Blog Post Caches

Hi folks. It's been a few days since my last entry, which brings up my topic for today. I was laid low with illness and am just today feeling like being upright and at a computer.

So, what did I think about when I was laying in bed? That I wasn't able to post a blog entry! Ironically, the day before I got hit with the bug, I had taught in the Social Media webinar I'm co-hosting that it's a wise idea to have a cache of blog entries that you are working on, so that if there's ever a day that you can't sit down to write a post, you have some stored for quick access and easy posting.

Here's a simple way to stimulate ideas and then write up several short discussions to keep on hand:

1. Go to Google, Yahoo, or another search engine and type in keywords that match your target audience.

2. View some of the blogs that come up in the search.

3. Read through some of the posts and, whether you agree or disagree with what the writer is saying, write down the topic of what you would say in response (if you have some time and the blogger allows comments, by all means do that; it's good practice and your responses will cause people to want to see more of what you have to say).

4. When you have about 5-6 topics in your area of expertise, start with one and write a 3-5 paragraph post based on your own experience.

5. Do that again with each post, saving them as drafts. In an hour or so, you should have them all written.

6. When you need a new post, take one of the drafts, read through it again, edit if necessary, then post it.

7. Go through this process at least once a week and you will continually restock your cache.

Now you don't have to panic when you don't have time to think and write a blog post.

And now, back to my own cache-building...

Write On!
Marilyn Schwader

Writing For the Web

The next few posts are going to be on the subject of writing for the web. This includes writing posts for blogs, writing online articles, writing for social media, and writing for your website. Later, I'll get into writing marketing copy.

There are probably a few of you reading this who are new to the Internet and are a little overwhelmed with all the possibilities and where to start. What is the best way to keep from having the feeling it's just too much to learn and you'll never have the time to know it all?

Yes, getting up and running can be overwhelming at first. Actually, even at times when you have more knowledge :-). Remember to take smaller steps first and build up from there.

There are two important things to keep in mind. First, is to look at social media as a new board game that you are just learning. First, you learn the rules, then you set up the pieces, then you start at square one, roll the dice, and start. Sometimes you'll take great leaps forward, sometimes it'll seem like a crawl, and sometimes you might even go backward a step or two and have to do it over. The critical thing is to have fun while you are doing it! And know that everyone on the Internet started in the exact same place!

The second thing to remember is that the Internet, and all the gadgets, widgets, and resource websites are tools. And if you remember the first time you used a hammer, you didn't just pick it up and know how to use it in the best way. You got better each time. Now when you pick up a hammer, you don't even think about the learning curve. So, in the beginning you'll be learning how and setting things up, step-by-step.

Also, remember what I started with on the call: Belief causes Action causes Results; Bigger Belief causes Bigger Action with Bigger Results. First you have an idea, then you create a plan of action, then you take the first step. Everything else will be dependent on each step, and that’s all you have to focus on in this moment. When something works, take another step. If you have a set-back, learn from what didn’t work and try it slightly different the next time.

Taking action is a success. You've already taken a big step by being in the class!

A small step is to set up your blog. If you want to do it in a few easy steps, go to www.wordpress.com and play around with setting up a blog. Wordpress.com is a free blog site and is very user-friendly. You can try different templates (if you choose one, make sure it has the capability of using unlimited widgets). You can also go into Wordpress's help menu and read some of the information they provide. It will help you get familiar with some terms (they even have a glossary).

If you are more technical and want more development tools to use for your blog, go to www.wordpress.org. From there you can learn how to upload wordpress to your server or webhost control panel. This route gives you the ability to add your own banner and other HTML code, flash, and other tools to the blog. It also gives you the ability to direct your blog to a specific URL.

You can have a web presence with a blog even if you don't have a website. In fact, many websites are now simply blogs that have been made to appear as websites. With either Wordpress, you can be online in a very short time, whether you use their templates and easy building tools or want to use the more extended tool. You can also build it and play with it, change it and none of it has to be public until you are ready. I'm getting ready to migrate from Blogger to Wordpress because of the expanded capabilities I can use in the latter.

If you are still overwhelmed, but would like to keep building your online presence, find someone to add to your support team, then delegate the setup work to them. Then you can do more of what you enjoy and are good at to build your business.

Write On!
Marilyn

The Other Creative Curse: Lack of Focus

Yesterday, I wrote about one type of Creative Curse: the belief that the genius of creativity is not a good thing to have. Today, I'm writing about an entirely different perspective that can also be called a Creative Curse: Lack of Focus!

Yesterday I was on a call as a member of the advisory board for SmartWomensCoaching.com, a site dedicated to helping women who are in transition in life. We were talking about the new technologies that are available and what I would be sharing on tomorrow's webinar: The ABCs of Social Media: How to Make Writing Online Easy, Fun, and Phenomenally Effective. Some of the coaches on the call were very excited about the prospect of using video, audio, blogging, and social networking to promote their businesses, while others expressed their feeling of overwhelm in all of the possible mediums available to use. The question came up, "What works best for you, and how do you do it all?"

That question comes up all the time in my work with writing clients. Whether you are creating your strategy, writing an article, or painting a picture, it's easy to go off in several directions. How DO you choose what will work best? That's the curse of creativity. There are so many possibilities, so little time. And yet, there's often excitement about the prospect of every one of those possibilities.

What do you do? You have to focus your intention and attention on one at a time – the one that fits your brand if you are developing your strategy, or the one theme if you are writing an article, or one subject if you are painting a picture. Creatives tend to want to go down one path, then veer off on another tangent, then they see another possibility that looks even more exciting. Ultimately, they don't get anything done because they are trying out all of the different things, spreading themselves too thin, and therefore, never completing a task.

The best thing to do is to always ask if what you are doing in this moment will lead you to your destination the most direct and simple way? If not, then set it aside for now and look at the next choice. Ask again. If it doesn't fit with your current objective, DON'T DO IT. If it fits, but is not your passion, build a team so you have the time to do what you truly love. No matter how enticing or how much adrenaline you get from the idea, learn to refocus your attention on what's most important in that moment to reach your vision.

One of the hardest parts of being a creative is to learn how to delegate. But once you have the support you need, you will accomplish so much more. You'll be doing what you love, and the energy you will start to have as a result will allow you to create works of art by following the passion of your heart.

The Creative Curse

Last week, I attended a lecture by the bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert. The book uses the author's true gift of storytelling to relate her year-long journey to recover from divorce and find her true love. Gilbert's writing is irreverent, humorous, touching – everything I love my writing clients to emulate.

In her speech, Gilbert talked at length about what has happened to our view of creativity and using one's genius based on societal and cultural changes since the Renaissance. Because I've been writing and coaching about the topic of creativity for years (see A Guide to Getting It: Creative Intelligence), she had my complete attention.

The creative curse is the term I use to describe the social belief that being creative is a bad thing, that being a creative will not earn you the money, status, or ease of life that you would have if you just settled for a secure job. By placing this belief on children, by discouraging it in yourself, you are denying the world your genius. By not using your genius, you are saying to God, "I don't trust that what you had intended for me is right."

So, tap into your creative genius, learn how to explore what that looks like in your life. Move beyond the belief that being creative is a curse. You'll be amazed at the changes you'll see in your life when you do.

The True Passion Test - What's Right in Front of You?

Last year at my niece's graduation, the keynote speaker was sharing how she had veered from her degree of psychology to her current position as editor of Food Day magazine. One day she was lamenting to her husband how she "just didn't know what her passion was" as she stood looking at a ceiling-to-floor bookshelf filled with cookbooks and other food-related tomes. He had to point out the irony before she was able to see what was right in front of her.

What most of us do early in life is look at the money trail to help us decide the direction of our careers. Then, along about mid-life, we realize that the passion is missing from the picture and start to look for what we can do differently to fill that void. This might not seem related to writing, but what I've experienced is that the more passionate you are about what you are writing, the better the result. So if you are looking for what you really want to be writing about, take a look at your bookshelf. Where is your interest and how would you develop that into writing that stimulates both you and your reader?

If you still have a question about what your true passion is, I highly recommend the book by Janet Atwood, The Passion Test. She is one of the subjects of the video, The Quest for Success, on which I'm co-writing the book that will accompany the show. In the research I'm doing, I have worked through her exercises and had some surprising results. What I had long denied as a possible course in my life is now being revealed as my true passion. I've still got a ways to go before I finish the book, but I'll give a bit of foreshadowing, I've already started to develop a new website that will reflect what I've learned.

Stay tuned for more on this in the coming weeks!

Have a fabulous day!
Marilyn

Write On!

The ABCs of Social Media

Ted and I just wrapped up our preview call of The ABCs of Social Media webinar. If you didn't get a chance to register or be on the call, we recorded it and I will post the link tomorrow morning here at the blog. As we talked about on the call, one of the reasons why we are so excited about the information we will be teaching in the four-week webinar series starting next week is that we'll not only be sharing the steps to getting you up and running with social media, we will be weaving in how to write for this emerging technology.

Social networking is relationship building, establishing trust, getting people to know you. We'll talk about developing a personal style, how to build writing around key words and phrases, how to research current trends and leverage what's happening in the news to shine more light on you and what you offer.

As I mentioned on the call, I'm excited to be learning from Ted. He is teaching what has been working for him. As much as I feel I know about technology, I'm a novice compared to what he knows. What we covered was just the tip of the iceberg. There's much more fun on the way!

I hope you can join us!
Marilyn

Write On!

Writing in the Moment

Have you been watching the online show with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle discussing his book, A New Earth? The main theme he writes about is how the ego mind works in our lives. This is a topic that comes up frequently for myself and my clients in regards to the writing process. To really get into the creative flow, it is necessary to set aside the ego (I encourage a visualization of seeing the ego as a person and you are asking him or her to step outside the room before you start to write). When you can truly do this, you will find yourself in the present moment, because the ego only exists when your mind is either in the past or the future. When you have no thought of the past or future, you are completely connected with self, with source, and have now stepped into the flow. The more you write, the more you'll experience this state, and you'll start to find yourself able to do it in daily activities as well.

To do this when you are writing, allow the words to flow in a stream of consciousness. What the ego thrives on is fears, judgments, anxiety, and regrets you cling to in your thoughts. What stops people from truly sharing their emotions, experiences, and their true self is either a fear of the future or a regret about the past. In either case, you are no longer in the moment and you will experience struggle. This is the ego mind in control.

One tip that helped me when I was first understanding this concept years ago was to say the phrase, "I am claiming the moment" 500 times a day. To that point, I had not been a believer in affirmations, but a spiritual teacher recommended I try this every day. It took about three weeks and one day I realized that I was truly in the moment. It felt so freeing and blissful, I wanted to never let go of that moment, which immediately took me out of the present! Now, when I realize my thoughts are in the past or the future, I take a deep breath, let go of the thought, and come back to whatever it is I'm doing in that moment. The enjoyment returns, and I express my gratitude, which further expands my positive feeling. When writing, that allows me to access what is immediately in front of me and the struggle disappears.

I'd love to hear your own experiences with claiming the moment! I welcome your comments!