From November 1st to November 30th, participants of NaNoWriMo penned a grant total of 2,427,190,537 words together. That’s a lot of completed novels, and a whole lot of incomplete novels that might one day still be finished and grace our bookshelves adorned with Oprah’s Book Club sticker, a NY Times Bestseller sticker, or no sticker at all. Nonetheless, NaNoWriMo could very well have inspired the next great novel, and pushed the writer over the hurdle of actually getting things done. A remarkable thing about the National Novel Writing Month is that every year, it inspires writers of all calibers to start writing, and to give up other things in their lives just in the name of reaching the 50.000 word goal by the end of the month. It unites (very) young writers and old writers, novices and experienced novelists, and help a whole lot of us feel all kinds of emotions rage through our bodies; excitement, frustration, rage, enlightenment, a fresh round of excitement, relief and disbelief.

Although NaNoWriMo is so successful because it only requires one month of your life to write your heart out, let the new year be your personal novel writing year. It takes just as much effort to plan writing a certain word count in one month as it takes to plan one year. Upsides of a month is the relatively short duration, and lower chances of distractions that prove fatal to the project. On the other hand, advantages of taking a year is that you have more leeway. If an important distraction does come up, you still have time to catch up once life goes back to normal. All it takes is just as much commitment as you give the other aspects of your life, whether they be work, kids, a partner or hobbies. Writing, if that’s what you want to do in the new year, deserves a prominent spot on your list of priorities. With just a few more days to finish of this year and start with a fresh page, it is the perfect time for a new year’s resolution that will stick. Whether it takes you buying a brand new notebook and literally start on a blank page, or whether you need to commit to a schedule, the new year can be your testing ground for what works best for you. Whatever you chose as the activity you want to spend more time on in the new year, or whatever is your new year’s resolution, I hope you will keep your list of priorities, and don’t throw it out by summer. Writing will definitely be on mine…

We’ve all seen the good advice from top bloggers around the world: write interesting stuff. This is supposed to be the holy grail to Blogging success, and ultimately also to some form of reward from your blogging. Whether that reward is personal satisfaction, or an income.

I’ve been thinking about writing on some good content networks for some time now, as part of keeping up my regular writing-for-fun habits. I’ve blogged about these plans in the past few days. One place where I am experimenting with getting both some more articles published, and experimenting with the potential monetary return, is on my Examiner.com Economy column.

Yesterday, I came across an article idea I particularly liked, and which worked well for the Examiner. I wrote a very brief article about Windows 7, and how it is probably not going to turn Mac enthusiasts back to PCs, just as it has done very little for the Microsoft stock. What I had never expected was to get 7 comments on the article right away! My attempt at some humor, and a stab at Windows, left a few PC-enthusiasts upset enough to comment.

I’m never out to make people angry with my writing, quite the contrary, but this does show that creating a spark with readers can be a good thing. As with all other things in life, writing a slightly more spicy, or controverial, article can really elicit a reaction, which brings in more readers, and in this case, also more revenue. My humble income from yesterday’s writing efforts (I wrote another article aside from the Mac vs. PC one) are in the screen shot below. Yes, it is just a Dollar…for now… but like Russel Peters said (in a Chinese accent) in one of his comedy shows:

“…and then you have a dollar, and then you go to the dollar store and buy yourself something nice…”

The whole idea with publishing venues like the Examiner is that you get residual income. So although in one day 122 page views translated to about a dollar in revenue for me, the hope – and general assumption – is that over time these same articles will still get page views and continue to bring in some revenue. Although everyone wants to be paid a lot at once, there is no harm in creating some residual income streams. After all, those come in even when other freelance work is low, or other aspects of life take over temporarily.

Yesterday, I wrote about my renewed commitment to building a more elaborate online portfolio using a few different publishers. Among these is the Examiner, and here is my first step towards my new goals: an article about one of my favorite pieces of technology, the Macbook.

Here are all my other articles at the Examiner.com

Although Google Docs has been around for years, I am still trying to get into the habit of using it regularly. Without a doubt, having access to certain documents anywhere in the world, from any computer, is an amazing luxury that far surpasses the inconveniece of carrying around USB keys and portable harddrives. I always seem to misplace my USB keys, and they have to shuttle between the three bags I carry routinely, only varying in size to meet my storage needs on any particular day.

Google Docs can save you from all that USB key misery though. There is nothing to remember to bring with you, and nothing to really lose, when using Google Docs. Any document is available at any point in time, basically making your documents in progress mobile. And with “mobile” I actually mean portable, not necessarily restricted only to being available on a mobile device (although that, too, is possible).

The secret to using productivity tools

Like any productivity enhancing tool, the tool is only as useful as the user makes it. In other words, if you don’t get yourself in the habit of using something, it will of course not do anything for your productive output. Google Docs is exactly the same, and as I mentioned, I am also still getting into the habit of using it regularly.

However, essentially there are factors we cannot change in our day that influence (or reduce) our productivity. One of them is time: there are, and probably always will be, only 24 hours in a day. No sense in wishing there were more, I’ve tried and it doesn’t change anything. We also cannot change activities that cost a certain minimum amount of time without having to deal with serious long term consequences, like sleeping, commuting, and socializing. What we can do, is make use of those minutes here and there that are lost by simply not filling them with a useful activity.

Using two minutes here, and five minutes there, to work on your next novel (for example), will actually result in said novel being done years sooner than when you are constantly hoping to free up three solid hours of writing time. Anyone who has tried to sit down and seriously write, will know this will never happen. Although this is an example for writers, it applies to anyone trying to produce something over a longer period of time. If you are a student and are given an assignment, you should really start early and do bits and pieces of it. Yes, most students (and I used to do it too) cram all the work into the evening before the deadline. This is setting yourself up for reasonably bad habits though, because deadlines will still exist in the “real world”.

How Google Docs ramps up your productivity

When you upload your documents that are a work in progress (reports, assignments, novels, short stories, poems, you name it…) to Google Docs, and keep a Google Docs page open in one of your browser tabs to function as a reminder, then you can easily fill those lost minutes with some productive typing. Even if you are just free writing, you are probably going to produce something more useful than if you don’t try at all. You might also spend those minutes you are on hold on the phone editing some of your work uploaded to Google Docs. I almost ‘lost’ at least an hour and a half on hold with various airlines and organizations this week, had I not filled that time with some editing and some writing as well. It is amazing how much more you get done by just not wasting the five minutes here and there that tend to get lost during the day. It is almost like reckless spending, but instead of money we’re losing time. There are people who routinely buy small ticket items that are not really necessary (candy bars, pop, etc), and when adding up the real cost over the course of a year, it is shocking.
The very same goes for our productivity. By wasting those ten minutes on hold on the phone, taken over the course of a year, that’s at least one more chapter for a book, a short story, or an article.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in time-well-wasted on occasion, but the reality is that there are many instances during our day when we might as well use our time wisely, and productively.

Many people, writers and professionals, spend the better time of their day writing. The sheer amount of information produced (and possibly discarded) on a daily basis is enough to make you depressed, if you stop writing for a second to think about it.

In addition to all the wild writing going on, we all have our other daily commitments: shopping for groceries, cooking healthy meals, family, and maybe friends too if you don’t want to become a complete hermit.

So any trick to speed up the writing process would be a good one, right? Writing faster means you finish that novel faster, you get your work done before 5 p.m. or you get to simply become more accomplished. Either way, writing faster can benefit anyone who ever picks up a pen or touches a keyboard.

How I learned to write fast

I was forced to type very fast when helping my mother through her divorce. Aside from the fact we were on other sides of the world, and writing hundreds of emails a month, I helped her draft all court related materials. Often, due to health reasons, she would dictate what she wanted to say to me, and I would type it out almost as fast as she would speak. Only sometimes I’d ask her to repeat or slow down. So how did I do it?

• I would often write notes in bullet point form and work them out later
• I would “Throw up on the screen”, as suggested by Alisa at ProBlogger.
• I write fast, and rewrite later. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the right words, now I insert a note-to-self and get back to it later. Often, when rereading my work, the word will come to be automatically.
• If all fails, just free write for a few minutes to get more ideas going.

As Alisa mentioned in her article as well, it helps to know what you want to say. Clearly you can only write fast if you are not doing any research for ideas at the same time.

Tips for Bloggers and Freelance Writers

The biggest time drain on any writer, whether you are a blogger thinking up 7 articles a week, or a freelancer who needs to make ends meet, is researching topics. Sometimes good ideas strike at the worst possible times, and it is important to write down those ideas in one place (and one place only). Keep a dedicated small notebook in your purse or pocket for article ideas, and whenever you have one on the subway or in line for coffee you can write it down. Whenever you’re sitting at your desk ready to write an article for your blog, or a query to a magazine, take out your notebook and start writing… really fast.

There are few things writers complain of more than writer’s block. There are various schools of thought on the topic, but in accordance with our modern ‘can-do’ attitude, a larger body of writers are actually calling this common ailment a myth.

Writer’s Block can be Anything

Having a writing block just translates into an inability to write, a loss of creativity and productivity. This can be caused by a host of different things, such as:

• Illness
• Low energy/fatigue
• Stress (family, work, etc)
• Loss of focus
• Lack of organization

Writers who say they have a ‘muse’, are often just fueling their art with spurts of energy and creativity. Muses can exist, but they are more often a great book or fine art rather than a pretty lady in a big ballroom dress. When you lose your muse, you lose your creative inspiration or even your will to write.

It can happen to anyone, trust me I’m someone who plays the writer’s block card often enough! Finding out what is the cause for your lack of productivity is really the key to restarting your creative engines.

The Cure for Writer’s Block

1. Sometimes a cure for your writer’s block can be as simple as a change of scenery. Do you often write at home? Try a library or local café. A coffee shop can serve as a writing exercise to jump start your creative juices in the first place: people watching, and taking notes, can be a huge help when finding new situations, dialogues or conflicts for your characters. You never know, perhaps your protagonist will walk in and order a double espresso…
2. Find the root of the problem. If your energy levels are low in all other aspects of your life, then it is no big surprise you are not feeling up to the next 10.000 word challenge for your novel. Analyze your life and try to figure out what is draining you. If you can, reduce the number of stressors you have in your life, and devote a block of time every week to writing. Be religious about it, even if you need to invent a small lie to get it done.

I’m personally too accommodating a person to let my own priorities come before those of others in my life, so I end up always sacrificing my writing time to do other things or help others. I’ve decided to join a workshop or a creative group, to force me to devote a particular amount of time every week to my goals. Because it is a fixed commitment, like a course, nobody can really interfere with it. I’m simply not available for that chunk of time.

If you don’t want to join a class or group, you can go so far to tell others you have and turn your phone off during ‘class hours’. It’s a bit extreme, but for people who don’t take your writing as seriously as you would like it, it is a possible solution. If you do join a course – even if it is not related to writing – consider blocking off an hour before or after the course to dedicate to writing. Chances are, you’re away from home already and nobody is really expecting anything from you for that evening. One extra hour of mock ‘class time’ (read: writing time) is really not going to be the end of the world

3. Make a pact with yourself to write something. An old post at 43 folders basically has a number of suggestions that boil down to just that: getting yourself to do something. In many cases, at least for me, I just have to get over some sort of mental hurdle to get writing. My favorite ritual is to get a ‘Grande, extra-hot, non-fat latte” at Starbucks. Once I actually invest in a fancy coffee, I’d feel terrible if I would not get anything done. So I guess you could say Starbucks is sort of my ‘muse’.

Some writing diversion

If you are using Stumble to get some creative inspiration, you may have come across this website . It’s a funny little writing tool whenever you get tired of Word or Open Office.

How do you get over writer’s block? Do you have any secret tricks of the trade?

[Image credit: Miss Pupik]

Just a few minutes ago I found the following picture on stumble:

I had already read about this research a long time ago, but in a properly spelled article. Although it is interesting that we don’t actually need to spell properly to be understood, I don’t think it works for the really bad spellers, who hardly ever guess correctly at the first and last letter of a work. Nevertheless, although spelling remains important for writers, readers are going to be able to read your most appalling work.

Comforting?

Not everybody loves to write, but even those who get turned on by the prospect of spending a few hours at their keyboard, hardly skip a beat at the prospect of typing out their email signature ten times an hour.
If you think about how much time is lost, in a cumulative sense, constantly rewriting standardized phrases or information, it makes sense to try and cut back on these routine tasks.

The simple, electronic, solution
A simple solution, for information that is longer than a few words, is to create a word document that has some standard paragraphs you often find yourself writing when responding emails or writing memos. A simple example is the email signature: some of us may have more than one email signature, making it difficult to program into popular email clients. In some cases, we may not be interested in including a signature for our personal mail, but rather only when sending work-related messages. A straight forward solution that doesn’t require any software is to keep a simple text file open at all times from which you can quickly copy and paste the desired text, instead of writing it again and again throughout the day.

The high-tech solution: software
There are some great applications out there that help you cut back on your writing, and effectively make you write a lot faster, provided that you can remember some shortcuts.
TextExpander is such a tool. You simply set it to replace certain keywords with a bigger block of text. It is a small program that runs in the background, but it is remarkably powerful.

One area where I use TextExpander is for email signatures. If you wear more than one hat (freelance writer, vs. investor), or want to restrict the amount of information you send to certain people, then you can’t really set an automatic signature. Instead of retyping the same information for each email, and wasting minutes to hours a day, I just type in esig1 or esig2 depending on how I’d like to end my messages.

Why this beats having a text file with standard phrases: you always think you place your text files somewhere sensible, but does it always work out that way? I always think my system makes sense, but for some reason my misc file collection always gets filed all over the hard drive.
Instead of hunting for your templates, you can just type a short snippet and be done with it.

If you still operate in the dark ages, there is a windows alternative.
Note Books
The good old fashioned notebook can be found in any jacket these days. Large, small, leather, hard/soft cover, designer or dollar-store. The good old pen and paper is still going strong, despite the many gadgets that are supposed to provide you with any productivity tool you might ever desire.

What might you use this time tested ‘gadget’ for? Well, consider this scenario: you’re on the bus, bored to tears but somehow you are struck with an inspired idea. You figure you’ll remember by the time you get to your destination, but three days later you realize you both forgot to write down your brilliant idea, and forgot the idea itself.
Writers and entrepreneurs lose great ideas for very bad reasons: not taking the time to write them down, arrogantly assuming they have super-human memory, and forgetting to carry a simple little note book with them.
Once you compile a number of ideas, or even keep track of your to-do list, using a note book you can easily refer to it when you find some time you would otherwise spend procrastinating or trying to generate brilliant thoughts from scratch.
Anyone who has ever tried to come up with a little piece of brilliance on the spot knows that good ideas take hard work. Why waste them when they come effortlessly? If you know where you’re going, you get there faster, and it is no different when writing!

Moleskins are notebooks that naturally inspire to write.