Archive for the ‘writer's block’ Category

How To Banish Your Inner Critic

Thursday, August 9th, 2007

In a handy little piece of cross-site promotion, I’m referring y’all to my other blog today. I wrote there about an exercise you can use to rid yourself of your inner critic. It’s just as applicable to writing as it is to envisioning a new career (my other job is Career Transitionist at Fog to Fire).

Even your friendly neighborhood blog coach suffers from inner critic bullshit sometimes. I’m susceptible to believing my writing is boring, incorrect, repetitive, blah blah blah. My inner critic can get quite the rant on, actually. So check out what I do when I’m tired of hearing from him: How To Keep Your Inner Critic from Becoming a Bully.

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How Four Words Can Make You a Great Writer

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

I know you’ve been looking for it all along–the magic potion that will make your writing sparkle and pull clients from their couches. After months of study on this subject, I have the answer for you. Are you ready?

The secret to writing posts that grab clients is just this: love what you do.

I don’t mean “like it a lot,” or “be pretty good at it.” I mean LOVE it. When you are passionate about your work, all the little grammar issues and style technicalities will pale in comparision. People are drawn to those who are passionate about their work and ideas.

If you’re having a lot of trouble getting your posting or web copy off the ground, consider whether you’re really tapping into that place inside yourself where your abilities and your passions intersect. After all, why should your customers fall in love with your service if you don’t love it yourself?

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How Knowing Your Writing Personality Type Helps You Conquer Writer’s Block – Part 2

Friday, January 12th, 2007

In my last post, I talked about the difference between introversion and extroversion and how that knowledge applies to dealing with writer’s block. Another component of the “writing personality type” is your learning style, or how you learn best.

Here are a few questions that can help you determine your preferred learning style. Pick the answer that best describes you, and keep track of the number you pick for each.

By doing which of the following do you learn best?

  1. feeling
  2. doing
  3. watching
  4. thinking

Which of these statements is truest for you when you learn?

  1. I feel personally involved in things.
  2. I like to see results from my work.
  3. I take my time before acting.
  4. I like considering ideas and theories.

Do you learn best when you:

  1. rely on your feelings?
  2. can try things out for yourself?
  3. rely on your observations?
  4. rely on your ideas?

Awareness of your preferred learning style will help you figure out what exercises will be the most successful in helping you conquer writer’s block. See the answer key below to determine your style and what interventions would work best for you.

Answer key:

Mostly 1s means you probably learn best from concrete experience. Some good ideas for beating your writer’s block include doing a petition drive for a worthy cause supported by your target market (eg Phoenix Rudner, the Seattle House Hound, could collect signatures to help prevent the untimely deaths of shelter animals), joining a Toastmasters club, or going to a local event frequented by your clients (eg a naturopath could visit a weekend farmer’s market).

Mostly 2s means you probably learn best from active experimentation. A few blockage-beating ideas for you include going to the weekly improv dojo at Jet City Improv (you might even meet me there), attending a workshop relevant to your clients or to blogging in general, or start up a practice blog anonymously to write about anything you want.

Mostly 3s means you probably learn best from reflective observation. A couple ways to get the ideas flowing for you include attending a debate or panel on a topic important to your target market, visiting a current or former client’s event (eg a massage practitioner who targets graphic designers could attend Design Kompany’s art gallery showing), or reading some magazines pertinent to your target market.

Mostly 4s means you probably learn best from abstract conceptualization. Several recommendations to get your thoughts moving include meditating on your ideal client (their appearance, hobbies, language, etc), joining an online forum visited by your clientele, or getting your body moving through a brain-engaging class like NIA.

 

NOTE: This brief quiz was just a sample to help you think about your learning style as it applies to your needs as a writer/blogger. To get a better understanding of your learning style, you can take the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, from which this was adapted.

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How Knowing Your Writing Personality Type Helps You Conquer Writer’s Block – Part 1

Thursday, January 4th, 2007

When a colleague suggested to me that I write something up about how to conquer writer’s block, I protested. I told him that it all depends on the type of person experiencing the blockage, which was a revelation to me at that moment. (This story is a prime example of writing lubrication, which I’ll explain more below.) One answer will not fit everyone, despite the claims of Dummy books or quick-solution websites.

You’ve likely heard about the concepts of introversion and extroversion, Are you in or out?which has to do with your social interaction. There’s some misinformation out there about introverts and extroverts. Your type actually has little to do with how you act around people. Some introverts can be the life of the party, and some extroverts are actually very shy. The key to this personality type is about gaining or losing energy in the company of other people.

  • When you’ve just spent a few hours hanging out with a couple close friends, how do you feel?

If you are tired, or drained, or just feel ready to get home and have some quality solo time, you are likely an introvert. If you feel keyed up, energized, or like you wish the night could go on forever, you’re likely an extrovert.

How does this apply to writer’s block? Well, some blockage-removing exercises are very isolated and some are social. I’m a big extrovert–I jive on chatting with people–so the best thing I can do when I’m blocked is to go get tea with a friend or colleague who will get me chatting. This is where the story at the beginning comes into play. The concept of a writing personality type came to me out of that conversation with my colleague, and it motivated me to write this post.

Here are a few exercise ideas that both types may find useful. The best way to use these exercises is to do any of the following, then free write (write without form, structure, or the critic) about the experience.

Introverts:

  • read an inspiring or provocative book/magazine/blog
  • write about anything for 20 straight minutes without editing or setting a plan ahead of time
  • attend an art show in person or online
  • work on a craft or a project entirely unrelated to writing
  • attain an elevated mental state, for instance via meditation

Extroverts:

  • get together for a generative conversation (an hour or more) with someone as smart, if not smarter, than you
  • call a close friend and talk about your business, your passion, or whatever fires you up at the moment
  • meet with someone you don’t know from your networking group with the intention of thoroughly investigating each other’s businesses
  • get into an online chat room on a topic you’re passionate about
  • attend a mind-expanding conference

If you know your social type (introvert or extrovert) and what has worked in the past to get past your blockage, email me or comment on this post. 

To learn more about this dimension of personality, you can visit the Myers-Briggs site or take the Myers-Briggs test online. You’ll get the best results by paying a service to provide you with a test, score it, then teleconference with you about the results.

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What’s Your Blockage?

Monday, January 1st, 2007

I got a request recently to talk about a specific writer’s block issue, and I was a little stumped. The specific issue wasn’t one that I have much experience with. Before you think I’m acting superior, let me be clear. I have my own issues that I grapple with, and those are usually what I address in this blog. But everyone’s demons are a little different. So here’s my invitation: I would love to hear from you, my readers.

  • What does writer’s block look like/feel like for you?
  • What is your biggest struggle with writing?

Please feel free to submit your thoughts either by commenting on this post (which you can do anonymously if you prefer) or by emailing me directly (rachel@writewithmeaning.com).

 

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You Gotta Get Dirty to Sparkle in the End

Monday, December 18th, 2006

When you want to clean your home, you have to start with one thing…maybe it’s pulling out the dust cloths and beginning with the tv or it’s carting the shower spray into the bathroom. However you begin, two things are always true: 1) if you sit and think about all there is to do, you get overwhelmed and Dirty Homenothing gets done, and 2) you always start building momentum by getting a little dirty. At the end of the job, you’ll have sweat all over and gotten dust in your eye, but the house smells fresh and you feel relieved.

This metaphor applies to writing, of course. If you stare at the blank page and think about all the points you want to make and how everything needs to weave together, you’ll stymie yourself into a corner where there is no safe place to begin. You can’t begin to write by thinking about everything that needs to be done. You have to start with one word, then one sentence, and so on. Give yourself the freedom to get a little dirty in your drafting process…you can clean up all the loose bits later.

My process, for instance, can be somewhat haphazard. The longer the document I’m working on, the messier it is while I compose it. Every time I have a new thought, I space down a couple lines and type whatever I need to remember it later. Then I move back up to the sentence I was originally composing. I end up with pieces of thoughts all over the screen, which I then work in, rewrite, or delete all together as I get further into the piece. This is just one way to draft, though. It works for me. Through trial and error, you’ll need to figure out what works for you. If you have any suggestions, feel free to submit them via a comment, or email them to me to add.

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Blogging Anxiety–You Don’t Have To Be Famous

Thursday, December 7th, 2006

A colleague of mine confided to me that she was awestruck by sheer mass of blog posts on the web, especially on some of the well-known sites. “I’ll never catch up,” she said, mournfully. I suspect a few of my dear readers are also a bit cowed when they surf around and see people who post brilliantly every day. Here’s the thing, though: those guys do that for a living. I mean, that’s a full-time job and they’ve become personalities through their blogging. Unless your goal is to become nationally renowned, don’t worry about trying to be like John Gruber, Seth Godin, or Bob Parsons. (No links this time–I want to decrease the anxiety!)

A new author who compares himself to Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code), for instance, is highly unlikely to get any words on the page. The bar is just set too damn high. Nobody ever writes well when they’re pressuring themself for results. Luckily, you don’t need to be famous in order to be successful.

If you are writing for your business, most likely you’re doing it to demonstrate your credibility to potential customers. That’s all you need to worry about. You’re writing for a much smaller audience, which makes your job a lot easier. Also, your primary job, unlike the bigwig bloggers, is to do what you do best–acupuncture, real estate, coach, etc. Remember that, for you, writing is just a means to an end (ie getting more customers for what you actually love doing). You don’t need to be a Writer or Blogger; just be yourself. Be a person who is passionate about your business and let the writing flow from there.

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Stop Trying to Sound Smart

Friday, October 6th, 2006

Ready for another ice skating metaphor? Ever watch the Olympics and see a skater with a furrowed brow whose every step seems fraught with tensed energy? They usually either fall at some point, or they get high technical scores and low artistic scores. Why? ‘Cause they’re trying too hard.

I see the same issue in many different sports, from rock climbing to golf. And I believe it applies to other skills, including writing. If you’re trying too hard to impress people or to force a sentence to work or to use all the ten-dollar words possible, people are going to notice. Don’t try to sound smart. The beauty in great writing or ice skating or rock climbing is in making it look effortless.

“Great,” you might be saying, “so I just need to be brilliant without trying to sound brilliant. That’s simple.” Don’t get discouraged, Mr. Sarcasm. I know it sounds nigh impossible, but it’s not. The key is to relax and let go of the idea of perfection. Start by trying not to worry so much about your reader judging you; just say what you want to say.

“What if I DO want to sound smart, though?” you might ask. Alright, here’s the recipe: step one is to have something interesting to say. Step two is to practice saying it well. In other words, engage your creative mind and write a draft, then bring in your critic to revise and revise it again. As Anne Lamott says in her novel Bird by Bird:

I know some very great writers…who write beautifully…and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.

Making great, smart writing look effortless takes a lot of practice, a lot of balance, and a lot of intuition. You attain balance by practicing. You develop intuition by practicing. And surprisingly enough, you learn to practice by (you guessed it) practicing. 

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The Critic and the Creative Mind

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

I sit here for a good ten minutes, trying to begin this post. I write a sentence or two, then scroll back to delete them. I stare at the blank screen with my thoughts boinging around like errant ping-pong balls.

Sound familiar? It’s usually called “writer’s block.” Like the common cold, everyone finds themselves susceptible at some point in their lives. And also like with the common cold, everyone has a different remedy. My remedy is to look at it like a battle between my inner critic and my creative mind.

There are times when I’ve got something to say and it just flows from me into the keyboard. Other times, I have an idea, but every time I start to write, it gets murky. My creative mind has a little spark, and my critic runs over and douses it with water: “It won’t work that way. That sounds stupid. How cliche. This is really awkward.”

How can anyone create under those circumstances? The critic has his uses–he’s great at editing and spellchecking, for instance–but he sucks at generating ideas. My solution, and the solution I pass along to my clients, is to send the critic out of the room. The critic will always win the war with the creative mind, because he shouts louder and he fights dirty. Whatever it takes for you to shut him up, whether it’s duct-taping his mouth or sending him to the zoo to tell the zebras they have too many black stripes, do it.

Silencing your inner critic is crucial to the drafting process. The creative mind is a sensitive entity, but the longer you give it the floor, the more confidence it will have to suggest daring, unique, and beautiful ideas. Give your creative mind the permission to speak freely, and the sparks will fly.

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