Entries Tagged 'Newsletter Articles' ↓

I thought I’d give you a sneak preview of just one part of the workshop in June.Many of people’s problems with writing happen because they don’t distinguish between the different stages in a writing project.

Muddling those stages can slow you down or even worse stop you completely.  In the workshop I’ll be helping people work out the different mindsets you need for each stage.

Let’s look at the stages:

1. Research:

One of the unmovable bricks in my writing house is research.  Now this isn’t always popular with clients or writers come to that. But the more I work with clients, the more I realise that doing research about your project is key to smoothing the writing process.

Where and how you research depends on your project, your target audience and your understanding of your market.

2. Writing:

This is the fun stage.  The stage where you can let your creativity run riot and not censor it.  Of course you have to start and that’s a problem many people I meet tell me about. 

Fear of the blank page.  Even professional writers have it sometimes.  The difference between the professionals and the rest, is that they know how to beat it into submission!

3. Pause:

Can this be said to be a stage?  Yes I believe that you have to factor in a time when you’ve reached the end of a chapter, a section or the whole book and you stop. 

Rather than it being simply a time between the bits or the stages, you can learn how to use it to give yourself a flying start with the next stage.

4. Editing:

Ah editing!  Writers often hate this stage because they can’t bear to read over what they’ve written. 

I often think about what the sculptor Michaelangelo said about sculpting.  That it was a case of allowing the figure to emerge from a block of marble.

In the same way when you edit you’re allowing the book to emerge from the words you’ve written.

As always, when you know how to approach editing then it can be a much easier and more fun stage.

5. Reviewing:

And a scary stage for writers when you have to show other people what you’ve written.

But as you’d expect me to say by now, there are ways you can tackle this stage which help reduce the strain on your nervous system.

That’s it in a nutshell.  Doesn’t mean you don’t have to put some work in, but using this kind of structure helps reduce the time and gives you a process to work through.

Happy writing!

I once read an article By Jilly Cooper about friendship…The newspaper published the article with a photograph of many of her friends.  I don’t remember much about the article except one thing stuck in my mind.  She was horrified that all her friends were together in the same place.

In her mind she had different categories of friends for different occasions and she worried about how they might discuss her foibles and weaknesses during the get-together.

For some reason that popped into my head as I started to write this piece. Maybe it’s because we all have different favourites among websites don’t we?

There are some we visit on a regular basis or allow them to send information via RSS.  And there are some we might only visit occasionally.  Different reasons for using them.

So what’s the combining factor?

If I think about the sites I use on a regular basis it’s because:

1. I know the website owner personally and I like to keep up with what they’re doing.
2. It’s an industry expert and I know if I follow their lead I’m working ethically but using the right methods to create effective results.
3. It makes me smile and lifts me for the day.

Whichever category they come into, each of my regulars has one thing going for them.  They’ve won my trust.

That’s what I try to do with my email newsletter.  You may never buy my services.  That’s okay as long as you receive something of value from it.  I try to keep my finger on the pulse of my sector of marketing which is writing and pass on information I think will help you.

That’s what I get from a lot of the sites I visit and I’m more that happy to provide a similar opportunity for you.

What I’m learning about the move from Web 2.0 to 3.0 is that building that relationship is vital.

Especially for getting your newsletters opened!

Beloved of the naughty nineties chorus girls, Pink Champagne makes a girl’s heart flutter with dreams of love…

You can win, for yourself or someone close to you.  A bottle of the finest pink champagne… Continue reading →

What’s the most important part in selling and marketing these days?

It’s just what it’s always been, persuading people to buy.

But the wham bang style of selling is now outdated.

The emphasis is shifting to building long term relationships with the client.  Win-win is the principle in selling now.

There are two basic principles you need to understand…

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