Writing Ugh! 10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing

March 26, 2006 by Liz 28 Comments

Writing Is Easy When It’s Over

Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.

—Gene Fowler , Screenwriter, Director, Author

Let’s face it. Everyone can think of things we’d rather do than write. Writing is work, even when it comes easily. We have to get the words down in the right order. We have to check that they’re all there and spelled correctly. We have to make sure that they make sense to people who aren’t us. Those are a lot of things to do when we might be doing something more fun, such as having a life.

Why do I write?

I just can’t let opportunities fly right by me.

10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing

Why do folks write? They know that words have power. That a word well-placed and well-written can bring visibility and attention to them, their business and their brand. They know that writing is an incredible tool that reaches farther than other forms of conversation do. Even video, well-done, is written first.

We write because writing is power. Here are 10 reasons to get jazzed about writing.

1. In today’s universe, writing is your voice. Not to write is close to having laryngitis. The ability to write is critical. You learn it same way you learn to play the guitar–by practice. If you want to communicate when the spotlight falls your way, you need to be writing “solos” now.

2. Writing can reach an unlimited audience. More people can access what you have to say when they can read it. Your audience can read what you write on their own terms, in their own time frame.

3. Writing allows you to think before you speak. One beauty of writing is that you can edit before people hear what you say. The uhs and ums, the wild digressions, and off-base thinking can stay a secret between you and your delete key. You end up looking smarter, and your audience ends up thinking you are too. That’s power.

4. Writing lasts to become an asset. The words you craft today will still be available to you again and again. One investment pays you back with many returns. You can repurpose your writing to fit new situations. You can make it last to serve you and your business as long as you need it to.

5. Writing is free promotion. Offer quality, relevant content to an audience who needs it, and they’ll be coming back to see you again. Your name, your business, and your brand will gain a following from the writing that you did.

6. Writing increases the visibility of your brand. Writing great content means search engine ranking and link popularity. Whether you’re looking for a new job or promoting your business, high visibility is currency in the knowledge universe. Employers and clients are using search engines to check out relationships. You do it. Don’t you?

7. Writing lets people know you as an individual. You become the one and only you. If I never wrote a word on this blog, how would you know who I am? Need I go on?

8. Writing forces you to think through ideas. When you leave your ideas in your head, it’s easy to think you know them inside out. Often after writing something, we know it better than before we started.

9. Writing lets you define the big idea of your brand. Whatever subject you write about will soon become what you are thought of as an expert on.

10. Writing is networking with content. Writing opens doors. People read and answer back. All people tend to see others who think like they do as being smart. Some of those readers will become friends and business contacts.

I can think of so many reasons to write, and I get jazzed about the doors that each piece I write might be opening. Now as I finish this post, I have one more page in my archives. It’s like one more dollar in my promotional bank account. I can repurpose it and use it again and again. People can read it whenever they want to find out more about who I am.

Funny . . . . I’m even more jazzed about writing now, than I was when I started this post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Power Writing for Everyone

March 6, 2006 by Liz 7 Comments

Last year I served as Editorial Director for a major revision of the textbook program that was the same textbook I learned to write from–Voyages in English, Writing and Grammar (Loyola Press, 2006). The goal of the revision was to return the program to its orignal rigor and to bring it into the light of the 21st century–to help kids understand from the beginning how important communication is to their place in society. We worked with a great team of authors, editors, and designers, and we succeeded.

In the introduction, I wrote these words on behalf of the program.

Our ability to navigate the world is nested within our ability to communicate. Words enable us to share who we are, to tell what we think, and to express what we believe. No, we are not merely what we say, nor are we people on paper. Yet, it has become normal for us to sort each other by first impressions and sound bites.

The working world defines us by our skill sets and judges us by our communications. Our dexterity and speed in accessing information and our accuracy and creativity in sharing it are highly prized. Bits and bytes the words we say and the words we write, delineate our potential to earn a living. The appropriateness and clarity of thos words convey how we fit into the world, how we might contribute, and how we might lead others.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

When I researched that program I learned that American corporations spend an estimated $3.1 billion a year teaching employees how to write.

Power Writing for Everyone

The success of the post Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block and the daily visits to other writing posts here has led me to develop a writing series.

Power Writing for Everyone will take readers through the streamlined writing process–the one that works in the real world. I’ll share in detail the how, what, and why each step and how-to bundle things for maximum productivity. The series starts getting ideas and keeps going through to publishing and cross-purposing content.

It’s important because whether you’re a CEO, a crane operator, or a cab driver . . .

In a global economy, speaking and writing are requisite skills for any life plan.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

My job is to make your job easier and take road blocks out of the way. Power Writing for Everyone is meant to do just that. Let me know if anything is missing.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block

February 27, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

We Agree

Dave Barry and I agree.

I believe “writer’s block” is the normal state of writing; that is, you rarely have anything just flow easily from your brain to the keyboard. And if it does, it’s usually pretty bad. Good writing is almost always hard, and what I think sometimes happens is that writers forget how hard it is, or don’t want to do the work anymore, and they call this “writer’s block.” —Dave Barry

When I researched that quote I was staying with a lifelong friend in a boy scout camp that my older brothers had gone to when we were kids. The camp had been turned into a bed and breakfast. Our room was cabin that had once been the poolhouse. I had an article to write before we could break out the wine. So I went through my warm-up to avoid what folks call “writer’s block.”

Preparation: Accessing the Subconscious

To my friend, Nancy, I probably looked like I was in hyperfocus. Actually, I was. I was doing two kinds of things at once. I was preparing a space to work, and I was preparing my brain to write–accessing my subconscious to see what ideas I might have.

What the heck does that mean?

Ever notice that you get ideas when you’re driving . . . or in the shower . . . or doing something other than trying to have one?

I always start my writing with a warm-up that involves some physical activity like ordering my work area, getting my coffee, or taking a walk around the block. Doing that gives the subconscious the room to let those ideas bubble up.

At the cabin I needed a place to work efficiently, so I went through setting up what I think of as an “endangered writing space.” That’s one where writer’s block is not permitted by protected writers species laws.

Checklist for Endangered Writing Spaces

This is the checklist writing spaces I use.

Select the work area. I picked the table where I would write.
Remove all things unnecessary. I got rid of all visual distractions and things that might get in the way.
Check that all tools are there. I didn’t want to stop to find things.
Place favorite healthful, thinking snacks near the computer. Hunger couldn’t tempt me to lose my train of thought.
Test to see there are no discomforts to nag me. I tried a test run in the chair and got a pillow to make it higher.
Lower the cloak of invisibility. I put my headphones on as a sign to myself, and to my friend, that I was no longer in the room. Those headphones meant I would have to physically detach to do something else. I also listen to music when I write..

When my space was ready. So was I.

Fanning the Flame

I didn’t have a whole idea, but I did have a spark. Here’s what I did to fan that spark into a flame. This part went bing, bing, bing, quickly.

I did a brain dump, writing phrases and words on paper before I started.
I picked one big idea from the brain dump and narrowed it to the size of an article.
I visualized article and decided what my main point would be.

THEN

I started in the middle, writing that main point as best I could without stopping.
When cool ideas popped up, I typed them as phrases at the bottom of the page and kept going.
When I got stuck, I looked at those phrases for motivation.
If the phrases didn’t unstick me, I got up, walked outside, looked at the sky for the words I needed, came back in and wrote them down. No other words–talking, reading, listening–interrupted my “break for thinking.” The point was to do something visual, to let the verbal loosen up.
I wrote the snazzy ending and the grabber beginning last.

That’s what I did that night in the cabin to earn several glasses of my favorite white wine from Italy, Ronco Cucco. Boy, I do like that stuff.

Why Dave and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block

We just don’t call it “writer’s block.” We call it writing. Staying stuck is not allowed. So like an actor or a musician who once had stage fright, we do writing warm-ups before we step on stage.

The good news is writing warm-ups work like scales for a musician or stretching for an athlete. They keep you at your best game. If you stick to it, warm-ups for writing actually make the writing get easier. Just like an athlete–a skater–you break through that wall and start skating with more speed and grace.

Imagine yourself writing when you no longer worry about writer’s block.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Top 10 Ways to Become a Miserable Blogger

January 23, 2006 by Liz 27 Comments

Photo of White Arrow in Road pointing down

January, February, and March are boring. They leave me feeling like I have nothing to look forward to. New budgets, new plans, and New Year’s resolutions hover over. Everyone’s working and often everyone’s miserable. So I offer a list of 10 things you might do, so that when everyone’s having fun being miserable, you won’t feel left out.

Before you begin reading, prepare yourself. Adjust your thinking to realize that, no matter the season where you are, next winter is too near and next spring is too far.

Top 10 Ways to Become a Miserable Blogger

10.

9. Read the feeds for the exact idea you will write about, rather than just looking for fodder. Then decide all of the good ideas have already been done, because you know that five seconds ago someone took the last one.

8. Keep your mind focused on all of the things you have to do and how little time there is to do them. Check the clock often to see how behind you are in getting them done.

7. Don’t prioritize or make a plan.

6. Answer every email, important or not, as soon as you get it. While you’re there, think of the ones you might write and write them before you do anything else. If you’re going for the gold, do the same with telephone calls. Heck while you’re at it, call my mother-in-law.

5. If you finish with email and it’s still the same day, read other blogs that have no relationship to yours. In fact, choose blogs in a language you don’t even know. When you stop to eat lunch, clean the refrigerator.

4. As you read and comment on blogs, notice how much better every other blog is. Then think of the reasons you wouldn’t read your own blog.

3. Spend hours tweaking your template over details no one will ever notice.

2. When you finally sit down to write, know you will have writer’s block. Think about it. Talk about it. Then watch the clock.

1. Count your value as a human by links, stats, and number of comments.

There you have it. Follow this Top Ten List, and you will be miserable when you need to be. It will serve you well into Spring–which we know will be rainy, cold, and ugly this year.

If you’re an overachiever and you just need one more, here you go . . .

Definitely, positively, and for sure, buy into all of your own PR, and believe whatever other folks say about you, because everything put into print simply has to be true. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

More fun:
Desperado: The 7 Payoffs of Making Your Blogging Relationships Suck
65th Crayon Finds that Google DoesnÃ¢â¬â¢t Use Search
Internet Slang Dictionary and Translator

Questions about Burnout and Writer’s Block

July 12, 2005 by Liz 1 Comment

From: D. Keith Robinson

Teja asks:

Do ever feel like you are ever burned out? Or do your own tips on beating writer’s block help beat that?

I actually feel burnt out quite often. One of the reasons why I’ve posted on the subject is because I think I’ve come up with some pretty good ways to combat burnout. As you know I’ve got lots going on and I’m a fairly creative person. Burnout is something that is inevitable and unavoidable. There really is no getting around it.

Another quick tip on burnout: Writing about it, blogging my tips and tricks and all that, is actually really therapeutic as well. When I get an e-mail from someone letting me know I’ve helped them with burnout, it actually refreshes me as well. Strange huh?

As far as writers block goes. Those tips do help with burnout, and sometimes it takes just one good post or completion of one task to get over it. All the tips I posted I’ve used and they all work. In fact, I actually use many of those techniques on a regular basis. They’re not just for getting past writers block.

Thanks for the questions!