writing

The following posts are hopefully related to "writing" in some way.

Friday, January 25, 2008, 8:48pm

Rail Against the Conventional Wisdom

This was listed as a way to spark interest in your website or blog by someone at WickedFire (a popular affiliate marketing forum). For the most part I agree with this idea, especially if you feel very passionately about a particular topic. However, I can’t stand the posts that deliberately take an opposite stance without doing the research needed to make their argument.

It’s one of those things - if you pull it off, you look great. If you don’t, you end up looking pretty bad. And a bit lazy.

I’m not quite sure what got me started on this because, believe it or not, I don’t have a particular post in mind right now. Every so often though, I see one and think. Ouch.

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Sunday, January 20, 2008, 11:10am

Writing What You Know, And Admitting What You Don’t

Last night I received a very polite email asking my opinion on a specific affiliate program. Because I wasn’t familiar with that particular program, I couldn’t be much help and replied with an apology for my lack of knowledge on the subject. I also asked that he keep me informed about his success in the program as I was (and am) quite interested.

From this exchange, I realized that probably one of the most important qualities of a successful writer is his or her ability to write from experience and knowledge, without the “fluff”. It’s easy to report the news or regurgitate another story especially as a blogger when news is real-time and continuous, but it’s more meaningful to really learn about something and then write about the experience.

I suppose that’s something I should keep in mind myself.

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Saturday, January 19, 2008, 3:31pm

The “One And Done” Blogger Syndrome

Just like workers in other professions, sometimes a blogger will fall into a rut. One problem that manifests itself during a rut is the notion of “if I just squeeze out this post I can move on”. In other words, an author will begin to force ideas just to publish a post.

I call this the “One and Done” syndrome because what you’re really doing is taking away from the continuous nature of a blog - that is, the idea that a blog is a stream of ideas and that you are constantly reading and learning and building upon those ideas has now become merely an exercise. (more…)

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 8:17pm

Overcome Writer’s Block Through Email

Writer’s Block Email

Chanpory Rith of LifeClever.com has a great article on how to overcome writer’s block by starting with an email. I found this article particularly useful because I’m not exactly consistent with my writing; some days everything is flowin’, and other days it’s like I’ve forgotten how to think. (more…)

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Saturday, January 5, 2008, 10:15pm

Sleep Better, Write Better

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received was given to me by a very inspiring high school teacher. Her advice was to keep a small notebook and pen by your nightstand and write down everything on your mind just before you go to sleep. That means outstanding to-dos, ideas, opinions, and anything else that could trouble your sleep. The benefits are two-fold.

1. You’ll sleep better if you have less on your mind. I could sit here and discuss the many scientific studies that echo that statement, but I think you’re already with me on this one. The less your mind has to work before bed, the easier it will be to fall asleep.

2. Your best ideas are the ones you sleep on. Your mind is in a very different state just before you go to bed than it is when you wake up. Hopefully by morning your mind is clearer and refreshed; therefore, if your idea or to-do or opinion still makes sense in the morning, it’s probably a good one. (more…)

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