Get Your Creative Juices Going

If you find writing a chore it will come through. You will sound dull and tired and who wants to read that? No-one that’s who.

So here are some ways you can stay fresh and creative

Move

Fed up with sitting at that same desk, at that same computer. Then move. Take yourself to another room, or if you have a laptop get outside. The different view will spark different ideas.

Party

Have an online writing party. Choose a time and get some writing mates together on Facebook or organise a group Skype. Swap ideas and experience and tell stories of why you write.

Compete

There’s nothing like some healthy competition to build motivation. Challenge one of your writing buddies to finish a chapter before you, to publish an article before you, get their next blog post on site before you. You’ll be so busy winning you’ll forget to be bored.

Read

New perspectives, new information. And a new freshness to your prose. So pick up that book you have been meaning to read for ages.

Share

Are you stuck on something. Then share. There will be someone out there who can help.

Tidy-up

I bet you have started writing all sorts of things which you have abandoned. Spend a day digging out your old work and seeing what is worth polishing up for publication.

Google

Take your subject in a new direction. Make a commitment to read one new article or blog about your area every week.

Get feedback

Ask your clients or customers what they think. And listen to what they say.

Keep publishing

To your website, to your blog or a guest blog in a magazine. There are loads of options. You are only a real writer if you are publishing.

Does the rest of your life get in the way of way of your writing projects?

Here’s a secret. Rather than regarding life as a distraction, treat it as your raw material.

Reframe things. Turn them around. Regard them differently. You can use everything else you do to enrich your writing.

I deal with people who are writing to build their business and they often tell me. “I would write more, but I need to see clients or deal with my customers.” One guy told me last week: “I haven’t written anything this week because I have had to research a new treatment for a very challenging client.”

Your clients are your greatest resources

I was banging my head against the wall. You’re researching, you’re learning. YOU’VE DONE MOST OF THE HARD WORK. NOW JUST WRITE ABOUT IT.

If you are writing for a business audience, writing to build your business then your greatest resource is your clients and customers. Ask yourself:

• What do they know?
• What have they told you which you can use in your writing?
• How have they changed what you do?

Try this to get started

Don’t know where to start? Try this. Write about what you did when you first started in your business and compare it to what you do now. You probably have a wealth of material in your notes, journals and diaries. Meet up with people who knew you then. Even better, meet up with people who trained you or worked with you then. Take your phone or a recorder and make a trip down memory lane with them. You’ll get loads of material and I bet some of it will be funny.

Go back and take a look at the products you offered your clients. Were they the seeds of something great or a dead end. Either way you have a story to tell. Trace your journey.

It’s all about you and what you do. You do it, you know it. NOW WRITE IT.

find out more www.professionalwritingservices.com

Let’s kill impostor syndrome for good: 7 promises can do it

”Ooh I couldn’t do that. I’m not important enough to write a book.” Sound familiar? Or perhaps you have written a book but are keeping quiet about it. The shy author is more common than you think.

It’s impostor syndrome raising its ugly head again. 

It’s bad, it’s stopping your success, it’s draining your energy and I want to get rid of it once and for all.

So let’s all promise each other to do these things:

1. Don’t talk yourself down. When someone says: ‘I loved your book,’ DO NOT REPLY ‘Oh, it’s only a little thing.’ Or, even worse: ‘It was my first my next one will be better.’ NO NO NO Practise saying, ‘Thanks I’m glad you like it, I hope you buy it and get your friends to buy it too.’ That will do fine.
2. Smile when someone praises your writing. Then, when you get home write down what they said, and date it. It happened and now you have a record of it.
3. Love and cherish your fans. Some people will love your writing. Thank them and talk to them. Bathe in their admiration. You earned it and you deserve it. Share your work in progress with them. Include them – they will love you even more and you can learn from them.
4. Write and publish. Often. As often as you can. Commit to writing something for publication every week if you can but at least once a month. It doesn’t have to be War and Peace, a blog post or a longish Facebook post about your business will do. You will be telling yourself and others: “I write for publication – see here it is.”
5. Get started. The big embarrassment is not doing it. Want to look like a loser, then go around saying: “Oh I sort of write, one day I’ll do a book.” Ditch this and instead guard your reputation for successful delivery. If you write then publish. Do it once and before you know it, it will be second nature.
6. Find a mentor who has done it.
7. Choose your friends wisely. Ditch those negative people who like being in the ‘group of never finishing’. Leave that group now. Stick with successful people and watch their habits. Ask them what they do and how they do it. Spend time with them, before you know it you will have those successful habits too.
   
   
   

 

 

22@4 �e�g

7 steps to stopping impostor syndrome

writingwithann:

“Ooh I couldn’t do that. I’m not important enough to write a book.” Sound familiar? Or perhaps you have written a book but are keeping quiet about it. The shy author is more common than you think.

Either way it’s impostor syndrome raising its ugly head again.

It’s bad, it’s stopping your success, it’s draining your energy and I want to get rid of it once and for all.

So let’s all promise each other to do 7 things

1. Don’t talk yourself down. Here’s what not to say when someone praises you: ‘Oh, it’s only a little thing.’ Or, even worse: ‘It was my first my next one will be better.’ NO NO NO. Instead say: ‘Thanks I’m glad you like it, I hope you buy it and get your friends to buy it too.’ That will do fine
   
2. Smile when someone praises your writing. Then, when you get home write down what they said, and date it. It happened and now you have a record of it.
   
3. Love and cherish your fans. Some people will love your writing. Thank them and talk to them. Bathe in their admiration. You earned it and you deserve it. Share your work in progress with them. Include them – they will love you even more and you can learn from them.
4. Write and publish. Often. As often as you can. Commit to writing something for publication every week if you can but at least once a month. It doesn’t have to be War and Peace, a blog post or a longish Facebook post about your business will do. You will be telling yourself and the world ‘I write for publication – see here it is.’
   
5. Get Writing and don’t be shy.The big embarrassment is not doing it. How like a loser this sounds:  “Oh I sort of write, one day I’ll do a book.” Ditch that, and instead guard your reputation for successful delivery. If you write then publish. Once you’ve done it once you’ll be doing it all the time.
   
6. Find a mentor who has done it.
   
7. Choose your friends wisely. Ditch those negative people who love never finishing. Stick with successful people and watch their habits. Ask them what they do and how they do it. Spend time with them, before you know it you will have those successful habits too.
   

So keep your head held high and enjoy your writing.

 

 

“: �~�g

7 steps to stopping impostor syndrome

“Ooh I couldn’t do that. I’m not important enough to write a book.” Sound familiar? Or perhaps you have written a book but are keeping quiet about it. The shy author is more common than you think.

Either way it’s impostor syndrome raising its ugly head again.

It’s bad, it’s stopping your success, it’s draining your energy and I want to get rid of it once and for all.

So let’s all promise each other to do 7 things

1. Don’t talk yourself down. Here’s what not to say when someone praises you: ‘Oh, it’s only a little thing.’ Or, even worse: ‘It was my first my next one will be better.’ NO NO NO. Instead say: ‘Thanks I’m glad you like it, I hope you buy it and get your friends to buy it too.’ That will do fine
   
2. Smile when someone praises your writing. Then, when you get home write down what they said, and date it. It happened and now you have a record of it.
   
3. Love and cherish your fans. Some people will love your writing. Thank them and talk to them. Bathe in their admiration. You earned it and you deserve it. Share your work in progress with them. Include them – they will love you even more and you can learn from them.
4. Write and publish. Often. As often as you can. Commit to writing something for publication every week if you can but at least once a month. It doesn’t have to be War and Peace, a blog post or a longish Facebook post about your business will do. You will be telling yourself and the world ‘I write for publication – see here it is.’
   
5. Get Writing and don’t be shy.The big embarrassment is not doing it. How like a loser this sounds:  “Oh I sort of write, one day I’ll do a book.” Ditch that, and instead guard your reputation for successful delivery. If you write then publish. Once you’ve done it once you’ll be doing it all the time.
   
6. Find a mentor who has done it.
   
7. Choose your friends wisely. Ditch those negative people who love never finishing. Stick with successful people and watch their habits. Ask them what they do and how they do it. Spend time with them, before you know it you will have those successful habits too.
   

So keep your head held high and enjoy your writing.

 

 

 

“: �~�g