The Lumberjack Story And What It Has To Do With Writing

I write about writing.

I write a lot about writing.

I also write about earning money from writing.

I write a lot about earning money from writing.

And one thing I always (well...sometimes) say is that to be able to earn a living from writing takes practice.

"Copy the greats, " I say.

"Find some great writing and copy it out by hand," I say.

"Do a course on writing and earning money," I say.

"Develop a daily writing habit," I say.

Does anyone listen?

Nah. Not everyone.

So let me tell you the story of the two lumberjacks. It goes something like this:

Two lumberjacks decided to see who could cut down the most tree in the shortest time.

The first lumberjack started cutting down trees immediately, but soon tired because of his dull saw.

While he was busy, the second lumberjack sat down and sharpened his saw for 45 minutes.

He then cut down many more trees in less time and with less effort.

And what does this have to do with writing?

Everything.

You need to spend time honing your craft by spending time copying the greats, doing a writing course or two and creating a daily writing habit.

And before you know it, you'll be writing better, faster, and with less effort.

So start writing today.


(No trees were harmed during the writing of this article.)

Always Feeling Like I Should Be Doing Something Else

Do you ever get that feeling that no matter what you're doing you should be doing something else?

I suffer from that continually all day long. Week after week.  Month after  month.

When I'm doing other things I feel like I should be writing.

When I'm writing I feel like I should be doing all those other things that I haven't gotten around to yet.

Years ago I was studying for a degree and doing it though the Open University so that I studied from home.

All through the year I felt that I should be studying, until I was studying and then I felt that I should be doing something else.

It felt like unstoppable pressure. I was always glad of the 3 month break at the end of every year so that I didn't feel so guilty any more.

But now that I work from home as a writer I still have that "should be doing something else" feeling, no matter what I'm doing.

It's just guilt, guilt, guilt all day long.

Even if I spend all day writing and produce an epic amount of work, I feel guilty about the weeds still  growing in the garden or the pile of ironing waiting to be done.

But now I seem to have reduced the pressure somewhat and so far it's working okay for me.

First I bought an extra computer, one that I can take out with me so that I can work away from the house. It's a Mac Book Air and I find that when I'm not at home I feel no pressure to do anything but the work right in front of me. And I get plenty done because I have nothing else to do while I sit in the park or in the library.

Secondly, I discovered iTunes podcasts about writing, productivity and making money online. And I've also (just last week) subscribed to downloading digital books from the local library.

Subscribing to both was easy.  iTunes takes just a click to subscribe to any series of podcasts I want to hear and if I don't like them, I can unsubscribe in just one click as well.

For the library, all I had to do was download an app for my iPhone and I can download any ebook or audio book in just a click or two, and they're easy to browse because they're categorised really well. The ebooks, if I ever want to borrow one, are available in different formats including Kindle.

The books I download are audio books so that I can listen to them on the go while I'm doing all those other non-writing related tasks that I always "should" be doing when I'm not writing.

And, if you've been following along with me for a while, you'll know that I have a part-time evening cleaning job (in lieu of a gym membership) for extra exercise, and I listen to all my podcasts and ebooks while I clean. I work alone so it's easy for me to escape into whatever I'm listening to while I get my work done.

And what this does is help me to catch up learning what I need to know as well as getting physical jobs done, the ones that require busy hands but empty mind. I also listen to things while I'm doing the dishes or the ironing or mending clothes.

This makes it easier to sit for a long time and get my writing done without feeling as guilty because I'm not doing all the other things I need to do.

And speaking of other things, the dogs are whining for their afternoon walk so I'll have to leave now. Sadly I can't listen to anything while I walk them because they take all my concentration as they continually swap sides, try and quickly follow interesting scent trails like a couple of blood hounds, dragging me along in the process, and meet and greet all dogs and their owners coming the opposite way. Sigh.

But at least at other times, listening to all these informational audios helps me to feel less guilty about doing other things and I feel less time pressured when I'm writing.

I also signed up for a webinar about blogging last week but I didn't have time to listen to it at the time  it was on, so I used my audio recorder to record it while I was busy doing other things. I just switched on the recorder and laid in against the speaker on my laptop. Sneaky, I know, but I listened to it later while I was out doing my cleaning job and to be honest, being a video didn't add anything to the learning experience because it was just someone talking to the camera the whole time. I didn't need to see them to hear what they had to say.

So if you suffer from the "should be doing something else" guilt trip, try using audio to help relieve the pressure and kill two proverbial birds with one stone.

It's working for me.

:)

Why I Feel Like I've Been Shirking My Writing Responsibilities And Why You Should Care

Lately I've been really busy with my writing and publishing. Yet at the same time I feel as though I've been shirking my writing responsibilities because I haven't been updating my websites or this blog.

But it's not because I've been lazy, but rather because other things have gotten in the way, or should I correctly say I'VE ALLOWED other things to get in the way.

What has mostly kept me busy is working on my new online course which is aimed at teaching you how to make money as an online writer. I'm still working on the script and figuring out how I'm going to make it all work but the eventual course will consist of text, video and audio so it will have a lot of content.

I'm also about to embark on a tour of several local libraries teaching the same thing that my online course will be about. This is all linked to my original ebook Living the Laptop Lifestyle which I'm currently updating and adding many more features and information to, and I need to get it ready before my library tour.

At the same time I've been hassled with other issues because we have been in consultation with a local builder for the last two years about a major renovations to our house. But in the end we couldn't agree on the terms of contract so we decided to amicably part our ways, after years of engineering reports, house designs etc. And now we're starting over with another builder. Sad face.

So all in all it's been a busy time.

But why should you care?

Because in the end I will have available  for you a whole new and improved Living the Laptop Lifestyle course that will include far more than it does now. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with the current ebook, it's just that things change in the online world so everyone needs to know more.

I will also have available my new online course that includes video, text and audio. This is a big project and will be available within a month.

So if you want to learn about how to make money online as a writer, creating your own blog, writing ebooks, doing affiliate marketing, earning money through advertising and a whole lot more, these products will help you get to where you want to go with your writing dreams.

But in the meantime I need to keep working hard to bring it all together.

And you'll soon be able to reap the benefits of all my hard work.

In the meantime, I need to put my nose back to the proverbial grind stone.

:)

How to Write Viral Content Every Time

If you run an online business, you'll know that there are things that can hurt your business and things that can kill it.

You'll also know that getting visitors is the lifeblood of any website because without visitors there is no business.

That's why lack of visitors is the number one killer of any online business.

Working online is a numbers game.

Only a certain percentage of visitors to your site will buy from you.

So the more visitors you get, the bigger the percentage will be.

So if only 1% of visitors are buying from you and you want to make 100 sales a day, then you need to attract 10,000 daily visitors.

But how can you do that?

The answer is by using SEO.

Search Engine Optimisation.

But you need to do it correctly.

SEO means finding the most searched-for keywords and using them on your website to attract targeted visitors in droves.

And the emphasis is on TARGETED.

You need to use SEO to attract those people who are already searching for a site like yours.
And you don't have to be good at it.

You just need to find the correct keywords.

And there is a website that can help you and it's called SEOPressor.

It has software that can not only help you choose the best keywords but it teaches you how to use them for maximum effect. It's a plugin that works silently as you write and it also has a smart linking tool and can link your content across your whole blog.

It's a plugin for WordPress so you simply install it and let it work for you.

And for a limited time you can grab a free copy of their special edition ebook on how to make your content go viral in 2 minutes.

While you're on their webpage you can scroll down and read their 10 steps to writing ultra-targeted SEO content for your website or blog.

Go the website now and sign up to receive exclusive insider tips and tricks on SEO. Delivered to you right from the industry’s best SEO team, which works as you write to make sure that your articles and blog posts get more targeted traffic and rank in the search engines faster and more accurately.

This is a smart tool that does all the work for you while you get on with your writing.

https://ruthiswriting.com/links/seopressor.html