I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!

Posted on Mar 7, 2009 05:38:21 PM

I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!

I just quit my last paying writing gig. Why? Because I make more money giving my writing away. Yes, that’s right. I make more money giving my writing away than I did selling my articles and columns. In fact I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.

But that’s not even the best part — and I know you experienced writers will understand why this is better than money — I can write whatever I want. I pick my topic and my slant. If I want to be funny or irreverent then I can be funny or irreverent. If I want to melancholy or maudlin then I can be melancholy or maudlin. It just doesn’t matter because I’m writing to suit myself! I am my own boss and my own editor — and I’m making money off my writing.

How? I write for the internet. I have been doing so since 1999 and earning money during the entire time. I have written freelance and under contract for a number of internet publications and ventures as well as publishing my own work.

At first I considered my personal internet writing just something to satisfy my creative urge as I transitioned from full-time writing to full-time teaching, but then I noticed something curious — I was making money.

Today, after a lot of work and study I have discovered the right mix that works well for me — and I decided it just doesn’t pay to keep the writing contract any more. The time I used to satisfy the contract can be far more enjoyably and profitably spent writing on the internet.

What internet venues am I using?

~ Ezines and Newsletters

~ Blogs and RSS feeds

~ Web Sites

~ Articles

How do I make money with these efforts?

~ Selling advertising space in my ezines

~ Selling text links on my web sites and blogs

~ Posting pay-per-click ads on my web sites and blogs

~ Promoting affiliate programs on my web sites and blogs as well as in my ezines and newsletters

It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.

Now go out there and give your writing away!

How Can You Write For Fun And Profit?

Posted on Feb 27, 2009 07:17:56 AM

Every writer dreams of the day when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities abound for writers each method has drawbacks.

Newspaper and magazine reporters can make a good living but their subject matter is often closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be even more lucrative but even more tightly controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?

Forget all those old-school writing methods and focus on the internet. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. You really can profit from writing only about what interests you. Don’t worry about the market or the editors. Write for yourself. Not only will it be more fun and rewarding for your soul but for your checking account as well.

I am going to share an easy (and cheap) 5-step formula that can help you start your own writing business today, but first I want to share one important fact.

This is not a get-rich quick scheme. It will take some time to earn, perhaps as long as three months to begin turning a profit, but if you keep working at it you should see your income grow exponentially each month and you should be able to count on that income and know what you have to do to increase it. You will have total control over your income and that is very powerful.

1. Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one of the many available but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the internet and the real reason you want an internet presence.

2. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which will give you immediate access to something to sell.

3. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as well as customers.

4. Develop your blog. Make 10 your immediate goal then work your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or short stories; or articles.

5. Promote your blog through article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your primarily focus on article marketing as if offers the ability to not only develop links but also delivers traffic plus as a writer it is easy for you to create articles or use a selection of the material you’ve already created for your blog.

Yes, it really is that simple and while you can later grow by buying your own domain name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not need (and likely should avoid) investing money in expensive tools

Getting started on the web can be free (as you see above) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you really need. The simple truth is that you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive tools and programs. In the long run a domain name is a good investment. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don’t need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.

At some point you may decide you want more flexibility and control than a free blog can offer and that is when you will want to run your own site. You can find a good web host for as little as $5 a month and shouldn’t pay more than $20 a month for a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll need to upgrade but by then you’ll know your income and your needs.

Really the only other regular expense that you might consider to make your internet business complete would be a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotion. But this is not necessary to start out and you may decide that it isn’t important to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.

Once you have your blog set up and monetized (by offering ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling text links) then you are in a position to begin profiting from your writing. The way to profit it to increase your traffic so you need to get serious about your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute will generate immediate traffic and create back links for search engine optimization. Also you need to continue to grow your blog by adding fresh content regularly. This will create repeat visitors as well as bring the search engines back again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week will increase your traffic. The more articles and entries you create — the more traffic you will generate.

Once you have found your rhythm with your existing blog you may well decide to branch out and create a second blog on a different or related topic. Now you should be able to work even faster because you are more experienced but likely more motivated as well because you can see just how rewarding it can be to write for fun and profit.

The Most Important Rule Of Writing

Posted on Feb 9, 2009 08:18:20 PM

I just finished a set of conferences with my students which inspired me to write about the most important rule of writing — writing is a process.

So many of difficulties struggling writers face occur when they ignore this simple rule. Once you embrace the fact that writing is a process rather than an event, once you recognize that the more time you give the process to work the better, then not only will writing be easier you will also write better.

Writing is a process. While that process varies somewhat based on the task and the individual writer, the basic steps it includes are the same no matter what.

First is the initial brainstorming process. No actual writing takes place in this step although there may be some note taking or non-stop writing exercises. The more time you give yourself for this process then the easier the next step will be. Experiment with various forms of brainstorming and prewriting to determine which works best for you and your various writing tasks. What may work in one type of writing may not work as well with another. The more you experiment then the more likely you will find the optimum brainstorming process for you.

Second is the drafting process. That first rough draft should be a quick and painless draft. Your main goal at this point is simply to capture the fruits of your brainstorming in one document. Just write until you have tapped your brain. Do not hold yourself back by rewriting, revising, or editing. Do not pause to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice. If you are conscious that you will need to fill in gaps then simply hit return twice (my usual technique) or write in all caps MORE LATER then move on. The important goal at this point is simply to capture your ideas in one place as quickly as possible. It does not have to be pretty and likely it will not be pretty, but it will be done.

Third is the revision process. This should take more than one draft to accomplish. Again, do not spend time worrying about spelling, grammar, punctuation, revising or editing. Fix the obvious errors that are distracting to you as you rework but that is not your main goal. Your main goal with this part of the process is to look at the big picture. Is your thesis clear and well supported? Are your ideas well organized and fully developed? Are there any gaps in the writing or logic? Do your ideas transition well from one to another?

Fourth is the editing process. Now is the time to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice. Zoom in your focus from the big picture to the sentence and paragraph level. This effort may take one or more drafts to polish your writing to the desired level.

If you are creating a more in-depth project then you may also need to add a step between brainstorming and drafting that includes research and organization which would make the writing process include five steps.

The most important part of creating your own individual writing process is to let it evolve as your skill grows. The more you refine and polish your process then the better the work you produce. The key to developing a successful writing process it to give yourself time — time to let your process evolve and time to let your writing develop. This means not to rush the development of your writing process. Let it evolve over many different projects. This also means not to rush your actual writing. Allow days to pass between various stages and drafts. The more time you allow to pass then the more work your subconscious will do for you and the fresher eyes you will be able to bring to the project.

I promise that if you remember the most important rule of writing then you will improve as a writer. Developing your own individual creative process and giving it time to work will make you a better writer.

Self Publishing: Is This The Way To Publish Your Book?

Posted on Jan 28, 2009 07:41:40 PM

Self publishing might be the best way to publish your book. There are several advantages to self publishing that you might not have considered.

First, and most important, self publishing places you firmly in control of your book. When someone else is paying you to publish your book then they make many decisions regarding the editing of the manuscript, the cover, the title and the marketing that can impact not only how well your book will sell but also how it will be received by the reading public. For example, my second book ended up with the title “Kentucky Kisses” simply because my publisher’s marketing department reported that books with the word “kisses” in the title sold well. I felt the title was rather frivolous for the content but my wishes were ignored.

Self publishing is also faster than traditional publishing. With my novel, Kentucky Kisses, it took me over a year to find a publisher interested in buying and several months before we went to contract. Then after the contract was signed it was another 18 months before my book was released to the public. That is a long time to wait.

Self publishing also allows you to retain all the profits from your endeavor. While you may have to put some money up front (depending on the method you use to self publish your book) you will not have to wait for months or years to see income as a result. Most publishers only pay royalties once or twice a year and then those royalties are only a small percentage of the book price. When you self publish your book then once you have covered any publications costs everything you earn is pure profit.

Finally, it cannot be overlooked that self publishing offers you an opportunity to break into print that might not be otherwise available. The simple fact is that traditional publishing is highly competitive and many worthwhile manuscripts (and authors) cannot find a publishing home although there may well be an eager and receptive audience for that book.

It should be noted that self publishing may not be for everyone. If you are still struggling with your writing and voice, or your manuscript still needs polishing, then you should continue to work on your book and perhaps bring in the assistance of a critique group or professional editor. Self publishing a book that is not yet ready for publication could be a costly mistake. If your manuscript has been polished and well received by several critical readers then you should at least consider self publishing your book.

Not only does self publishing offer you the advantages of complete control, faster publication, and higher profits, it is easier and less expensive than it has ever been before thanks to modern technology. Self publishing could be your big break as a writer.

Why Write A Non-Fiction Book

Posted on Jan 13, 2009 10:16:57 PM

The two central pillars in effective personal marketing are the establishment of credibility and the quest for exposure. You could have a large business or you could be an independent professional. You could be selling a product or a service. Regardless why you’re marketing yourself, writing a non-fiction book is one of the best ways to achieve those two pillars.

Writing a non-fiction book is a daunting exercise. But most people don’t understand the extent to which it will change your life forever. Writing your first book happens only once in your life, if ever. And those who have done so will tell you their lives break down into before the book and after the book. Everything changes once you have written your first book.

The title of this article singles out non-fiction books and there’s a reason for that. Authors of fiction works get tremendous benefits from the effort as well but the finished product validates their writing ability and their creativity, nothing else. For the authors of non-fiction books, the finished product validates their writing ability and their personal knowledgebase. In other words, it positions them as an expert in their field. That feeds directly into effective personal marketing, which is the objective behind this discussion.

Once you have written and published your first book, you will forever more be referred to as an author. No longer will you be a regular human being like everybody else. No. From then on, you will be part of an exclusive club. You will be an author. That label will be used in written references to your name. It will be used when introductions are made. And it will be used when people talk about you behind your back.

Being an author comes with an automatic baseline of respect from most of your peers, whether they know you or not. But it comes with more than that. It comes with immediate credibility within the topic. And if you’re in a professional field, the days of justifying your expertise will come to an end. In fact, the days of looking for new clients may come to an end as well.

Books are a tremendous tool to leverage your time. The finished product presents your knowledge in a structured and optimized format. But at the time it is received by the reader, it requires no effort by you. The reader can read your book while you’re on vacation or sleeping. Indeed, you invest the time and energy once but then you reap the rewards over and over again. That allows countless perfect strangers to experience your highest intellect, all at the same time.

Writing a book also opens the door to a variety of other opportunities that might be quite different than your underlying profession. Not only can the book be sold, leaving you with a profit, but it can position you for speaking engagements in your area of expertise. These opportunities can be very profitable and position you as an industry guru rather than an actual practitioner.

Admittedly, some people would prefer not to be such a guru and that’s fine. But writing a book gives you that option. You can choose either path. You can publish the book and remain in the trenches, doing the same work as before except with tremendous new-found credibility, or you can accept the opportunities and redefine your identity around your new position.

Writing a book is a big job to say the least but it will change your life forever. Tactical Execution provides a lot of guidance aspiring authors can use to complete the job and promote the finished product. Please visit the website to take advantage of the resources available there.

How To Be Your Own Editor

Posted on Jan 1, 2009 03:27:52 PM

There is a stigma associated with writers turning to editors for assistance with their work. Some people see outside editing as an unfair advantage, a form of literary cheating. Writers are expected to be able to objectively evaluate their own work. Interestingly, this is exactly the opposite of what one finds in other professions. Witness the famous phrase, ” A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” Let’s not forget, ” A lawyer who represents herself has a fool for a client.” Writers are treated differently from these other professionals, though. Writers are somehow expected to turn in perfect drafts of novels, articles, work reports, and term papers. Their work must be edited before it is turned in. Anything less is considered unprofessional and unacceptable.

Here’s the twist in this story. Best-selling authors, magazine writers, and newspaper columnists all have editors! That’s right, perfection is only required ahead of time from students, business people, and unknown writers. Those who have “arrived” suddenly benefit from editorial guidance and second opinions on their work before it reaches its final audience.

What’s wrong with this picture? What’s a writer who is still in school or hasn’t yet been published to do? One option is to ignore the naysayers. Go right ahead and get help on writing projects before they are submitted. Ask a friend or a relative who has a firm grasp of grammar and writes well if he or she will edit or at least proofread your work. If nobody in your immediate social circle qualifies, there are many people and companies offering proofreading and editing services. If time and budget allow, take advantage of them.

What about when circumstances force a writer to tough it out alone before turning in the work? If you’re forced to take written matters into your own hands, here are the things to look for while acting as your own editor.

• Spelling &ndash Run spell check, but don’t rely on it exclusively. Look up words if you are unsure about them, even if the software approves them. Never think, “That’s close enough,” or “They won’t notice,” or “A few spelling mistakes are acceptable.” If you’ve been the victim of an educational class or system that told you that spelling doesn’t count, then whoever told you that has done you a disservice. Spelling counts!

• Grammar &ndash Many people advise that you make sure what you write matches the way you speak. That will work if you speak correctly all the time. If not, you can easily review grammar lessons online at no cost if you need a refresher.

• Punctuation &ndash Make sure you put in all the apostrophes and quotes necessary. Double check to make sure you ended interrogative questions with question marks. It’s easy to just type a period at the end of all the sentences out of habit.

• Typos &ndash Blame the gremlin that hides in your keyboard if you want to, but fix them anyway. Even though people will probably know what you meant to type, don’t make them guess.

• Clarity &ndash When a writer knows what he is saying, he sometimes overlooks other possible interpretations. “The mother checked on the baby while she was crying.” Who was crying in that sentence? It could be either one of them. “All the tabloids had to say that the Hollywood couple filed for divorce.” Does that mean that there were multiple tabloids and each and every one reported the same story or does that mean that there were no other details available and the tabloids simply had only that one fact to report?

• Consistency &ndash Verify that whenever there are two or more acceptable forms of the same word, the same form should be used every time throughout the piece. Examples to watch for are TV/television and USA/U.S.A/US of A.

• Organization &ndash Make sure your thoughts flow logically and each idea builds upon the one before it. You can’t make your point if nobody can find it!

• Word usage &ndash All forms of communication should fit their audiences. The way a person expresses herself at a Super Bowl party should be different than in a formal written report to her boss.

Scanning your work projects or term papers for these different areas will not only improve the particular assignment on which you’re working, the process sets your brain on the right path for future writing projects as well. Maybe your readers will be saying, “A writer who has himself for an editor just may be on to something.”

Write and Speak(?) for the Ear

Posted on Dec 20, 2008 07:44:04 AM

You and I may not aspire to write great books or make great speeches. But almost all of us want something to happen when we write or speak. And, the more we tailor our words for the ears of readers and listeners, the greater our chances of getting the results we want.

By writing for the ear, I mean that spoken words can have more power than written words. After all, when we have important messages, we prefer to deliver them verbally and personally, rather than by sending a written message.

Of course, it’s not practical or possible to deliver every message verbally. But, if we can capture some of the nuances of the spoken word we can increase the power of our messages. When we write for the ear, our writing undergoes some subtle but important changes. Our words, sentences, and paragraphs change in several important ways.

Consider the number of pauses that occur when we speak. Most of us pause often, more often than when we write. To capture those pauses, use commas or one of the other ’slowing’ punctuation marks, such as colons and semicolons.

Writing for the ear also means shorter sentences. And even fragments of sentences. As you can imagine, speech tends to greater spontaneity than written expression, which means shorter sentences and more fragments.

Many of the same principles hold when we make formal speeches or presentations. Especially if we speak from prepared notes.

Whatever we say, when we speak publicly, has to go in through listeners’ ears. And so, if you’ll allow me to belabor the obvious, we need to write speeches for listeners’ ears, not our mouths.

You can call on many quick and easy techniques. For example, use short words whenever possible. Words such as ‘many’ rather than ‘numerous’; ‘use’ rather than ‘utilize’; and ‘need’ rather than ‘require’.

You can also speak for the ear by using common words rather than jargon or technical words. Step back from your speech, after writing it, and ask yourself if you use words that a child will understand.

We also want vivid words, words that fire up our imagination, that paint new images on the canvases of readers’ minds. Descriptive words that convey action and emotion, words that drive ideas into our heads.

Use active verbs and not passive verbs. Banish words like ‘is’, and ‘are’. Also, check for the word ‘being’ and rewrite to get rid of it. Bring in verbs that do something.

Now that you’ve got the words you want, put them into short sentences. One short sentence. Followed by another short sentence. But, every once in while add a longer sentence for variety and to reduce the chances of boring your audience. And, keep the ideas simple within those long sentences.

I’m biased, I know. After spending the better part of a decade writing and reading radio news copy, I think it’s a good idea to write for the ear.

Try it for yourself. Write something, read it out loud, and ask yourself about the effect it’s likely to have on readers. Re-write as necessary, and read it aloud again. Repeat the process a few times. By the time you finish you should have a well-crafted piece of writing, even if no one ever reads it aloud or hears it spoken.

The Secret To Writing Success

Posted on Dec 14, 2008 09:11:39 PM

I have a friend who has enjoyed a long successful career as a published novelist. More than once we took part in the same panel at a writer’s conference. Whenever it came time to field questions from the audience I came to expect — actually anticipate — that some bright-eyed, eager novice would direct a particular question at my friend. It wasn’t so much the question that I anticipated as her answer.

The question would always be some variation of “What is the secret to your success?” We all knew it would happen and we would always sit back and let my friend handle it. Not only because she was the most successful among us, but because she had the best answer.

My friend would always play to the audience. She’d lean forward conspiratorially, check to make sure the doors were closed, and swear the audience to secrecy. Then she’d repeat the question and pause for a few dramatic heartbeats and answer: “The BIC Method!”

Those of us in on the secret would begin to grin at this point, but it wasn’t until she explained the BIC method that the other writers would get the joke. You see BIC stands very simply for Butt In Chair.

Yes, her writing success is that simple. Placing her bottom on the chair in front of her computer and writing every day — whether or not she was in the mood, whether or not she was motivated, whether or not she was inspired, and whether or not she had a paid writing gig.

Regular writing improves the quality of your writing by giving you the chance to hone your skills and experiment with new methods. Writing regularly also generates greater quantity — in two ways. First, obviously simply disciplining yourself to generate two or four or ten pages a day will quickly add up in quantity, but the more disciplined you become about this regular production the easier it will be to achieve your minimum and you can keep step up your daily goal accordingly.

Improving the quality of your writing and generating more writing projects gives you that much more to market to the reading and publishing public and therefore increases your chances of writing success.

It really is that simple and it really isn’t a secret. Most successful writers know the BIC method is key to their success.

Of course some of those eager-beaver beginners don’t want to believe in the BIC method because it actually involves work and discipline. They’d rather believe it was as simple as dreaming up a catchy pseudonym. But if you have become a writer because you love it then the BIC method is the best possible news. Simply keep on doing what you love and you can make your dreams come true.

The secret to writing faster and with more focus — Writing in your sleep!

Posted on Nov 22, 2008 11:15:46 AM

One of the most powerful tools in my creative arsenal is what I call unconscious creativity.

No, I do not ask someone to brain me with a hammer and I don’t even need to be actually unconscious. This is when I simply allow my unconscious to do all the heavy lifting for me creatively. It is the use of this method that has allowed me to write quickly when working as a newspaper reporter and to generate several books while also working a demanding full-time job and going to school.

This method falls back on the age-old advice to “sleep on a problem”. Have you ever been worried about a decision or struggled to remember something important before bedtime only to wake up the next morning with the answer sharp and clear in your mind as if it was a gift from the gods? It is a gift of sort, but no outside agency delivered it to you. The answer was supplied to you by your greatest creative ally-your subconscious.

Unconscious creativity uses the power of the unconscious mind. The simplest technique is incubation, where after thinking about the challenge consciously for some time, it is put to one side and left for a while. Often a solution will pop into your mind unbidden, as your mind continues to work on the problem below your level of awareness.

The human brain is a beautiful, highly-functional instrument and yet we utilize so little of its power. Our unconscious does amazing things for us. It helps with our daily coordination needed for useful tasks such as walking, eating, breathing, driving. It stores memories for us, it keeps a check on those things that are truly important to us (our values), it reminds us what we believe. Most of the time it does these things (and a myriad more) without us even having to consciously think about it – that’s why it’s called the unconscious, by the way!

However, it does something even more wonderful: it is able to sift and sort vast quantities of data (things we have seen, heard, said, felt, smelt, tasted) and recognize patterns and generate ways of responding. It sometimes does this in wonderfully creative ways. We often overlook the potential of our unconscious mind and instead let it worry about such trivia as our dental hygienist’s name and whether or not we remembered to buy peanut butter. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Using the unconscious as a creative tool is very simple.

Spend some time consciously thinking about your writing task or challenge. What are the parameters of the project? What are the special requirements? What ideas do you have already? What specific questions do you need to work on further? Sometimes even spending some time jotting down the ideas you have is a good idea. Don’t work on shaping or organizing them. Just record them on paper or computer file. You may not even need them later, but the process of recording them can be a helpful way to prepare your subconscious for its task.

Then forget about it! That’s right. Move on with your life and consciously think about something else. Revise another project. Read something for education or pleasure.

The incubation time varies according to your creative personality and of course the size of the project at hand. I’ve found a few days usually works best although even giving myself a few hours can be beneficial. Doing something physical is often helpful during the incubation period and sometimes this is the only time I really get my gardening or housework accomplished!

When I am working on a novel I allow my subconscious to work scene by scene through the book and often when I sit down at the computer I find the words just flow throw me as the scene plays itself in my head almost like a movie. I have heard of several authors who are able to program their dreams so they are literally writing in their sleep. Dreams can be as vivid as a painting, as resonant as music, and as symbolic as poetry. Using this method I can often write a scene a day (sometimes in less than an hour) which is fairly decent progress while simultaneously working full-time and maintaining a life.

While it is often frightening to think about trusting something as important as the writing project of your heart to your subconscious, it might help to remember that your brain is a muscle of sorts. Your unconscious mind controls many muscle functions for you all the time (try thinking about the way that you walk while you actually walk. I always trip when I think too much about the action of walking and yet I don’t trip when I’m not thinking about it.)

The same is true for great athletes. They talk about being in the zone. The zone is simply the place where they can act and react without consciously thinking about what needs to be done. The body and unconscious mind handle all the details. Thinking too hard can actually interfere with the zone and this is true of writing as well. Interestingly, a recent study of professional and amateur golfers showed that the amateur golfers had significantly more conscious activity when playing a shot than did the professionals. I would bet something similar would result if experienced and novice writers were studied.

So give unconscious creativity a try and see how far it takes you. Simply program your subconscious and then leave it alone to incubate for a while. It may take some time to find the method of tapping into your subconscious after your incubation period. For some freewriting or journaling serve to unlock the fruits of your unconscious labor. Usually, I sit myself down and begin the task at hand. It is often slow-going at first but I force myself forward and at some point my subconscious kicks in and the words start flowing and the keyboard starts clicking away.

Best of luck with your writing!