Power Writing--An "Energized" Way to Wake up Your Writing

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

One of my favorite ways to get exercise and clear my mind is to take a power walk.  I've been walking for years now and my routine is generally the same.  I stretch for five minutes then I jump right in and walk briskly for at least 30 minutes, longer if I have the energy or the time.

Though I do enjoy power walking with friends, truthfully I much prefer to do this alone.  It's "my" time to just be alone with my own thoughts, and I can choose to go at any speed I like or take any route that suits my fancy.

Last week while walking my thoughts wandered into the area of my life that I can never seem to get enough of--writing!  My intentions for making more time to write are always grand, but unless I'm very disciplined I still don't honor my writing goals as sincerely as I'd like.

As I began walking faster and faster my mind just wouldn't let go of my obsessed desire to find new ways to sneak in more writing time.  The quicker I moved, so did my thoughts.  It was as though I couldn't get out of my own way and then a new idea on how to supercharge my writing came to me the instant I finished my walk--power writing!

I have always gotten some of my best ideas for articles and journal entries while walking, so I paid good attention to these thoughts of power writing.  

Basically, I decided to turn my extra energy from walking into some extra energy for writing.  I packed one of my journals along with my walking gear and decided to experiment with my new idea.  After walking one morning last week, instead of heading straight home I grabbed my pen and journal and sat down under a tree and just let my mind and pen work together.  After 15 solid minutes, I had turned out over 8 pages of what I considered to be some of my best ideas!  

My heart was still racing from the power walk and that extra bit of oomph transferred right to my pen.  Wondering if it was just a fluke, I tried it again the following morning, and although my ideas were completely different and my area of concern was more of a "to do" list, it was still very productive and I ended with a feeling of great productivity.

I've since done this new form of power writing at least a half dozen times, and each time I have walked away with inspiration, a feeling of accomplishment, and I even managed to write most of an article yesterday, a process that usually takes me at least a couple of hours!

I don't know if I will use all my power walking jaunts to power write as well, but I will definitely be taking advantage of as many of these opportunities as possible because for me, so far, it's a winning combination!

What physical activities inspire you to write? 

Marketing Techniques for Writers

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

With each passing day, I, as a writer, strive to improve my craft as well as to start earning a regular income from something I love to do immensely.

Many writers consider themselves introverts and would rather be holed up in a small space, alone, writing to their hearts content rather than think about "putting their stuff" or "themselves" out there for the public to scrutinize.

I happen to be just the opposite.  (And please forgive me if I sound a bit full of myself! When you're the mother of 8 kids, 5 of them teenagers, there's not too much one can be afraid of!) I guess you'd call me the stereotypical "social butterfly".  I don't mind sharing my written words with the world, in fact, I rather enjoy it.

So where am I going with all this you ask?  I'll get right to the point.  As an author of one book, a columnist and writing enthusiast of freelance articles, and more, I have a dream of being able to earn a living from my writing.  Though I consider myself quite lucky that I've achieved many paid and unpaid writing gigs at this point in my career, I truthfully believe I could do a heck of a lot better---if----if I became a bit more savvy with my marketing skills.

Yes, some writing assignments have easily fallen in my lap, but there are plenty of opportunities that still await and if I don't do something to acquire them then who will?

The past few weeks I've been researching all kinds of ways to rev up my writing opportunities and stumbled upon a great article written by Carol Tice entitled 5 Quick Ways Busy Freelancers Can Keep Marketing.

You can visit the link above to read the entire article, but I'll share with you the one tip from these five that I intend to begin working on:  Submitting more queries.  One of my writing inspirations for 2014 is to do at least one freelance article for a national woman's magazine.  To date, I've done nothing to make that happen but I am inspired by the tip below and intend to get cracking on some queries this weekend.  Here's the author's Tip # 4:

Short bursts

If you want to send letters of introduction or query letters and feel like you never have time for a multi-hour writing project, you can get it done by splitting up the task into 10- or 15-minute tasks.

Today, just write the introductory paragraph, or maybe do a quick pre-interview with a source so your query has a quote. Tomorrow, write your bio line that’ll go at the bottom. And so on, until your query is ready to send.

Time management is one of my biggest challenges, so this quick marketing tip will hopefully guide me in the "write" direction so I can attain some more assignments and keep doing something I absolutely love to do--write!

How do you fit in some quick and necessary marketing strategies with your busy schedule?