One of my favourite writing pastimes is to write haiku. In just a few words and lines it is possible to conjure up all sorts of feelings and imagery. I feel it is almost like painting with words.
As an example, here's one I wrote the other day -
Windswept beaches.
A child's spade
left from summer.
Writing haiku is not only satisfying but I believe it can help with writing skills and, if you are interested, is well worth trying yourself.
Every day I make a point of visiting Polona's blog, http://crowsndaisies.blogspot.com . Not only does Polona write exquisite haiku but each is accompanied by a beautiful picture. Polona lives in Slovenia and having holidayed in Kranjska Gora last year, I know what stunning scenery there is in her country.
As this blog is concerned with writing, here's another I wrote but with the writer in mind -
A new article
printed off. The postman
rings the bell.
And finally one more, with an image to ponder.
A swan silently on a lake.
Its reflection
sweet company.
Have a good weekend.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
My Favourite Writing Resource
Over the years I have build up a large collection of books (probably too many!) and out of all of these, the books I refer to most often and are usually on my desk are quotation books.
Not only do I find quotations a good way to start articles but also help to illustrate points I may want to make. Also, there are quotation books available on all sorts of subjects and it could be worth seeing if there are any available in the areas you write on.
One of the favourite quotation books I have was published over 100 years ago so I can hardly recommend this or give a link, but by looking in book shops, on ebay or Amazon you could find some that could be useful.
And, while on the subject of quotes, here is one from Peter De Vries,
I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
***
May I take this opportunity of thanking all who regularly visit my blog and although I realise only a very very few ever contact, here's wishing you all the very best with your own writing.
Neil Somerville
Not only do I find quotations a good way to start articles but also help to illustrate points I may want to make. Also, there are quotation books available on all sorts of subjects and it could be worth seeing if there are any available in the areas you write on.
One of the favourite quotation books I have was published over 100 years ago so I can hardly recommend this or give a link, but by looking in book shops, on ebay or Amazon you could find some that could be useful.
And, while on the subject of quotes, here is one from Peter De Vries,
I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
***
May I take this opportunity of thanking all who regularly visit my blog and although I realise only a very very few ever contact, here's wishing you all the very best with your own writing.
Neil Somerville
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Purpose of Writing
Although the actual process of writing can bring us a great deal of pleasure, the purpose of writing is to be read. And to write well, you do need to think of your reader.
If you are writing for a certain age group, visualize a person of that age reading your work. Or if writing a factual piece, think of what the reader wants to know and how you can best put the information across. Similarly if writing a tense drama, imagine the effect of your words and scene on a specific reader.
By writing with a reader in mind, your writing will not only be more appropriate but so too will your style and vocabulary.
Don’t forget, if you have any writing questions, do please email.
If you are writing for a certain age group, visualize a person of that age reading your work. Or if writing a factual piece, think of what the reader wants to know and how you can best put the information across. Similarly if writing a tense drama, imagine the effect of your words and scene on a specific reader.
By writing with a reader in mind, your writing will not only be more appropriate but so too will your style and vocabulary.
Don’t forget, if you have any writing questions, do please email.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Make the Most of Your Camera
With the weekend almost upon us, it is a good time to get out and about. And if you intend to visit a place of interest or perhaps just go out for a journey somewhere, why not take a camera?
This way if you see something unusual or a scene that particularly pleases you will be able to capture it. And once you have that picture, there could be ways you could use it. For instance, it could help inspire some thoughts or a story or lead to as well as illustrate an article.
There are also many picture agencies that are keen to receive good quality pictures and until I read Brian Moore's ebook I did not realise how many there were or what a good market they are. For details have a look at http://selling-photos.com. With the ebook comes another showing how you can get paid to write online and which makes it truly excellent value for writers.
Have a good weekend and hope you get some good pictures.
This way if you see something unusual or a scene that particularly pleases you will be able to capture it. And once you have that picture, there could be ways you could use it. For instance, it could help inspire some thoughts or a story or lead to as well as illustrate an article.
There are also many picture agencies that are keen to receive good quality pictures and until I read Brian Moore's ebook I did not realise how many there were or what a good market they are. For details have a look at http://selling-photos.com. With the ebook comes another showing how you can get paid to write online and which makes it truly excellent value for writers.
Have a good weekend and hope you get some good pictures.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Writing Competitions - and how to win them!
Writing competitions are increasing in popularity. Not only do they give writers the chance to practice and try different genres but also to win prizes or have their work published. And if tempted by a competition, the following tips could hold you in good stead.
1. Make sure you comply with all the rules. This includes how to present your work, where to include your details plus anything else that may be required. Failure to do this and your work will stand little chance.
2. Make sure your writing meets the requirements. This includes not exceeding set word limits and sticking to the writing guidelines.
3. Allow yourself plenty of time. Many competition entries tend to be written at the last moment but if you allow time to formulate your ideas and to revise your writing, your submission is likely to be all the stronger. Rushed work tends to look rushed and with mistakes often creeping in. Make sure what you submit is good, well thought through and the best you can make it.
4. Be original. If given a title or theme for a story, think around this. And think also what other writers might be tempted to write. For instance, a title with the word 'love' in it will lead to many writing a romance. But a story involving war - but which draws in love - could stand out among the other entries. By being original your work is more likely to be singled out and make an impression.
5. Take care with your presentation. Looks count and by using good quality paper and making sure your print outs are clear and crisp (and not smudged) this will add to the overall quality of your work.
6. Learn from feedback. Sometimes judges do include feedback on entries and if you do receive feedback, take careful note and see what you can learn and take from it. The more you practice and write, the better your writing and chances will be.
Good luck!
1. Make sure you comply with all the rules. This includes how to present your work, where to include your details plus anything else that may be required. Failure to do this and your work will stand little chance.
2. Make sure your writing meets the requirements. This includes not exceeding set word limits and sticking to the writing guidelines.
3. Allow yourself plenty of time. Many competition entries tend to be written at the last moment but if you allow time to formulate your ideas and to revise your writing, your submission is likely to be all the stronger. Rushed work tends to look rushed and with mistakes often creeping in. Make sure what you submit is good, well thought through and the best you can make it.
4. Be original. If given a title or theme for a story, think around this. And think also what other writers might be tempted to write. For instance, a title with the word 'love' in it will lead to many writing a romance. But a story involving war - but which draws in love - could stand out among the other entries. By being original your work is more likely to be singled out and make an impression.
5. Take care with your presentation. Looks count and by using good quality paper and making sure your print outs are clear and crisp (and not smudged) this will add to the overall quality of your work.
6. Learn from feedback. Sometimes judges do include feedback on entries and if you do receive feedback, take careful note and see what you can learn and take from it. The more you practice and write, the better your writing and chances will be.
Good luck!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Ten Ways to Increase Your Writing Output
With the Internet and growing number of publications, opportunities for writers have never been better. And to help you make the most of your writing skills, the following tips can help to increase your writing output.
1. Rather than sit down to a blank screen or sheet of paper without any thoughts, plan out what you are going to write. Agatha Christie did a lot of her thinking while washing up and, by using mundane activities such as this to sort out your thoughts, you will find you will get far more from your writing sessions.
2. Use modern technology to help you. If you write your material in longhand, to help speed up the transcription process you could use voice recognition software or there are programs available which convert handwriting to text. Look at how you write and work and if there is software or other tools that can speed up the process, use them.
3. Another way to be more productive is to specialize and make the most of your research and knowledge. If you have just written a piece on a certain subject, think of how it could be adapted to a different market. By considering other ways you can use your knowledge you will find this can increase your output rather than having to start fresh with each piece of writing you do.
4. If you write online articles, rather than regard them as essays, think bullet points. By listing the key points you want to put across in concise and numbered sentences, you will find this can speed up the time it takes to write and compile an article as well as being appreciated by online readers.
5. To help prevent false starts or wasting time and effort on projects you never finish, make an outline first. Organize your thoughts and facts and give structure to your work. By writing to an outline and plan, your work and writing will flow much better and ultimately lead to you writing and producing more.
6. One of the best resources writers can have is an ideas book and, by recording your ideas and thoughts, this ideas book can become a valuable resource. And by continually adding to it, when you are in need of inspiration or ideas to write about, by running through your ideas book, new ideas and possibilities can often come.
7. Deadlines help to concentrate the mind. By setting yourself your own personal writing deadlines and objectives - and keeping to them - you will find this can help to keep your writing on track as well as making you more productive.
8. Use your time efficiently. With the Internet, the wide variety of emails that come through as well as television, valuable writing time can quickly be lost. Be disciplined and, to write more, use your time wisely and cut down on time wasting activities.
9. Another way to increase your writing output is to think ahead. Although you may be busy on a particular writing project at the moment, give some thought to what your next piece may be about. This way you could find yourself gathering ideas, facts and thinking over possibilities and so, when you are ready to start your next work, you will be able to do so much quicker.
10. It is often said that practice makes perfect and the more you write, the better your skills will become. And by writing regularly you will not only be improving as a writer but all the time be adding to your output.
To be a productive writer you do need to be organized and self-disciplined and, by following these suggestions, you will find they can help you to write more and hopefully lead on to more writing successes too.
***
This article was originally written for online article directories. If you would like to know more about opportunities for writing online, have a look at Melanie Mendolson's The Thirty Minute Article System
Also if there are any writing questions you would like me to cover, do please email
1. Rather than sit down to a blank screen or sheet of paper without any thoughts, plan out what you are going to write. Agatha Christie did a lot of her thinking while washing up and, by using mundane activities such as this to sort out your thoughts, you will find you will get far more from your writing sessions.
2. Use modern technology to help you. If you write your material in longhand, to help speed up the transcription process you could use voice recognition software or there are programs available which convert handwriting to text. Look at how you write and work and if there is software or other tools that can speed up the process, use them.
3. Another way to be more productive is to specialize and make the most of your research and knowledge. If you have just written a piece on a certain subject, think of how it could be adapted to a different market. By considering other ways you can use your knowledge you will find this can increase your output rather than having to start fresh with each piece of writing you do.
4. If you write online articles, rather than regard them as essays, think bullet points. By listing the key points you want to put across in concise and numbered sentences, you will find this can speed up the time it takes to write and compile an article as well as being appreciated by online readers.
5. To help prevent false starts or wasting time and effort on projects you never finish, make an outline first. Organize your thoughts and facts and give structure to your work. By writing to an outline and plan, your work and writing will flow much better and ultimately lead to you writing and producing more.
6. One of the best resources writers can have is an ideas book and, by recording your ideas and thoughts, this ideas book can become a valuable resource. And by continually adding to it, when you are in need of inspiration or ideas to write about, by running through your ideas book, new ideas and possibilities can often come.
7. Deadlines help to concentrate the mind. By setting yourself your own personal writing deadlines and objectives - and keeping to them - you will find this can help to keep your writing on track as well as making you more productive.
8. Use your time efficiently. With the Internet, the wide variety of emails that come through as well as television, valuable writing time can quickly be lost. Be disciplined and, to write more, use your time wisely and cut down on time wasting activities.
9. Another way to increase your writing output is to think ahead. Although you may be busy on a particular writing project at the moment, give some thought to what your next piece may be about. This way you could find yourself gathering ideas, facts and thinking over possibilities and so, when you are ready to start your next work, you will be able to do so much quicker.
10. It is often said that practice makes perfect and the more you write, the better your skills will become. And by writing regularly you will not only be improving as a writer but all the time be adding to your output.
To be a productive writer you do need to be organized and self-disciplined and, by following these suggestions, you will find they can help you to write more and hopefully lead on to more writing successes too.
***
This article was originally written for online article directories. If you would like to know more about opportunities for writing online, have a look at Melanie Mendolson's The Thirty Minute Article System
Also if there are any writing questions you would like me to cover, do please email
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Writing Success
In a book of writing quotations I have there is one by John Jakes,
'Be persistent. Editors change; editorial tastes change; markets change. Too many beginning writers give up too easily.'
This is all very true. To succeed in writing needs time, patience and persistence. And the more your write, the better you become and better your chance of acceptance. I have written more on this in my new special report, 'Achieve More Acceptances.' I have already received many kind comments about this and if you are keen to break into print or make more of your writing talents, it contains plenty of advice to help as well as good markets to consider. For details http://achievemoreacceptances.com.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Creating Story Ideas
One of the greats ways to stimulate the imagination and generate ideas is to combine two separate things - they could be people, objects, situations or almost anything. And see what this combination suggests.
To see this in action, you could pick words from a book, use a pack of cards depicting objects (this can be a wonderful tool if you have or can obtain one), or write down two different and seemingly unrelated words. Then play about with the possibilities.
As an example I have just pulled two cards from a set of Think-Links cards I have, Wheelbarrow and Soap. If you think about these two words a moment an idea or image may occur which you can build on.
For me, the idea suggested was of a very dirty and battered wheelbarrow which a gardener decided to clean (this thought was prompted by the soap.) As he chipped away at the stuck-on soil and grime the gardener finds an old coin (or it could be a wedding ring or something ususual and of value.) And this discovery comes to have dramatic implications on the life of the gardener ....
Already other possibilities are beginning to occur but these two randomly chosen words could lead on to what could be an interesting story.
Combining words in such a fashion is well worth doing if in need of an idea.
To see this in action, you could pick words from a book, use a pack of cards depicting objects (this can be a wonderful tool if you have or can obtain one), or write down two different and seemingly unrelated words. Then play about with the possibilities.
As an example I have just pulled two cards from a set of Think-Links cards I have, Wheelbarrow and Soap. If you think about these two words a moment an idea or image may occur which you can build on.
For me, the idea suggested was of a very dirty and battered wheelbarrow which a gardener decided to clean (this thought was prompted by the soap.) As he chipped away at the stuck-on soil and grime the gardener finds an old coin (or it could be a wedding ring or something ususual and of value.) And this discovery comes to have dramatic implications on the life of the gardener ....
Already other possibilities are beginning to occur but these two randomly chosen words could lead on to what could be an interesting story.
Combining words in such a fashion is well worth doing if in need of an idea.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Writers - The Joys of a Spell Checker
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
***
There is still chance to obtain a copy of Achieve More Acceptances and Be Published More Often at the special opening discount. With the report comes a free newsletter complete with free to enter competitions. For details of this offer visit www.achievemoreacceptances.com
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
***
There is still chance to obtain a copy of Achieve More Acceptances and Be Published More Often at the special opening discount. With the report comes a free newsletter complete with free to enter competitions. For details of this offer visit www.achievemoreacceptances.com
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