Scratch. Scratch. Yawn. Yawn.

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Yup. I'm still whinging on-and-on-and-on about the demon nib.

I know that other Members of WA just get on with it and daily post multiple blogs and articles, some of them writing in English when it's not even their mother-tongue. I really should hang my head in shame. I'm capable of stringing a sentence together and even sometimes of getting the punctuation in the right place. It's just that everything I write turns out dull, flat and tedious. I get bored just reading it back to myself.

So, why am I posting yet another boring gripe about my inability to scribble down content? It's because I've set myself the challenge to write a minimum of 400 publishable words a day, for the next 30 days. I thought making my goal public might be an additional incentive to spur me on. I don't have any objection to failure per se. I do, however, try to be hard on myself and expect others to do likewise when I know that I'm not even trying.

I managed to get two pieces of 600+ words down today by cannibalising bits-and-pieces from Experiment #2. Oh, and unsurprisingly, the thought crossed my mind, "that's the next 3 days covered". Just any excuse huh?!

Here's a guarantee. I won't post anything ever again on my inability to write until I've got at least 12,000 words out there on the www. I promise. Oh, and thanks to everyone for putting up with me, so far. It's very much appreciated!

Rich.


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Recent Comments

17

LOL, and I love that challenge - don't post in here till we've got 12,000 words out there on the www!

Hi my WA friend, the rich man !!!I have some the same problems some days ---I don't know if this will help but what I do sometimes to get me going I ask these three questios :
1-what do I dislike about that ?
2-what do I like about that?
3-what should I tell others about that?

Most of the time I find one will jump start me !!!


Also, I will ask my coach what can I do about that !!! LOL --

Hope it will get better for you --This I do know --you have help a lot of people and you always have great advice for us ---Maybe answer your question the way you answer ours ---(:-)

coach Ed
croninweb

I like this. I'm taking it. ; ) This will give me, a newbie, a headstart. Now I only to figure out which 'that' to write about.

Rae

I am glad you like that. lol

Go with what makes you feel good to do.

Have a great time of it all.

CE

Just out of curiousity Rich, nearly 2 years on how did you get around the problem of creating fresh copy long term? I have the same issue of what I write in my reviews being a bit formal and tedious.

If I try to make it a bit more informal and user-friendly I feel as if it's unprofessional.

I'm not sure what the answer is, it's not easy trying to write original copy for hundreds of similar items.

Good Question --!!! Would like to find out as well !!1

I can relate Rich. I find when I try my hardest, my writing is stiff and... well...not that interesting...yawn, yawn..lol.

Great idea with the 400 wpd for the next 30. I should give that a go ;)

Thanks Dee, good to know I'm not the only one who frets about their "tone of voice" in print. I'm also trying out Beverley's (@BIS) tip below, doing half-and-half, rather than dreading waking up to writing a piece from scratch. I'm liking the idea of starting off my day by finishing!

Good conversation here, thanks for everyone. always learn something :)

Good plan. I find that the more you write, the easier it gets.

I'll hold you to that Shawn. Expect me to spit feathers if it doesn't! :P Rich.

Hi Rich!
Sounds like you need some confidence building.
Please stop beating yourself up.
Relax...it's not as hard as you seem to be thinking it is.

Write the way you talk -- as if you are telling a friend a story. That might make it easier for you to write. How many words do you think are in a typical story? I've typed about 45 here already! :)

You could make an outline with your:
~ Topic
~ Your title (sometimes this comes are you're writing)
~ Introduction or lead sentence: Tell us what you're going to talk about here.
~ Three main points and
~ One or more points under each of those.
~ Conclude your story with a good ending

or...
Maybe you only have one main point...in that case... write your intro by stating your point. Then write three or more points under that to back it up. Then write an ending sentence or two.

When you get more comfortable with writing, your writing will get more creative and more of your own personality will show through it.

You could even take a creative writing class somewhere on or offline to get some pointers.

Hope this helps!
To Your Writing Success!!!
Renni


Aw, Rennie, thanks for taking the time out to respond at such length, truly appreciate it. It's odd, I thought that as a total noob and never having owned a website I'd struggle most with the technical side, I never even considered the writing part, nor that I'd find it so exasperating. I'll give it 30 days, if at the end I'd still rather be at the dentist, I'll start looking into writing classes. That, or outsourcing everything written! Thanks again for your support and encouragement. Rich.

No need to apologize. It always helps to vent. I know I have been guilty of it. BTW, you are your own worst critic. Others probably don't see your writing the same way.

Keep at it, you will hit a point where it is no longer tedious and you do it for the pure joy of writing. Well maybe...

Thanks, as always, for the encouragement, Craig. I have serious doubts that "pure joy" will ever enter the equation, but hopefully with practice it won't be the teeth-pulling exercise it is at the moment! Rich.

Hi Rich

Good for you. the 30/30 challenge will really help you to write more easily. My tip is always leave one half written article (even if you feel like completing it) for the net day. This will help you start more easily the next day.

Best of luck

Beverley

That's a brilliant tip, Beverley. It also reminds me of adding empty branches on a mindmap because you'll subconsciously want to fill them in. I'll definitely be leaving half-an-article from now on. Thanks. Rich.

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