Getting Down To It - Dealing With Writer's Block

Dealing with Writer's Block

Today, writers have to find new ways to get their material out. The phenomenal growth of the ebook industry is no accident. This new medium of distribution is fast, efficient and extremely profitable.

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If you want to start your new business of selling words, the same words, over and over again without lifting a finger when it's done, then you have to start right now.

Maybe you've already started, or is it still just an idea? Maybe you just can't keep at it or the finish line seems too far away. Either way, it can be frustrating when your "get-up-and-go" gets up and, well, goes!

It happens to all writers. The dreaded "writer's block," the equally troublesome "information block." Or, worst of all, the "I don't have anything worth saying" block.

The last type of block is truly the worst impairment to completing your ebook, as it can be damaging to your confidence. Anyone - I repeat, anyone - has a story to tell. You have a story to tell. We all do!

Unless you're Dr. Wayne Dyer who writes all his books with pen in hand on a pad of paper in a continuous stream of consciousness, you will have to find alternative ways to get those pages done.

Here are several ways to keep the words coming:

Points to Paragraphs to Pages

In my last ebook, Simple Forex Solution(TM), I had a section explaining "moving averages" and how to apply them to currency trading charts. I knew the information very well as I had used this chart analysis technique for years trading stocks and currencies.

The problem was I had never attempted to explain it to anyone else. I avoided that section of my ebook for some time. I knew it had to be done, but I kept procrastinating.

The longer I waited, the worst my anxiety got. Finally, I sat down to take a stab at it and in doing so, developed a way to put it all together that I now use regularly.

I decided to make a simple point form list of all the key ideas and information I needed to explain. I jotted them all down as quickly as possible, taking no breaks.

I didn't care what order they were in; I just wrote them down on paper one after the other. If I remembered more items, points or details, I just added them to the end of the list.

Before long, I had two pages of points I needed to make. I looked over the list and deleted a few points I could do without. It's easier to add while you are on a roll, then delete what you don't need later.

When I had all the points I needed, I took out a fresh sheet of lined paper and rewrote these points in the order I thought they should be presented, as best I could.

I spaced each point out with two or three lines in between. I thought about how I would use this summary of steps if I were presenting this topic verbally to a class.

How could I present it in an interesting and engaging way?

The idea of "moving averages" can be a pretty dry subject, so I endeavored to add some flavor where I could.

I looked at each of these points and wrote one or two sentences in the spaces below that explained the point.

For example:

End of Day Data

The End of Day data is the closing price of the stock or currency. Many moving average curves use this figure and a set of figures from the days before to help plot the curve on a chart.

Approaching your ebook in this way makes the blank page less daunting. Simply break it down to the essentials and slowly expand each point.

Don't be too concerned about the flow of the points yet. Just add a few sentences to each point and before you know it, you've written a few pages and have developed a good structure for that section.

Don't edit as you go; just get it down. Editing is for later... much later. Once you have gone as far as you can, I suggest that you take a break to get some perspective and distance yourself from the material before looking it over again.

The World at Your Fingertips

For the "Information Block" problem, consider yourself the luckiest writer alive because never in history has so much information been available so quickly and cheaply. The internet and libraries contain almost everything you need on every topic imaginable.

Let's say your ebook topic deals with Starting a Small Lawn Care Business for Exercise and Profit. Even using just the Yellow Pages, it can be fast and easy to investigate all the lawn care businesses in your area or the national chains, to see what they do and how they do it.

No need to reinvent the wheel here. Look for a few simple ways to make improvements or some new innovative ideas to make your business idea unique.

See what new things similar service business are doing and adopt those to lawn care. Remember, the bestselling ebooks deal with ways to make money. Those are the best ones selling anywhere!

Keep it Familiar

And finally, write about something you enjoy and know about. You don't have to sit down for hours on end. Try writing just an hour per day, preferably in the morning when your mind is fresh. Increase the time if you feel you are getting on a roll.

If you are interested in developing into a full-time serious writer, I can recommend several books and ebooks on the topic at my website listed below. Just don't substitute your writing time for your reading time or your ebook will never get done.

This is a habit with which I still struggle. I take too much time out from writing to read, justifying to myself that I'm still doing research.

I keep a very small pocketsize notepad and pen with me at all times. You should do the same. You never know where you'll be when a good idea hits you. If you don't write it down, it may be lost forever.

Here's a little rule you can adopt: All new ideas must be written down immediately, no exceptions. Use the back of a napkin at a restaurant if you have to.

Respond quickly to any sudden inspiration to write. Look at this as a gift that if you fail to accept will disappear. The urge may not last if you put it off.

And lastly, don't stop if you get on a roll; go with it until you are exhausted if you can. Don't question it; just submit to these moments of inspiration.

Getting Down To It - Dealing With Writer's Block

Article by Kent Douglas, author of “The eBook Pocket Guide: Write & Publish your eBook & Create a Site that Sells.” To learn how you too can succeed in writing and self-publishing, please visit [http://www.eBookPocketGuide.com]

Strategic Self Management - Motivation 1 - Recession 0

Throughout history, man has been studying motivational training but to date motivation is still a very complex and misunderstood word. We easily go from an energy state of high motivation to spiraling into a total realm of negativity just based upon the information we receive, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. We can be highly charged and energized one minute and feel flat and deflated the next by this outside stimuli. For example sending out our resumes searching for a job we feel we are perfectly fit to accomplish but upon hearing a negative response or no response we can easily fall into the psychological state of panic.

We can develop thoughts of worry (What if I can't get a job? What if nobody hires me?). We can develop the fear of the unknown (How will I pay my mortgage? How will I care for my children?). Loss of motivation based upon an outside event triggering our raw emotions thus interfering in our ability to move forward.

\"business Ideas\"

Perhaps we have a great business idea only to find looks of disbelief by family and friends who have underrated our talents, skills, and abilities immediately throwing us back into the state of uncertainty and feelings of inadequacies from the discouragement of lack of support. Either way easily influenced by society making it particularly difficult to maintain our self-motivation. Each of us must determine our own level of motivation based upon previous life conditioning and experiences in order for us to remain in control. For this reason alone, we must look inside for what we want for our true selves.

"Know thyself" the Greek Philosophy and "to thine own self be true" are statements that have been around for centuries and are powerful in assisting in reminding us to identify what inner form of spirit we could rely on to develop our life long goals. It is evident nobody can do the work for you so determining your inner yearning is of utmost importance! After all, it is your life, your thoughts, your motive, your reason.

Forms of motivation include working for pay raises, building dream homes, raising a healthy family, working for the good of humankind, investment, self-employment, higher learning, respect, integrity, credibility. The list and reasons for why we do things is endless and requires deep internal processing by each of us in order for us to sustain our drive of personal action.

During the trying times it is critical we protect ourselves from the onslaught of negativity. We must instead force ourselves to focus on identifying what we want, why we want it and what we need to do in order to get there as this is the difference between whether we will increase our energy towards the accomplishment of our deepest desires or not. This is the critical key. It is our desires not others.

The good news is self-motivation is clearly that. It is the self. It is you. It is your thought energy. The only true power you hold in this world is by your thoughts. You are the provider of your perception. It is your responsibility to provide action towards your goals from the motive of reason determined by you. It is your motive for action, which will drive and sustain you through the difficult times in your life. Motivation is merely your thought energy, your reason for being which in turn shifts into physical action.

So how do you self-motivate in times of recession? How do you go on with your dreams and your life when your home is about to be for-closed on, or you find yourself lacking in a job, perhaps your spouse has left or any other major life altering event due to the recession? How do you cope with the additional burden of job responsibility with the cutbacks and having to do two jobs in place of one?

First, you have to come to terms with how you feel about what is occurring. You have to allow your emotions to go through the cycle of healing. If you do not take this vital time at some point later you will find what you suppressed will be expressed in the least opportune time. Go ahead and feel bad now. Try not to struggle with it just feel your emotions.

Take the necessary time to deal with these sentiments. It is okay to be angry, disappointed, scared, depressed, numb, anxious, worried, fearful, or any other emotion you are feeling. It should tell you, you are alive! Give yourself all the time you need to sort through your challenges. The important part is that you work through the emotions yourself so that you come to terms with it and come out with a clearer understanding as to what you really want.

Be vigilant of your surroundings to prevent from being, unduly influenced by others for when we are at a low emotional state, we are at a very high level of sensitivity for influence. We must take care that the choices we make in our lives are truly ours and not for the satisfaction or gratification of others.

Another critical key is to separate yourself from others viewpoints while identifying new strategies for your future. Redefining your own motivation based upon your own individuality. At this stage, if you rely too heavily on the influence of others, you run the risk of living your life as others would see for you instead of living the life pre-determined by you.

Try taking long walks, meditating, or simply sitting with your worries and staring into space. Silence will help you to identify what is truly important to you in your life. It will help you to clear some of the ghosts, which no longer work for you. Sit as quiet as you can until you start to hear the strength of your own internal voice guiding you in a more positive direction.

What you will experience is your real self. You will hear your own words telling you what you really want in your life. Take care to be gentle with yourself and allow yourself the opportunity to explore these ideas. Go ahead and write down anything you feel has value to you. You will soon see a pattern begin to emerge.

Soon you will find one of your ideas will create a spark of excitement in the form of renewed energy within you. Follow this idea and learn as much as you can. Do everything humanly possible to learn everything you can about it. By doing this you are fueling the embers of a fire stirring deep within and suddenly you know what you have to do and why you are doing it.

Once this has occurred you are ready to kick yourself in the butt and start back into life. You will find your focus will attract to you everything you need to accomplish your vision.

I have personally found it extremely helpful to start an exercise program at this point. I find exercise helps to strengthen against attacks of negativity, which can greatly drain the young fresh spiritual ideas you are developing. By implementing a solid exercise program into your life, you increase oxygen to your brain allowing for increased focus, concentration, and stamina for your new founded ideas to take shape.

Add to it vitamins and a nutritional program and you are now ready to run 24/7 inspired with high energy and ready to realize your new dreams. As you take your life back into control, you feel a powerhouse of energy develop within you. This is motivation!

For more information on Time Management and Goal Setting strategies visit: http://www.strategicselfmanagement.com

Good luck and may all your hopes, dreams and wishes be turned into motives for action.

Strategic Self Management - Motivation 1 - Recession 0

Marianne, the owner and founder of Ontario Home Care Assist, works with the elderly to assist them in maintaining their independence in their own homes for as long as possible. For more Senior information and free downloads go to [http://www.OntarioHomeCareAssist.com]

Best Online Business Ideas to Start an Internet Business

The tried and true ideas are some of the best online business ideas to start an internet business with. Even if you are new to trying to earn money on the internet with you have probably heard about selling things on Craigslist or eBay. But you may not be familiar with affiliate marketing or making money with blogging. Those that master either of these two avenues for making money can make a great living and can even become rich doing so.

As with any business venture you will need to determine what you have the ambition, desire, and passion to do everyday. You'll also want to set goals that are realistic. You will need to consider the nuts and bolts of businesses such as eBay or Craigslist if you want to sell using them. You probably have some "stuff" around your house right now that will sell but what will you do after those are gone?

\"business Ideas\"

With research you can determine what the hot items are and buy those cheaply yourself to then resell. But do you have the storage? What about shipping and handling? There are some great training materials available online to assist you in getting started.

Affiliate marketing is for those who would rather just promote products of other companies without the hassle of dealing directly with customers. This again will take some research to determine the best products to promote.

There are a lot of things to consider when coming up with products to promote. What niche are you most interested in? Will you get your own website to direct customers to first or will you strictly supply a link to the company who's offering the product?

There are pros and cons of both but long term you'll benefit the most by having your own website. This way you've captured the information (names and email address) of those showing interest in the product. You can then contact them in the future with other promotions.

In considering the products to promote it will be important that you find quality items that do what they say they will do. For example there are a lot of affiliate eBooks for sale that really only give basic information that someone could find easily on their own. And many do not offer true solutions to problems.

On the other hand there are thousands of great products that give you a chance to earn 50% to 80% commissions. Part of your research will be determining what products have the best chance to sell and finding out what your commissions will be. Blogging has become another way to promote products and any other business you have. Blogs are very easy to set up and enable you to find a target audience to drive to your site.

Best Online Business Ideas to Start an Internet Business

Cynthia Minnaar invites you to generate income online with the best online business ideas she will share with you. Her website will demonstrate a proven way to start an online business that can work for you.

Performance Appraisals - 5 Key Strengths to Highlight

Performance appraisals, performance reviews, performance feedback - they all refer to the same process that is very much part and parcel of working in large organizations. That doesn't mean that smaller companies do not conduct performance appraisals, but they tend to do it less formally.

Performance feedback is clearly a necessary evil, as it allows a company to reward and recognize its best employees to motivate them further. For employees who aren't performing at optimum levels, it provides a structured way of working with the employees to raise their performance.

\"business Management\"

From an employee' perspective, it is thus critical to ensure that your performance appraisals capture the best of your work during the period under review. The performance appraisal form becomes a permanent record that will have an impact on your career not only in the same organization, but may also be used as reference if requested by a future employer.

Obviously the most important thing to include in your performance feedback is achievement of your business goals or metrics. List down the key metrics and provide supporting evidence on how you achieved those goals. Include also challenges or obstacles that you managed to overcome.

Regardless of the industry, company or role you're in, incorporate the following 5 key strengths in your performance appraisals. There is great emphasis on these values as they form the foundation for a company's corporate culture, and are critical for its survival and long-term growth.

Key Strength # 1: Focus on customer satisfaction - describe how you contribute to increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty for the company's long-term growth.

Key Strength # 2: Teamwork and collaboration - highlight how you build lasting relationships with other teams and work collaboratively to achieve common goals.

Key Strength # 3: Open communications - emphasize your willingness to listen to new ideas, or to adopt alternative approaches

Key Strength # 4: Interpersonal skills - stress your ability to work with all levels within the organization

Key Strength # 5: Adaptability to change - illustrate how you're able to adapt in the face of constant changes in the organization or industry

High ratings in these areas will enhance your technical or functional expertise, and will make you a more valuable player within the organization.

Performance Appraisals - 5 Key Strengths to Highlight

David A. Russell is the author of the Phrases for Performance Appraisals Resource Guide, which helps professionals prepare and submit well-written performance appraisals. More information about the resource guide is available at: http://www.PhrasesForPerformanceAppraisals.com