I moan and groan about blogging every once in awhile. Keeping up with your posts while other higher priority projects build up feels harder at times than Keeping Up With the Kardashians. But I know that doing so is worth it. While every writer has different reasons why they blog or don’t blog, I’ve found the benefits to more than outweigh the costs. For example, some bloggers do it for the money. Others do it to draw potential clients/customers to their website. Some find the greatest benefit is the interaction they have with their readers. When I created this blog…
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I have a lot of writer friends who started out all gung ho and then let their mojo slide when the going got tough. My ego would like to say it’s the way we weed out the true writers from the pack. But I know the truth. The truth is that writing is scary. We all have moments where we doubt whether we’re really that good or even good enough. And this could change moment to moment, day to day. Sometimes I think I wrote the best piece ever at night, only to wake up the next morning and discover…
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If you’re writing every day, there will come a time when you sit at your computer and nothing comes. Zilch. Zero. And it sucks. It sucks because you still have to get whatever it is done. You can’t use writer’s block as an excuse anymore than you could blame your dog for eating your homework. So what do you do? These things have been helping me recently: 1. Shutting down. Not emotionally, but electronically. I choose one day a week when I turn off my computer, ignore my cell phone, and refuse to even read a book or a magazine.…
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Fellow writer Daylin Van Zandt sent me a message over Facebook today that inspired me. He decided to quit his full-time job to fulfill a dream. I’m so excited for him! One of his dreams is to start a community magazine. While he has the networks and the know-how to get started, he wanted some tips, advice, suggestions on what steps to take to get cracking on this latest endeavor. I asked Daylin if I could post his question on my blog in the hopes that you generous and wise readers could help out. His message is below. Please leave a comment…
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Don’t judge me, but I’m a big fan of reality TV. Just like I love a good memoir and an autobiography, I get a high from watching real life people do crazy ass things. To me, it’s just inspires me to do something crazy myself. One of my favorite shows is, “Shark Tank.” It seems antithetical to my very nature to be a shark when it comes to making money. But maybe that’s why watching it thrills me so. It’s also observing the inventors, creators and designers who work up the courage to give their 5-minute shpeal on what makes…
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{flickr photo} This story got me out of a temporary blogging hiatus. I just had to write about it… Shea Gunther, writer and owner of a new clean-tech website launching in May, sent out a mass email to 900 applicants who wanted to write for him. 900!! Instead of the sober, formal reply writers often get that basically say, “Unfortunately we decided to hire another writer,” this one included a 3,000 word rejection letter stating in detail why each and every person didn’t get the job. This sparked a ton of anger for the recipients as well as for the commenters…
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Is inspiration really that important to your writing? If you read my other blog, The Inspiring Bee, you can probably guess what I think. But I might be alone in my thoughts. I just wrote an article for The Writer magazine with quotes from a handful of writers I admire on why inspiration may not be necessary to get writing. In fact, they list at least three reasons why you may be wasting your time if you’re waiting for inspiration to strike. What do you think? Does inspiration help your writing soar or is simply an excuse to procrastinate?
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Inspiration doesn’t have to come from tools per se. It can come from waterfalls and mountaintops and from trekking through the forest. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be pretty where you are. I once felt inspired in a bar with my husband watching football. If you’ve got inspiration covered and are enjoying the free flow of content coming through your fingers, feel free to share your techniques below. If you’re like me and you occasionally get stuck, you may need additional ideas to keep the ideas coming. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to delve into…
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The Pain in My Neck I went to the chiropractor for the first time in a decade today. I’ve been having a literal pain in my neck and shoulders and wanted to find the culprit. Although the results were inconclusive, the chiropractor did tell me something intriguing. He said my posture was messed up. Okay he didn’t say that exactly, but he did tell me that I was tensing one of my shoulders and hunching my back. I realized that just as we hold onto bad ideas, dysfunctional relationships and negative thoughts, we also unconsciously hold onto our bodies willing…
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I only discovered it recently. But I’m more apt to write in a crazy fit of inspiration if I’m accompanied by lots of people talking in a crowded room, the smell of coffee wafting in around me and settling on my clothes, and in the rim of a nice, comfy, worn out cheeks indented chair. That and a working vintage typewriter. I scored one recently at a flea market. I got there late with only 20 minutes to spare and saw it sitting pretty amongst dusty vases, non-affordable credenzas and chotskies I would never buy. I’ve been secretly drooling over…