Writer's Block? No Try Perfectionism!

Writer's block the bane of all creative people. Yes we have all experienced it and wondered why it is happening to us at such a critical time in our project?

Of course I am a writer so I am talking about "Writer's Block", but I have noticed my wife who quilts and paints also suffers from the same malady, so I am using it as a generic term that can be applied to any and all artists who seem to have hit a roadblock in their creative project.

But does "Writer's Block" really exist or is it a symptom of something bigger and more ominous?

What exactly happens during these periods? Well as for me, it seems that I just can't seem to get anything down on paper (er I mean computer screen) and I have this vast feeling of inadequacy. It is as if I feel that I have lost the will to write. Also it seems that everyone else in the world is doing fine, but I just can't seem to please anyone, and what's the use anyway. I am sure all of you sometime or another has felt this way, but we all overcome it sooner or later, or we give up all together.

But what, if anything, is the root cause? Are we really inadequate? Can we ever write (paint, sculpt etc) again? What can we do to overcome this problem?

Well the answer to the second question is a definite NO. The answer to the third question is depends upon how we deal with the problem and if we really want to create again. The first and fourth questions deserve more scrutiny.

What is the root cause of "Writer's Block"? Simple it's just plain old "Perfectionism". Yes we try so hard to please others and we don't really stay true to ourselves. We try to come up with that "perfect" phrase, word, idea that will wow the public that we forget why we are writing in the first place. For when we try too hard, we tend to force things and that is when the quality of our work suffers. The public knows it, and so do we. In fact because of the drive to perfectionism, we start to feel that we don't measure up. We get the feelings of inadequacy, and then we just stop. We are frozen in our terror of self-doubt and over-thinking ourselves. You see this all the time in the world of sports or other competitions. A competitor or player who definitely has talent all of a sudden appears to have forgotten what they are doing and "chokes". Does that ring a bell? Of course it does because that is what happens to us when we are overcome by "Writer's Block". Just as the competitor tries to compete in a "perfect" manner, we try to write in a perfect way.

Ah great you say, but what can be one about it? Is there a cure? Yes to both questions. There is a simple and easy answer. Easy in the sense that it is obvious, but difficult to put into operation if you can't get your mind around it.

Write, create, "just do it", "git 'r dun", whatever phrase you want to use, just get out there and write (paint, sculpt, etc). Sure you may not write a masterpiece, but the action you are doing will give you confidence you need to continue on. You might even surprise yourself at what you have created. Taking action is what overcomes this fear, and after all that is what perfectionism is, just a fear of not being good enough. But guess what, nobody is perfect and one can't be perfect all the time. Let yourself be "almost good enough", and you will find that what you produce is fantastic.

I have more to say, but I just can't think of it at the moment....

Come back next time for more tips, tricks and techniques to assist you in your writing,marketing and sales efforts. Remember we're all in this together and I'm pulling for you.

Mahalo.

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Using Time As Your Will Writing Ally

When you sit down to write there are two powerful time tools you can call upon: the obsession and the deadline. Both are useful and if used right they will help you get the kind of results you want. However each should be used at different times and for different occasions. If you do use them, you’re almost guaranteed you’ll never have any problem writing that book of yours and more than likely in record time. But if you're new to writing and you’re just learning how to write a book you may not be as familiar with them as you’d like, and not know how or when to use them correctly and to your advantage. Here’s some tips on how using them and the amazing results you can expect to get with each.

First there's “The Obsession”. This has nothing to do with some muse sitting on your shoulder or the mythical wonder of inspiration. Let's say that several months ago, just for a fleeting second or two, a thought popped into your head that you’d decided to write a book about it someday. Perhaps you had the topic or story idea all fleshed out in your mind and you knew exactly what you wanted to say.

And then, POOF, the moment was gone. Just like that.

Then a few weeks later, out of the blue, the thought to write a book came back but this time it lingered for a minute or so. A month after that, it was a 15- 20-minute daydream. Now it has become all you can think of. You’re driven by who knows what, but when you wake in the morning, it’s on your mind, and it stays there even after you fall asleep, haunting your dreams. This is the obsession of writing your book you need.

The result of this process is almost magical. One day you’ll sit down and you’ll arise, refreshed, a few days later, with your entire book completed.

How do you bring this obsession about? It’s not difficult. After you’ve finished reading this article, just think about the book you want to write, if only for a few seconds. Write it down on a scrap of paper or even better a “to-do list”. Tomorrow, remind yourself to do the same. As well as the day after that, and the day after that.

Each time, think about your book for a longer and longer period. After just a few days, you’ll start to see that the thoughts are coming by themselves, now. And you’re giving them more and more time.

Don’t write, just think. Watch as the thoughts become an interest, the interest into a passion and the passion into an obsession.

This is the kind of technique I hear about when other writers tell me they couldn’t believe it but they just sat down and before they knew it, the book was writing itself and without thinking about it, it was nearly half done, or even completely done.

Now on to the deadline for writing your book. Here’s the logic behind this strategy. If you give someone all the time in the world to do something, how long does it usually take them? That’s right, all the time in the world.

Giving yourself until next week to accomplish something is a good start, but I’ve learned that the shorter the deadline, the more impending the goal, the easier it will be to accomplish that goal.

So, instead of saying that you’ve got to finish your book in a few weeks, or this chapter in three days, I tell myself that I have an immediate deadline of five minutes to produce 200 words. I’ll be able to master that only if I have a substantial blueprint for my book, and if I write (er.. type) as quickly as I physically can. If you write 200 words in five minutes, you’ve got a 10-page chapter in just 75 minutes of writing. That’s progress.

Start using time as you’re ally, rather than your enemy. If you can master either of these techniques, you can write your book faster than you ever thought possible. If you get control of the time factor you will make it happen if you let yourself.

Come back next time for more tips, tricks and techniques to assist you in your writing,marketing and sales efforts. Remember we're all in this together and I'm pulling for you.

Mahalo.

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Writing Historical Fiction - George Washington Slept Where?

Ah as fiction readers and writers we all dream of far off exotic lands, interesting places and scenarios to explore, and fascinating people who live more exciting lives than we do (I am not sure but I don't think I ever read about James Bond sitting in his PJ's eating pizza at his computer, er.. not that I ever do...). Some even dream of far away times, whether as a science fiction writer one thinks of the future, or one thinks of past times. I know my wife loves reading about the middle ages. Me, I prefer the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Whatever time period, past, present or future, is your favorite or preference, you find many stories written about each period.

Of the three time periods, writing historical fiction is probably the hardest . For present day issues you can just write about the world around you. For futuristic science fiction and fantasy, well you make up the world and its rules. But when writing about the past, one has to be very careful and make sure you do your research.

Some questions you need to answer are:

• What and how did people eat back in your period?
• What did they wear?
• How did they get their goods?
• How long does it take to travel 5, 10, 100 miles?
• What were the social customs?
• What were the trends of the day?
• What were the major news stories of the day?
• What kind of houses, how did they heat them and how many to a room?
• What were the houses made of?
• And so on and so forth.

You see you have to be careful not to imbue your characters with modern day values or thoughts. True most of human nature hasn't changed over the last few million years, but our attitudes and how we believed the world to be was different even 25 years ago compared to today (Inter what? World Wide What?, yes I remember time before the internet PC's and GUIs, how did we ever survive back then?). People who read historical fiction know about and are interested in the period you will be writing about. And they tend to be very knowledgeable and if you try and pull a fast one, well they will suss you out and throw your book away, very fast. So do your research.

Be very careful when writing abut historical figures as well. You can't be making up new stories about them as you might end up being sued for libel (yes it seems even the dead have rights these days) by their heirs or historical societies. The best thing to do is create your own character who might have known the person, or served with them etc. They can have some interaction with the historical character, but no new made up deep dark secrets should be invented. Events can be used, but again be sure to stick to the facts, just stretch the behind the scenes, you just add thoughts of your character who was there, but not necessarily a major player in the history books.

What genre works with historical fiction? Well just about any if you really think about it. You can have a detective investigating the Boston Tea Party, or maybe a romance aboard the Lusitania, or maybe an adventure with the Crusaders, or a student of Leonardo Da Vinci's. Maybe even write a story, and go back and change a few tidbits here and there, and all of a sudden you are in the 18th Century court of the Czar of Russia! The ideas are endless, and only hampered by your imagination. Just get your facts right and you can do anything.

All in all writing historical fiction is a fun escape to a bygone era, one where you can wonder what it was like to be in a simpler time. Get it right and you can find unbridled success. Just be sure to take care and do your research or the readers will skewer your work.

Mahalo.

Come back next time for more tips, tricks and techniques to assist you in your writing,marketing and sales efforts. Remember we're all in this together and I'm pulling for you.

Mahalo.

********************************************************************

For environmentally smart resources to help you with your Online Business check out

http://www.renspubhouse.netii.net/products.html

Fast easy resources to help you with your marketing, save a tree by not wasting paper, be environmentally correct and have some fun and learn something to boot!

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