3 Simple Ways to Beat Writers' Block

Although writers' block isn't something that I suffer from myself, I know that many writers do.

So I thought that it would be helpful to provide a short list of 3 things that you can do to beat it.

But these 3 things must be done together. They can help if you do them separately but if done all at the same time they can really help you to blast through your writing.

So here they are:

1. Only set out to do one small task.  It's said that if you tell yourself that you have a whole 'to-do' list to get through, you'll put off starting it. However, if you tell yourself that you just have one small task to complete, then it's easier to sit down and do it.

It's like knowing that you have to brush your teeth but not wanting to do it. So you tell yourself that you'll only brush one tooth, but you end up brushing them all. And it works the same with other jobs you have to do.

Don't tell yourself that you have to do a whole project. Break it down into individual tasks and then attempt the first one, and chances are, you'll end up accomplishing more than you think.

2. Keep a regular writing time. This may sound hard at first, especially if you're already trying to juggle kids and a job. But we all have some quiet time in our day that we can use for our writing.

I once saw an ad for online shopping, it said, "It's 1 a.m., the kids are in bed...let's shop." I thought "Wow! 1 a.m. is late to start online shopping, but if it's all the time you have..."

I've even known some writers who get up at 4am to get their writing done before the kids get up and their day starts.

3. Use a timer. You can't concentrate if you're always watching the clock. So use a timer and then lose yourself in your work. I also find that when I know the timer is running I'm less likely to get distracted. My timer is often my best friend when I'm trying to get some work done. And also I'm often surprised at how much I can get done once I start.

And that's it. That's the 3 things that, when used together, can really help you blast through any writing project, or at least, it really helps me.

I always keep a regular writing time, divide my projects into tasks and list them in the order they need to be done and I use a timer to keep me on track and to stop me wasting time.

I also use brain entrainment audios to block out other noises and help me to concentrate.  My favourite one is Brain Salon which is something I use nearly every day and it's more than paid for itself over time.

Try a free demo for yourself at http://www.brainsalon.com/demo/?a=writelady.

And read my latest article The 33-Minute Way to Beat Writers’ Block at:
https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2018/33-minute-writers-block.html

The Two Important Writing Perfections

In a recent article, I wrote about The Buddhist Six Perfections of Writing.

It's about how the Six Buddhist Perfections for life and spiritual practice can also be attributed to writing.

And I thought that two of these perfections were most pertinent:

Patience

Concentration

Patience - because writing takes time (so does everything). Not only that but it usually takes much longer to do than I think it will. Or sometimes writing seems to be slow but I'm actually working at a good pace so when I finally look at the clock I see that I haven't been writing for as long as I think. But I still need to keep my head down and work while I'm doing it. So patience is always required.

Concentration - because writing can often require 'deep work' in order to organise research, outline and stay on track of what I'm trying to say. Writing is not something that I can do while watching a movie or singing a song. It takes complete attention so that I can concentrate.

No doubt you've noticed yourself that you need a lot of patience, especially when working on a large writing project, and concentration to stick to what you're doing and to go deep into your own thoughts.

I know that makes writing sound difficult to do, but it's not.

Not if you have enough patience and the ability to concentrate.

You can read my complete article at
https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2018/6-perfections.html

(Did you notice my new https in the URL? Still so pleased with my new website security update.)

My Website Was Hacked

I had a bit of trouble last week after someone hacked my website, added content to every page (probably malware) and sent out spam from my email address.

My hosting company took the action of taking my website offline immediately and contacted me about the spam issue which I put a stop to straight away.

This all came about at a most inconvenient time because my daughter has just bought her first house and my husband and I spent several days last week helping her to get the house cleaned and ready and buy necessary furniture and appliances.

I also spent an entire day measuring, pinning and taking up curtains.

And then at the weekend we hired a van and helped her to move.

And while all this was going on, and I was physically exhausted, someone hacked one of my websites, RuthIsWriting.

So then I had to spend hours on the phone talking to the staff at my hosting company trying to figure out what to do about the spam and how to do it.

Then I had to remove whatever had been added to my site.

Luckily I use Adobe Dreamweaver so it was easy to get the software to check if any of the online website files were different from the backup files stored on my computer.

It checked, and apparently every single file had been altered. Also, a file I didn't recognise had been added as well.

So I deleted the rogue file and all the other files and did a complete upload of all the backup files stored on my computer.

Then to make sure it didn't happen again, I bought and added a security certificate to my site so that now instead of starting with the usual http:// it now begins with https:// to show that the site is secure.

I've been thinking for a while about adding security to all my sites because I've been reading recently how it's getting easier and easier for hackers to get into unsecured websites and that soon Google won't index sites that don't have a security certificate.

I had no idea how to buy a certificate or how to attach it to my site, so it took me most of the day to research it and find out. It seems that there are different levels of security but I only needed a simpler one because I don't take credit card payments on my site. I use eJunkie, Amazon and PayPal to process all my website payments.

So if you've noticed recently that my website was offline for 3 days, that is why.

But now it's not only sorted out, but it's secure and can't be hacked again.

And all the while I was dealing with this whole issue, I smiled to myself and thought how being a writer used to mean just writing, but now it seems I have to be a bit of a technical wizard as well.

I guess times really do change.

But if you have a website and something like this happens to you, the simplest way I found to get a security certificate was to purchase it from my hosting company and then I used the SSL/security app in my control panel of the website to add the certificate, which was straight forward and easy to do.

So if you want to visit my extremely secure website you can do so at https://ruthiswriting.com.

And I've currently got someone working on the redesign of the whole site so soon it will look all modern because at the moment it's looking a bit dated.

I'm looking forward to the new design and the added peace of mind from the security update.

Get Paid To Write Short Articles

There is no doubt that the Internet is information driven.

People come online in their millions every day looking for information.

This has opened up a huge market for freelance writers because so many people (and companies) want to have a website or blog but don't have the time or the ability to write their own content.

And it's easy to just take a look around online to see that there are so many writers earning money writing regular, short, online articles, including my friend and colleague, Yuwanda Black, who has even written an ebook about it that not only shows you how she did it, but how you can do it too.
(http://ruthiswriting.com/links/seoarticles.html)

So where do you start?

There are thousands of freelance writing opportunities to be found on freelancing websites like Upwork.com. This is a website where I first made my way into freelance writing.

And some writers are earning over $3,000 a month just from writing short articles. And they're only working part-time. Often just a couple of days a week.

I recently wrote about one such writer who is regularly earning around $3,500 a month from writing short articles just a couple of days a week.

So shoot on over and read it and use her story to inspire you to start writing and earning money not just every month or every week, but every day.

http://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2018/write-short-articles.html