The Lesson I Learned About Lost Ideas

A couple of days ago I came across a great idea about writing.

The information was pure gold so I decided there and then to turn it into a blog post so that I could share the joy with my new knowledge.

In my head I planned out exactly what I was going to write and I even had a brilliant idea for an intriguing heading.

Yep, it was going to be great.

But I wasn't at my desk so I made a solid mental plan.

Then later, when I eagerly sat down at my desk, my mind was blank.

What was that great thing I was going to blog about?

I sat and thought for a few minutes, but nothing came.

So I replayed in my mind what I was doing when I had the idea and where it had come from.

I remembered that I was in the garden pulling up loads of big weeds and thinking about how much better it looked without them.

And I was listening to an audio as I worked and it was a podcast about...

Damn! I'd totally forgot what I was listening to.

I thought some more and remembered what it was but I still couldn't remember that golden piece of information was that I wanted to share.

Gone was every thought about it, even my brilliant headline.

I thought some more, but nope...it was gone.

So frustrating.

Even more so because I have a golden rule about writing ideas down as soon as I think of them because I know that no matter how much I tell myself that I'll remember them, I never do.

So this is the advice I'm going to pass onto you instead of whatever that piece of other gold was that I've forgotten.

And that is to never EVER fail to write down a great idea.

Get yourself an ideas book, keep it handy and write down every single idea you ever have in as much detail as you can at the time. Even if the only thing handy to write on is a napkin. Write it down!

And who knows, even if you don't use it straight away, you may find yourself without any ideas in the future and you can look at all your previous ideas for instant inspiration and motivation and most importantly, for great ideas that you DIDN'T forget.


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

The Lesson I Recently Learned About Habits and My Challenge To You

For the past week I've been dog sitting. I've been looking after my daughter's little dog for 7 days.

She's a sweet little thing, extremely tiny (a Chihuahua cross) and so full of life she wears me out.

She is such a full-on little girl and her energy never seems to wain. She's like the Everyready Bunny and just goes and goes and goes, wanting to play all day.

And she loves toys.

On my desk I have a little stuffed toy of Marvin The Martian character from the Looney Toons cartoons.

Whenever Marvin falls off my desk, the little dog is quick to snatch him up and run off with him.

I took the dog home yesterday and today I sat down to write (haven't done much of that over the past week with the little Tasmanian Devil of a dog whirling around and barking at me when I don't pay her  enough attention), I took out my diary and when I closed the desk drawer, Marvin slipped sideways.

He would have fallen off the desk but quick as a flash I grabbed him and sat him up again.

And it occured to me that the reason I grabbed him so fast was so that the little dog couldn't get him.

But she's not here anymore.

Not only that, but last night, I nearly snapped the end off a dog treat before I gave it to our dog, thinking that I still needed a little piece for the other dog.

It's amazing how quickly my new habits formed. In just 7 days.

And you may be wondering what this has to do with writing, so I'll tell you.

If you have poor writing habits, like not having enough bum-in-chair time or getting easily distracted by bright, shining things on the internet or Facebook, try changing your habits for just 7 days and see the impact in can make into how much writing you get done and how much more money you earn.

Make it a one week challenge to sit and write more and to not get distracted by the internet.

Just sit down every day, write, and ship your work.
https://goinswriter.com/you-must-ship/

See how much you can write and publish in the next 7 days.

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

Want to Write More Books?

I don't know about you, but most of my income comes from writing books.

I also earn money from freelance writing (but I do less and less these days), online advertising and affiliate marketing.

But mostly from my books.

And if you're the same, then to make more money you need to write more books.

Naturally, this means you need a constant and never-ending supply of ideas.

Which isn't easy.

Years ago I found a way to not only find ideas, but to find great ideas and to know exactly what readers are looking for so I know what to include in my books.

And once you know how to find ideas, if you're like me, you'll quickly go from writers' block to idea overload.

And how do find great ideas?

You just have to start looking.

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

The Surprising Survey Result About Writers

Recently I took part in a survey for writers and the result was really surprising.

The survey was about what holds people back from writing and earning more.

The answers were there to choose from, and all we had to do was put them in order of what we had the most trouble with, down to what we had the least trouble with.

And I was stunned because I thought that what gave people the most trouble was marketing or not getting enough people to their websites/blogs or even wanting to write better books.

But the number one problem that most writers were having was the same as me.

And that is struggling with mindset and self-discipline.

This really did come as a real surprise because I thought that others who write for a living must have an abundance of ideas and the ability to sit and write every day.

But it seems that they don't.

Luckily, I've been reading a book lately deals with this exact topic.

I borrowed this book from the library because I'd heard great things about it and even read some interesting reviews.

The book is called Deep Work and it's written by Cal Newport and in it he talks about deep work being not just the ability to sit and work deeply without distraction, but working on things that are important to you, and doing less shallow work.

He says deep work is hard and shallow work (checking emails, looking at Facebook, surfing the web, texting,) is easy which is why we distract ourselves with shallow work.

And he gives some brilliant advice and insights into how to do more deep work and how it can not only improve your productivity and the quality of your work, but it can also have a positive impact on the rest of your life.

I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I do want to tell you that this is an excellent book if you want to write more, write better and enjoy it.

If you get a chance to read a copy of this amazing book, I recommend you go for it.

It's full of insights and looks at working in a way that I've never thought of before including how to structure your work so that you know exactly when you are done for the day so that your brain can downshift and recharge properly, instead of always having that nagging feeling that you haven't finished what you started, or haven't done enough work.

http://viewbook.at/deepwork