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5 Steps in Writing & Selling Your First E-book
What is an e-book? An e-book is simply a digital file that contains content that entertains, enlightens or inspires your reader. It can be 5 pages long or 2500 pages long. It can be a complete book that uses all of the old fashioned elements of...
"How You Can Find Freelance Childrens Writing Positions That Will Last"
Freelance childrens writing positions are always advertised. Rather, the schooling to learn how to write for these jobs is advertised. But, there is often a large lack of employment vacancies actually available. Many of these companies offering...
Letter Writing Journaling
By Catherine Franz When you read a letter from someone, we are immediately transferred into their world, experience, and physical reality. You can capture the same feeling by writing letters to yourself or about other people in your journal. Letter...
Promoting Your Online Writing Portfolio
Dear Writing Reader, One of the most popular questions from Authors on my site, Writing.Com, is: "How do I promote my Online Writing Portfolio outside of Writing.Com?" Here are my top five tips for increasing the amount of exposure to anyone's...
Writing it Right!
The most important sentence in any article is the first. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second then your article just died. Still with me? Good, let's look at powerful writing concepts: Simplicity Lack of clutter Brevity ...
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Your Writing Anxiety - 10 Ways to Bring Relief
Anxiety, apprehension, cold feet, consternation, dismay, distress, dread, fear, fright, horror, nervousness, panic, scare, strain, stress, tension, terror, trepidation, unease or uneasiness: whatever it's called, you've got it.
And the reason is ... you've got to write an article!
Writing anxiety or 'writer's block' happens to all writers at some point in their writing lives. It may be that you don't know what to write about or, with your topic firmly in place, you don't know where to start.
At this point, procrastination sets in.
Doing anything, rather than actually writing, seems a whole lot better than putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. Even walking the dog, in pouring rain and gale-force winds, has higher priority!
Try some of these ways to restore your writing equilibrium:
1. Avoid starting with a blank page. There's nothing more daunting than beginning from nothing. Work with a template. This will help you to stay focused on your topic. Download and print out some appropriate free graphic organizers from the Internet or use graphic organizer software, like NotateIt, that will help you to rearrange and organise your thoughts in freestyle format.
2. Brainstorm your topic. Take some time out for creative thinking with a friend or colleague. You'll get some new twists on the theme, especially if they're not 'experts' in your subject matter!
3. Write an outline. Just set out a list of headings. They don't even have to be in order - you can always rearrange them later. Write each heading on a separate card or piece of paper and shuffle the result. A new order may emerge that you hadn't thought of, giving you a new slant on your topic.
4. Use a whiteboard. Fix a large magnetic whiteboard on your wall and use it to rearrange your ideas. If a whiteboard on the wall feels too intrusive, try some inexpensive whiteboard software on your PC instead.
5. Break your task down into smaller chunks. From your outline, choose one heading
and write. Then go on to another heading and write. It doesn't matter which order you write in, because it can all be rearranged later. Not only that, you're achieving your larger goal in a series of smaller steps and that makes it much more manageable.
6. Write in the way that you speak. It's friendlier to read and it's an easier and more natural way for you to write.
7. Don't worry about perfection too soon. Spell checking, indenting paragraphs, changing font size - this is the icing on the cake. Just let your writing flow and, just for once, forget the grammar. Perfection can come later - at the redrafting stage.
8. Think about your readers in a different way. You may be anxious that your article is not "good enough" to be read by your peers. Remember, even if your audience are "experts", they don't know what you think about your subject. Nor does it mean that they know everything there is to know about a subject area. Target your writing towards an intelligent, enthusiastic, but non-expert, reader and your writing confidence will grow.
9. You've completed your writing. This is your first draft. The secret, now, is to redraft and redraft again. You'd be surprised at just how many things you'll want to say differently when the sun rises tomorrow! Read your article once a day, make changes then put it aside until the next day. In a few days, you'll read your article and find nothing to change. That's when you're ready to publish!
10. Believe in yourself. The first articles you write may not be perfect but the more you write, the better your style will become. It's like learning to walk - all it takes is a little time and lots of practice.
(c) 2005 Lynda Blake
You're welcome to reprint this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered, including the "About the Author" info at the end.
Lynda Blake is a UK freelance writer
Resources used in preparing this article:
Whiteboard Software: http://www.notateit.com
Free Graphic Organizers: http://www.nutsinmay.com
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| Writing.Com: Writers, Writing, Poetry, Creative Writing, Fiction ... |
| An online community dedicated to fostering writing skills. With a free membership anyone may read, write, rate, and review works. |
| www.writing.com |
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| Guide to Grammar and Writing |
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| grammar.ccc.commnet.edu |
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| Purdue University's Online Writing Lab - The OWL Family of Sites |
| Writing lab and resources. Email newsletter available. |
| owl.english.purdue.edu |
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| OWL at Purdue University: General Writing Concerns Handouts |
| This page contains important links to the writing: planning/writing/revising aspects of the OWL website. |
| owl.english.purdue.edu |
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| en.wikipedia.org |
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| www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu |
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| NaNoWriMo is an annual (November) novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world. |
| www.nanowrimo.org |
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| Poynter Online |
| Apply by Dec. 11 Reporting and Writing the Untold Stories Apply by Dec. 11 ... Reporting & Writing for Multi-Platform Newsrooms. Apply by Jan. 10 ... |
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| This short online course provides a practical introduction to writing fiction. During the course you will be expected to write two short pieces for ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| The BBC's online resource for writing drama and comedy for television, radio and film. |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
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| Menu of articles on writing written by professional SF/F writers. |
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| A concise guide to some of the most frequently violated rules of writing, punctuation, and grammar. |
| www.junketstudies.com |
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| nces.ed.gov |
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| www.ipl.org |
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| Free online English dictionary and reference guide. List of sites writers can use. |
| dictionary.reference.com |
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| WritingFix: Home of Interactive Writing Prompts and 6 Trait ... |
| Daily and interactive writing prompts. |
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| Advice on Academic Writing |
| Includes articles on critical reading, planning, researching, style and editing, grammar and punctuation. |
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