There are so many possible causes of procrastination. One cause could be that you think you’ll never be good enough. This is an irrational belief because there will always be a time when you’re not as good at something as someone else, and if they’ve improved their work, it doesn’t mean that you can’t improve yours in the future. Another cause could be that your feelings get in the way of your decision-making process. Sometimes people feel like they need to have their heart perfectly aligned with something before they start, but if we wait for everything to line up 100% all the time before we do anything then there is no way we would ever accomplish anything! If your…
When I was in middle school, I had a favorite notebook. It had a cover of deep blue with geometric shapes and circles on it — and it was the perfect size for my hands. Although I never kept track of how many notebooks I went through, that blue one seemed to last the longest. Partially because its cover felt softer than any other notebook’s surface; but mostly because this was the one where I started keeping track of my writing habits — habits that continue today. But apart from me, what are some other writing habits that other writers tend to have?
In summary, morning pages allow for the writer to practice writing. They are a way for the writer to write in a non-judgmental fashion in order to foster creativity and ease anxiety. But let’s dig more into this routine that can help you in overcoming your writer’s block. Morning pages are best done with pen and paper, but of course, it can be done with a computer as well. The goal is to express what you are thinking by writing down whatever comes to mind and then the thoughts just flow out of you like water down a waterfall. The writer should allow for any thoughts or feelings that come into their mind. These pages serve as an outlet for…
A Writer’s Notebook This is the notebook you use for your writing. You can do writing prompts in it. You can keep little bits of conversations you hear throughout the day. You can record all your story ideas in one place… A Morning Pages Journal Created by writing and creativity coach, Julia Cameron, Morning Pages are three hand-written stream-of-consciousness pages you write first thing when you wake up in the morning, before you do anything else. Cameron specializes in creative unblocking and recovery, and Morning Pages are the primary tool she recommends…. A Pocket Notebook Since your Writer’s Notebook will likely be a larger notebook, like a Moleskine or spiral-bound journal, it may be difficult to carry it around with you all the time. But…
Being a writer can be a tough job. Not only do you have to sit down and figure out how to put words on the page, you also have to figure out how to do that and still maintain your family life and personal life and work life, etc. But there are ways to balance both being a writer and everything else. Here are three tricks: Have A Space You Can Call Your Own–If you’re going to be a writer, you’ll need the space to do it in. A space where you can write distraction-free. So find a place to call your own, whether that’s at home or at the coffee shop down the street. Take Digital Down Time–All day…
It’s often said that writing is rewriting. Banging out a quick first draft can be fun, but the real grunt work comes in revising your work. 9 editing tips that can help you polish your writing until it sparkles: Read aloud When you become too familiar with a piece of writing, suddenly it’s more difficult to spot weaknesses and errors. Instead of trusting your eyes to take on all the hard work, read your writing aloud, which forces you to slow down. Record yourself Better than just reading your work aloud is recording yourself (most computers have a voice recording program already installed). When you play back the clip, you’ll be able to hear the weaknesses in your manuscript. Take…
If you want to become a better writer, there’s one thing that will always help you no matter what: getting feedback. Feedback allows you to learn what you’re doing right and what you need to work on. In fact, the right kind of feedback can help you make your writing better than you ever thought you could.Where To Find Feedback There are many places you can get feedback on your writing: Writers groups – Almost every community has a writers group. These groups are very welcoming and can also be good feedback providers. Just be forewarned, not every person in a writers group will be a professional writer, so you not always get much feedback you can use. Fiction writing…
Once upon a time, writers were writers and marketers were marketers. Today, things are very different: like it or not, writers of both fiction and non-fiction are called upon to market themselves and their work. Whether you’re pounding out the next bestseller or building a freelance portfolio, you need a multifaceted approach to self-promotion. Fortunately, some of the best and easiest ways to get your work out there and build a readership are at your fingertips: Blog Blogging used to be nothing more than an online diary, but now it’s one of the best ways to make yourself known on the web. Set up a simple, uncluttered blog template, and then decide what you’ll blog about. If you’re writing a…
Sometimes you see an article or blog post that grabs you and holds you by the throat. Other times you pass them by with very little interest at all. What’s the difference between a hit and a flop? It doesn’t matter how brilliant or thoughtful your work is if your readers aren’t interested in sticking around to see what you have to say. Hooking your readers from the very first line isn’t difficult if you consider the following factors that I used in my recent post job: Start with a great headline Brian Clark of Copyblogger knows all about the psychology behind magnetic headlines. The same principle goes for blog posts, magazine articles, and non-fiction books. If the title doesn’t…
There is an icky, creepy bug that may be surrounding your daily life, seeping into everything you do. Without you even realizing it. That bug is toxic language. And once it gets a hold of you, it slowly begins to destroy, attacking your confidence, your outlook and your writing. What Is Toxic Language? Toxic language is anything negative that you tell yourself, especially when it comes to your writing. It’s words like “can’t” and “should” and phrases like “have to” that make up the toxicity. Words like these take your power away. When you use toxic language all the time, you are programming yourself to believe it (even subconsciously) and that will start to take a toll on your self…