Yesterday I Read A Book. Yikes!

Yes, I admit it. I did.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am an internet marketer. I spend hours and hours in front of my computer, answering questions from my customers, working with prospects, improving my offering. I personally take calls from my customers and I react to ensure that their needs are met. I work hard to squeeze every dollar out of my website, both for me and for my affiliates.

But yesterday I read a book.

Nope, it wasn't a book on marketing, or persuasion, or Google.
Nope, it wasn't an e-book on web design or the latest tools to create nifty buttons.
It was a real, honest-to-goodness, paperback novel.

I didn't learn a thing about how to increase my conversions or attract more people to my website. What the heck was I thinking?!

I'm a small business owner. If I don't work, I don't eat. Every bit of revenue that comes in the door is directly related to the time I spend working, thinking, planning, building...

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Writer's Block

Writer's block is a weird thing. I'm fortunate in that I can almost always sit down at the keyboard and start tapping out thoughts. Where I struggle, though, is getting beyond that first writing session. One of the great things about blogging is that it is largely a first draft medium. Have some thoughts on the Super Bowl, politics, or a stupid TV show? Sit down, crank them out, post them. Quick, relatively painless, and with the satisfaction of being published where anyone in the world can find them.

Full version of Writer's Block is available at Writer's Block

Finding your writer's voice

Don Tate brought up one of my very favorite writing topics when he asked me about voice in our writing. He wondered, "How important is it that the author's voice match the characters voice or language particularly if the character is supposedly telling the story?"

Finding your writer's voice in full

Use your doubt to fuel your work.

We are all harmed in one fashion or another, on various levels. Some of us admit our harm, talk about our pain, carry it around with us like a Siamese twin. Others bury it at varying levels of their "self" sometimes knowingly, willingly, and other times the pain is so strong that their mind blocks the very idea that the pain ever existed. Some harms are imagined but the pain they inflict is just as real. Just because a fear is irrational doesn't make it any less real. And then there are many people who have been harmed, admit it, work through it or find their own way to go around it, and move on with their life. But in each instance, in each person's lifetime, we have all been harmed and we have been shaped by that harm. You cannot be alive and be any different. How you choose to let that harm affect your life is entirely up to you.

Find full version of the article at Write On Right Now!

What does it cost you to be a writer?

So, what does it cost you?

With writing, as with most things in life, you have to put yourself into it before you get something out of it. That means giving up some of that time you used to spend watching television, playing games, sleeping late, or even spending time with friends and family. Because get one thing straight right now; writing is work. It means realizing that the first, or second, or third, or maybe even the tenth version of a story still might not be ready for publication and it means submitting rejected manuscripts again and again until they find a home.

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108

The-Hey-I-Just-Came-Up-...

I counted 108 characters apart from hyphens. Not bad, huh?

Way to go Celise! 8-)

Knock-Out Writer's Block: Listening To Your Inner Voice

Another article on overcoming writer's block... 8)

I have to laugh when I read articles on breaking through a writing slump. They always have tips like: go to the mall and make up a story about the people you see there..or..write down a dream you had the other night..or..think about the happiest moment in your childhood and write about it. You can even sign up and have a writing “prompt” emailed to you everyday. And I can’t help but think, Does this work for anyone? I mean, really? I’ve come to discover that I’m not like the average author. The normal methods of combating writer’s block do not apply to me. In writing mode, I can only concentrate on one novel at a time. I get distracted easily, so writing something on the fly only leads me down one path: The-Hey-I-Just-Came-Up-With-Another-Great-Idea-For-A-New-Book-So-I’m-Gonna-Drop-The-One-I’m-Currently-Angsting-Over-And-Start-A-Ne w-Novel path. Believe me, it’s happened before. I was young (seventh grade to be exact), just starting out, and I didn’t know any better.

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Celise is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press. Her books, “Secrets and Kisses” (Mar 2004) and “Dance Jam Productions” (Sept 2004), are currently available on the publisher website at www.GeminiMojoPress.com

Why Writers Write

Hehe, sounds pretty funny... WWW - Why Writers Write

As a teenager I had my share of problems just like any other, but I was different… special. My mind was not at ease telling my parents or friends about a situation that had occurred or even might occur. I didn’t feel that a journal was just as my feelings were hard to explain in ordinary English. I had to find a way to express my love and hate about certain subjects, no matter how large or small.
I grabbed a pencil and paper and started writing. Using images, sounds and smells was easier than I had thought. My mind then became at ease with myself and I could live another day without wondering who or what I was going to tell my thoughts to. As the weeks and months ran on I became even more comfortable with writing my thoughts and feelings on paper, I didn’t feel discomfort any longer.

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Greetings

Welcome to my new writing weblog.

The blog is new since I already opreate several other blogs. Among these I would like to distinguish my favorite brainchild, I Like These Articles. The approach I am going to use in this blog is perhaps similar to that of "I Like...". Here I am going to quote articles I really like distributing them in full on pages I will link to.

It is not a mere chance that I mentioned the word 'writing'. Unlike 'I Like These Articles', this blog will be dedicated to the art of writing completely.

Hope you will like this and other my blogs as much as I do.

Enjoy!

Serge Chepurko
Blogmaster

A Cure for Writer's Block

Writer's block is a favourite topic of writer's, and no wonder….nearly every writer suffers from it at some crucial point in their careers. Writer's block usually comes to visit at the most inopportune times, like during projects of tremendous importance where there's not a moment to waste, or when there are firm deadlines involved and a nasty boss waiting in the next room anticipating a brilliant end-product. Writer's block is such a prevalent problem that articles, essays, books, and entire websites have been dedicated to the topic.

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Ruth Ritchie-Farmer is the managing editor of Ritchie Media, and the author of Successful Thoughts, Successful People: A Collection of Quotations. Visit her on the web at http://www.whytedove.net to pick up your copy today.