TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
9. WRITE EVERYWHERE YOU CAN (continued)
Leverage Putrid Service: The quality of service provided by many businesses and institutions is putrid. We can experience extremely long wait times and delays at all of the preceding venues. My charge to you is: Leverage that putrid service to the benefit of your writing. Don't waste your energy with negative self-talk, complaining about delays you can't control; seize them as opportunities to write.
No Access Needed: Although most of the venues now have Internet access (some for free), except some prisons, that doesn’t matter for most major writing activities. You don’t need to be online to write blogs, reports, articles, books, etc. Any piece of writing can be copied and pasted onto any platform or site later. You will be amazed at how much you can complete in 15–30 minutes if you're able to rivet your attention on your writing. Be prepared to write at any of those venues. You can accomplish a lot.
(Up Close & Personal: I have gotten used to writing, editing, proofing, and weeping over reviewers’ comments at many of the previous sites. I’ve cried at the Toyota dealer, sweated buckets while writing on torn, uncomfortable chairs at a non-air-conditioned Midas Muffler, and written piles of blogs and articles in hospital emergency and waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, airports, and the MVA. I’ve been stuck in airports or on the tarmac for 3–9 hours on several occasions. That’s solid writing time. You can either get angry or write; it's your attitude and choice. The more you write in these public settings, except prison, the more you can build up your concentration skills. Since you’re writing every day, writing on the fly becomes a habit; writing in your office becomes a luxury. There is no excuse for not writing. “You can do it!”)
Tomorrow, I will discuss Tip 8: how to pick and write for a niche audience. I know you’re itching to read about niches.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
9. WRITE EVERYWHERE YOU CAN. The comfort of your sanctum sanctorum, whether it is your home or business office, library, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or a closet in your bomb shelter, is probably the best venue for you to do your best writing. Unfortunately, life happens and you need to find ways to adapt to other venues, though less comfortable than your sanctum.
If you only rely on your “ideal” time and place conditions to write, you won’t be nearly as productive as you could be. It’s a time-management issue. Use 10-minute to infinity time blocks at other venues to write your guts out. Don’t waste your time in a waiting room reading an out-of-date magazine on Lindsay Lohan’s prison experiences. Use that time to produce.
Preparation: Instead, consider the following:
1. dump your laptop (with power cord, mouse, and flashdrive) into a padded bag, attaché case, or your backpack,
2. find a secluded location in a lobby or waiting room,
3. create a make-shift office with a semi-comfortable chair and mini-table next to a hyphenated outlet, and
4. plug in your puppy.
Writing on the Fly: Now you’re ready to start writing with your heart at any of these venues:
• Doctors', vets', and dentists' offices
• Hospital waiting room or cafeteria during family member’s surgery, unless you’re the surgeon or nurse
• Sitting and rotting at the MVA for license renewal, title, registration, or anything else involving your vehicle
• Airports and airplanes, except those tiny props with propellers
• Banks and large post offices
• Police station waiting to be booked
• Courthouse awaiting your trial or jury verdict
• Sitting and rotting in your prison cell
• Cruises and large boats that don’t tip over
• Restaurants and coffee shops
• Car dealer, gas station, and Midas Muffler waiting rooms for repairs
• Vacation resorts, if the resort or roommate turns out to be a bummer
This tip will continue tomorrow with some reflections on the above venues and Internet access, plus a few personal suggestions. Let me know your reactions to these venues and your writing successes there.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS
10. WRITE EVERYDAY. In the movie Finding Forrester, fictitious Pulitzer Prize winning novelist William Forrester (played by everyone’s fave James Bond, Sean Connery) gave the following advice on writing to his talented 16-year old mentee Jamal Wallace, whose secret passion was writing:
“You write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think. If you try to write the perfect page one, you’ll never get to page two.”
What to Write: You need to force yourself to write responses to e-mails, texts, tweets, comments to blogs and online discussions, etc. Search for every opportunity to write. Even better, create them by formally mapping out a writing project, such as the following:
• blog
• section of an article
• piece of a chapter or report
• chapter in an accreditation self-study
• portion of a speech or lecture
• jokes for an article, presentation, or stand-up gig
• scene for a play or screenplay
• scene for a TV movie of the week with geezer-like Tom Selleck
• any chunk of a manuscript
Chunking: Think about your writing in short bits, pieces, and chunks, not total papers. They’re easier to complete. What ever you commit to write should be part of your “to-do” list every day. It should be important and urgent, category A, on your list. Your writing is high priority.
Chunk writing keeps the writing juices and other fluids flowing and your brain neurons-synapses firing, unless, of course, you’re on crystal meth. The more frequently you write, the more you improve your ability to express your thoughts grammatically and mechanically, plus there’s more flowing and firing to boot. You’re honing the art and craft of your writing.
(Up Close & Personal: I’ve been writing for hundreds of years. However, one of the best exercises I have found to stimulate my creative writing bodily fluids to keep pouring out all over my PC was to commit to writing a 200–300 word blog almost every day. This August 1 will be my 1st Blogiverary. I’m aiming for 180 blogs. I really look forward to writing a blog every day, except when I can’t think of anything. Mine is a professional blog, but you can write a social blog or whatever you’re willing to write. I strongly recommend creating a series of blogs on a single topic, as I am doing on “writing.” It’s much easier than writing on a completely new topic everyday. Whatever works for you, do it. Just write.)
(Application: Writing blogs is an extremely effective method to build students’ writing skills. The blog keeps your writing fresh and forces you to stretch mentally and produce something of value for your readers. That’s a significant challenge.)
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
