Why You Don't Have to Be the Best Writer

Nothing weaker than water.
Nothing stronger than rock.
Still, a slow flow of water can cut through mountains.
~  Taoist Proverb

Sometimes it's easy to feel discouraged about writing because you think you're not good enough.

But what you need to understand is that you don't have to be the best writer.

You just have to keep writing.

Even a small amount of writing every day is better than none.

If you only write 100 words a day, you'll have written 36,500 words by this time next year. That's a whole book's worth of writing.

So don't use lack of time as an excuse not to write. Everyone has time to write every day, yet most do nothing.

You don't have to be great, you just have to outwork everyone else.

Get the writing habit.

Sit down with pen and paper/blank page on a screen, and even if you don't know what to write, just start.

Today is New Year's Eve, so make your resolution for next year to sit down and write every day. Even if it's only 100 words.

Make 2020 your best writing year ever.

And here's another quote to think about:

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.
~Zig Ziglar

What I Do When The Puppy Won't Let Me Write

This week I'm dog sitting. I'm looking after my daughter's dog for a week.

She's a sweet little thing and is only small. She's a cross between a mini fox terrier and a Chihuahua (I had to Google how to spell that).

So tiny yet such a distraction.

Even now as I try to write this, she is sitting at my feet whining then barking to draw my attention to the ball she's placed next to my foot and is waiting for me to throw it for her. So I find myself intermittently throwing the ball while I try to write.

I soon realised earlier today that it is almost impossible for me to write while she is distracting me in this way (or any other way).

At first I thought I'd give up and not write at all. But I have a lot to do with a new book coming out soon and a new website that I'm working on as well, so in my inimitable wisdom, I decided to do things that don't actually require too much writing, like working on my new website layout and writing up a list of tasks that I need to complete.

This sort of work takes more thinking and planning and I can sit on the floor while I do it so that I can throw the ball at the same time. Also, doing this sort of work is easier than writing because throwing the ball destroys my writing 'flow.' I need to keep 100% focused to write, which usually isn't difficult, but with the ball-obsessed-dog distraction, it's almost impossible to stay focused.

This is what happens when life gets in the way of writing. Which happens more often than I like.

But instead of complaining and wasting time, I just shift to working on something that doesn't need 100% focus.

And I always stop at least once every hour to go into the garden and throw the ball for 10 minutes without being distracted by my work. Because even small, ball-obsessed dogs need my full attention now and again.

And at the end of the day, there is always time for a walk too.

But in the meantime, I don't let anything stop me from working. I just change what I'm working on to suit my environment.

You can see for yourself just how ball-obsessed this little dog is by clicking the link below.

It's only a few seconds of video and it shows two dogs (one large, one small) playing, while our little dog is ignoring them because her attention is only on the two balls out of her reach. And she's doing the best she can to get them.  

https://twitter.com/RuthIsWriting/status/1191486528700071936/video/1  

It's Not What You Said, It's The Way You Said It

Yesterday, I watched a fascinating video on YouTube.

It was short talk (less than 45 minutes) by author Dean Wesley Smith.

It's called The Attitude of a Fiction Author, but the subject is suitable for any writer.

In fact, Dean tells you to write what you enjoy writing instead of doing the kind of writing you think you SHOULD do, or what you think will earn you the most money, because, he says, if you're not enjoying what you're doing, you won't be good at it, nor will you be able to do it year after year, which will make your writing career unsustainable.

Not only that, but it will interfere with how you write. In other words, the tone of your writing.

His overall message is to have fun with your writing. Just write, proofread (don't rewrite) and publish. Then get on with your next book, short story, or whatever.

He also said something that I found remarkably interesting, and that is, if you publish your work (whether it's a book or some other sort of writing) and it doesn't sell, don't take it off the market because it will eventually find the right market. And it may not be your book that's bad. It could be the cover or the sales page, but if you leave it alone, eventually the right readers will find your book and love it.

This was one of the best talks about writing that I've heard in a long time. His presentation is extremely uplifting and once I'd finished watching it and taking notes (I wrote copious notes), I was inspired to write.

You can see the video below.

It's well worth a watch.

And as this time of year is so close to the New Year, this talk could really motivate you to have your best, and most fun, year of writing, ever.

Enjoy.

My Grinch-Like Christmas Writing and Planning

Today is 26th December. The day after Christmas (if you do that sort of thing).

And because it was Christmas Day yesterday, everything is closed so there is nowhere to go, plus it rained all day, which is unusual for this part of Australia, but the rain did break a 6-month drought for which we are all thankful. And today the sun is shining again.

I don't do the Christmas thing and our plans to spend time picnicking and swimming with friends who also don't follow the flock when it comes to this time of year, was scuppered by the bad weather, not that I would have stayed there all day.

I would have left early anyway because I had plans, and I find it emotionally draining to socialize for too long.

The 25th of December is always my day to plan my writing projects for the next 12 months.

So I locked myself in my writing room at the back of the house and looked through all my notebooks, and plotted and planned what I'm going to be working on for the next 12 months. And I'm going to start work on it all today. Not New Years Day. Why wait?

And strangely, locking myself away from the rest of the world in my Grinch-like way is something I always enjoy. I just close the door, listen to an audio that helps me concentrate, and get to work.

I would tell you what my plans are, but I won't because no matter how good the plans and how well I've mapped it all out, things happen. Every year things happen that take me away from my writing so I always spend time trying to catch up. Sometimes it's things that have to take priority and I don't get to choose what happens. But I do get to choose how I deal with it.

But this all impacts on my writing time in a negative way.

And to be honest, losing writing time and having to lock myself away in my Grinch-like style so that I can try and catch up, isn't such a bad thing. I don't mind doing that. I often come into my writing room at night and work for a few hours too. I used to call it my office, but that sounds, well, just too officious. Calling it a writing room makes it sound much more like the creative space that it is.

So, for now, I'm going to keep my writing plans to myself.

But one thing I will tell you is that my latest book will be published next month (January 2020).

I've already had the book cover put up on the sales page (which isn't finished yet) just so you can take a sneak peek.

It's called, Mission Critical For Life: Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission.

This book will help you to write more than you ever have done before once you make writing your mission and prioritize it. And I'll tell you EXACTLY how to do it.

I'll give you more updates about it soon.

In the meantime, what are your writing plans? If you don't know, it's time to start planning.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCFL.html

Christmas is a Time for Planning

Today is Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate such things, but I do not.

I haven't done the Christmas thing for over 20 years.

As you can imagine this horrifies many people when I tell them. They over-react like I just killed one of their children.

Yet when I ask them why they celebrate it, they have no idea. Are they religious? No. Do they believe in God and Jesus? No. Do they know why they put up a tree in their house every year? No. Do they enjoy buying lots of gifts? No. Do they enjoy writing and sending lots of cards? Hell no. So why do they do it? Because everyone else does it.

Hmm..... I'd rather not.

This is why it's 24th December and I'm busy writing a blog post and not rushing around buying last-minute gifts or preparing a meal for tomorrow that's so huge, everyone will overeat. To me today is just another day and I have no plans for tomorrow either.

Also, as an aside, we are currently in a huge 6-month drought. The grass is dead and crunchy to walk on. We now shower over a bucket and pour the water we collect in it, onto the garden. We also have a kitchen bucket and wash our dishes by hand so that we can empty the washing up bowl into the bucket and pour that on some of the poor, dehydrating plants in the garden too. Thankfully rain is actually forecast for later today, and the clouds are already building up, and tomorrow (Christmas Day) a deluge is forecast. But that's it. Just two days of rain in 6 months, and back to drought.

Anyway, to me 25th December is just another day. Nothing special. So it's a day I usually make good use of for my writing business.

A few days ago I purchased a 2020 diary (or planner, as it says on the first inside page) so tomorrow I'm going to use it to start planning out my writing for the first few weeks of 2020, plus make bigger plans for the rest of the year, like how many books I plan to write, themes and subjects for my blogs, etc.

Yep, 25th December is a great day to get lots of planning done, not just because it is supposed to rain all day, but also, everything is closed (shops, restaurants, pubs, etc), so there really is little else to do anyway. And because it's going to rain, we can't even go to the beach tomorrow like a lot of people do. We had plans to have lunch with a few friends at the local dam and swim in the afternoon, but that plan is now scrapped.

So even if you do celebrate this day, you can also use part of it as a great day for planning all your writing for next year.

Because, as they say, if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail.

Enjoy your time off work and make some great writing plans

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com

International Radio Playwriting Competition 2020

This is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to write a radio play.

In the UK the BBC World Service and the British Council, in partnership with Commonwealth Writers have opened up entry to their International Radio Playwriting Competition 2020.

This competition is open to new and established writers who are NOT a resident of the UK and will be at least 18 years of age before 31st January 2020.

The competition is for radio playscripts of approximately 53 minutes (usually 1 page per minute) on any subject/genre with no more than 6 central adult characters, plus a synopsis of up to 400 words that outlines your play.

There are 2 categories, one for those whose first language is English and one for those who have English as a second language.

In each category, there is a prize of £2,500, and a trip to London including airfare and accommodation for one, to see your play being recorded and to attend a prize-giving event.

The closing date is 31 January 2020 at midnight GMT.

You can enter by post, email, or online

Find complete rules and how to enter at the BBC writers room website.

Good luck. 🤞


https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/international-radio-playwriting-competition

How Much Can You Write in 2 Hours a Day?

Being a writer means spending time alone to get your writing done. But it doesn't have to be a lot of time.

Just 2 hours a day can yield over 10,000 words written a week or a full-time income from writing.

2 hours is plenty of time to write, but it takes good organisation.

If you sit down and have no idea what to write about, then your time will be wasted and before you know it, your 2 hours is up and you've got nothing done.

But if you already know what you're going to do, then it can be 2 hours of extremely productive time every day, which is 10 hours a week, assuming you work 5 days out of 7.

You may not think that 2 hours is long enough, but if you're not writing much at all at the moment, then 2 hours a day is a huge improvement in output.

Not only that, but if 2 hours is more time than you're writing now then it's a huge improvement and it's much better than not writing at all.

But you need to make sure that it's distraction-free time and that means no texting, no surfing online, and definitely no anti-social media. Only allow it to be 2 hours of writing, editing, proofing, uploading, publishing.

And the best part is that when you get into a regular habit of sitting down and writing every day, you may even find yourself working longer without even realising it.

And once it becomes a daily habit to work for 2 hours a day, it will be fun because you won't be resisting it anymore and it will literally change your life.

As the great motivational guru, Mike Littman used to say, 'People form habits, and habits form futures."

So know what you want your future to be, and then get into the habit of sitting down for 2 hours every day to make your future writing dreams into a daily reality.

And now that we're so close to the New Year, there is no better time to plan out and start working on your writing dreams.


https://ruthiswriting.com/make-money.html

Napoleon Hill's 30 Minutes to Peak Productivity

A few days ago I was reading (well, to be honest, it was an audiobook so I was listening to it) Napoleon Hill's classic book Think and Grow Rich.

I bought this book several years ago and, like most good books, it's great to read it over and over again, because I find that every time I read it, I pick up one more golden nugget of information that I missed before.

And if you aren't already familiar with this book, you're missing out on so much.

As the title suggests, it's your thoughts that make you rich. But not just your thoughts but being disciplined enough to act on them.

Anyway, while listening to this amazing book, I found I was paying more attention than usual to the part where he was talking about how important it is to put yourself in the right state of mind when thinking about a plan of how you're going to earn money.

He said that you need to have just the germ of an idea and from that, if you think about it enough and meditate on it regularly, you can build it up from just a thought, into a multi-million dollar business (or words to that effect).

He also went on to say exactly how you can do this, and that is by setting aside just 30 minutes a day to contemplate your idea into a goal and eventually be able to visualize the complete concept of what you can achieve.

He said that by utilizing just 30 minutes a day you can think about your idea until it becomes a reality in your own mind and you feel excited and motivated to put your ideas into action.

This 30 minutes a day is so important because, without it, you won't be able to build up your idea or to visualize it and feel the emotions of it already happening which is vital to your financial success.

This is how you 'Think and Grow Rich.'

And a great aid to your 30 minutes a day of contemplation on your idea (or 30 minutes to think about what it is you really want to do - as opposed to what you THINK you should do) is the Brain Evolution System. I know that sounds like a sales pitch, but I've used this system for several years now and it really is amazing, and it doesn't cost anything to try it, so you've got nothing to lose.

You just set aside 30 minutes a day, slip on your headphones and allow the binaural beats to influence your brainwaves which will do two things. It will help to put you into a calm state of mind which will then allow your mind to contemplate things clearly and efficiently with a sharp, clear focus.

I've been using this system for a long time now and I always look forward to my 30 minutes of quiet time every day because the sounds are so soothing and relaxing and my mind comes up with unlimited ideas for whatever I need to work on. If you've never tried it, you should. When you close your eyes and drift into the sounds, it feels like you're floating far away which enables you to leave behind the usual dramas of your life.

At first it felt like 30 wasted minutes a day, but, within just a week or two of using it daily, I found it invaluable for getting more done.

As Napoleon Hill said, taking 30 minutes a day to contemplate an idea is life-changing.

You can try it for yourself for free by clicking the link below.

Brain Evolution System

The Non-Secret to Writing Success in 2020

It's nearly the end of 2019 so let me ask you a question. How much writing did you do? Was it as much as you promised you'd do? Or was it way, way less?

More importantly, how much money did you earn from your writing this year?

And how much are you planning to earn in 2020?

I have to admit that I didn't do as much writing as I thought I would nor did I make as much income. But I did write a lot and I earned enough money to live on. But I know I could have done better.

In fact, I plan to do much better next year. In 2020 I plan to be a content creating machine.'

I'm planning on writing a lot of website content (especially for my new writing website that will be up and running next year), emails, books, free ebooks, short reports, online content, article marketing, (some) affiliate marketing, thousands of blog posts and a whole lot more.

I'm already mapping it all out.

I began by making a list of everything I want to achieve and then I wrote out a whole lot of how I'm going to achieve it, including how much money I hope to earn from my writing in 2020.

And as I was doing this, it occurred to me that although there are millions of people who want to earn money from their writing, not many do.

Sadly, the reason is that they don't know (or don't want to know) the not-so-secret to writing success.

And that is... doing the grunt work of actually writing.

I see too many people going around looking for 'hacks' and 'tricks' that they can use to earn money from their writing without doing the writing. I've even had people email me and ask me to write their book idea for them, and publish and market it, and they will generously LET ME keep 50% of sales. Isn't that sweet?

But the un-secksy truth is that to have any sort of writing success, what you need is the self-discipline to develop a strong work ethic so that you can sit down and do the grunt work of actually writing every day.

And the biggest non-secret of all is that you don't even need to be a great writer.

You just have to out-work all the others who are still running around looking for the latest get-out-of-writing-free card.

Being a successful writer isn't elegant.

It means sitting down and working alone every day.

But if you do it right, it's still better than going out to work for someone else every day.

It's also fun.

Find everything you need for a successful 2020 by clicking the link below.

https://ruthiswriting.com/make-money.html

How Badly Do You Want to Make Money Online?

You probably already know this, but it is possible to earn money online from your writing.

Many writers imagine themselves making money from their website or blog by only writing for a few minutes a day.

Is this possible?

Well, anything is possible.

The problem though is that most writers don't actually write every day, and don't know how to earn money from a website or blog. At least, not enough money to live on.

I tried to help by writing Living The Laptop Lifestyle: How to Start & Grow a Profitable Online Business So You Can Quit Your Job. Many have bought it, but not all (in fact, most) haven't used it.

And I made it even easier by making sure it's available from all good book stores all over the world and from all public libraries.

But still, not all who buy it (or borrow it) put the information it contains to good use.

I earn money online all the time. In fact, it's why I'm currently in the process of setting up another website.

The internet has made it so easy for writers to earn money.

I jumped on this years ago at the very start of my writing career. And it's something I still do today.

I don't want to be a starving writer living in a garret while I try and write the world's greatest novel.

I'm a working writer and I earn all my money from my writing.

And by providing Living The Laptop Lifestyle, I made it easy for you to do the same.

The only question is... how badly do you want it?


https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

New Writing Website

As many of you already know, a few years ago I sold my main writing website domain name to Loren Piel, who, as it turns out was a liar and a completely untrustworthy person even though he claims to be an attorney (who is so successful that he now works taking bookings for an airline company) and he issued me with a false DMCA claim (which is highly illegal) and hounded me for months after I sold him the domain name.

At the time, I could only assume that he was being so petty because I set up a new site and carried on working while he floundered without having a clue of what to do with what he'd bought (for a high price I might add) and ended up shutting the site down.

Anyway, I've now decided to start a new website for writers and it's going to be all about my writing, how I work, what I'm working on and how it can help you to earn money from all your writing too.

I'm also going to change the use of my current writing site, ruthiswriting.com to a site where I write about other things that interest me.

I'll also be keeping my writing blog where I'll post writing opportunities including writing markets and writing competitions.

I'm also planning to write many more books and I'll use my websites to keep you up to date as soon as they're available, plus free ebooks that I plan to write and give away too.

I've been doing so much planning lately and I'm also going to set up a new email list so that you can stay up-to-date with everything I do and get to all the best info before it's posted online, plus amazing offers only available to subscribers.

This is why I recently subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud so that I have all the software available so that I can carry out all my plans.

A couple of years ago I did try and get offline so that I could write more books, but life got in the way (including 3 deaths in the family which was hard to bear at the time) plus I missed doing my online writing.

I don't want to say too much about it now in case big-ears Loren Piel is spying on me, which he always is. That man seems obsessed with stalking me. I don't think he's figured out yet that I know his IP address so I know every time he looks at my websites (the ones that he knows about) and which pages he looks at.

I don't want him to know too much too soon so that he can't send me any more of his petty demands about what he thinks I can and cannot do online, which is something he tried to do for months on end at one time.

And the funny thing is that he is an Elder at his local church and one of the claims that it makes about its congregation is that they are all "committed to loving each other instead of arguing over petty issues."

 Isn't that a hoot?

Loren Piel is one of the pettiest people I've ever known and yet he's an elder in a church that says it's members are NEVER petty. You can see it at their website http://www.canyonspringschristian.com/about

And scarily, he is also currently running for local city council elections where he lives. YIKES!

You can read his campaign promises by clicking on the link below. He's the last listed candidate at the bottom of the page. (I keep finding tidbits about him online when I'm searching for other things. His name keeps showing up in results)

https://www.idahopress.com/news/elections/middleton-city-council-candidate-surveys/article_69d92fe3-8471-57f5-96de-3b359908fae7.html

The further he stays away from me the better I like it. It just goes to show how good he is at making people think he is an honest guy.

But I know differently:
https://www.ruthiswriting.com/lorenpiel.html

He was angry and threatening when I began ruthiswriting.com and I just hope he leaves me alone when I get my next writing website online.

If he does start again, I'll post publicly absolutely everything I receive from him (and everything I received previously) so that you can judge for yourself.

 If nothing else it will provide me with plenty of free website content. :)

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted about my new writing site so that you can subscribe straight away and get a free ebook to help you make even more money from your writing.

Stay tuned.

How the Email Spammers Helped Me Write More

I wrote a post yesterday about how one of my website email accounts had been hijacked because one of my hosting companies, NetRegistry, allowed 12 of their servers to be hacked, and so much spam email was sent through them, they have now been blacklisted.

So with my main computer, my Mac Book Pro, still at the Apple store to be checked for malware (just in case) I'm still only able to use my writing computer (my Mac Book Air) which I normally only use for writing. Naturally, it is possible to connect it to the internet, but I usually don't unless I need to do some immediate research, but I usually limit this computer to offline writing projects only.

Separating my computers this way makes me much more productive because my writing computer has none of my software on it, and because I don't allow myself to get online with it either, it forces me to focus only on my writing which makes me super productive.

And because it's the only computer I have right now, I can't even check my emails, update my websites, read online articles that I've saved to read later, check my RSS feeds, or use any of the software apps I have installed.

As you can imagine this has resulted in upping my productivity because I'm left with nothing to do but get on with my writing or do online research that I've been meaning to do but keep putting off. And, of course, I've been writing and publishing blog posts too.

When I get my other computer back I'm going to have to make sure I log out of Google (and Blogger) on this one, so that it goes back to being just my writing computer again.

I also sit at a big table to write on this computer whereas I sit at my desk to use my main computer, so I've been spending much more time at my writing table too (which is also my sewing table).

Isn't it funny how we do these little things (like sitting in specific places) without even thinking about it?

And even funnier is that while I'm writing blog posts on my writing computer, I still sit at my desk to do it, but then I move to the big table to write offline. I didn't even realise I did it till I started writing this blog post today, and when I thought about it, I did the same thing yesterday. I sat at my desk to write a blog post then moved the computer to the table to work on my book. It's a quirk I didn't know I had.

So without noticing, getting off my main computer for a day (and now 2 days) and working offline has made me much more productive because I can't do my usual email checking or any website work or use any of my software so all I can do is write.

And you know what? It's not a bad thing at all.

I even sat for a while yesterday afternoon making more plans for my new website which I'll tell you more about tomorrow.

So even though yesterday I thought this whole email hacking thing was terrible (I was doomed. Doomed!) it turned out to be a useful exercise in upping my productivity.

And now back to writing...

But first I'll have to move back to my writing table. (Grin)


Find Books to help you write more too.
https://ruthiswriting.com/make-money.html

Cheriton House Publishing Is Not a Spammer: I Was Hacked.

This morning, I logged into my computer, opened Mac Mail and within seconds, hundreds of failed delivery messages started pouring into my inbox.

It appeared that somehow one of my Cheriton House Publishing email addresses had been hacked and the hacker had set up my account to send out hundreds of spam emails the moment I logged in.

I rang my hosting company, NetRegistry, and I was 24th in the queue. Eventually I got through and the person who answered seemed remarkably unsurprised when I told her what had happened.

She told me to change my email account password, which I did, and I asked her to delete all the hundreds of emails that had been sent out at 8.39 am when I logged on, and she said she would, because although most of them had failed to deliver (I only have a small quota on my account as to how many emails can be sent in a day) they were still set up to be sent later, so I wanted them gone.

I then checked my computer and found nothing suspicious on it, but I still took it to the Apple store to be checked for malware, which is where it still is at the moment. Luckily I still have my writing computer (my Mac Book Air) which I'm using now to write this blog post, and my blog is 100% online so I can access it from any computer.

When I got home from dropping off my computer, my husband Dean and I used his computer to look online at my cheritonhousepublishing.com website files (he has Adobe Dreamweaver on his computer which he uses to update some of my websites for me). And sure enough we found a suspicious folder called .well-known. I've never had a file or folder on any of my websites by that name. In fact I have none that start with a dot. So we deleted that folder and all its contents, whatever that might have been.

Interestingly enough, when I went to the Apple store, the guy there told me that it was unlikely that my computer had been compromised with malware because Mac computers are so safe and it's unusual for anyone to get their computer infected.

He said it was more likely that Netregistry had been compromised which would explain why the person I had spoken to on the phone earlier seemed so unsurprised when I said my account and been hacked and she just walked me through the process of changing my password and updating my email settings. She's probably been going through that same process with the other 23 people ahead of me in the unusually long queue.

I have since looked at NetRegistry's Twitter account and they knew about the email spamming last week and didn't tell me (or anyone else). And it says that because of all the spamming, 12 of their servers, so far, have been blacklisted which means that no one can send or receive email from their website accounts. They also advise customers to subscribe to email updates. HILARIOUS considering customers can't send or receive emails. Some also had commented that their sites are offline too and have been for several days.

This is why Cheriton House Publishing is the last account I have with NetRegistry. This company has been getting worse every year day so I've slowly been moving my websites to different companies. I was going to leave this last one till the end of it's hosting account, which expires in April 2020, but I think I'll move it sooner rather than later.

If you've received a spam email from CHP today, it wasn't me. I've done everything I can to stop these emails from being sent. It's NetRegistry that is failing everyone and letting their servers become so compromised that they've been blacklisted.

Just remember that Cheriton House Publishing is NOT a spammer.

If the site is still up, you can go and look at all the books available to help you write more and earn more.

Plus there are plenty of free ebooks for you to download.

Although... maybe now is not the best time to download anything from a NetRegistry Server.

Only kidding.

My site has a security certificate. :)

https://ruthiswriting.com

Self-Help Products For a Lifetime

I'm always talking about how I use self-help audios to help me write more and to stop my monkey mind from driving me crazy. Once my little old monkey head gets crazy thoughts in it, it's hard to get them out. I go over and over problems in my mind till it annoys me.

That's when I turn to my audios to help me clear my head so that I can get on with the things I have to do.

Two of the audios I listen to on a regular basis are from the Self Development Network.

And right now they are having a huge sale that ends on Cyber Monday (tomorrow).

What they're offering is lifetime access to not only over 50 products in their library (not all are audio programs), but also access to new ones that may be added in the future.

And the cost?

Only $99

And below is a list of just some of what you'll get:

• Lifetime Access to a library of 50+ Courses from the world’s leading Personal Development experts.

• Over 500 hours of top-rated teachings in all aspects of Self Development

• A new course added every single week

• $5000 worth of life-changing content for just $99 

• 100% Money-back Satisfaction Guarantee

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Making Money By Osmosis

I've been earning my living from writing for many years now and what always makes me shake my head in despair is the so-called 'high-earning' writers on the internet (you know the ones who have their picture taken sitting outside their mansion that supposedly was paid for with their writing income) who claim that they work only 5 minutes a day and yet earn millions.

I shake my head because so many people fall for that.

Can you earn money from writing in just 5 minutes? Well, yes you can, but it's only from small writing projects like readers' letters in magazines or 'quick tips' type of submissions.

Anyway, the real money comes from bigger projects like writing books.

There are even people who think that reading a book about how to make money from writing will help them, even if they don't do any writing. They seem to think that they can just hold the book and read it once they'll absorb all the knowledge by osmosis and wake up rich.

The truth about being a writer is that it isn't all glitz and glamour.

Au contraire. It's all about sitting on your own for hours at a time and not just writing but planning what you're going to write and how you're going to make money.

That's what my life is like. I go to my desk every day and work for about 3 to 4 hours, sometimes longer. Some days I even go back into my office in the evening and work till late.

I don't socialize much which is fine with me because I find social situations mentally exhausting anyway. And I'd much rather be writing.

To me, working on my own doesn't bother me at all, in fact, I love working this way.

It can be hard sometimes, and it especially was in the beginning when I lacked the self-discipline to sit down and work every day, and there are still odd days when I don't feel like doing anything. But now I'm extremely organized which makes my work easier and faster. And now I wouldn't want to work any other way.

In fact, I consider myself unemployable because it makes me shudder to imagine having to go back to working for someone else for a living, and also because I can't NOT write every day.

And many of the books I've written are all about how you can use my own methods of working so that you too can be living the writer's life, even if it's not glamorous and social.

I can't promise that if you buy my books and follow my advice that you'll be able to earn a living as a writer because I don't know you and I don't know how much effort (if any) you'll put into your writing dream.

But what I can say is that if you do follow my advice, you'll be far ahead of the rest of the would-be writers who think that osmosis is the best way.

Just click the link below and choose where you want to start.


https://www.ruthiswriting.com

Write About What You Do and Earn Money

Earning money online from writing isn't really complicated. If fact, starting with a basic blog and writing about what you do every day is an incredibly simple way to start (or do it as a sideline).

And it has an extra bonus because not only can it earn you money, but you'll also get other things done at the same time.

All you need to do is set up a simple (and free) blog like this one and write about something you do on a regular basis.

It can be anything, like exercising, cooking, gardening, parenting, saving money, knitting, woodwork, reading... whatever it is, if you write about it every day or every week, it will make you do more of it so that you have something to write about plus it makes you look at what you do differently/deeply because you have to have a good understanding to be able to explain it to others.

You won't just write about what you do, but why you do it, such as why did you plant that so deep? Why did you add that herb to your cooking? Why did you use that tool? Why didn't you like that book you read?

If you want to see how far it can take you, look at this simple blog which is run by a woman who also lives in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland where I live and her free blog is all about what she does every day at home and it's taken her far. https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com.

So you see, you don't have to know a lot. If it's something that you're interested in, then there will be others who are interested in it too, so that will give you an instant audience.

And a blog post can be written in less than 15 minutes.

You do have a spare 15 minutes a day, don't you?


How I Earned Over $4,000 Writing Articles in Just One Day
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/15.html

It Seems I'm Being Irrational About My Writing

I've been reading a book that I borrowed from the library. It's a huge book and I'm only a few pages into it so far but it's already got me hooked. It's fascinating.

This (huge) book is called The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene and it's all about understanding how and why others act the way they do and also how we act. It seems we all pretend to be someone we're not when we're in public because we all try to be polite and usually never speak our minds.

It also said that we all exhibit irrational behaviour all the time and we don't even realise we're doing it.

For example (and this is the one that caught my attention) procrastinating is irrational behaviour because we know we have to do something, yet we don't do it. Instead, we procrastinate and we know we're doing it yet we still persist.

And I guess it's true. Why would any rational person not do something they need to do even though they have nothing else to do at the time?

It got my attention because it's what we all do when it comes to writing.

Not only do we procrastinate, but we also have so many different ways we could be sitting down and getting our writing done and earning money at the same time.

Just look at this list of 3 writing courses:

7 Day Ebook Writing and Publishing System

The 10 Day Ebook

How to Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less

Just these 3 courses alone could have you writing and publishing 3 books in the next 2 months if you don't procrastinate.

I find that being organised stops procrastination.

I just write a list of the 6 things I need to do every day (writing-related or not) and then I get to work on them straight away every morning. It helps because I don't have to think about what I'm going to do. I just look in the list in my diary and get straight to work on number 1.

That's also why I like to do writing courses (like the ones above) because they mean that all I have to do is open them up and get to work because they tell me exactly what I need to do and in what order so all I have to do is keep working my way through them.

And doesn't that sound more rational and simple to implement rather than always procrastinating and not knowing where to start?

So get organised and start writing.

No more excuses.

Stop your irrational behaviour.

New Website Software Woes

I know I complained in my last post about my computer updating and causing me to not be able to use my website-building software anymore, but now I've subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes my beloved Dreamweaver. But now it's so advanced I don't know how to use it.

So I spent several hours on the weekend working my way through Adobe online tutorials and making copious notes about how to use this newly upgraded software, and that was after it took a few hours to download all of the 22  huge apps that come with the license I purchased.

But at least I was finally able to add an article to my site, and it's one that I wrote a few weeks ago but was unable to upload... until now.

 I Know The Secret To Writing Productivity
https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2019/writing-productivity.html

But it still took me almost an hour to do it because the software is so new to me. I feel like a novice all over again.

These days most people like to use simple ways to create websites like using the online WordPress software. But I like to have more control over my sites so that I can change and update them whenever and however I want to.

I'm also in the process of starting a new website for writers and using my current RuthIsWriting site for something else. The plans are still only on paper at the moment but this is a space worth watching.  Make sure you follow this blog so that you'll know when the new one launches.

And I'm also currently working on my next book which is one of many I have planned to write.

The problem is that I have so many ideas yet not enough time to implement them all. But I'm trying to be better organised.

At the moment I feel hampered by the weather too because here in Queensland, Australia, it's almost summer (1st December) and it's really getting extremely hot now and we've also had quite a few thunderstorms but very little rain, so we are also in a drought (since July) and there is talk of water restrictions being introduced soon.

We also have quite a number of bushfires burning in our state (16 at last count) and there is a lot of smoke haze around. Last week we were on a watch-and-wait list to see if one of the fires was going to get too close and we'd all have to evacuate, but it didn't come to that.

But with computer updates, new software to learn to use, hot weather, bushfires, storms, etc, I feel like something is trying to stop me move forward with what I want to do.

But I won't be beaten and it only makes me want to work harder, which, because I love to write, isn't such a bad thing.

Especially when I have a growing list of so many writing ideas that I want to work on.


Goodbye Writer's Block:
How to Be a Creative Genius and Have an Abundance of Ideas
Plus the Inspiration and Motivation to Write
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/WB.html

New Operating System Woes

Recently, my MacBook Pro computer did a huge system update so that I am now running on Catalina instead of Mojave.

The problem with this is that it was such a big upgrade that not only did it take hours to do, but it also stopped me from using much of my software because it won't run on the new system.

Amongst other things, it's stopped me using Word for Mac and also Adobe Dreamweaver, which is killing me because I use Dreamweaver to create and update my websites.

And this software can't be bought anymore and instead I have to buy a monthly license to use it, which is going to run out quite expensive because I not only need the web designing software, but I also want quite a few other Adobe programs so that I can work with documents and be able to create book covers.

I have someone who designs the front covers, but I need to be able to create paperback covers that have a front, back, and spine, which is work that my husband does for me. He takes care of all the technical things like that and deals with the actual book publishing as well.

So I now find myself in the position of having articles waiting to go on my website but not being able to format and upload them.

And to make matters worse, I've also had to change my home internet because I was still running on ADSL instead of the NBN network, and the change has finally been forced because they are shutting down the ADSL soon. So this has been another annoying and time-consuming thing that I've had to deal with.

So far it's been several months of interruptions.

First of all, I came down with the flu three months ago and I coughed so hard I cracked/broke a rib which was extremely painful and I could hardly move for weeks. Then once that was over I got a head cold and now I've also had to change my internet, update my computer and lost use of much of my software in the process.

And now one of my hosting companies, Netregistry, has once again taken an unauthorized payment from my credit card, which is only one of the underhand things they've done to me recently, so now I'm moving my accounts to another company.

I'm so sick of dealing with one setback after another.

Sometimes it all feels like a personal attack.

But I'm getting through it now, thank goodness.

And I can't help but think that it's all happening at once because better things are on the way.

But if you have noticed the lack of updates and new articles on my writing website at https://ruthiswriting.com, it's all because of my lack of website software and Netregistry causing me more problems. And when I look online at the huge amounts of complaints against this company, it's no surprise that I'm having problems with them too.

However, all is not lost and soon, when I've made up my mind as to which software I'm going to subscribe to, I'll be back at full speed of writing and earning money.

The good news is that I'm currently writing my next book which will help you do more, achieve more and live the life you were meant to, instead of sitting back, letting things happen and wasting your time reacting to it all.

It's aimed at making you more confident, less needy and a thousand times more productive and happy.

Stay tuned...


Grab a Book, Start Writing, And Make More Money Than Ever Before
https://ruthiswriting.com/make-money.html

The Startling Discovery That Being a Writer is Not a Job

I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember although until the internet came along I had no clue how to go about it, so I just put it to the back of my mind and got on with my life.

Thankfully though, things eventually changed and I managed to make my dream come true by transitioning from being an employee to working from home as a writer, but the startling thing was that I had no idea the amazing difference it would make to my life.

You see, in my mind, being a writer was the same as having a job but instead of going to work every day, I’d go to my desk at home and work. So to me, it was just a different type of job, and one that had no traveling to work time.

But I was completely wrong.

What happened was that I discovered that it wasn’t just a different type of job, it was a whole new lifestyle. A whole new way of living.

I didn’t need to keep regular hours and even when I went on holiday I’d take my writing with me. That’s because it didn’t feel like work. Once I was working on a project, I’d take it with me wherever I went.

At first I couldn’t understand why I wanted to continue writing even when I didn’t have to, but eventually I realised that it wasn’t a job anymore. It was a way of life. And I know that sounds really corny, but it’s true.

The huge difference I found between having a job and being a writer, was the inspiration for my best selling book, Living The Laptop Lifestyle. But even in that book, I cannot explain how great my life is now.

And no one can understand how great it is until it happens.

Living this way and earning money online from my writing, is not a get rich quick scheme or anything like that. But rather, it’s a transition from working for a living to living at an easier, slower pace of life.

And this is why I’ll never “work” again.


https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

Having Too Much Time To Write. Is That Even Possible?

I used to think that the more time I had, the more writing I’d do.

I used to be at work every day thinking, if only I was at home I’d be sat writing and earning so much money. But instead, I had to keep my job until I could earn enough money from my writing to quit.

And then the day came when I did quit and I thought, great, now I can write all day instead of going to work. But it didn’t turn out that way at all. I discovered that I had TOO MUCH time to write, and I didn’t even know that was possible.

What happened was I started wasting time because I no longer had a reason to rush. I had no boss, no deadlines, and so I cruised along doing other things instead of getting my writing done.

I cured this ‘problem’ by not giving myself too much time to write.

What I mean by this, is that if I sit down and find myself surfing online or checking emails or doing other things instead of writing, I get up and go and do something else more productive until I can be sure that I’ll write when I sit down.

I also use a list of tasks to get more done. I have notebooks where I write out what I have to do. But it’s not a list of projects, it’s a list of tasks. So say I need to write 5 blog posts. I won’t just put that on a list with ‘write 5 blog posts.’ I’ll actually outline 5 blog posts so that when I sit down to write, I just look at my list of 5 blog posts and write them. Working this way makes it so much easier and faster to write.

Sometimes I also use a timer to give me a bit of an adrenaline rush. I figured that journalists work against the clock to get their work published on time so why not let it work for me?

So I time myself for 25 to 30 minutes at a time and see how fast I can write. Surprisingly, working fast also helps my writing to flow better because I don’t have time to second guess myself.

So what it all boils down to is that the less time I have to write, the more writing I get done, which also leaves me plenty of time for other things when I’m not sat at my desk all day wasting time doing other things instead of writing.


https://ruthiswriting.com/books/15.html

What to Write When You Don’t Know What To Write

Sometimes it’s too easy for me to sit down and not know what to write, or, more aptly, not feel like doing any writing.

So rather than sit there and trying to force myself there’s something else I do.

And I’m not the only one with this problem of not always feeling like writing. It happens to others too, even those with popular blogs or authors who’ve written several books. We all have days when we just don’t want to write.

So what I do is I use this time for marketing. And there a few different ways I do it, and all for free.

Sometimes I use anti-social media to put up links to things on my sites or to talk about my books or post inspirational quotes.

I also still use EzineArticles.com for getting more visitors to my sites because it works.

Naturally, it doesn’t work as well as it did when Google used to include my marketing articles in search results, but it’s still a popular site and I get plenty of free traffic from there.

And these are just a couple of things that I do

So don’t ever sit there and say you have nothing to do, because there is no such thing as too much marketing, especially when you can write articles.

And you may find, like I do, that once I start working, it makes me want to stay there and write more.

If you can’t think of anything else, write a few short Ezine Articles and upload them to the directory.

It’s quick and easy to do, especially if you can write an article in 15 minutes or less.



https://ruthiswriting.com/books/15.html

What to Write About Online If You Haven’t Written a Book

I write books so when I write online-articles I do so to make more book sales.

My online articles are about many things but I always tie them back into one of my books (which I even do with this one).

But what should you do if you want to work online but you don’t know what to write about? When you don’t have any books to sell?

One way to do it is to set up a blog. Just choose a niche and write articles about it.

That’s a great way to earn money from your writing without having to tackle a project as big as writing a book manuscript.

And there are many writers who earn money from their blogs.

But you need to make sales or you won’t earn any money. So you can write marketing articles and use them to market affiliate products.

You can write about things you’ve used, or books you've read. Or you can even promote products you haven’t used yourself.

You can even do it in different ways, like setting up a simple review site or creating an opinion blog. There are other things you can do, but these are just a couple of ideas to get you started.

And no matter what you want to write about, there’s a way to earn money from writing about it.

All you need to do now is to make a start, and you’ll soon be bursting with ideas and your fingers will be flying across the keyboard every day.

And even if you do write books, you can always set up a money-making blog to earn extra income as well, or for something to work on when you’re in-between book manuscripts.

Once you start looking into online writing and earning possibilities it’s amazing what you can find.


https://www.ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

66 Horror Scripts to Download and Inspire

Have you ever wanted to be a horror writer? I once wrote a horror novel and it was fun, yet strangely scary to sit and make up weird things in my head.

And it's great when you have an idea for a horror story.

But what if you don't?

Well, you can get inspiration from reading other horror books, or even better, reading movie scripts from some of the best horror movies.

And right now, there's an amazing opportunity for you to download 66 of the best horror screenplays of all time. These are complete PDF scripts. And they're free.

They include the scripts for Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, IT, The Cabin in the Woods, The Shining, Seven, Alien, Carrie... and more.

So no matter what kind of horror writing you're interested in, this is a great opportunity to download and dissect some of the best horror writing ever.

Click on the link below and then click on the cover image of each movie to download the complete script.

66 Terrifying Screenplays That Will Keep You up at Night



Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

Your Book Into a Movie + $1,000 Prize Money + Intros to Hollywood Agents & Producers

Ever wanted to see your book made into a movie or a TV show?

Well, now is your chance.

This is a great competition open to writers worldwide to get your book made into a movie.

If your book or graphic novel has a cinematic possibility for film or TV, then you can enter it into this competition.

What will you receive if your book is chosen?

Win $1,000 + introductions to Hollywood agents and producers!

There is also a prize for 2nd place plus a special mention for 100 quarter-finalists.

The closing date is 30th November 2019.

Click the link below to see full terms and conditions and to enter your book now.

https://screencraft.org/book/

How Not To Sound Like a Phoney When You Write

I sometimes smile at how easy some people find it to sound like a fake person when they write.

The problem is that we learn to write at school and college and university. But the problem is that our style of writing for our teachers and lecturers is not the same for any other kind of writing, especially if you’re writing online or writing books.

When you write, you need to sound authentic rather than sounding like a robot spewing out facts or sounding phony like you’re trying to hide something.

And the way to do this is to find your writing ‘voice.’

But what does that mean and how can you do it?

Your writing voice means sounding like yourself when you write. It means giving the reader a glimpse at the writer behind the words.

And you do it with practice.

That is the only way that you’ll ever find your writing voice. The more you write, the more authentic you’ll sound because you can only keep a veil up for so long before you start writing more like you speak and coming across as genuine.

Another thing to remember is, don’t write what you think others want to read. Instead write about what YOU want to tell them, rather than what you think they want to hear.

And write quickly. Don’t give yourself too much thinking time about which words to use or how to be perfect. Just write. You can pick up mistakes later on in the edit. Just write fast and authentically.

It doesn’t actually take too much practice to find your writing voice.

But you do need to practice. Just make sure you’re practicing being yourself, which, when it comes down to it, should be pretty easy.

You know yourself better than anyone.

So be that genuine person when you write.


Goodbye Writers’ Block
How to Be a Creative Genius and Have an Abundance of Ideas
Plus the Inspiration and Motivation to Write
https://www.ruthiswriting.com/books/WB.html

Have I Ever Read Anything You’ve Written?

People can be really mean, especially those closest to you like friends and family.

I come across a lot of jealousy when I tell people that I’m a writer. They either don’t want to talk about it and quickly change the subject (which is most of the time), or they ask questions like, “What do you write?” To which I usually say, “Oh lots of different things,” and they say, “Like what?"

I usually respond with, “I write words.” I mean, what am I going to say? I earn money from my writing in so many different ways that explaining to them what I do would take time.

Then they ask the really stupid question. “Have I Ever Read Anything You’ve Written?”

Please, people! Come on! How on earth could I know every single thing you’ve ever read in your life?

Often I just tell people to Google me if they want to know more.

I usually stay away from other people as much as I can because they take up too much of my valuable time.

Just as an example of how much I stay away, last week, my husband and I had to walk into town to buy a few things. Instead of walking up and down the main street where we usually run into people we know, we went via a side street, straight into the shop we needed, and came back up an alley and through a field, just to avoid having to speak to anyone.

Does that make me anti-social? Probably.

But if I were a famous writer, I’d avoid people anyway.

And that’s that best way to make it to the top is to act like it’s already happened.

If you want to be a millionaire author, act like you already are one. So instead of wasting time hanging around the proverbial water cooler and gossiping, or wasting time on anti-social media (it’s never social, IMHO), write more books instead. That’s what best-selling authors do.

Remember that people will always treat you the way you allow them to.

So get charisma and poise and don’t let others look down on you.

Stick to your writing mission no matter what.

I did it, even when others thought I was mad and told me I was wasting my time doing writing courses and locking myself indoors writing and submitting articles and short stories to magazines.

But ha-ha to them because it worked. And now they don’t want to discuss it.

I recently read a book that really helped me with all this too and made me realise more than ever that I was right, right, right, to ignore everyone and stick to my mission.



Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

How I Survived on Low Writing Income

One thing I learned quickly once I started writing for a living is that the income isn’t regular. It’s feast or famine.

When I first started out it was way more famine and not enough feast, which made it scary when it came to quitting my job.

But one of the things I did do that really helped me, was a read a book called The Millionaire Next Door, which explains how others are rich (millionaires in fact) even though they only earn a regular income.

At first I didn’t even think it was possible but after reading the book and learning about not only how they did it, but how easy it was, I realised that I would be able to manage on my writing income, even during the times of famine.

And since then I’ve heard and read about others who survived during hard financial times. I even recently heard about a woman who raised her 7 children in a one-bedroom house. Now that is extreme, but clearly, it was doable. And she clearly isn’t like spoilt people today who want big houses with lots of bedrooms even when they only have a couple of kids.

And that’s the difference that makes some people ‘The Millionaire Next Door.’ And interestingly enough, they are called “next door” because they are living ordinary lives amongst ordinary folk who have no idea their neighbours are millionaires.

So when I was worried about living on a low income I didn’t let it stop me from becoming a writer. I just knew how much I could earn and turned to minimalism to help me get by. And I found that it’s a great way to live anyway, so I haven’t even changed much.

And now my husband has retired early and we only have the money that I earn from my writing as our income, and we’re living really comfortably.

I wouldn’t change a thing and it all started because I prioritised my writing and made it my mission to earn enough money from it to live on.



Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

How I Found My Writing Mission

When I first started writing I had moderate success with freelance submissions to magazines. Well actually, it was probably more than moderate if you count how excited and happy I was to do it.

It all began when I bought a copy of Quick Cash Writing and worked my way through it, writing and submitting fiction, filler, articles, features and even letters to magazines and other publications.

My next foray into money from writing was when I bought a copy of How to Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less and I worked my way through that too and wrote my first novel, which has led me to write many more books, including co-authoring two books.

What I found throughout it all was that my first successes led to more success because it was exciting to see my work in print and I was always busy working on my next thing.

And it gave me something to look forward to every day. I was always busy with having a family, pets and a part-time job, and at the end of the day there was always my writing. Sometimes I couldn’t wait for others things to be finished so that I could get back to my writing.

I would even write in cafes on my way home from work, in the park, and in waiting rooms. I would just write whenever and wherever.

What I didn’t realise back then was that I’d found my life’s mission.

I wanted to write and I didn’t let anything stop me. And I didn’t even know back then how important having a mission in life was. But it changed everything for me.


It made me a villain.


Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

Be Brief and Move On

The best thing you can do in life is to know exactly what you want and go after it.

A major problem with this is that other people will not want you to do it. They don’t want you to change or to be successful.

People are like crabs in a bucket. As soon as one of them manages to reach the top and try and climb out, the others will pull it back in again. And this is what people do if you try and move away from them (physically or mentally). They’ll try and pull you back down to their level.

It even happens to me all the time. I’ve been a writer now for almost 20 years and it’s how I earn my living. Yet my family won’t even discuss it with me and if I bring it up they’ll change the subject. Not even my own mother knows about my published books and she doesn’t want to.

Being a writer doesn’t give me much to say about what I do every day anyway, because it’s a silent and solitary way to earn a living. I sit alone most of the time.

My kids on the other hand love that I’m a writer and read my books, but no one else in my family does.

So make it your mission to go after what is important in your life. Put it first as much as you can, no matter what anyone else tries to say or how much they try and stop you.

If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be the successful writer I am today.


Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

Is This Stopping You From Writing?

I was reading a really interesting book the other day. I’ve actually read it several times before because it fascinates me (and it’s only a short book that’s quick and easy to read).

And it struck me that what I was reading about was actually something that can stop people from writing. And I used to be one of those people. It can be a real time-waster without you even realising you’re doing it.

And what I’m talking about is being needy. It’s something that most of us do automatically and it’s a complete waste of time.

What do I mean by being needy?

It means spending time explaining things to people when you really don’t have to.

Being needy is when you feel that you owe someone a long explanation. And it doesn’t matter who it is. If you feel like you have to explain yourself, then you’re being needy. You don’t owe anyone an explanation about anything.

So if you find yourself giving a long, detailed explanation to someone, stop doing it. That’s being needy.

And it doesn’t matter if you want them to do something for you or they want you to do something for them. Trying to explain yourself at length is being needy. It’s being needy of them liking you.

Even if someone is demanding that you explain yourself and say why you can’t help them or worse, if you’re trying to do them a favour and feel that you need to give a detailed reason as to why they should LET you help them, STOP!

You’re wasting your time by being needy.

It would be far better to talk less, ask for nothing, offer less, and say less to everyone.

And then you’d have more time to devote to your writing.




Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains
A short but extremely insightful little book that helps you to do more and to care less.
This little book can be read in less than an hour, but you’ll want to read it again and again.
http://viewbook.at/villains

There’s No Such Thing As Being Too Busy

It seems to be a fad these days for people to say “I’m so busy.”

But what does that even mean? What is everyone busy doing?

I used to have a neighbour called Judy. She only worked one day a week, her kids were older teens so were out most of the time, she had a cleaning woman to clean the whole house once a week, yet she always said she was busy and seemed to be rushing around when she was outside. All the neighbours nicknamed her ‘Busy Judy’ which was always said with a smirk.

And this so-called busyness that so many people seem to be suffering from is usually talking about doing things that aren’t even important.

From my own observations of people I know who always say they’re busy, they seem to have a lot of time to watch TV or sit in cafes all day.

There’s a saying that there is no such thing as being too busy. It’ simply a matter of priorities. And I have no idea who said that, but it’s true.

I have an audio recording of a talk given by life coach, James Arthur Ray. In it, he says that people always unintentionally lie about what’s important to them.

He says that to find out what your real priorities are, all you have to do is look at the 5 things that you spend most of your time doing, and THOSE are what is really important to you because that is what you’re giving all your time and attention to.

So if you’re not spending enough time writing, you need to ask yourself why not? What is it that you’re giving all your time and attention to instead of writing? What are those other 5 things that you continually do?

And if you’re not writing at all yet you keep saying you want to, then you need to ask yourself if you really want to write, or are you just in love with the idea of being a writer?



Just Get On With It Will You?
https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2019/get-on-with-it.html

One Reason Why I'm Reluctant To Write

Usually I love to write and I can’t stop. And I love it when I feel like that.

But there are other times when I lack motivation so much that I find it hard to even sit down and start writing.

Usually my reluctance to write is because I’m not enjoying what I’m working on which may or may not be something I’m writing. It could also be editing, proofing, uploading, website work or even research.

So what do I do when I find it hard-going?

There are three things I do:

First I look at what is holding me back and why I’m so reluctant to get on with what I’m supposed to be doing. I even journal about it if it helps.

Second, I devise a list of tasks I need to do to get the job finished.

Thirdly, I work my way through the list one step at a time till I’m finished.

I find it also helps if I use a timer to see how much I can get done in a 25 to 30 minute window because I’m more focused when I know I have limited time.

And once I’m finished I feel so much better which makes it easy to get back to working on what I enjoy.

And it all starts with finding out why I’m procrastinating, and journals are great for getting my thoughts together and figuring out what I want to do and how to do it.


Panda Planners

Writing And Selling Children’s Picture Books

When you look at children’s picture books, they don’t look difficult to write. But they can be.

But there is a ‘secret’ to creating popular children’s picture books that many writers miss.

So I’m going to tell you what this ‘secret’ is which can make the difference between selling several dozen books and selling several thousand.

So listen very carefully…

Children’s picture books only contain around 600 words, and while that may sound easy, it’s not, because within that tiny word count, you have to include:

3-dimensional characters
emotion
gripping plots

And you have to do it all in 600 words or less.

Not only that, but it isn’t only kids that you book needs to appeal to.

It must first appeal to adults - namely, your agent, publisher and parents, in that order.

The great thing about children’s picture books is that it’s easy to sell lots of them because libraries love to stock them, with some carrying more than one copy because they get borrowed so often, more than any other type of book. And if you live in the UK or Australia, etc, you can also apply for Public Lending Rights.

And if you can create one memorable character that can have multiple adventures in a series of books, you can make even more library sales.

Read more about how to write children’s picture books that sell in my latest article using the link below.

https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2019/childrens-book.html

How Dan Kennedy Makes It All So Easy

Have you read any of Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. books?

My favourite is NO B.S. TIME MANAGEMENT FOR ENTREPRENEURS. I’ve read it over and over.

And he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to getting things done because he works with 30 - 40 clients at a time, has multiple copywriting jobs, writes one or several books a year, runs coaching programs, consults, speaks, and races horses.

So what makes him so rich and successful? And how does he pack so much into his days?

He believes that if you shift your thinking, you shift your bank account

In contrast to this, I see so many people who won’t even take the plunge to start anything at all, and even if they do, they won’t do the work necessary.

My book, Living The Laptop Lifestyle, on the other hand, shows how to easily turn any subject into a money-making, online business using only your laptop computer, and not needing to work anywhere near as hard as Dan Kennedy.

But imagine what you could accomplish if you did?

Don’t put your life and business off any longer.

Start Living The Laptop Lifestyle today.


https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

What Do You Mean You Don’t Have Time?

“I don’t have time to write!”

I-Yi-Yi. How many times have I heard that?

Listen… there’s no such thing as not having enough time. It’s all a matter of priorities.

Agatha Christie wrote 66 novels during her lifetime, and she didn’t even have a computer. And Isaac Asimov, Dan Kennedy, and Gene Schwartz likewise wrote more than most people would think humanly possible.

What they had were clear goals and no excuses. They had zero resistance to writing and didn’t let anything stop them. They refused to allow anyone or anything to hold them back.

But it doesn’t have to be that hard for you.

I can show you an almost done-for-you product to help you launch your own online writing business and all you need is your laptop computer, an internet connection (sometimes) and to click the link below.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/LLS.html

What Do You Need More Than Money To Implement Your Ideas?

I was recently watching a short video of a speech given by the money-making guru, Joe Vitale. Un-coincidently, it had the same title as the one I’ve used here (nothing wrong with borrowing a good idea, and titles aren’t copyrighted, or so I’m told).

What intrigued me about it was that he was saying almost the same thing I’ve been saying for a long time now, and that is, if you want to write, sit down and do it. Show up every day and work.

And he was saying that too many people think that they can’t implement any ideas they have (writing-related or otherwise) because they don’t have the money to do it.

But if you have a great idea you don’t need money because no matter how much you spend or how much you buy, it won’t help you to implement your ideas.

Dr Joe Vitale said you don’t need money, you need creativity because not having money makes you think, wonder and create strategies.

You need courage, creativity and to act to get things started.

Then one step leads to another.

And it all starts with one idea.



Goodbye Writer's Block:
How to Be a Creative Genius and Have an Abundance of Ideas Plus the Inspiration and Motivation to Write
https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/WB.html

Free Text Editor

For a few years now I’ve been using a free text editor called Grammarly, which I like very much. But now I also use another one that is useful in different ways.

Grammarly is great because it picks up on misused words and misspelled words and bad punctuation.

But now I’ve also started to use another free text editor that is just as useful as Grammarly but in different ways.

This text editor is called Hemingway, and the way it works is you copy and paste your writing into it, and it highlights what it thinks is passive voice as well as unnecessary adverbs and clunky, hard-to-read sentences. It can also word count and well as counting letters, characters, sentences, and paragraphs.

It’s brilliant at picking out passive voice which is always better to change to active voice, as in changing “he started running” to “he ran.” 

The ability for it to pick up on hard-to-read sentences is also extremely useful.

But the only downside to it is that it not only tells you to get rid of unnecessary adverbs, but all adverbs. Yep, it seems that the Hemingway text editor doesn’t like adverbs at all. 

For example, if you write, “blared loudly” it will tell you to remove the adverb “loudly.”

But if you write, “said jokingly” it will tell you to get rid of “jokingly” which is something you’d probably want to keep. Ironically, when I ran this article through Hemingway, it highlighted the words jokingly and loudly and said to omit them.

I could also say that another downside is that it may think some of your sentences have too many complex phrases or long sentences, but that all depends on what grade of readability your audience has. If you’re writing to someone who has a good understanding of the complex issue you're discussing, then there is nothing wrong with using long sentences, etc.

But you can use your judgment of your own work. Either way, the Hemingway text editor is great for picking up on errors you might not see in your own writing and it costs nothing to use.

http://www.hemingwayapp.com