Writing Cleanses and Heals the Mind, Body, Spirit, and Soul. When I speak to people about writing, many of them say that they cannot think of anything to write about. That statement is not correct. If you can talk, you can write. Think of all the times you have told someone a story verbally.. Everyone has a story or two. Many stories are locked away deep inside of you, and stories keep us all dreaming, so by writing them we are contributing to the lives of other people. Assisting them to keep dreaming, and to keep believing in themselves, and in their own inner power and ability to succeed. Everyone is special and valuable.
Stories are invaluable.. All your personal true-life experiences. Life experiences can be written as a true or fictional short story, with a few minor changes. Short stories are a great way to start writing, because there are many companies who are happy to publish them with No financial outlay from you, market them and will pay you a percentage on each sale. These stories will then travel and inspire others, by giving them an idea, an answer, a direction, an awakening, or even a new heartfelt faith in their own ability to succeed.. Someone out there is a writer waiting to happen. Is that person you? You will never know unless you give it a go. Be willing to try everything in life.. This is the only way to find your true passion. Work at your life and then life will work for you. As a writer, stay neutral, do not limit your writing by allowing your beliefs to get in the way. You are writing for the readers pleasure.. " Some people see things as they are, and ask Why? I dream of thing that never were, and say, Why Not."( George Bernard Shaw.)
You may have a cause. A cause that you are passionate about, like human rights, or world peace. You may have lived with a family member who has survived a serious illness, or know someone who has faced adversity with confidence, composure, direction, and dignity. You just start to write about what you know. If you have a wild imagination, it is a real asset for a writer. I know someone who cared for her father, with Alzheimer's disease for many years. She kept a day-by-day diary in detail. This information then becames a helpful book for others living through the same difficult circumstances..
Writing can be a real blessing. Helping someone who may be struggling with life as it is, in addition, for the reader who may be struggling with life. Writing is a win- win situation for many people. Knowledge is useless, until it is passed forward to help others.. " Creative writers are always greater than the causes they represent and write about." ( E.M.Forster.) Awakening your intuition, Intuition, Gut feelings, Sixth sense, Higher self, Deja' vu are all fabulous assets for a writer. These qualities can be achieved through meditation, belief, contemplation, dreaming, faith, visualizations, prayer, love affirmations, and Quiet Time. All these actions open the doors to your creativity and to your gifts. Assisting the writing juices to flow freely with effortless effort. By participating in these actions, you are planting the seeds that you expect to grow. We should explore all our possibilities We must seek first in order to find our true purpose..
Turning back the hands of time. Turn back the hands of time and take a slow walk back through your entire life. Takes notes on any interesting experiences you had, and memorable people that you met along your journey. Look for interesting characters that you could write about..
Start by scribbling. Writing down all the ideas that come into your mind night and day. Put some note pads everywhere so that you do not lose the thought when it comes to you. They come in a flash and they leave in a flash. Be listening, Be attentive, and Be ready. Write the ideas exactly as they come, they may not make sense at the time, but all will be revealed, as you persist and keep going. Adding and embellishing will come later.. Scribble from the heart. Write as though you are writing a love letter. Check out your thinking. As a man thinks-so he is. Take the words from your heart and allow them to pour out onto the paper. Laugh at yourself and have fun while you explore this new adventure. Fun is a great motivator..
I hope to hear from you with, Good News, that some of you have started tapping away on your keyboard, and others started scratching a path with a pen. This could be the beginning of an exciting new page in your life. Jumping into a new unexplored territory, for you. Taking a leap of faith, and getting started, is the first STEP. Be proud of yourself- you are in the minority, Why, because how many people do you know personally, who have written, published and marketed their own book successfully. Not many, If any. You can achieve that status.. You can write for the rest of your life, you will never have to retire. Once you catch the bug, you will never stop writing... Here is a short list of things to do to help you get started.
1) Collect all your notes and scribblings and produce a first draft in a word processing program, 'write or dictate' without much formatting.
2) Keep rearranging until it has a sense of flow. Edit for typing errors, spelling mistakes, correct grammar, and structure, meanings, fluency, punctuations, and line structure. Your story must make sense. It must be accurate, logical, believable, truthful, active, full of passion, heart warmth, sincerity, and inspirational. Creating visual pictures by the great expression of descriptive words. Is it welcoming? with good general structure, and not too many repetitions. Write about frustration, pain, sadness, love, elation, Joy and success.
3) Add any missing information continuously and keep rearranging for sense and flow. Think of What, Where, Why, When, Who. Think of your characters behavior, and appearances.
4) Any of your main characters need to be described in detail, and any emotional parts need to be described fully. How do they really feel? What are their idiosyncrasies and eccentricities.
5) Make good use of your dictionary always looking for better descriptive words. Try not to use words that the reader may not understand. Don't try to be to cleaver. Keep it reasonable and simple.
6) The more you write the quicker you will improve.
7) Make a template to give yourself organized chapter sizes.
8) Try to write a few pages everyday.
9) Work towards 12,000 - 18,000 words for your first short story.
10)Edit, edit, edit, change, and rearrange until you feel real happy and contented with your writing. Knowing that you have told your story well, complete, and interesting. Read it aloud to yourself often. If possible, tape it, and play it back, listen as though you are the reader. Think about your Title and you book cover. This is so important.
A writers goals are to:
1) Touch the reader on a social or personal level feeling the issues of everyday life.
2) Make the reader laugh or cry, stop and think.
3) Think about 'who you are' you are not just a name. You are a human being with a heart and soul, likes, dislikes, and feelings. You have idiosyncrasies and habits, some good and some not so good. All this needs to be taken into account to build interest in your characters.
4) To inspire-motivate-educate and deeply touch the reader emotionally.
5) The purpose of books should be to enable the reader to look deeply within and honestly find that something they have read has deeply touched their heart and soul and opened up their mind
6) One needs a balance of creativity, head knowledge, logic, and a heart connection, and not afraid to write with the fairies, knowing that extraordinary writing often comes from out of the blue.
7) Have you used enough powerful phrases, catchy expressions, and passion to entertain your reader? Will it be understandable? Do you need to do some more research or more planning? The time and place for feelings as a writer is when you have the desire to give the reader a more pleasurable insightful, and an extraordinary experience..
A scrupulous writer. In every sentence that he or she writes, a scrupulous writer will ask themselves at least four questions.
1) What am I trying to say?
2) What words will best express it?
3) What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4) Have I used the right diction, dialect, structure, and language complying to the particular style, character, or place. 5) "Is this image fresh enough or effective enough to have the desired effect that I want to achieve?" (George Orwell 1903-1950.)
Choose a good title for your story. A good title sells a book. It is the first thing that your potential customer will see. It needs to leap off the cover and engage a customers interest to want to buy it. Design a fabulous cover. If you cannot do this, sometimes the publisher will do it for you. There are some fabulous private cover creators out there. Taking in account, of course your own idea's. The same applies to your script. Your goal is to write your story with enough intrigue so that the reader cannot put the book down until they reach the end. You must learn to place your self objectively in the readers shoes.
Good Preparation is the Key. Make a plan. Be organized. Know where your story is going. Be active and committed. Never give up. Keep your eyes on the prize. Seeing and holding your finished published book in your hand. Make a definite decision to finish it within a certain time frame. With a decision, direction, desire, drive, determination, diligence, enthusiasm, motivation, faith, and belief in your success. See the finished product in your mind and get excited..
Know why you are writing your story. Everything we do must have a purpose. Consider what you want to achieve. Is it: Credibility? Status,? To attract more customers or clients? To Increase your income? For personal enjoyment ? To share Ideas, knowledge, expertise, experiences, or talents? Whatever your reason, writing and publishing a story, or book, is the most uplifting, contributing, healing, exciting, rewarding, challenging, heartfelt accomplishment you can achieve. It is a life-changing event. Your credibility will soar.
Bringing Peace and Joy to your mind, body spirit, and soul. A Lack of Support. Do not allow any negative comments to dishearten you, stay in the impersonal realm. Do not take anything personally. We may never understand why the people we love do not support us, however, that is their problem, not yours, just let it go. Do not play that game. Focus on the ones who do support you. Pat yourself on the back, give yourself a star because that's what you are. You are giving your dream a go. When someone makes a derogatory remark about you like, your all ego. Flick it off. My interpretation of that is Every Goal Orientated person deserves to be highly praised for their effort. A wise man once said that every time he failed, he found 100 reasons why it didn't work and tried a different way..
Lack of education ? No degrees ? Do not let this stop you either. Noah's Ark was built by amateurs, and the Titanic was built by professionals. When Noah started building it, it was not even raining yet. Ha Ha ! There are literally millions of people in this world, who have achieved extraordinary success, who had no formal education. There is much power in Common Sense, Positive Thinking, Faith, and Belief in yourself. Hard work, Going the extra mile. Seeing your goal in your mind, before you receive it. Heart works and Belief in infinite intervention. Many famous musicians had no formal education beyond fourteen years. They had a dream and believed that they had a connection above, and beyond..
Believe in yourself and you can do anything, just take your time, and put your mind to it. Heart, soul, and do not let go until you get there...Action. Einstein said, "Nothing happens until something moves." Action is an essential ingredient in any success. Action is a task that you do each day that moves you closer to your goal. In this case, we are talking about writing, publishing and marketing your book. Action puts another page into your book and gets you closer to your success as a published author everyday.
Think of the process. When Building a house and after the plans are passed. There is, finding a builder, clearing of the land and then laying the foundation. The brick walls start how, by laying one brick at a time, every day until it is ready to put on the roof. All is action, without it there would be no house. Likewise, If you do not take action, working your plan, writing a few pages everyday, continuously editing and rearranging your story, you will never reach your goal to become a successful published author. You will be amazed and pleasantly surprised at how fast your life will change..
Stay focused. My heartfelt thoughts and my best wishes go with you, on your journey to your success.
