Have you ever reached for a brownie when you were trying to lose weight? Or stayed in bed when you intended to go to the gym? Or put off paying bills
because it was "too much of a hassle"? There are lots of different ways in which
we sabotage ourselves. This is true of life in general and also true of the
writing life. Writing depends not just on discipline but also on the complicated
interplay between what we know and what we feel. I've worked as an editor for
just about 30 years (honest
Wholesale China Jerseys , I was really young when I started) and I've noticed there are five key negative feelings or thoughts that tend to shut down our writing --
in much the same way that a circuit breaker shuts down electricity. BOOM and the
lights go out. Often, simply being aware of these thoughts is enough to take
away their power. At other times, it's important to challenge them head-on. So
let's see which ones are disrupting your writing (and therefore taking a bite of
your income) and figure out what you can do about them. 1) I'm a lousy writer; I
don't have the talent to do this. This is probably the most common negative
thought of all. My theory is it's usually born in high school when writing
teachers single out one or two people in the class for praise and use their red
pens too liberally with the rest. (To this day, when I'm editing, I make a point
of never using red to make suggestions or corrections!) And too much of a focus
on grammar and spelling in childhood often mean trouble for the adult writer.
But here's the interesting truth: We're all born lousy marketing writers. The
people who become "good" are the ones who are prepared to do the following
simple things: - Read good writing and work to emulate it; - Write a lot --
because writing is like exercise: the more you do, the better you get; - Spend
double the time on self-editing that they spend on writing. If you discover that
you're constantly bad-mouthing yourself as you write, replace the inner negative
chatter with the following statement: "Writing is about practice. The more I do,
the better I'll get. When I finish this article (letter, report, etc.) I'll have
more experience and I'll have improved." 2) I don't have the time to write This
is one of my favourite negative thoughts because it's so common and sooo easy to
blow out of the water. The writing world is littered with people who quit their
day-jobs so they could work on their books. But here's the secret: The published
novelists and non-fiction writers are almost always the people who continue with
their regular work and write in their spare time. Just as the cactus thrives in
a hot, dry environment
Wholesale Jerseys From China , writing thrives in the absence of time. Yes, you read that correctly. Writing not only can be done quickly; it is better done quickly.
That's partly because, if you're fast enough, you can usually out-run and
out-write the negative chatter in your head. People often make the mistake of
trying to set aside huge chunks of time for writing (especially for reports).
Me? I love writing in 10-minute bursts. Not only does this allow me to get ideas
out of my head and onto paper when they are fresh, but it also gives me a big
payback down the road. That's because when I go back to the document I often
discover my article is much further ahead than I'd realized. No blank page. It's
a great feeling. I do like having a decent chunk of time to self-edit -- a
different task from writing -- but I'm talking maybe 30 to 60 minutes. Not all
day. When you're planning your writing time, think in small increments, not big
chunks. Remember: If you write 300-350 words a day, you'll have written a
decent-length book by the end of a year. 3) I'd better do a really good job on
this (article, report, letter) because my reputationsales results hinge on it.
Of course you want your writing to be good. And of course certain pieces of work
you do can be important to your business or career. But to understand why this
negative line will do you in, it might help to think about professional sports.
Take tennis for example. Do you think Martina Navratilova won a record nine
Wimbledon singles championships and 58 Grand Slam titles by telling
herself Wholesale Jerseys China , "I really need to win this game; if I don't, I'm in trouble." Of course not! I don't know about Martina, but I do know many
professional athletes work with psychologists precisely so they can learn to
turn off this unhelpful chatter. After all, this sort of self-talk is more
likely to cause them to choke than to win. Similarly, when you're writing, you
need to shut down the tiny yet persistent voice that tells you how much you have
riding on this job. Instead, do what the athletes do. Focus on the ball -- in
your case that means: focus on what you're writing. And if that doesn't work,
tell the voice that you don't have time to listen to it while you're writing,
but you'll attend to it when you're editing the piece (when it can't do so much
damage.) 4) I need to write about this topic Truth is, unless you're a
journalist or someone else who writes professionally, there are precious few
topics that anyone is going to force you to cover. Sure you might need to write
a pitch for a bank loan or sales letter to promote your product
Wholesale Jerseys , but if you're writing an article for your e-zine or website, don't be bound by duty. Instead, focus on topics you feel passionate
about. Readers can smell disinterest the way lions can smell a steak. I've seen
too many consultants who start an article by saying to themselves: "This is a
hot topic in my industry right now." Or, "I want the search engines to pick me
up on this one." Or, "People expect me to be an expert on this." Yawn. Instead,
choose a topic that excites you and has you fairly bursting to write. Then think
hard about how to make it relate to your business, your keywords or your target
market. Your enthusiasm will not only captivate your readers, it
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