Simply Writing

The nitty gritty of writing is first and foremost about simply writing. that’s it in its most basic, essential core: WRITE.

The term “simply writing” may seem like an oxymoron because writing is comprised of so many steps, so much effort, so much mental energy, and so much time. And too often we get bogged down in all that we think writing is – the word choice, perspective, tenses, grammar, cohesion… We get overwhelmed by the potential of being read or the fear of not being read, the approval or disapproval of our work… We stop ourselves before we even get started!

Sure, all these things and more make up the nitty gritty details of producing a piece of writing, but first, you simply have to WRITE. Bring your mind to a screeching halt and silence all the crap that is clanging around in your head; strip yourself of all that burdensome baggage and just WRITE.

Go back to the phrase “simply writing” and notice that it is active.

Writing: n. “the act of a person or thing that writes” (dictionary.com)

Simply: adverb. “in a simple manner; clearly and easily… wholly, absolutely … sincerely” (dictionary.com)

Simply writing is the act of free-flowing pen on paper. Release yourself to the free-flowing pen because that is uncensored thought, ideas, images. It is the absolutely and sincerely of simply that gives life to the act of writing.

Simply writing is the essence of the nitty gritty of writing because the act of writing wholly, absolutely, and sincerely, is where you discover yourself and all your powers and limitations. And wish such self-discovery also comes the discovery of powers beyond yourself – powers without limitations. I’m talking about the inspiration and the unfolding of creating that surprises even you – the one who holds the pen. That free-flowing pen takes off and comes alive and you become both observer and participant in one.

You can’t plan or orchestrate this experience, you can only show up. And this is precisely what I mean when I say that the most basic aspect of the nitty gritty of writing is simply writing: you show up ready to engage; you take the pen and begin to dance. That’s it. You do this regularly and the stuff you want to write about multiplies over and over. Your skills get better, the dance picks up speed and before you know it, you are performing complex movements beyond your dreams.

You will eventually deal with all that other nitty gritty stuff later, but first and foremost, WRITE: get in the act of simply writing.

The FINER Things: An Invitation

Photo Credit:
www.leapfrog-
entertainment.com

Once exposed to the “finer things in life” it becomes difficult to live without them. I put the phrase “the finer things in life” in quotations because I am well aware that what I define as “finer” others may not see it that way at all.

Photo credit: destination360.com

There are three “finer” things I crave on a regular basis: 1) a Japanese bath; 2) Negro Spirituals; and 3) drums. 

Having been exposed to these things, feeling fully their tight grip on my soul, I feel a nostalgic longing to once again spirit-soar – that spontaneous flight that is gifted to me by these “finer things”.

When you think of the “finer things in life” you probably think first of decadence and expensive items like champagne and caviar; jaguars and diamonds.

But think again.

What indulgences do you enjoy that are hard-to-come-by and true one-of-a-kind gems?  I’m talking about things that cost no money, but also cannot be created or attained by giving yourself an uninterrupted afternoon full of time.

Free-fall back into your memory and find unassuming moments when you were caught by surprise and taken on a spirit-soar. Those are the “finer things in life”.

Maybe now as we approach the closing of this year it is a good time to contemplate these things. Let me present this as a prompt and an invitation:

Describe one or more of your “finer things” and send it to me

with permission to post it here on the Nitty Gritty of Writing.

You’ll be a featured guest blogger!

It’s vs. Its

Its are a drag, aren’t they? At least for me, the use of an apostrophe between the word “it” and the “s” has always caused me problems. I mean, I get the contraction for “it is”; the apostrophe simply replaces the “i” in is. But in the case of the possessive, I always want to use an apostrophe there a well. Microsoft’s grammar check won’t allow it. Frustrated by blue line that Microsoft uses to draw attention to my mistake, I give in to the rule of technology and remove the apostrophe because I want the blue line to go away, not because I understand its reasoning.

                          

But now I get it and it is so simple that I thought that if any of my readers ever struggle with this, you should be let in on the learning trick that worked for me.

The other day when I was web-surfing to find some fun ways to present grammar points for my students, I came across a blog with a post full of grammar tips. (I am so sorry that I didn’t bookmark that site and can’t find my way back to it now…). The author explained that when “it” owns something, just exchange the “it” with a different pronoun: his (note that “hers” works just as well).

Let’s look at a sentence I already used in this post: “… not because I understand its reasoning…” “It” is the owner of the reasoning, so it makes sense to me to use an apostrophe like you would if “it” had a name, i.e., Kathy’s reasoning. But “it” doesn’t have a name; it’s a pronoun! (Note the apostrophe I just used – that’s because in that case, “it” is a pronoun.) So it was like saying … her reasoning…

Duh!

So here’s the trick: just add a gender to any “it” and try out the pronoun for that gender; it becomes clear then that the apostrophe does not belong there: i.e., her reasoning; his reasoning.

All the technical grammar jargon used to explain these things in formal education assumes that we are all interested in why; we aren’t. Some of us just want to know usable tricks that help us remember how to get it right. This one worked for me and I hope it helps you, too. It’s simple! (Note the apostrophe = it is simple!)

A Lover of Words

picture source:
http://psicommunications.typepad.com/

I have never thought of myself as a lover of words because 1) I am not a very good reader; and 2) I really don’t like grammar. OK – I hate grammar. But now that I am once again teaching English to speakers of other languages, I find myself energized and excited by the cacophony of sounds that surround me all day long and the association of those sounds to words. Yes, I do love sounds and I love the process of those sounds transforming into visions, solitary images that move into new images and the words that come to mind as a result. These images deserve description – some descriptions are provided by movement and others by words.

Words! Yes, words come alive when you hear them and produce them in the midst of diverse colors, mixed backgrounds, and the freshness of new understandings. I find myself hearing old words with brand new ears. I search regularly for new ways to express simple concepts.

And I play. I play with words in my head as the sounds I hear in my environment make me aware of nuances that distinguish both similarities and differences among sounds.

English vowels, for example, which I have taken for granted for so long, now rise to the forefront of my consciousness as I teach the pronunciation of cut, cot, cap, and “ket”   - as in kettle, but my students hear them all as the same. Ending consonants also have their time in the spotlight with words like buy, bite, and bike – can’t you hear the differences in each of these words? Non-native English speakers generally cannot.

Word association runs rampant as I try to learn students’ names. Elham is the name of a young Saudi woman. She is tall and slender, completely covered but her face is exposed, an angular face with lots of sharp points, soft olive-colored skin and dark eyes. I cannot doubt that she is s direct descendant of Abraham as in the father of the Abrahamic religions. 

Abraham? Yes! She also looks like she could be a descendant of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln. There is the “L” and “ham” is the end of Abraham – both Abrahams. Elham. I will never forget her name. Another student, a young man from Thailand with a round face dominated by a big man beard and a persistent smile that shows his teeth is named Wichok: Wee-choke. Wee-choke choke. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Now that’s funny. And hairy. Wichok. I will never forget his name either.

These thoughts are the collaboration of all my knowledge and life experiences colliding with foreign sounds that are strangely not foreign at all. The Arabic sounds are guttural and seem spring forth from somewhere behind the collar bone; Chinese sounds make me feel as if I am wearing a cape made of multimedia wind chimes; the Turkish sounds are rolling like percussion in my blood; the Korean sounds are like Japanese sounds backwards and upside down. All the sounds dance inside me arousing English words that make me want to sing. OK. So I am a lover of words after all! 

Writing Accountability Partners

When I was working at Miyazaki International College I had a wonderful accountability partner. Laurie was writing a collection of stories about powerful Scottish women from the 17^th century and I was writing about the Rwandan genocide. We wrote a chapter or story each week and left it on each other’s desks. Then a day or two later, we would meet at a small coffee shop framed by rice paddies to give feedback and share ideas. Both of us completed our projects and published our work in journals.

Without Laurie’s collaboration I seriously doubt I would have gotten the work done. We shared equal admiration for each other’s work. We liked each other and held one another in high esteem. I didn’t want to let Laurie down so I felt responsible both to produce and to provide meaningful feedback to her work. I am certain Laurie felt the same. We agreed to write regularly and promised to read each other’s work faithfully. This kept us both accountable.

Having a writing accountability partner keeps you writing through dry spells. It keeps you focused and keeps your “eye on the prize”. Accountability partners motivate one another, provide inspiration, and help you think and process. Accountability partners also aid in the things that don’t come naturally or that you don’t particularly like. For example, I don’t like to look for publications to submit my work to, but Laurie loved that, so she took leadership for that aspect of my work. My strength is in description and expansion, so that was one of my gifts to her.

Accountability partners play a vital role in keeping writers writing. I would love to hear about your accountability partners and/or how you have found one.

Propelling the Dream with Sacred Space

Recently a fellow writer friend wrote about the process of dreaming and imagining and its power to transform and make manifest that which we do not yet have. She described her behavior as “pretending” as she is currently moving into a new venture with her art: Audrey is making some of the most beautiful hand-made greeting cards I have ever seen.

She set up a work studio in her home an das she works late into the night, she practices her “pretending”.

“Buried in all of my patterned paper, glitter and ribbon I pretend to be a successful stationary designer. I imagine that is my creative headquarters – just a satellite of my empire... I pretend that I am designing and creating cards for high profile clients. When the home phone rings during my creative process, sometimes I don’t answer it because I am ‘at the office’” (Crafty Cupcake).

We talked about the importance of her work studio – the space – not only to create the products, but to nurture the dream.

Workspace is sacred space!

So I decided again to post more pictures of my office because te space where I work provided the first surge of power in me to claim the title: WRITER. Declaring that I am a writer fueled the practice and the practice birthed new confidence. Confidence, in turn, provided the guts it took to start this blog, apply for writing jobs, submit to contests and various publications, and to justify my price. All these things happened in my sacred space and propelled the dream.

paintings by my daughter: age 7 and 8

Writing Colleagues

Writers need writer friends. We need to tell other writers what we are doing and hear what other writers have going on in their minds and lives. We need to ask questions to writers because only other writers know what it’s like to write. We need to listen to writers. We need to build one another up with words of encouragement and stories of our own persistence.

In most other professions people get colleagues simply by going to work. Writers however, have to make an extra effort to find colleagues and nurture the relationships alone because we go to work alone. We writers covet our alone time and are very hesitant to give any of it up, but we must have colleagues. The rewards of having quality writing colleagues are absolutely priceless.

Here are some tips to help you find writing colleagues

• Join a local writing group
• Participate in online writer’s forums
• Attend conferences and workshops
• Go to open-mic readings
• Call/email an author you like and invite him/her to coffee
• Start your own writing group
• Give more than you take

Writers do need writing friends. Seek writing colleagues and honor them – their time, knowledge, and their craft. 

The Electronic Balancing Act

Ever feel electronic-ed-OUT?  I sure do! Cell phones, IM, texting, skype, facebook, email, online banking, iPhone apps, electronic calendars, maps, recipes, notetaking, software programs, websites full of information that leads me to other websites loaded with more information, manage this, manage that all electronically … It’s all so cool! And it all makes me crazy at the end of the day. And yet, I go into the next day, still intriqued, consistently striving for more, always moving toward more understanding and more skill. The more I learn however, the more I clutch fervently to my old-fashioned spiral notebook.

We need them both.

Yes, it’s all about balance.

I never thought of myself as a die-hard traditionalist, but perhaps I am – at least when it comes to pen and paper.

Pen and paper keep me from running so fast that I spill over myself 

and tumble down the proverbial hill.

The grip on the pen is the connection between muse and mind; 

the feel of the pen is the connection between nature and man.

The act of writing by hand is brainwork I am not willing to relinquish.

The flipping of page still excites me.

Pen and paper keep me grounded in the art of writing

 – the spirit of creating –

 the process of self-discovery.

Nonetheless, we cannot deny the onslaught of electroncis and their many, many benefits. The Demand Media blog recently had a post by Josh Writer highlighting 5 web/mobile apps that he uses frequently. I thought they were worth sharing:

EverNote

“… jot down story ideas or business plans on my computer or mobile phone … then automatically syncs the note across my account so I see the same thing whether I’m on my phone or sitting on my laptop…”

FreshBooks

“… timers that record how much time I spend writing for each of my clients … generate and send out invoices …”

Fring

“… chat and make free  phone and video calls from a single interface …”

Mint

“… online budgeting tool … can also tag different deposits with custom categories, quickly allowing me to segregate my freelancing income…”

Find your own balance.

I step on the paper; I step on the electronics; 

back to the paper; 

back to the electronics.

Rooted in the paper, 

flailing in the electronics, 

a walk in the woods, …

 thank God I’ve got my spiral notebook with me!

Support Your Local Writers: Strategy #3

A List of DOs


Ask me “how was your day?”
Ask me “is the muse present today?”
Ask me what titles, projects, and subjects I am writing about these days.
Ask me if my clients are paying.
Ask me what is most rewarding or frustrating about my work.


When you call, ask me if this is an OK time to talk.
When you tell anyone what I do, say I’m a writer, because I am.


Understand that although I don’t work in an office with other people, a time clock, and a break room, I do work.
Understand that although my work overlaps laundry and doing dishes, it is a legitimate job.


Respect my time and space: my work time and work space may not look like yours, but you can respect it as you do your own.
Respect my silence: sometimes I simply cannot and should not talk.
Respect my need and desire to talk: mine is a solitary job, so my “down time” is chatter and socializing.
Respect my privacy. I am very open and forthcoming, but only as the result of pampered privacy.
Respect my words, whether you agree with them or not, respect the fact that I have spoken and written them by responding.


Know that I welcome criticism.
Know that I may not alter my work in accordance with your critiques.


Every now and then, tell me I am doing a good job.
Every now and then, tell me not to quit.
Every now and then, read what I’ve written and tell me that you did so.


Do you believe in me? Tell me if you do!

Support Your Local Writers: Strategy #1

Sisters In Crime Book Launch Review

Writers are a kind of intangible asset. If you don’t like their style or their message, you just shrug your shoulders and ignore them. Think about that before you allow that to be your reaction. It is important to support writers, especially those in your own backyard, even if you do feel ambivilant about their work. There is tremendous value to your community to have producers of art living amongst you. Without your support, they can not survive and the impact on the community is silent and invisible, but felt nonetheless.

On Saturday there were several Muncie people in Indianapolis to pay homage to the Muncie authors in the Sisters in Crime anthology, Bedlam at the Brickyard. What a thrill for the Muncie authors to have their hard work compiled into a final produce – a wonderful sense of accomplishment for them. What an honor for them to be recognized, to sit at the destination of a long line of fans wanting their signatures! What a message of approval and an affirmation of support for them to look out into the crowd and see their local friends and colleagues in the crowd!

Personally, I was thrilled to see the faces of my friends illuminated by their own accomplishments. They will not become rich and famous from this endeavor and the book will not put Muncie on the map, so to speak, but their work has filled our community with positive energy that propels others into positive action. This is an intangible asset that is truly priceless! I am certainly proud that I live in a community that supports its own artists. I am also very proud of my friends for their individual accomplishment!

So my message to people everywhere is, by all means, support your local writers! Your local writers belong to your “from” and they are, in some sort of way, recording the history of your time and space in the world. Make them proud to live amongst you. Writers are the creators of beauty in your environment. Support their endeavors – before, during, and after publication. Sing their praises, cheer them on, lift their spirits, honor the guts it takes for them to pursue their passion. Do these things for your local artists and you will feel that internal joy that carries you over the rough waters in your own life.

Oh, yes! Do this and my words here will become unnecessary because you will know instinctively exactly what I mean.

Congratulations Sherita, Dee, and Tammy! Write on, sisters!

Meeting with Change in a Writer's Group

Groups change and evolve over time; new people join, others drop out. Even the people who initiate a group and stay steady in attendance over the course of several years grow and change; so naturally, any group evolves. I am a big advocate of change; I believe change is a good thing and that if you are resistant to change, you are, by default, advocating for the allowance of stagnation and ultimate death. I say this because I have to lay the premises of this blog post as one that embraces and welcomes change.

OK. That being said now, let’s talk specifically about changes within a writing group. Every aspect of an established writer’s group will and should change over time. Within the changes however, we have to find balance. It’s the old yin-yang philosophy. Whether you believe it or not, I have to tell you, it’s there. For every up there is a down; for every in there is an out. Ecclesiastes has a whole litany of the components that create balance:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Change is balanced by stability. What is the purpose of your writing group? What are the stable components of your mission statement? These are the things that must be adhered to in order to embrace change with integrity.

We talked about this in our journaling meeting this week and Linda prepared some notes that I’d like to share here:

Natalie Goldberg guidelines:

· Keep the pen moving

· Go with the prompt given—even if you write “I don’t want to write about…” or you write the same word over and over—just write

· Don’t worry about the grammar, spelling, content—just keep you hand moving

· No comments after reading—no “Oh, that reminds me of…,” no, “Here’s what happened to me…”

· Comments, if any are limited to saying what words, lines or images stood out or remained in our minds—what you RECALL

Pat Schneider – The Writer As An Artist

If we are a sharing type group, as we are, we are a writer’s support group—not a therapy support group—we need to keep our boundaries clear.

We need members who are “willing to live within the “rules of order” that we have set up.

Schneider says, “…in moments of genuine crisis, be ready to abandon all rules” (p. 154). We have done this for almost everyone in the group at some point or another in times of crises. We have erred by not going back to our writing practice rules.

Me (Linda Johnson)

We are all accepted as we are—we still have a responsibility to monitor our comments when we know they may hurt others in the group.

If members are not interested in writing or sticking to this format, maybe you want to consider starting a Story Circle, a time when people just get together to share stories and talk. It would probably need to be a separate group, different meeting days—that would offer those who are more interested in sharing than in writing a chance to meet with friends.

Editing: Expand

Sometimes we write out all we have to say and yet, it falls flat. There are several possible reasons for this, a major one being passion (or a lack of it), but first let’s just consider clarity and how you can expand your writing to make it come alive. (I think I’ll talk about passion in a separate blog.)

In this discussion on editing, we are going to play with strategies for expansion.

Description plays a major role in writing. You want your readers to experience something, not sit in a lecture hall and be told something. So as you write, you need to place yourself in the setting and experience it for the first time. As you actually experience the message in your writing, it will flow out of your mind and onto the paper so that your readers can also journey along with you.

I think that description is the first place to look at a piece of writing that you want to expand. So let’s start there.

Take a piece of writing you have already created and start by noting the word count. Our goal will be to double that. 1500 words is a good size for this activity.

Now, take a colored pen and circle all the nouns. Take another colored pen and circle all the verbs. With a third color, make notes in the margins to identify noun-like phrases and whole pieces of action.

Begin working through your piece taking one noun or noun phrase at a time and analyzing its presentation. Consider all the senses: Can you see it clearly? What sounds does it make or conjure up in your mind? What sort of smell would make it more vivid? Even inanimate objects have aspects that ignite feelings and emotions. Tap into those feelings. Taste is a difficult one, but can certainly be associated with even unlikely nouns. For example, disgust or deceit may be described as “bitter”. Then take that a step further – does the deceit of a lover cause a hot belch to explode in the back of the throat leaving the bitter taste of bile on the tongue?

Don’t hold back with the words and images that come to mind for fear of being disgusting or shocking or whatever. Instead, play with exaggerations as you bring each of your nouns to life. Be corny or silly; be horrifyingly shocking. It’s all OK, even necessary, as you trust your talent to breathe life into your work.

After you have gone through the nouns, do the same with the verbs. Add adjectives and adverbs before them; add more sentences full of more verbs that work like arrows pointing to the main action creating a choreography of movement in your scene. Even if it is a quiet, still scene you want to create, there are a thousand plus more ways to describe that.

Next, rework the whole piece adding and changing, expanding images and actions. Count the words and see if you doubled the count. Did you add even more than that? Then sit on it for a week before you reread it.

A week later, get comfortable and read your new work. Isn’t it fantastic!?

"I Practice Writing"

Say it Out Loud

“I Practice Writing”. Go ahead. Say it.

I practice writing.

Is it difficult for you to say? How does it feel on your tongue? How does it sound rolling around in your head?

I practice writing.

It’s the word practice, isn’t it. Somehow, to say “I practice writing” sounds like a wanna-be looser. It conjures up all sorts of sarcasm and ridicule. It connotes a hope, a dream, a desire to be something not yet attained.

And yet, this is precisely what I do: I practice writing. Once I get past that wanna-be connotation and throw it out a wide-open window in my mind, I can tell you that I like the truth in that statement. Yes, I like it because you can’t be a writer unless you practice your craft.

Think on this a minute: the two most prestigious professions in our culture use this term, “practice”: medicine and law. They refer to their work as a practice. When we say, she practices law, there is no connotation of a wanna be. We say he has his own private practice and we are impressed, swelling with admiration and respect.

So what is it with the writing profession? People just think that somehow you become a writer; they do not consider the daily practice that put your name on a collection of work. If you write, you are a writer. And you are only a writer if you practice writing.

Lawyers work with clients; doctors work with patients, and writers work with an audience. Unlike lawyers and doctors whose clients and patients are real living bodies in front of them, writers work with an added element of the unknown – we have to do a little more guess work about what ales our audience and what they want. In essence, we practice alone. The pay off however, is that we have full liberty of creative expression and very few rules to bind us up.

Uh – oh, I feel the surge of passion beginning to pulsate in my blood. I feel the urge to go off in a tangent about the thrills of being a writer… but I really just want to stay on track here and discuss this idea of practicing writing.

Deep breath. Back on track. OK.

Writers need to understand this concept and promote it proudly in our culture. You see, everything we do is a process, a progression, a constant and steady evolution of change and growth. My writing has evolved over the years; I continue to gain new skills and discover new ideas. This all happens of course, because I practice writing.

So now I say it out loud when people ask me, “What do you do?” I say to them, “I practice writing.” Then I giggle in my head because it still sounds funny to me, but my facial expression is truly serious. So to you, my fellow writers, I want to say to you, be proud of your practice. Your writing practice is significant… oh, so very significant, in ways beyond your own understanding. Accept that as true and get on with your writing. Tell people you are a writer – go ahead, say it out loud. And then say, “I practice writing.”

OK writers, let’s get on with our practice!!

Run-ons and on, and on, and on, and ...

A run-on sentence is one that has too many subjects, too many verbs, too many adjectives and adverbs, too much punctuation, or, to put it simply, too much stuff and way too many points so that your reader ends up getting totally lost and overwhelmed even though you think that what you are doing is providing your reader will all kinds of really good information, so good in fact, that you have to get it all out as fast as you can which is what results in the really long, obnoxious sentence that in grammatical terms, is called a “run-on”.

Phew! Take a breath! Now try to read that sentence out loud. YUCK!

Let’s rewrite it so that is becomes a paragraph with good, complete, yet simple sentences:

A run-on sentence is one that has too many subjects, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, as well as too much punctuation. To put it simply, a run-on sentence has too much stuff and way too many points. The result of a run-on sentence is that your reader ends up getting totally lost and overwhelmed. While you may think that you are providing your reader will all kinds of valuable information, in reality, only end up with long, obnoxious sentence that in grammatical terms, is called a “run-on”.

The old acronym comes in very handy as your basic rule to avoid run-ons: Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)!

PLR 101: The Basics

PLR stands for Private Label Rights. What this means is that any document labeled PLR can be used over and over again by hundreds, or even thousands, of people without falling into the category of plagiarism. Anyone can put their “John Hancock” on a PLR document and claim it as his own work. You can buy and resell PLR content. You can edit it, chop it up or expand on it, you can twist it and spin it and remake it into something new as often as you want. Private label means that once you purchase the content, you are free to make it fit your own specific needs.

Every online business needs content. Without content, potential customers never even find the website! They never know what you have to offer, and certainly, they will never buy your product! Without content, an online business simply can’t exist.

On average, an online business needs at least 20 articles just to get started. It takes at least 50 articles to make an ebook, and to stay in business, new articles have to be added all the time. The average online business adds 20-25 articles to its site every month.

Custom ordering articles is very expensive. Hiring a copy-writer is even more costly. The online businessman’s solution to this dilemma is PLR content.

PLR content is fast, cheap, and effective. It is a win-win situation for writer and businessman alike because writers can resell their work as often as they want, getting more dollar per piece than they can ever get for even the best paid assignments. When business owners find writers of PLR that they like and trust, providing content to their websites becomes automatic, freeing them up to focus on other areas of their business.

PLR products have become very popular as the number of online businesses has grown to astronomical proportions. Online shopping has also become more common in our society. All these online business encounters require content by the bulk. Therefore, the market for PLR is growing every day! Writing PLR is one of the fastest ways to expand your own portfolio, jump-start your writing career, and make money! For the online business person, PLR is the best deal on the web!

The Writing Process - organized

I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD, but I definitely don’t have a long attention span. I know this about myself and so I have learned to focus my concentration for the duration of its limit and then welcome a productive break. The trick is to be able to get back to the work after the break!

For years I suffered with the clutter of unfinished projects until I finally figured out how to utilize the stops to my advantage and restart in a timely manner. The first step (after lovingly recognizing my own personal limitations) is to see projects as geometrically shaped pieces that when fit together, make my completed project.

I know that I can work really well for about an hour and fifteen minutes to two hours. After that I’m just dilly-dallying around and wasting time. I find that what gets done in each hour or so of quality time is a big enough chunk of material to qualify as one of the shapes in the end product.

The second step is to have all my materials organized, easily accessible, and easily transportable. What works for me is to have what I call a “portable office” or my “office in a bag”. I have a simple bag that is big enough to hold manila folders and my hard-backed journal, but not so big that things get swallowed up inside it. The bag opens out completely – this is an important feature), and has individual pockets for the following: 1) pens/pencils; 2) reading glasses; 3) postit notes; 4) paper clips; 5) thumb drives. These items need to be separated for me so that I don’t waste time or mental energy digging through one big generic pocket to find what I need. A cluttered bag leads to a cluttered mind and this is way more distracting than most of us will admit.
And distraction is defeating.
I usually work on several projects at a time, so I keep everything related to one project is a separate manila folder. Inside each folder the papers are grouped and paper-clipped together in the following manner: a) the original assignment and notes from the client; b) the original draft; c) research, resources and references. Note: in order to keep from cluttering my mind, I never keep more than 5 project manila folders at a time in my “portable office”.
For each chunk of concentrated time, I aim to work on only one project. Which project gets my attention is determined first by deadline, and second by inspiration. Inspiration always takes precedence however, whenever it gets a whirlwind of energy, and just between you and me, this is the real gem of a writer’s life – the exhilarating high is magnified by it spontaneous and unexpected arrival. You absolutely must honor inspiration!
So back to organization: I believe that because of the power of inspiration, and because of its unpredictability, you’ve got to be highly organized so you can work under the shelter of discipline in a steady manner. This way, when inspiration sweeps down and takes you on a flight, you are free to go without missing any important deadlines.
One more note about the manila folders: I mentioned that I never keep more than 5 project folders in my bag at a time. The word “project” is underlined to differentiate it from the other 3 folders that go everywhere with me: 1) Planning; 2) Inspiration; and 3) scrap paper.
The Planning Folder is where I keep my lists. I list what I have to do each day; I list what I intend to do; I list what I hope to do eventually; and I list all the things I simply want to remember, at least for awhile. For all you perfectionists out there, I have to warn you, as soon as you start doing something on your list, you will realized there are many more steps involved in that one task than you originally thought, so your lists will grow, often in sloppy, eclectic ways: that’s OK!
The Inspiration Folder is full of words, phrases, images, paragraphs and snippets of stuff that have no particular beginning, middle or end. There is no pressure attached to the things in the Inspiration Folder. These are like pretty shells you pick up on the beach – maybe I’ll do something with them and maybe I won’t, but they are my treasures.
The scrap paper folder is, well, I think this is self explanatory. A writer would rather be caught dead without her underwear on before being caught anywhere in the world without some paper!
So think about this stuff when you are doing other things this week. Give yourself about an hour at a time over the duration of several days and get your writing bag in order. Believe me, its well worth your time!