100 writers to define the term, we’d likely get 100 different definitions—and therein lies the magic of inspiration.
A Recently Explored Theme Resurrected in April
During the month of March, Confident Writing coach Joanna Young explored the topic of inspiration. And while I’ve kept up with her wonderful posts as best I could, I haven’t been as involved lately in the Confident Writing conversation as I’d like to be. Due to a hectic writing schedule, I never managed to contribute to the recent “4 x 4” writing project*, which explored the sources of writing inspiration from the point of view of each blogger who entered. Since I’ve been planning for some time now to explore this theme, I think the month of April would be a great time to tackle the topic here at Writer’s Notes.
Inspiration: Where Does It Come From?
I won’t attempt to define inspiration here—though doing so is a wonderful creative exercise that every writer should engage in periodically just to keep the imagination sharp. I’ll discuss, instead, where inspiration comes from—which is right in line with the focus of Joanna’s “4 x 4” writing project (except that I won’t be following the “4 x 4” format).
Today’s post will explore people and some of the ways they can inspire us. In future posts I’ll discuss several other sources of inspiration (in no discernable order of importance) which I’ve found, in my own experience, contribute to a writer’s creativity.
Part 1: People, Positive and Negative
The potential of other people to influence our lives (in both positive and negative ways) is huge. No matter how much importance we assign to it, we could never overestimate the impact that one individual—through example, words, or actions toward us—can have on us as people or on our inner, creative lives. A single person can make an enormous difference in our entire outlook on life. And whether this person affects us in subtle or earth-shaking ways, his or her influence will be reflected in our writing.
Inspiration: A Positive Influence—Even in a Negative Situation
Inspiration is normally thought of as a positive, enlightening influence; and well it should be, because it is—even when it springs from negative or painful experiences, emotions, or interactions. This is because inspiration has the mystical ability to make something ugly, bad, unpleasant, wrong, or deceitful yield something beautiful, good, pleasing, right, and true. It's a bit of a miracle, really. While it may not actually alter the negative situation or person in any way, it changes us and the way we view the unhappy circumstances or unpleasant people that inhabit our lives. It helps us negate their power and weaken their influence, empowering us to move forward, to grow, and to create.
Inspiration is the mysterious power that revolutionizes our outlook, changing our focus from the negative interactions or examples themselves to the positive life lessons and inner transformations we’ve experienced as a result of them. These are rich reservoirs from which to draw meaningful material—and potent catalysts to creative growth.
Creating the Positive from the Negative
We’ve all met or heard of people whose nurturing interactions or uplifting stories have inspired us directly—without the unpleasant need for painfully processing the negative into the positive. And that’s the kind of inspiration on which we thrive. How we love those people! Thankfully, wonderful role models abound, and many of us are fortunate enough to have some of these fantastic people in our own personal spheres. Yet, even in the absence of such positive people, when we face the not-so-happy kind of inspiration with courage, purpose, wisdom, strength, and vision; we develop a balance that infuses us with the spirit of the overcomer. Such inspiration is hard-won but immensely valuable to the writer.
So, if you’ve experienced painful interactions with others—and who hasn’t?—don’t ignore this potentially fruitful path to inspiration, because it offers a rare opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and use it to fuel your creativity. There’s no question that such experiences take time to process…to work through…to begin to see objectively. But the results are always well worth the effort.
People: Choose to Let Them Inspire You!
It may seem as if I’ve dwelt a bit too much on the negative in this post—a rather unconventional practice in discussing inspiration, I think. Yet, the positive people we meet inspire us naturally, with very little effort on our part. It’s the difficult people and the unpleasant situations they create that endanger the health of our Muse—unless we learn to handle them in positive, constructive, and creative ways.
People can be an incredible source of inspiration for us as writers—whether or not they intend to be! The deciding factor is what we choose to do with the ideas and emotions they plant within us. So, choose to be inspired! It will make an incredible difference in your work!
May the people you’ve known and those you’ve known about become a living lesson for you. May they spark the inspiration that enables you to produce works of beauty, nobility, and grace—regardless of who they are or what they’ve done.
To your Muse!
Jeanne
* I'd previously stated in this post that Joanna Young tagged me for this project. She actually didn't. I somehow managed to mix this project up with a meme for which she did recently tag me. Therefore I've corrected that statement.
Did you enjoy this post? Have any ideas about inspiration to share? How have people sparked your creativity as a writer? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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Age of Conversation: 100+ Authors Write to Raise Funds for Children's Charity
Today's the day to join the concerted effort of a dedicated group of people from all over the blogosphere (and all over the world) to drive last year's Age of Conversation collaborative book project to the top of the Amazon charts! Why? To raise awareness for the soon-to-be-published Age of Conversation 2008 sequel*--and simultaneously raise even more funds for Variety Children's Charity. (All monies raised through the books' sales and referrals go to Variety's Lifeline Children's Project.)
Two Bloggers Take On a Monumental Task
Spearheaded, organized, overseen, and edited by bloggers Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, the original Age of Conversation “brings together over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators in a ground-breaking and unusual publication.” If you're interested in good writing, great wisdom on business and life, and helping sick children get well, please join this effort to bring the book the attention it deserves. As mentioned above, no one involved in this project will be making a profit from the book's production and sale: 100% of the proceeds will go to Variety Children's Charity (just as they will with the book's sequel).
Variety Children's Lifeline Program
Here's what Drew had to say about this charity in his Age of Conversation's Gift of Life post last year:
Lifeline's sole mission is providing medical assistance to children with treatable and survivable heart conditions in countries where the appropriate medical facilities, expertise or resources do not exist.
Today's Effort to Launch The Age of Conversation to the Top of the Charts Explained
Today's launch of the Age of Conversation Bum Rush is explained at Chris Wilson's Marketing Fresh Peel blog, in the following two posts: The Launch: The Age of Conversation Bum Rush and The Real Age of Conversation Bum Rush: March 29th. Please drop by and check out these posts. And if you feel this to be a worthy endeavor, consider joining these hard-working authors in helping to make a difference in the lives of sick children around the world by buying your copy of The Age of Conversation and encouraging others you know to do the same.
Please use the following link (or one of the specially designated links at other participating blogs) when purchasing The Age of Conversation. This will ensure that referral monies go to Variety Children's Charity, in addition to book sale proceeds.
Each purchase will only be counted once, regardless of how many books you purchase; so please buy each book separately (Super Saver shipping to the U.S. is free on this item)--and buy it TODAY--to help this charitable project gain greater recognition by rising to the top of the Amazon Best Seller List.
Hope you'll join us!
Jeanne
* While I wasn't among the authors of the original Age of Conversation, I will be on board for The Age of Conversation 2008--along with 274 other dedicated writers and bloggers. (What a wonderful way to use our writing talents--by helping others! I highly recommend it!)
INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT - 6 AM CST, MARCH 29TH: Between 2 pm CST, March 28th and 1:30 am CST, March 29th, the book's ranking rose from #102,282 to #16,879! Way to go, everyone! Further updates will be posted at Marketing Fresh Peel, in Chris's Launch post, and also on Twitter, throughout the day (info in the Launch post).
3:15 pm CST: AOC has jumped to #368! Keep up the good work, everyone!
AOC made it to #262 of all books sold at Amazon.com on March 29th. Not as high as we'd hoped, but not bad, at all! (At one point, it actually hit #33 in the Business/Investing category.) Great work, everyone!
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Which worthy causes have you loaned your writing talents to, and did you feel as if you'd made a difference?
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Words of Wit and Wisdom from Literary Minds
The following is another collection of writing quotes for us writers to enjoy. They come straight from the minds of a few of the well-known writers who have gone before. Without a doubt, these literary personalities have a great deal of collective knowledge and experience to share with us. So, fellow writers, sit back, read, learn, and enjoy--and perhaps you'll receive a spark of inspiration from their words, as well.
The Quotes
1. A writer and nothing else; a man alone in a room with the English language, trying to get human feelings right. ~ John K. Hutchens ~
2. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book. ~ Samuel Johnson ~
3. Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader. ~ Joseph Joubert ~
4. Writing is the incurable itch that possesses many. ~ (Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal ~
5. The cure for writers cramp is writer's block. ~ Inigo de Leon ~
6. As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word. ~ Georg C. Lichtenberg ~
7. Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action. ~ Paul J. Meyer ~
8. I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a best-seller. They aspire to the rewards of writing but not to the travail. ~ James A. Michener ~
9. Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators. ~ Olin Miller ~
10. Like stones, words are laborious and unforgiving, and the fitting of them together, like the fitting of stones, demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill. ~ Edmund Morrison ~
The Effect of these Quotes on the Writer
Hope these quotes have spoken to you in one way or another. Perhaps they've struck a chord that brought a truth home to you in an especially poignant way. Perhaps you were able to relate a quoted thought to your own experience. Or possibly one of these sayings taught you a truth you never understood before. Even if your only reaction to reading them was a smile, a nod, or a few moments of entertainment, they will have served their purpose.
Yet, the best result that could come from these sayings would be that they send you to your keyboard with a renewed desire...to write!
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have any favorite quotes about writing that you'd like to add? We'd love to hear them--as well as your thoughts about these!
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Right, Wrong, and Law
The person who is devoted to doing good, to loving God, and loving people tends to do what’s right naturally. He doesn’t need to be told what to do. He doesn’t need to have the rules and regulations spelled out and placed before him repeatedly. And while he is by no means perfect, and even fails at times, he knows what’s right, and his goal is to do it.
He may occasionally need a little encouragement, a touch of inspiration, or a little reminder now and then—after all, none of us is perfect, yet—but by and large, his actions square with his personal ideals, which tend to mesh with society’s general consensus of good versus evil and of legal versus illegal.
Writing and Its Laws
In a similar sense, the writer who loves words, thoughts, and noble ideas, and is willing to surrender to her creativity and inspiration also tends to almost miraculously fulfill the “laws” of good writing. And while writing is, to a large extent, an intellectual exercise, there’s a sense in which the ability to write in this almost “exalted” manner is a matter of the heart and not the head.
In Writing, as in Law, Heart Can Neither Be Legislated Nor Taught
In the same sense that goodness cannot be legislated, inspiration and creativity cannot be taught. One can study and practice the principles of good writing all he desires; but if he lacks the spark of creativity… inspiration… imagination— of innate talent, if you will— the principles of writing will do him little good. His writing will be cold…dry…clinical—perhaps technically correct, yet lacking in heart.
Heart-Learning, as Opposed to Book-Learning
By the same token, the writer whose talent, creativity, and inspiration come from deep within may not be well-studied in the principles of “good” writing, the nuances of grammar, or the particulars of punctuation; yet he wields his words with power, delivers his message with impact, and wraps the fingers of emotion around the hearts of his readers in ways they couldn’t possibly understand. Like the person who does good without needing to be shown the laws that say he must, this writer is a law unto himself.
While far more could be said on this topic, these are a few of my musings about “the Law” as it applies to writing.
May you always be a law unto yourself when it comes to your writing!
Best wishes,
Jeanne
This post is my entry to the Middle Zone Musings “What I Learned From…the Law” group writing project.
Did you enjoy this post? What are your thoughts on creativity, inspiration, and the "laws" of writing? We'd love to hear them!
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Some Thoughts by Writers on Writing
Perhaps some of these quotes will inspire you. Some may cause you to shake your head. Maybe others will bring a smile to your lips. Some might even make you want to prove the writer wrong. But, whatever else they do, I hope these quotes will get you thinking about the wonderful vocation--or avocation, as the case may be for you--of writing. Hopefully they will plant some ideas that will spring up and bear fruit in your own writing in one way or another.
The Quotes
1. The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps. ~ Robert Benchley ~
2. To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author. ~ Charles Caleb Colton ~
3. Writing isn't hard. It isn't any harder than ditch-digging.
~ Patrick Dennis ~
4. The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century. ~ E. L. Doctorow ~
5. I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it. ~ William Faulkner ~
6. He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ~
7. The writer probably knows what he meant when he wrote a book, but he should immediately forget what he meant when he's written it. ~ William Golding ~
8. A writer should be a joyous optimist. Anything that implies rejection of life is wrong for a writer. ~ George Gribbon ~
9. The characteristic of Chaucer is intensity: of Spencer, remoteness: of Milton elevation and of Shakespeare everything.
~ William Hazlitt ~
10. You must often make erasures if you mean to write what is worthy of being read a second time; and don't labor for the admiration of the crowd, but be content with a few choice readers. ~ Horace ~
Happy contemplating!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Which of these quotes made you think? Which did you agree with, and which did you disagree with? We'd love to hear your thoughts!
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Reprinted with permission by Brad Shorr, Word Sell, Inc.
Expectations, Expectations!
When you take on a writing assignment for a new client or begin a new contract-writing job for a company you haven't worked with before, do you sometimes feel the way the new hire in this cartoon must feel? Do you feel as if you're under pressure to perform, to shine, to live up to the client's (no doubt considerable) expectations for the piece or project you've signed on to? Though this feeling is very common, it does, thankfully, tend to decrease somewhat with time and experience. Yet, when it does strike, it can be very debilitating and not at all helpful to a writer's creativity.
From Triumph to Trepidation in 30 Seconds
When we're offered a writing assignment that we've taken the time, energy, and effort to pursue, the feeling can be exhilarating. Yet, often as not, that wonderful feeling of excitement and triumph over the accomplishment of successfully marketing ourselves and our writing skills immediately gives way to panic, as we suddenly realize that getting the assignment is only the beginning--that now we actually have to deliver the goods. That can be a frightening thought!
The Vulnerability of the Writer's Psyche
As writers, our work is tied in to our egos in a way that many other lines of work are not, because our writing represents us and it comes from within. To a great extent, we often feel that our personal value is tied up in our ability to write things that others will read, accept, enjoy, and gladly pay us for, which can place us in a very vulnerable position emotionally. It doesn't really matter what kind of writing we do--from short stories or novels, to article-writing, copywriting, SEO writing, or blogging--the effect is still the same. (Ghostwriting is one type in which this vulnerability may be slightly less potent, since no one but the client will know who wrote the piece. Yet, even then we can feel that twinge of fear that reminds us that perhaps the client won't think our creation worthy.)
What's a Writer to Do?
What can we do to overcome these debilitating emotions and help ourselves do the best job we can on every piece of writing we do--without turning into nervous wrecks?
Here are a few tips that might just help you the next time you're faced with these feelings:
1. Give yourself a pat on the back.
You got the assignment, contract, or project. That means the client believes in your ability to deliver a suitable and well-written finished product. It also says something about you: You were able to present yourself and your writing talents well enough--and likely in writing--to give the client confidence in you. This does represent a victory, so savor it. You have every right to. Don't spoil it by second-guessing your own ability to follow through on the promises made in your sales pitch. It's true that you have a great deal of work ahead of you, but that's only because you got the assignment!
2. Maintain confidence in your own ability.
You believed you could do the job when you applied for the assignment or contract. Don't let your faith in your writing ability waver now that the client agrees with you. Though you admittedly have a great responsibility ahead of you, you are a writer...this is what you do! Don't give in to doubt and fear. It's OK if a little fear is there; it can help motivate you for action. Just don't let it get out of hand, and determine to move forward and through it. A touch of doubt is acceptable, too, because it can help keep you humble, reminding you that, though you may be a good writer, you aren't the only good writer, and you were fortunate to receive this assignment. Again, don't let doubt get the better of you, though; instead, move beyond it.
3. Cheer yourself on.
Give yourself a pep talk. Remind yourself of all that you've accomplished in the past. Even if this is your first paid writing gig, you'll have some past (albeit unpaid) writing successes to remember--particularly if you're a blogger. Think about your natural skill set, and mentally list the traits that make you particularly suited for this job. Are you analytical, creative, research-oriented, prolific, expressive, engaging? This list will help prepare you for the project by reminding you of all that you have to offer, fueling your imagination, and motivating you for the task ahead. It will help get your mind off your doubts and fears and on the project, allowing you to focus your energies on developing a creative method for completing it.
4. Use your prep work to enter fully into your project.
Brainstorm, research, outline, visualize--in short, do whatever it takes to prepare yourself for the actual writing. Ponder your possible topic, angle, mood, tone, style, approach--all the things that will determine the form and direction of your piece. Seek inspiration anywhere you can find it. Search Google for ideas on what others have done with this topic. Visit blogs, article directories, or other websites with similar content. Look in books, magazines, or newspapers--either on- or off-line--and see what clicks. But remember that the important thing is that you fully enter into your project, that it engrosses all your mental faculties, including your imagination. You'll then have a firm foundation on which to create a real work of art--in whatever field, genre, or writing niche you may be targeting.
5. Jump right in...begin to write...and get in "the Zone."
If possible, tackle the project while motivation is high--in other words, soon after your pep talk. (There will, of course, be times when you'll be required, as a freelancer, to write whether you feel motivated or not; though even during those times, a positive attitude will go a long way toward building motivation for your required writing task.) The key here is to just get started. Once you've done your research, planning, organizing, outlining, brainstorming, or visualizing, it's time to get to work turning those raw materials into the beautiful piece of writing you know you can create. Often simply starting to write will begin creating a magic we couldn't have anticipated before we began. It helps to get us in "the Zone"--that creative place where nearly anything becomes possible.
6. Trust your instincts, and then craft the best piece you can.
Always do your best work--no matter how big or small the project or the client. Even when ghostwriting, always keep the quality of your work high. After all, though your ghost-written piece may not represent you to the world, it represents you to your client--and even more importantly, it represents your client to the world. If you're interested in a return engagement with this client, always make him or her look fantastic!
Instinct will tell you when you may be straying off the mark--and these instincts will grow and develop with time, practice, and experience. Always listen to the little inner voice that tells you something isn't right in your approach, because first instincts often turn out to be correct. (This doesn't mean you should listen to the voice that tries to tell you that you aren't good enough. That voice is counter-productive. It will never help you reach your writing goals and should always be ignored.) Create the best piece of writing you can, and then submit it to your client with confidence--and before deadline! (If asked for revisions, remember to always do them cheerfully.)
By following the above advice, you should have little trouble with the kind of feelings our friend in the above cartoon faces--because, for the writer, such feelings generally arise from insecurity, rather than reality.
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Acknowledgment: Many thanks to Brad Shorr, of Word Sell, Inc., for permission to use the above cartoon.
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add...any experiences of your own to share? We'd love to hear from you!
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A Friend In Need
When my blogging buddy, Michele Tune, learned of my family's battle with sickness, which prevented me from posting as often as usual, she did a very gracious thing: She wrote and sent me a guest post to help fill in the gap and take some of the pressure off me. (Now I know why I gave her the "Blogging Gem Award" recently: because she truly is one gem of a blogger!)
Now, on to Michele's post!
That’s What Writers Bloggers Are For
By Michele L. Tune
Since I've joined the online writing community, I've noticed how gracious other writers bloggers are. Offering up compliments, advice, tips, sharing markets, lessons for better writing... The list goes on. It's amazing how warm, caring, and kind the writing world is. I've grown to love it beyond words, as well as each of the amazing writers I come into contact with daily, including Jeanne! It's so encouraging to know there are other writers out there who understand what it's like to stay up all night writing, to write while being sick, or how it feels to have the writing career mocked like it's nothing more than lounging on a couch wearing jammies, sipping a latte, and playing on a laptop. It's just nice to belong, isn't it?
That's why when I read Jeanne's recent post, my heart melted. I sympathized with her illnesses and those of her family members, as I've struggled through many health issues, surgeries, and trials of illness myself. I have the special gift of also being able to empathize. I can feel other people's pain. My heart literally hurts for them. I think that's why when I write, I write with such emotion. I not only share my own heart, giving my readers a peek into my very soul, but envision the aching hearts of my readers and aspire to touch their hearts, stir their emotions, and make their day better. It's why I created my motto: Inspiring readers one word at a time...
Jeanne's "Please Bear With Me!" plea really got my attention. Bear with her? Why not help her? Why not use my talent with words to write a guest post and take a little pressure off? It's bad enough she has to tend to sick family members while not feeling well herself, meet clients' deadlines, and be superwoman overall, why should she have to worry about pleasing Writer's Notes readers with fresh and unique posts every day all on her own? That's where I come in.
So, do you want to know how to step up your writing game? I decided to share a few techniques I use as I write the cyber highway.
1. Be open. Let your readers in. Search deep inside your heart, sweep the cobwebs of your soul, and expose the real you. Your readers will feel comfortable knowing you’re genuine, that you care enough to write what’s hardest to write, and they’ll come begging for more.
2. Keep your eyes open. Just like this guest post, I saw an opportunity to help a writer friend while at the same time write for a new readership. It never hurts to guest post. I’ve made up my mind to do more of it this year. If you see a window of opportunity, crawl through! The person on the other end may very well love your idea and who knows where that will lead?
3. Get organized. I mention this often on my blog. If you know where you’ve sent your queries and submissions and when you sent them, you’ll be able to focus on actually writing instead of wondering. Make copies of your checks or print out PayPal invoices when you’re paid and staple them to your acceptance letters and contracts. Keep them in a file and update that file or make a new one each year. It’s refreshing, and inspiring, to be neat and be able to find things. It leaves more time for creativity and writing!
4. Listen. Eavesdrop. Pay attention! Some writers take a notebook and pen with them while they’re out and about, even jotting down snippets of conversation they overhear. That dialogue may set your fictional piece or novel on fire!
5. Care. Care about your writing, yourself, your readers, your work. Write from your heart, write often, write to engage your readers and bring them to the edge of their chairs. Don’t just rush off the first thing you write. Let it sit. Clear your mind for a day or so. Then go back with a fresh eye. Be willing to cut words or entire sentences or paragraphs to polish your piece and make it the best it can be.
I hope these five tips help you. Never think that you have no room to improve. Don’t feel like you have nothing left to learn. Writers evolve, change, and grow. We get better with time and practice, by studying and writing more.
And the next time you see a blogger friend struggling, help. Because that’s what bloggers are for!
Michele L. Tune is a Freelance Writer and Blogger. Find her at www.michele-tune.com or her blog, Writing the Cyber Highway
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Kindest Regards,
Michele L. Tune
Inspiring readers one word at a time...
Freelance Writer & Blogger
www.michele-tune.com
Writing the Cyber Highway: a blog
ADDED NOTE: Michele has written an excellent blog review of the Writer's Round-About blog as an entry to Rebecca Lafarr-Smith's exciting contest. She has the opportunity to win $100 worth of books from Amazon.com. So, why not stop by, read her entry, Cyber Contest: Win Prizes from Amazon!, and give her your support by voting for it via Rebecca's You Decide The Winner! post. (You'll be able to read the other contest entries, as well, by using the links in Rebecca's post.)
Michele got my vote--not merely because she's a great person (though she certainly is that)--but because her post is excellently written and is also the only entry that followed every one of the contest rules--and then some! Also, if you'd like to Stumble her post, feel free to stop back by Writer's Notes and use the link. Check out her great post! The contest ends Saturday, February 16th. So, if you haven't voted yet, please vote before then! Thanks! (If you're reading this post after that date, visit her blog anyway! It's fantastic!)
Did you enjoy this post? Why not let Michele know it! Have any thoughts or experiences to share? Michele would just love to hear from you!
Happy First Birthday to Writer's Notes!
Writer's Notes is one year old today, and what a great year it's been! I've learned so much and made so many wonderful blogging friends! I have to say it's been a blast! Thanks so much, everyone, for making my first year of blogging so much fun!
Some Gifts for My Friends
I know, I know, it's my blog birthday--but I still want to give away a few gifts to show my blogging friends how much I appreciate each one of you! Call them "party favors" if you like, but here are a few gifts I'd like to present to my friends and fellow bloggers. (These gifts and recipients are in no particular order.)
Blogging Gem Award
This award is for the female bloggers who have had the most impact on me during my first year of blogging. Please feel free to take this gift home to your blog, ladies--and thanks for being such great friends and shining--or glittering--examples to me!
This award is proudly given to the following (rockin') girl bloggers:
Liz Strauss, at Successful Blog
Joanna Young, at Confident Writing
Michele Tune, at Writing the Cyber Highway
Sharon Hurley Hall, at Get Paid to Write Online
Laura Spencer, at Writing Thoughts
Amy Derby, at Write-from-Home Blog
Krissy Knox, at Sometimes I Think
Lis Garrett, at Woolgatherings
Cindy Nichols, at Kaleidoscope
Yvonne Russell, at Grow Your Writing Business
Lillie Ammann, at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
Danielle, The Bipolar Diaries
Robyn McMaster, at Brain Based Biz
You, rock, ladies!
Star Blogger Award
This award is for the (rockin') guy bloggers I know, who have had a profound effect on me and my blogging over the past year. You'll always be stars, to me, fellas! I'd be honored if you'd take this one home to your blog--even if you only display it inside a post!
These are the guy bloggers to whom I proudly present this gift:
Brad Shorr, at WordSell, Inc.
Dan, at dcrBlogs
Robert Hruzek, at Middle Zone Musings
K-IntheHouse, at ShanKri-la
Vernon, at The Idea Dude
You're the best, guys!
Comment Star Award
This gift is for the people who have faithfully commented here at Writer's Notes on a regular basis, helping me not to feel as if I'm talking to myself! Thanks, everyone! You are what this blog is all about! (You might notice that some people from the above lists are here, too. That's because many of the people in the above two categories deserve this award, too! Just couldn't resist giving it to them, as well!)
These are the bloggers that I'm happily inducting into my Comment Star Walk of Fame:
Raven, at Alaska Chronicle
AmyHuang, at Travel String
Lynn Smythe, at Freelance Online Work
Michele Tune, at Writing the Cyber Highway
Laura Spencer, at Writing Thoughts
Cindy Nichols, at Kaleidoscope
Lillie Ammann, at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
Brad Shorr, at WordSell, Inc.
Lis Garrett, at Woolgatherings
Thanks for all your friendly and insightful comments that help keep the conversation vital here are Writer's Notes!
Writer's Notes Friend Award
This gift is for everyone else who visits Writer's Notes on a regular basis to read what I have to say here. You may not comment extremely often--and some of you maybe not at all--but you keep coming back! Perhaps you take some of my ideas back to your own blog, or maybe elsewhere into the blogosphere. But, even if you don't, I appreciate you! You are such an important part of this blog! Thanks for being you and visiting me!
Honorable Mentions
Here are a few people I want to specifically give the Writer's Notes Friend Award to because they do comment whenever they can:
Tracy, at Movies and Life
Mark Antony, at Hotel Mark
Howard, at Real Crash
Kerith Collins, at Freelancing, My Road Less Traveled
Thanks, guys! I appreciate it! (Of course, all the people who received the above awards also deserve the Writer's Notes Friend Award, too!)
Thanks, Everyone for a Fantastic First Year!
Many, many thanks to everyone, for making my first year of blogging such a special period of my life by being such an important part of the Writer's Notes community and welcoming me into your own blogs' communities with open arms! I'm looking forward to another great year of blogging with all my friends!
Love you all!
Jeanne
P.S. Hope everyone's enjoyed the party as much as I have! Thanks for joining in on the festivities! And please don't forget to take your awards--er, party favors--home when you leave. Thanks for a great blog birthday!
The New Year: A Perfect Time to Assess My Blog's Worth
As it had been a while since I 'd checked the monetary value of Writer's Notes--and since the beginning of the year seemed the perfect time for an assessment--I decided to visit Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog yesterday to find out how much my blog is worth these days. So I clicked on over to Dane's How Much Is Your Blog Worth? post, typed my blog's URL into the box, and waited with bated breath to see just how much my blog had grown in value since the last time I'd checked.
A Little Background on the Blog Value Calculator Tool
For those who may not have seen it before, a bit of background follows. It will allow you to delve more deeply into the rationale behind the calculations that are involved. And what better way to provide a little background than to quote the creator of the blog value calculator tool, allowing him to point you to the sources/formulas he used in its creation.
Here's what Dane Carlson has to say about the tool he himself has created and uses to determine a blog's worth:
Inspired by Tristan Louis's research into the value of each link to Weblogs Inc, I've created this little applet using Technorati's API which computes and displays your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal.
Writer's Notes' Latest Blog Value Calculation
Here's the graphic containing the latest value for Writer's Notes:
A Few Words About My Blog's Growth in Value
The value of my blog has grown considerably since the first time I used the tool back in late July, 2007 (July 23rd, to be exact), at which time it stood at $22,017.06--still impressive for a six-month-young blog, I thought. (My first post on the topic, How Much Is Your Blog Worth? contains the original graphic, as well as info on where I first learned about Dane Carlson's tool.)
Eleven days from today will mark six months since the first time I used the tool. This means that, in less than six months, my blog's value has increased by $66,615.72 (from $22,017.06 to $88,632.78)--which represents an over four-fold increase. Another way of looking at it would be that Writer's Notes' value has increased by an average of over $11,000 a month during the past close-to-six-month period.
As My First Year of Blogging Draws to a Close, I Feel Satisfied
While mine is far from the most valuable blog in the blogosphere, I'm pretty happy with my numbers! I would say without a moment's hesitation that, along with all the fun I've had finding and sharing resources, writing blog posts, and connecting with my readers via comments, those numbers constitute success for a blogger just about ready to celebrate her first blogging anniversary (January 28, 2008)!
And, do you know what? If I had it to do over again--I would! Thanks to all my readers for helping to make the journey so much fun--and for helping to make my blog's value constitute so much more than mere money!
I couldn't have done it without you!
Many thanks!
Jeanne
P.S. While you're at it, why not visit Dane's blog and check out your own blog's value? Just click the "How much is your blog worth?" link in the above graphic or the link in the first paragraph of this post.
Did you enjoy this post? Have any thoughts to share? Please feel free to comment!
My Inspiration for this Post
While checking the current value of my blog over at Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog (the results of which I'll report in another post), I came across Dane's latest blog entry, posted earlier, which I found highly appropriate for writers/bloggers as we head into a new year. In his post, Dane shares 10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein. Check out the words of wisdom that Dane has chosen to share from the great store of sayings which originated in the mind of this great scientist and creative thinker.
Additional Gems of Einsteinian Wisdom
After reading Dane's post, I became inspired to search for additional Einstein quotes and was by no means disappointed. The following are some of the incredible words spoken by a man of great intelligence, a dedicated scientist and thinker, prolific in articulating his insights about life.
Albert's Advice for Writers to Take to Heart
The first group of five Einstein quotes offers excellent advice which, though not directed specifically at writers, is nonetheless applicable to our creative literary pursuits and every bit as much to our attempts to achieve success in our chosen discipline. Read and reap the benefits of some of the potent life lessons learned by Einstein during his many years of intellectual inquiry:
1. "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
2. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
3. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
4. “We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”
5. “Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.”
More Einsteinian Truths to Inspire Us
The additional 21 Einsteinian gems of wisdom which follow can further inspire us to reach the heights of our own personal creativity, imagination, idealism, and intellect. No doubt certain of these sayings will resonate with each of us more than others will; but all seem to me to have great significance for those of us who seek to express ourselves through our literary endeavors. Which of them have special meaning for you?
1. “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
2. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
3. “Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift.”
4. “Information is not knowledge.”
5. “Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”
6. “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
7. “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”
8. “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”
9. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
10. “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”
11. “The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”
12. “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
13. “There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.”
14. “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.”
15. “True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.”
16. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
17. "It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure."
18. “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
19. “Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”
20. “People do not grow old no matter how long we live. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born.”
21. “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
Not All, But Enough for Now
The above are by no means all the Einstein quotes I've collected during my fascinating foray into the mind of this intellectual giant; yet, they are enough, I think, to stimulate our minds, hearts, and imaginations for the moment. Even these are quite a lot to absorb at one sitting and will likely require rereading a time or two for lasting impact; so I'll stop here to allow them sufficient time to sink in and save the rest for a later post.
Hopefully, these quotes have been a source of inspiration to you and will continue to resonate with you as you look forward to another year of reading, thinking, learning, feeling, and sharing with your readers all that you discover and absorb in the year ahead.
Happy learning--and writing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to share about the above quotes or the creative process or any additional words of wisdom you've come across in your own intellectual travels? We'd love to hear from you!
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