If you’re having trouble writing, take a good look at your word processor. Give it a mean look (like really mean), then step away from it.

Instead, pick up a paper and a pencil and discover the magic of writing like I did. MS Word got the boot by me about a week ago. It was being mean – the blinking cursor was laughing at me.

At the verge of giving up, I noticed the blank page at the back of a printed sheet on my desk. It didn’t look right. A paper just shouldn’t be blank, y’know?!

I picked it up and started doodling while I brooded over my word processor’s meanness. Soon I started writing. This time, I wasn’t chasing after my ideas with a paper and pen, I was capturing them! I kept writing all week.

Here are a few things I discovered during my journey to fill sheets of paper with my writing.

Writing by hand composes your thoughts

As you hand write the points, your brain gets the time to compose your thoughts into a coherent sentence. The chances of the perfect sentence forming grows tenfold because you’re able to form, reject and reform different sentences as you write.

A word processor doesn’t give us the time to do that. We type too fast and the longer we keep our finger poised over the keyboard thinking how to compose the next sentence, the more we feel like we’re stuck. Until we do get stuck!

Connect, highlight, refer, repeat.

When writing on paper arrows become my best friends. They tell which point they want to get connected to and which way they want to go from there.

Similarly, highlighters turn into my favourite people. After I’m done writing, I highlight the points I want to make a subheading out of, underline the things I want to elaborate in that subheading and use arrows for further extentions.

Then I pin it up on the wall in front of me and refer to it as I type in the word processor. Much easier than clicking between browser windows and losing my writing tempo.

Doodle!

Ah yes, the love of my life. Doodling is a habit everyone has. Unfortunately, you just can’t doodle in a word processor. You know how everyone says to write well you have to write everyday? I say to write well, heck to just write, you have to doodle along the way!

Your hand shouldn’t stop. Even if you’re just doodling your name. A moving hand means a moving thought process.

No Distractions

There is no email, gtalk, twitter or facebook – there is no internet, period. It’s just you, your pen and a piece of paper.

Something that would take ages to write between twitter and email (which you check everytime you got a little stuck) gets drafted in half an hour on paper. There’s no finicking over spellings and formatting, instead you’ll find yourself writing in short hand.

Has your writing been completely digitalized? How often do you use paper to write on and what difference do you feel between the two?

[Photo Credit: Prodigal unlimited13]

Technorati Tags: Freelancing, writer's block, Writing

Warning & Disclosure: This post contains too much information.

I have a special place where no matter how big a mental block I’m facing, my brain just clicks and goes into over drive coming up with amazing ideas and words. I call that place my throne. My pot of ideas. My seat of zen. My… you get the drift. 

It calls itself my toilet.

Warming my zen seat

Every time I face a blogger’s block or say yes to a project that I have no experience of, I grab my notebook and head to my loo. As the seat of my throne (literally) warms so does my brain and within minutes I’m well on my way to coming up with ideas.

Take today for example. I’d spent all morning trying to come up with a post. I wanted to blog, I had the topic but it just wasn’t the right topic for today.

So I picked out my moleskin, went to loo and sat on my seat.

After 30 minutes I came out with 18 new blog post ideas. 18! Almost ten of those ideas were detailed into how I’d write them. I also had the perfect topic to write about today.

Since the seat’s taken, find another place for yourself.

Taking my example, it’s safe to say that you’re not the one who picks out your spot. Your brain does. Mine picked out my toilet and yeah, lets not got there.

Your place of focus could be your garden, the love-seat by your window, the swing in your backyard or even your shower. It’s the place where you find the focus you need. It’s where you come up with some of your best ideas. You can go there everyday or hang out there on weekends. It your spot. You get to decide how to use it to gain maximum benefit from it.

Me? I wait till I have a problem to head to my seat for the sole purpose of brain storming. Don’t want my brain to get too used to it y’know? It would be a little difficult to explain why I set up my office in my loo.

We all have our zen seat. But I bet none of yours is as cool as mine

Do you have a place where your brain starts working without you having to force it to concentrate? Can it challenge mine?

Picture Source: rossbr

Technorati Tags: Blogging, writer's block, Writing

We spend more hours talking about writer’s block than we spend going through it. So I won’t be talking about it. I’ll be giving you three simple tools that help me get over my mental block.

One Word

One Word combines the two things that are guaranteed to make a writer’s fingers flying. A prompt and a time limit. The first time I clicked on ‘Go’, I was overwhelmed by the word and the ticking clock! My fingers started moving when there were only 20 seconds left.

Then I got mad and hit ‘Go’ again. Since then, I haven’t looked back. Every time I feel I can’t write, I head over to One Word. 

Try it. Only takes 60 seconds of your time. What have you got to lose?

Whine

You heard me. Whine to your heart’s content. You’ll be typing so feverishly you’d wish you could type faster to keep pace with your thoughts. 

Complain about your cat, your noisy neighbours or your dysfunctional muse. Just type it. Write curse words if they’re in your head. Just open your text editor and WHINE! 

I can guarantee that it will clear your head and your fingers won’t feel so locked and stiff anymore. 

Use Twitter Search

So you’ve whined and done 15 words at one word and yet you still don’t ‘feel’ it. The problem with you now isn’t a writer’s block. It’s a lack of topic. Twitter Search can easily take care of that issue. 

Scan your twitter feed to see what people are talking about. Find a topic you have an opinion on and send a replying tweet. Not only will you be gathering points for an article or blog post, you’ll be networking.

Also check the top trends in twitter search along with keeping an eye on the hashtags of the topic you’re interested in.

I’ve used twitter search for reasearch and differing opinions for an article I was stuck on and it helped tremendously! Not only did I find various views, but also prominent people I could quote in the article and stats to back up my views. 

Doesn’t get better than that now does it?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, using twitter, writer's block, Writing

Head on over at Sal’s to read my first ever guest post over at Everyday Thoughts From Life where I have the honor of being Sal’s first guest blogger.

If you’d like to know what a nut case I am these days, head on over and read Sometimes, You Just Gotta Breathe. The post is personal, unlike my posts here. Since Sal’s blog is personal and more about his life than his work, it seemed appropriate to write something along similar lines.

Sal has also given me one of the best introductions I could have asked for. And he’s linked to all three of my blogs! 

In short, the man is amazing. And not just because of the awesome introduction or for giving me my first guest post. He’s awesome for reasons that I’m saving for something special.

Till then, enjoy the post and do leave a comment on his blog! 

P.S: If you find any errors in the post, they’ll be all mine. Sal payed me the ultimate compliment by publishing my post as is.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, guest post, personal

When Inspiration Strikes

You’re sitting in a train on your way back from work, staring out the window feeling tired to your bones. Suddenly, as the train stops at one of its countless stations before yours, the graffiti on the wall catches your eye, making you sit up with a jolt. The colors, the message, the sheer creativity of it has suddenly given you inspiration. Your mind is flooding with ideas so fast you’re afraid you’ll lose them if you don’t catch them. But you don’t want to concentrate on any idea for too long fearing that it will stop the flow of other ideas that are just pouring in!

You fumble over what to do. And suddenly another idea strikes you. What do we do in a situation like this? How do we deal with the almost overwhelming influx of ideas?

Record Them!

Don’t trust your brain to remember it for you. You’re going to get home and the minute you see your front door all that inspiration will be forgotten. Your kids will launch themselves at you, welcoming you home and vying for your attention. You’d be so gratified and happy to see them after a hectic day that you’d want to spend time with them and forget everything else. In that instant, you’ll forget your ideas.

Inspirations and ideas are flighty. If you don’t immediately give them the attention they demand, they move on. Before you know it, someone else will be cashing in or getting famous on your big idea. We’ve all heard the original Napster joke.

Jot Down Your Ideas The Minute You Get Them

• Always keep a paper and pencil handy.

• If a paper and pen is not handy, then take notes on your cell phone. Don’t have a cell phone? Get that paper pencil at once! And don’t forget to tell me how you live without a cell phone!

• If you’re a writer, you’re going to have a laptop close by most of the time. Write down your ideas immediately – don’t wait till you get done working or have time. Open a word document and write it down now. Like, RIGHT NOW.

• In the loo? This is why I keep telling you to have a pen handy. You can easily write on toilet paper if you have a pen. Heck, you can write on your hand!

• At a restaurant? Use a napkin. I keep telling you to keep a pen with you.

• Do yourself a favour and buy a moleskin. And buy that pen too! It’s an investment.

As a writer, keeping a pen with me is a habit I consciously cultivated after finding myself getting ideas or perfect comeback lines (in my teenage years) often. Now,I’m more likely to have a pen in my bag than house keys.

Bottom line: Buy a pen. Surface to write on is easy to find.