Writing at a Moving Target

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Life is a moving target.” If nothing else, it’s been made pretty famous by a store of a certain name. I wish, though, that it wasn’t moving so fast. I wish it would stop, especially when it comes to my writing.

For a brief time, I thought I had a handle on this whole writing lifestyle. Then my oldest daughter was born five years ago today and she threw my life on its head.

I eventually found a new, though slightly more difficult rhythm. (I’m not a morning person, so those 5 a.m. writing sessions were a real bear.) After a matter of a few months, a combination of morning sickness and other ill health again threw things off-kilter. I can’t say I’ll never recover, but I haven’t yet.

I also can’t say I haven’t written anything. As editor of a weekly paper, I routinely write interviews and other features. As a writer, though, my heart and soul have always belonged to fiction. I haven’t touched that since months before the birth of my 21-month-old son. That’s too long.

I wouldn’t trade my children for anything, not even Stephen King’s career. Now, as I write this post, though, I try to block out the movie my five-year-old is watching (The Sword in the Stone if anyone’s interested)…and my toddler’s insistent (try throwing an empty bowl at my head) request for a fifth Cutie…and my two-month-old’s increasingly strident cries. I try to focus and wonder when the target will quit moving. Then I have to face the fact that it never will.

The target will never stop moving. Life will never be perfect. The kids will grow up and something else will happen to take my attention. So, if I want to be a writer, I have to become a sharpshooter and try to hit that target no matter how fast it’s moving or how much it zigzags. I just have to figure out how.

How do you write when your life is a moving target?

Some of the things that keep my life a moving target.

Are You Limiting Your Writing Creativity?

Creative Writing Secrets - 7 Ways You Limit Your Creative Writing Potential Without Even Knowing It
By Dan Goodwin

All of us have an ocean of creative writing potential waiting to be discovered. But having the potential to do something, and actually DOING it, are a world apart.

There are many reasons why we don't write as deeply, as freely and as consistently as we're capable of. So here are 7 of the most common ways you may be limiting YOUR creative writing potential without even knowing it, and what you can do to turn them around:

1. You don't capture your new ideas. A major complaint of creative writers is they don't have enough good ideas. Having the ideas though is not the issue. How many times have you had a great idea appear in your head at the most unlikely moment and thought: "wow, what an interesting idea, I could really develop this into something..." and then forgotten it as quickly as it appeared?

Capture your ideas as soon as they come to you, using a small notebook. Carry it with you wherever you go, and you'll soon realise not only how many ideas you've been having and just not noting them down, but you'll also see that the more ideas you do capture, the more ideas appear to fill their place.

2. You don't write everyday. Creating each and everyday is one of the fundamental building blocks of a consistent creative life. When you say you'll create "when you have time", guess what happens? Yep, you never seem to have time, and so you never write much.

Sit down and write for a minimum of 15 minutes each and every day at the same time each day. The power of this habit has so many benefits, not least of which that you give your creative mind a regular space and a place to, well, create!

3. You don't seek out inspiration. If your daily routine involves seeing exactly the same surroundings and few places, and you never go anywhere different or try any new experiences, you're writing will be similarly monotone and limited.

Keep your inspiration topped up by regularly making time for yourself to visit new places, see things you've always wanted to see, and absorb a little more culture and nature. The change in surroundings will stimulate your senses, which in turn feeds your creative mind with new ideas and inspiration.

4. You don't believe you're creative. Although on the surface you might think you have strong beliefs in your creative ability, often just below the surface a whole gaggle of limiting beliefs are conspiring to hold you back without you realising.

Honestly question what you REALLY believe about your creativity. Write out a few positive statements like "I believe I am a creative writer" and "I have an unlimited potential for new ideas" and notice your instinctive reaction to these statements. If they feel uncomfortable or untrue, it's time to work on making your underlying beliefs more positive.

5. You don't have a place to create. We all need somewhere to create, a place where we feel comfortable and can get into our writing without major distraction. Without this kind of space, we'll never get into any kind of flow with our writing.

Make a space that's just yours for writing. It might be a whole room, it might simply be a cosy chair in the corner of a room. But make it special to you, personalise it, do all you can to give yourself the best chance of writing as freely as possible when you come here to write.

6. You don't set any creative goals. Before your run away screaming at the word "goals", claiming an artist can't possibly be tied down with such limiting concepts, think about this: A goal doesn't need to be complex, rigid and suffocating. A goal is just something you'd like to do, with a date when you like to do it.

By setting goals as clear and simple as: "This Sunday, beginning at 10am I'm going to spend at least 2 hours on writing my new short story" you'll get SO MUCH MORE done than if you just say "I might try to fit in a bit of work on my short story sometime this weekend"... Try setting a few goals - it works!

7. You don't acknowledge your progress. Because you live with yourself day in, day out, it's very difficult to objectively view how much you're developing as a writer. Which means most of the time it feels like you're writing exactly the same stuff you were writing 5 years ago or that you hardly write very much at all.

By taking the time to review how you're evolving - every 3 or 6 months is a good period of time - you can gain huge confidence from realising not only that your writing style has developed, but that actually you've also written far more than you thought you had.

These are 7 of the most common reasons why you're not writing to your creative potential. Which do you most relate to?

Which one area can you choose to work on from today, to start unleashing more of that creative writing talent within you that's bursting to get out?

And you can get your creative writing kick started again right away with the FREE 5 part creative writing ecourse at http://www.YouAreACreativeWriter.Com

From Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin

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Flowing with Creative inspiration

Creative Inspiration For The Everyday Writer
By Roslyn Randle

Have you ever been a person who has had trouble starting a writing project or keeping with the lines of thought that first inspired you to write? You are not alone. Writing can be a difficult task to undertake for the writer who has trouble becoming inspired or staying inspired. There is much to think about when writing; such as capturing and keeping the attention of the audience by developing a good story. Effectively translating striking images with words into the minds of readers can take its toll on writers who indulge in too many distractions. It's easy for writers to fall into the traps of distractions. Those distractions usually produce with it babbling, lack of cohesiveness, and fleeting narratives.

Writers, as with all artists hinge the success of their livelihood on being able to flow creatively from inspiration. Because inspiration is the key to success for the writer, here are a few helpful tips that can begin to spark the imagination to the wondrous world of the mind.

Tip 1: Be observant to the senses by Journaling

By keeping a journal or diary, the writer can begin to record those sudden bursts of inspiration that come during a day. Perhaps a scent or fragrance may spark and imagination or the writer may physically and literally walk into a situation by taking walks or jogs. And speaking of walks and jogs.....

Tip 2: Keep a small recorder, if possible while taking....

Tip 3: Nature Walks

Walking meditation is a powerful way for inspiration to flow. And while you're walking, you can talk and record those moments of inspiration. There are various types of meditation; and your time spent thinking or looking within does not have to be closed up in a room with candles or in a relaxed lotus position, although it does help to incorporate a routine of.....

Tip 4: Yoga

Or some type of exercise that caters to uniting Mind, Body, and Spirit. Mental and physical practices of this type can clear the clutter of the mind. Yoga, Qi-Gong, Tai Chi, are wonderful examples of practices that will relax and inspire.

Tip 5: Create Your Space

Take inventory of your current space. Our environment usually tells us what is going on with our lives. If our space is cluttered, our life is usually screaming disorder. By creating a harmonic environment, one can begin a journey of self-discovery. Look at your environment. Listen to your space. It will speak to you. You can begin to create your space by....

Tip 6: Setting the Mood with Scents and Objects

Quite simply, you have to feel good to produce goodness. Scents, fragrances, perfumes, incenses and beautifully looking objects will begin to inspire and bring out your best creatively. And since you're going to be incorporating scents and looking at beautiful things, don't forget about....

Tip 7: The Inspiration Of Clothing

Pilar Audain Reed, a beautifully gifted designer and owner of the chic Chicago boutique Kreative Souls by Pilar, was a vision built on complete faith and courage. This artist uses her designs of jewelry and clothing to allow the Source of Creation to inspire wonder- filled designs and accessories. She was quoted as saying:

"...Since I can remember, I have always looked for that one "spot" that had the cool stuff I could wear that allowed "me" to be "me," know what I mean? It wasn't at the mall. It wasn't at the local clothing stores. For the most part, it was either in my mother's "old stuff" or my nana's jewelry box. The outer body houses the inner soul, so for me the things that I adorn my body with must be expressive and free, because I am expressive and free-spirited. The body has to "breathe" because the soul has to breathe. As long as my creative juices are flowing, so will the cool stuff I am able to create."

As so it is for the writer. Be inspired by the clothing you wear. Be inspired by the objects you surround yourself with. And finally be inspired by life. Allow life to flow. Allow inspiration to flow freely from you with the adornment of jewels and precious stones. Let the beauty of your environment uplift you to heights that you've never experience; and then write. And most importantly, relax into your gift and create.

To learn more about creative inspiration and tips geared to the writer visit Headline Articles at http://www.headlinearticles.com/blog . Also, discover your creative soul by learning how to access the Universal Laws Of Abundance. Visit Abundance Training 101: The Universal Law Of Abundance at http://universalclass.com/i/crn/14056.htm

Roslyn Randle is an accomplished writer, Author, and Internet Marketer. She is editor-in-chief of Headline Articles, co-publisher of Pro-Internet Biz and co-instructor for several online courses, including the popular wellness course; Lose Weight While Becoming A Wellness Coach at http://universalclass.com/i/crn/9478.htm

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Inspiring Your Writing Inspiration

The Cure for TMS - 3 Tips to Get Your Muse Back
By Dawn Arkin

You say you have TMS - Tired Muse Syndrome? Well, cheer up, because help is one the way. You, yes, YOU can free your muse in easy, fun steps in the privacy of your own home.

Sometimes your muse just needs a mini vacation, a break from all that work. Other times, she just needs a little bit of creative prodding. Even inspiration needs the occasional push in the right direction.

But how do you inspire your inspiration? What can you do to get the creative juices flowing again? Here are some suggestions for waking up your muse and your writing.

1. What’s the strangest thing you ever did? Ever wanted to do? Well, wild child, do it. Make yourself a character in a sketch and take your heroine or hero along for the ride. Write the most fantastical, unusual thing you can think of. Don't forget to write about what happens after it's over.

2. Imagine you’re at bar during a happy hour. A man joins you and asks your name. What’s your response? Do you give him your real name, or do you make one up? Now, put your main character in the same situation. Have a man try to pick her up. What does she tell him? How does the man react? How does your heroine react? How about whoever overhears you?

3. The "cute meet" used to be all the rage in romance novels. What’s a funny or embarrassing way you could meet someone? Breaking into his car? Toilet papering his house? How about a suspenseful way? Chase down a man’s car to tell him there’s a leg sticking out of his trunk? Write about her deciding to go ahead with her plans, how she gathers what she needs, and what happens afterwards.

Odd as these ideas may sound, they can sure cure a case of TMS. And, while nothing you come up with may be of use in your work in process, you might generate secondary characters, outtakes, subplots. Heck, you might come up with a whole new premise from the exercise. If nothing else, you’ll probably laugh, and laughter is the best medicine for TMS. Beats crying any day!

Remember, if something in your writing sounds wrong, it might your internal editor talking. However, if it feels wrong, listen to your instincts and look for what feels off -- pacing, plot, logic, characters, etc. Chances are high you’ll find it, fix it, and be writing like the wind again in no time.

Dawn Arkin is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Poetry. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/darkin so stop by and read for a while.

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Creative Writing: Words to Write By

I apologize for my long absence. I caught a cold that's kept me preoccupied and away from my blog. Though I haven't had time to write anything original, I did find this helpful and humorous article by Sally Bacchetta. I thought it was well worth reading, and hope you will, too.

Powerful One-Liners To Keep Your Writing Strong
By Sally Bacchetta

Rudyard Kipling said, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Nothing changes people like words, written well. Here are five powerful one-liners to inspire you and keep your writing strong.


You don't have to get it right the first time. Barbara Sher

In fact, it’s better if you don’t. OK, OK, I don’t really know if it’s better; I just like the way that sounds, so I wrote it to get myself started. It’s one of the techniques I use to break free from writer’s paralysis.

If you can’t seem to get started, just write something. Anything. Do you like the word butterscotch? Write butterscotch. Then write it again. And again. Butterscotch. Butterscotch. Butterscotch. Somewhere between the third and the 33rd time you write butterscotch you realize that the word is just a row of characters, just an assembly of lines and spaces. It’s you who brings meaning to the word.

Your writing makes butterscotch an ice cream flavor, a silk blouse or a 2-year old golden retriever. More importantly, it's your re-writing that makes the ice cream creamier, the silk blouse silkier and the golden retriever a bounding scalawag.

The expectation that writing can be right the first time scares even experienced writers away from their words. Don't worry about getting it just right. Just write. Because a blank page is like a cavity - if you ignore it, it gets bigger and more painful.

Writing is an intimate transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and it will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity. William Zinsser

I feel sorry for people whose writing is sterile and lifeless, because I imagine that they’re sterile and lifeless as well. Maybe not. Maybe they radiate vitality for miles in every direction except the reader’s, but I doubt it. More than anything else, writing reveals the writer's relationship with the world. I once worked for someone who wrote motivational memos like “This division and all sub-units will endeavor to facilitate intra-system support initiatives”. That was a fun job.

Whether you're writing promotional copy, sales training material, web site content or an article for publication, you're writing to someone. Someone human. Touch them with your warmth, your sense of humor, and your humanity. Be yourself.

Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. William Strunk, Jr.

Here Strunk illustrates the power of word placement. He finishes his sentence with “the end” in order to impress that phrase on our attention. If he had written, “Place the emphatic words at the end of a sentence”, we would naturally emphasize “sentence” rather than “the end”.

In my April 2006 Onwords™ column I wrote, “Your writing will be most effective if you select words that express your ideas exactly”, ending my sentence with “exactly” because I wanted to stress the importance of being exact. If I had written, “Your writing will be most effective if you select words that exactly express your ideas”, the emphasis would have fallen on the word “ideas”.

How can you put this one-liner to work for you? Read your writing aloud and listen for the natural emphasis. (It may be only a whisper, so listen closely.)


I'm confident that with the power of Strunk you can improve your writing.

I'm confident that you can improve your writing with the power of Strunk.

You can improve your writing with the power of Strunk; I'm confident. There it is.


Never use a long word where a short one will do. George Orwell

I sometimes wonder if other writers get paid by the letter. Long words don't make your writing intellectual or professional, and they certainly don't make it appealing or accessible to your readers. Precision does. Your writing will be powerful if you choose words for their meaning, not their length.

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time...The wait is simply too long. Leonard Bernstein

Whether you live to write or write to live, at some point you face the challenge of writing without inspiration. Here are some strategies to keep you moving forward:

Write first thing in the morning. Keep a notebook next to your bed and jot down one idea or a few bullet points before your feet hit the floor. Sales training workshop will motivate... discover… closing skills… explore... new levels…that’s all. The point is to get something on paper that you can work with later.

Catch up on email. It limbers your mind and fingers and removes the temptation to distract yourself with email later.

Commit yourself to someone else. While you’re sending email, send one to your boss, your editor, your mother, even your priest. Announce your deadline and invite them to ask to see your finished work on that date. Make sure you send a blind copy unless you want your mother talking to your boss, your editor and your priest.

Write in five or ten-minute intervals. The only rule here is that you must spend the entire time writing – no staring blankly at the computer screen or the page. When time is up, put it away. Repeat this every hour and by the end of the day you'll have at least a couple of pages of crummy, fragmented writing. Sift through the rubble and pull out the cohesive passages and phrases you find intact. Re-read them the next day. If you still think they're cohesive and intact, use them as the framework for the rest of your writing.

Hold your lunch hostage. Decide what writing you must finish before lunch, and don’t eat until you’ve done it. If you're bothered by flies buzzing on the uneaten meals piling up around you, this probably isn’t the best strategy for you.

Stop writing in mid-sentence. This will provoke one of three responses. Either you will start strong the next time by completing the sentence, you will feel compelled to finish the whole piece rather than leave a sentence undone, or you will carefully arrange on your desk a small round stone, a marshmallow and...


Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer/Sales Trainer

Sally Bacchetta is an award-winning sales trainer and freelance writer. She has published articles on a variety of topics, including selling skills, motivation, pharmaceutical sales, parenting and RFID.

You can contact her at info@sallybacchetta.com and read her latest Onwords column on her website.

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Infuse Your Writing with Passion to Enhance Creativity

As an employeed writer with little or no control over what I write, I often find writing becoming a drudgery...I lose my passion. One of the ways I regain that passion is to write personal projects "off the clock" (as if a writer is ever off the clock!). That's what I found so interesting about this article by Scott Lindsay:

Personal Writing: A Passion Infusion
By Scott Lindsay

Have you put together a writer’s checklist? You know, the things you will need in order to put your story together.

A few suggestions…

1. A pen or pencil.
2. A note pad.
3. Alternatively a personal computer with a word processor.
4. A dictionary.
5. A thesaurus.
6. Applicable research materials.
7. An outline providing direction for your work.

OK, if you’ve checked everything off your list then you’re ready to go, right?

Well, maybe not.

In the world of writing one of the components often forgotten is ‘passion’. I’m not talking about romance here. I’m talking about a personal vested interest in the story or subject matter you are seeking to write. Is it something you are passionate about?

“What is it that you like doing? If you don’t like it, get out of it, because you’ll be lousy at it. You don’t have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don’t like it you’ll never be successful in it.” – Lee Iococa

I recently read the story of a screenwriter who had listened as a friend explained the premise of a movie they would like to see made. The screenwriter decided he could write a screenplay based on that vision. Two years later, the screenwriter was still having difficulties pulling it all together. He was miserable and couldn’t figure out why. The truth for this individual was he had no passion for this type of story. When the writer took the time to think about it, the story was one he would avoid reading or watching in his personal life. He lacked passion for the project. He learned a lesson late, but once he moved on to other personal projects the joy of writing returned.

"If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities. It’s very important that you find something that you care about, that you have a deep passion for, because you're going to have to devote a lot of your life to it." – George Lucas

If you are writing for hire there may be times when you lack a passion for the subject matter, but you write it anyway. For some writers the act of writing IS, in fact, work and they are often left with little choice in style, direction or overall content. However, it is possible and even imperative that you discover what you are passionate about and find a way to write about it. Carve out time for your own personal writing and make sure it is something that infuses your passion for writing with new energy.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters (www.faithwriters.com) and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers. Members include writers from all around the world. Please visit the website at: www.faithwriters.com

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