Struggling With My Writing Routine

This week I'm struggling with keeping up with my usual writing and publishing routine.

I'm quite the creature of habit (which I'll be talking about in a future article) and I like to get certain writing tasks completed on certain days. That way I never have think about it. I never suddenly have to think "Did I write that article for Writeaholics.net?" Nope. I just know it's been done because I have a set day to do it.

Anyway, this week my usual routine has been monumentally disrupted because...my computer has had to go into the repair shop so I don't have access to my usual files and my usual software.

I know that something is wrong with my computer because it's slowing down and having a few issues, but it is 4 years old and I usually replace my computer every 3 years, but my current Mac Book Pro has been such a great computer that I hate to part with it.

The problem began when I started having issues downloading some of my emails. I phoned my hosting company, Netregistry.com.au, and they discovered that some horrible person has created fake email accounts on my website and is trying to download them every time I try and download my legitimate emails.

The fake email accounts are attempting to download to several different IP addresses, none of which are mine.

Now you'd think, wouldn't you, or at least I would, that with such a hacking attempt going on with my account that my hosting company would do something about it immediately.

But no. It's now been several days - today is Wednesday and they discovered this hacking attempt last Thursday while I was on the phone with the so-called tech support department - and still not one damn thing has been done to put things right despite my making 3 phone calls and sending 2 emails to them.

And in the meantime I cannot download my emails for that particular website (my cheritonhousepublishing.com site) because every time I do, the hackers automatically try to download their emails too and all the IP addresses get immediately blocked from the account, including mine.

So then I can't access anything and I have to ring up NetRegistry.com.au and ask them to unblock my IP address so that I can at least log into my website control panel. But first of all they go through loads of rubbish asking me to send them screenshots of my failed login attempts, etc and I have to keep explaining that it's not a fault on my computer, it's their system automatically blocking me out. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to get them to understand this.

I-Yi-Yi!

In the meantime I wondered if all this is what is affecting my computer. Have the hackers got into it somehow? I'm not sure how online hacking works so I don't know what people have the capability to do.

The computer store rang me today and said that my computer hard drive is corrupt and had some adware on it. They've removed the adware and are cloning my files so that they can install a new hard drive and put all my clean files and software back onto the new hard drive. I should get it back today, at a hefty price, but it will be worth it.

I'm currently using my Mac Book Air which is the computer I use if I want to work away from home.

I do sometimes like to work in the park or at the library, or sometimes at a really nice lookout (that has toilets and a drinking fountain) that's not too far away from here. That's one of the good things about living in the mountains. The views are fantastic.

I don't keep anything on this computer just in case it gets damaged or stolen. I don't have my emails on it and I don't store personal or business files on it. Only files that don't matter if others see them.

And it's password protected which means that once the lid is closed, a password is required to use the computer again. I really use it as nothing more than a glorified Word Processor.

And it doesn't have any of my software on it or passwords to my internet accounts.

I like to stay safe. Yet still there is adware on my main computer which I'm usually really careful with too.

On the upside of all this, I've managed to get plenty of writing done because I don't have much else to do while my other computer is AWOL.

I can't do a lot with my writing because I can't upload anything without my passwords and I don't want to use them even once on this computer just in case it remembers them. I can however, log into this blog and make a new post. It's one place I am auto-logged into on this computer.

So I'll keep waiting till my Mac Book Pro returns and in the meantime I'll just keep writing and writing.

My usual routine may have been disrupted but at least I'm getting plenty done.

There really is no excuse not to write.

Write Faster And Better

If you’re like me you dream of being able to write more every day and have a huge library of published books and a slew of websites with hundreds of pages of useful articles and other information and millions of visitors a month.

Ahh… wouldn’t it be nice?

I’m not there yet but I am getting there.

How about you?

Do you dream of the same writing goals?

If so, what’s holding you back?

It’s probably the same thing that’s held me back too.

Practice.

That is the ‘secret’.

If you want to write more you need to write faster so that you can tackle more large writing projects such as books.

Writing faster means writing more and it also means writing better.

In other words, practice will help you write faster and improve the way you write at the same time.

If you want to write faster and write and publish more, do what I always do and get a course or an ebook that you can follow that will get you started and keep you writing.

Some courses I’ve used are:

Quick Cash Writing. Great for writing all kinds of smaller projects such as filler articles, short stories and greeting card verse.

http://writeaholics.net/links/quickcash.html

Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less. Laid out in an easy to follow style and suitable for writing fiction and non-fiction. Just follow the advice as you go through the course and by the end you’ll have your manuscript written.

http://writeaholics.net/links/writequickly.html

12 Month Writing Challenge. A course that gives you monthly assignments that build on top of each other so that by this time next year you’ll not only have earned over $30K from the course, but you’ll have multiple streams of passive income to keep you going.
http://12mthchallenge.com

7 Day Ebook Writing and Publishing System. If you want to write ebook fast, this course will get you there. Short how-to ebooks can help you to earn a steady, passive income. When you download this course, you’ll also receive the bonus ebook 2 Hour Short Report Writing: How to write a short report or ebook in just 2 hours. 

http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/7day.html

Can you imagine how much writing you’d be able to do and how much money you’d earn if your downloaded and worked on writing courses such as these?

There are many more writing courses available to download online so there really is no excuse for not getting started today, even if you don’t have an idea of what you want to write.

All you need is a goal of what you want to achieve then get to work and do it.

Some people never get started with their writing because they’re afraid they’ll fail. While others are afraid they’ll succeed.

If you don’t make a determined start now, what will you achieve in one week’s time, in a month or in a year?

Nothing.

Ask yourself this:

• What is your goal with your writing?
• How are you going to achieve it?
• Why haven’t you started?

Now would be a great time to begin.

How to Master Writing Focus in the Shortest Time Possible

I love watching football. Rugby League is the game I love and I attend most of the home games of my favourite team.

There is another fan who sits in front of me. He’s a barrister and he’s extremely passionate about the game.

He yells, stands up, shouts at the players and is always fully absorbed in what’s going on on the pitch.

And when I see him like this it’s easy to see why he’s a good barrister (and from what I hear he’s really good). It’s his focus.

When he’s at the match he is 100% focused on the game and no doubt he’s the same when he’s in court.

He just has an amazing ability to concentrate so hard on what he’s doing that he seems to forget about everything else going on around him.

And this is the same type of focus you need when you’re writing.

It’s easy to think that writing isn’t hard. You imagine that you sit down, write for a while and then your working day is over.

But it’s not like that at all.

Writing takes concentration and 100% focus on your work, otherwise you’ll let every little thing distract you.

Sometimes just everyday neighbourhood noises can be very distracting.

So how is it possible to have total focus when you’re writing?

Block out everything else.

This means forgetting about other things that have to be done.

If you need to be somewhere soon, set an alarm to remind you and then get back to work.

Got a car payment due? Forget it for now. Had an argument with someone yesterday? Block it from your mind.

Are the neighbours having an argument while you’re trying to write? Slip on some headphones and listen to meditation music so that you can’t hear them.

Using headphones and relaxing audios works to not only block out other noises but also helps you focus.

A win win.

So forget about everything else and let yourself get lost in your own writing world.

Everything else can wait.

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Download a Free MP3 Audio of Brain Salon’s “Razor Sharp Focus” And See the Difference It Can Make Instantly.

Years ago I was studying for a degree with the Open University.

This meant I was studying at home.

The Open University sent me my text books at the beginning of the school year and gave me a schedule of classes I had to watch on TV (no internet back then).

At the end of the school year I had to go and sit a 3-hour exam.

I sometimes found it hard to study alone.

When I was doing other things I’d always think “I should be studying” and when I was studying I fretted about all the other things I had to do that weren’t getting done.

And it’s the same now that I’m a writer working from home.

I’m always thinking “I should be writing” and then when I am writing I think, “I have so many other jobs I should be doing.” It just never ends.

But I am getting better at it. I’ve been working as a writer for many years now but I still get that nagging “I should be….” no matter what I’m doing.

One of the things that has helped me is listening to self help audios that help me relax and calm down.

I also listen to audios about being more relaxed and focused as well as listening to audios about writing and working online (those two go hand in hand).

One of the places I go to find audios about writing and working online is bensettle.com. This is the website of a copywriter and email specialist and he has hundreds of hours of free audios on his site.

I also listen to audios from hardtofindseminars.com. There are thousands of free audios on this site all about making money online.

Another place I go to is LearnOutLoud.com because they also have thousands of free audios.

 So if you want to keep on learning to perfect your writing craft while you’re busy doing other things, try these three places to download some amazing audios.