by Melinda on July 28, 2010
You know the feeling you get when you go to bed without brushing your teeth? I’m not talking about that slimy-mouth feeling the following morning, but the feeling that you’ve forgotten something, like your day isn’t complete. This feeling can be so powerful that it gets you back out of bed. Habits are like that; regardless of what it is, you can’t wrap up the day without doing it.
Now imagine the same feeling about your writing: your day doesn’t feel complete without it. Even on your busiest days, you make the time to write a little. Otherwise, you just don’t feel good about the day. When you want to write a book, finding the time is often the most difficult challenge. I know, because although I write for a living, I still have trouble fitting my writing in. Work, kids, vacuuming, and everything else get in the way. But no matter how exhausted I am, I at least make time to write in my journal for a few minutes before turning off the light. Making writing a habit means you find a way to squeeze it in, no matter how busy you are.
When you make writing a habit, you not only find the time to write and get more done, but writing also gets easier. The words come more naturally, and you spend less time staring at the dreaded blank screen. The following simple steps can help you write more often and get better results.
1. Commit to Your Writing
When it comes to time, no one ever has enough to accomplish everything they would like. And, honestly, you’ll never have time to write your book unless you make it a top priority. There’s a difference between things we’d like to do, and things we must do. If you MUST write your book, then you’ll find the time to make it happen. If it’s something you’d LIKE to do someday, then someday may never come.
2. Write Every Day
Developing a habit means doing something regularly. Therefore you should do your best to find time to write every day. It doesn’t have to be a long period of time, even fifteen minutes will do if that’s all you can spare. The key is to practice as often as possible!
3. Write Small Pieces
Books are written one sentence at a time, so don’t fall into the trap of only sitting down to write when you have several hours at a time to devote to your work. Even if you only have time to put down a paragraph, that’s progress.
4. Don’t Stress About Writing
When you over-think your writing projects, they can seem bigger and more important . . . and much more intimidating than they really should be. Just sit down and write; don’t make a big deal out of it. Put your words on paper, and understand you’ll have time to clean them up later.
5. Be Accountable
Sometimes, despite all our efforts, even the writers with the best intentions need outside accountability to accomplish their goals. I know I do—I always have to find someone to keep me on track and make sure I do what I say I’m going to do. Whether you take a class or hire a coach or enlist the help of a firm and supportive friend, give yourself the structure you need to accomplish your goals.
Anyone who wants to write can do it, especially if you commit to your project and take steps to develop the writing habit. It doesn’t require hours of time every day—even jotting a few paragraphs in your journal every night will help get you hooked. And when you do, your skills will improve, and you’ll get all those projects on your writing to-do list done.
Comments? How do you build your writing habit?
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by Melinda on July 20, 2010
Whether you’re working on a book or your next blog post, writing is a practice. It’s not about being good or bad—it’s about constantly seeking ways to improve, no matter where you are with your skills. Every time you write, it gets a little easier. But at the same time, diligent writers collect skills and tricks they can use to make their writing stronger and more compelling.
Here are five of the simplest and most powerful writing tips you can add to your collection.
1. Make it Reader Friendly
Writing is about making a connection, and you have to communicate with your readers. That means positioning your message in a way that is most meaningful and compelling to your readers—not to you or your friend or anyone else. How do your readers need to hear what you have to say? What’s going to strike their favorite chords? Even if you are not the world’s greatest writer, making your writing reader friendly will greatly improve the effectiveness and readability of your work.
2. Use Active Verbs
One of the biggest mistakes people make when writing is using the passive voice, or passive verbs. This complicates their sentences and makes them hard to understand, which is definitely not reader friendly. Look for ways to rewrite sentences that use passive to-be verbs, like “is,” “was,” and “were.” They can’t always be reworked, but oftentimes they should be. Active verbs will make your writing more engaging and clear.
3. Be Concise
Saying what you mean in as few words as possible is another key to improving your writing. After you get your message down, go through your writing and take out every unnecessary word. Kill your darlings, in other words. If a word, sentence, or phrase does not serve to illustrate your point, take it out or replace it with words that work.
4. Write Toward Your Goal
If you want your writing to have meaning, you need to have a clear goal or message for what you write. Always decide exactly what you want to accomplish with your writing and make sure every word helps reach this goal. Be direct; tell your readers what you want them to do. If readers have to guess, they will either stop reading or miss your point.
5. Break Up Big Projects
If you have a particularly large writing project, break it up into smaller segments. For example, don’t sit down and say to yourself, “I’m going to work on a chapter of my book on management.” Instead, be more specific and tell yourself, “I’m going to write an introduction to chapter three.” Working on a smaller scale will keep you motivated, prevent you from getting lost, and give you a sense of accomplishment every time you finish a part of the project. And it will prevent you from feeling discouraged because the entire project is not complete yet.
Improve Your Writing Today
No writer ever gets to the point where they can stop improving their craft. And even if you think you’re a good writer, you should always look for new tools to add to your writing tool box. Successful writing depends on many factors, including organization, simplicity, and conciseness. If you follow these five tips, your writing will improve and your message will be clear in whatever you write, every time you write.
Comments? When was the last time you made an effort to improve your writing skills? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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by Melinda on July 15, 2010
Have you been struggling to get your book done for FAR too long?
Are you confused about where to start and how to write a compelling book?
Do you want to know how to strategically design your book to accomplish your goals?
Then don’t miss, “How to Quickly and Easily Write a Book that Accomplishes Everything You Want–And MORE!”
On July 29 at 1:00 p.m. ET, Meggin McIntosh, “The Ph.D. of Productivity,” will interview me on this FREE teleseminar. I’ll be sharing why 90 percent of aspiring authors never accomplish their goal, why taking the good-is-good-enough approach to writing your book is often a recipe for failure, and a simple formula for creating your best book.
Space on this one-time event is limited. Click here to sign up now!
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by Melinda on July 14, 2010
What’s the point of writing a book? Publishing it. In the end, that’s what we’re all after because writing is about sharing our ideas and knowledge. However, although publication is the ultimate goal, focusing too heavily on that—particularly when your book idea isn’t fully formed, let alone written—can prevent you from ever getting it done.
I was on the phone with someone this morning who had an idea for a book but wasn’t sure how to proceed. She had an idea, but hadn’t written a word. So what was her most pressing question? How do I get it published? Whoa, Nelly! If you haven’t written a book, getting published is a long way off.
When people ask me about things like the ins and outs of publishing, how much it costs to hire an editor, and how to find an agent, before they’ve written a word in many cases, they’re putting the cart before the horse. (And they often get frustrated when I tell them, “It depends. You need to write the book first.”)
How you publish, how much you spend on editing, how you find an agent, and a number of other publishing considerations all depend on the book you write. So you have to write it first. And you have to ask yourself: If the cost of hiring an editor seems outside your budget right now, it that going to stop you from writing your book? Are you going to stop wanting to write the book you have inside you because it costs a couple thousand dollars to self-publish? And if some aspect of finding an agent seems difficult or time consuming, are you going to forget about the book altogether? I don’t mean to be harsh, but if your answer is yes, then the book probably isn’t that important to you in the first place and, honestly, you’d probably never finish it anyway.
Really, what does it matter? If you’re meant to write this book, if this story is burning inside you, and if you can’t sleep at night thinking about getting it out, then don’t waste your time worrying about how to get it published—WRITE! Get the book out of you, and worry about publishing later.
Figuring out the writing part is more than enough to keep you busy for the next few months, and it’s the most important factor that will affect publishing. For example, if your book isn’t outstanding, agents aren’t going to be interested. And if it’s not well-written, editing will cost you a fortune.
If you want to write a book, the most important step you can take right now is writing. Write the absolute best book you can, and then start looking at your options. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never a bad idea to understand your options. But don’t let that keep you from doing the writing, because without a strong, compelling book manuscript, you won’t have to worry about it.
Have you been putting the cart before the horse? If you’ve been focusing too much mental energy on what you’re going to do with your book when it’s done, and you haven’t done much writing, my “Get Your Book Out Boot Camp” will help you get clear on your book idea, help you plan a powerful and compelling book, and get you writing. Contact me at melinda@writerssherpa.com for more information and to register for the next session.
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by Melinda on July 9, 2010
We all have things we’re great at. I have clients who are good at coaching other people to find their passion; building and running successful businesses; helping people lose weight; and motivating others to change their lives. This is what I call their “brilliance work”–the stuff they were born to do.
However, to do their brilliance work in a way that benefits the most people, they have a list of other things they have to do, but probably aren’t so good at.
For example, I’m a good writer and I’m good at teaching other people to write. To do that, though, I have to run a business, keep financial records, update my web site, and market my programs and services (this was the toughest one for me!). I can’t just write and teach all day because I wouldn’t have anyone to teach if I weren’t marketing. I am not a natural marketer, but I know it’s absolutely critical to my success, and so therefore I have invested a lot of money over the years in training and programs to help me market my business.
I COULD have tried to figure it all out on my own, but that would be hard and not fun. And it would take away too much time from the things I LOVE to do. I am not ashamed to say I chose the easy way–I chose to leverage other people’s knowledge and brilliance about marketing to save time, avoid effort, save money, and make myself more successful.
You see, there is a hard way and an easy to do everything. You can try to figure it all out on your own (the hard way); or you can skip the hurdles and follow a system that works–this the fastest path to success.
When I’m talking to people about their books, they get so bogged down in figuring out how to organize all their ideas, how to make it all fit, how to make the book a great read, how to incorporate their personal story, and on and on. They’re smart, right, they should be able to figure it out. And then they beat themselves up and don’t finish the book because they get stuck in the figuring out and never move on to the writing.
They ARE smart–they wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint; they wouldn’t climb a mountain without a map; and they wouldn’t take medication without reading the instructions on the bottle. Why should writing a book–something that’s often critical to their success–be any different?
If you think about your most important goal–the REAL reason you’re writing your book–it may be:
- You want to share your story with the world;
- Fulfill your mission to help people;
- Realize your dream of writing a book;
- Establish expertise and grow your business;
- And make positive change in other people’s lives.
Your most important goal is NOT to spend hours of study and practice trying to figure out how to put together a powerful, effective, well-written book!
Doing it on your own only puts your most important goals on hold–it holds back your success! There’s nothing smart about that.
If you’re stuck in the planning and organizing phase of writing your book, there is a step-by-step process you can follow that will give you the confidence and clarity you need to open your creative flow and write freely and easily.
I am starting a brand-new four-week group teleseminar program next Tuesday, July 13, that will walk you through this process and give you lots of one-on-one attention and feedback on your writing from me. So all the big-picture decisions about your book will be made; you’ll have a strong foundation to build your book on; and you’ll have a step-by-step plan for getting it completed.
To find out more, schedule a get-acquainted appointment with me by clicking here.
Don’t delay–the program starts Tuesday and I only have a handful of appointments left on my schedule.
Just imagine, by Tuesday evening, you could be unstuck and your best book could be well on it’s way to completion. No more frustration, guessing, or figuring needed!
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You know the feeling you get when you go to bed without brushing your teeth? I’m not talking about that slimy-mouth feeling the following morning, but the feeling that you’ve forgotten something, like your day isn’t complete. This feeling can be so powerful that it gets you back out of bed. Habits are like that; regardless of what it is, you can’t wrap up the day without doing it.
