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One of the best ways to blow someone’s winning streak during a tennis game is to comment on how great they are doing. Your comment will kick in their left brain’s inner critic which will zap their flow and change their focus. In tennis this is an underhanded type of gamesmanship.

In life, it happens to each of us all the time. Even writers.

In writing, the same thing occurs as soon as the right side of the brain, the right hemisphere, gets a break, the left side begins editorializing. Even if the left side compliments you on your progress or the time you committed, it still zaps the flow. Flow stops, hiccups, and the writing or idea doesn’t get to the next step.

This is an event that affects us all in more than just writing.

There is not any particular timeframe when this occurs either. It may occur when writing something short, like an article, memo, or email. Or it might not occur until chapter six of your book. This is why the freewriting exercise works so well. It allows your right brain to tell the left side to shut up for particular amount of time.

There is actually only one way to get the writing flowing again. It is doing some thing unfamiliar. When you are doing something unfamiliar the left side doesn’t know how to logically respond. The left side then can’t be its helpful self. Flow, intuition, and ideas naturally return with a renewed rhythm.

Whenever I am trying to describe something, my logic side kicks in and brings the next action to a halt. The self talk begins to say, “How can any words describing this beautiful sunrise?” Since drawing isn’t a familiar item for me, I pull out a few drawing pencils or a water color brush and play. The drawing isn’t something I do often. If I did, it would then become familiar and that self would stop me. It doesn’t take but a few minutes of doing something unfamiliar before the flow flourishes again and I am able to return to the description or writing.

Always remember, all the words we use in our first draft look like ordinary words. It isn’t until later that their appearance changes to extraordinary.

The left self is always telling us that every day scenes or objects are just ordinary.. A mere beer bottle on the side of the road can receive a message, “So what.” When we push the situation we usually ask, “How can I make this come alive?” By doing something unfamiliar in the mind or in some type of action can we release the right side to the freedom to find the words. Do so by seeing the ordinary. Describing the ordinary. At this moment you begin using both sides of the brain. I guarantee that whatever you write will never be ordinary. Extraordinary writing is ordinary writing practiced.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Coach, specializes
in infoproduct development.

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articles available: http://www.abundancecenter.com

Blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

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Now, with nearly 1,000 Ezine articles to my credit, I think I’ve learned a few things that might be valuable enough to pass on to you.

Here are five insights which you can rank in terms of importance to you:

(1) You should write what you care about, not what you think will be popular or widely read. This presumes you are a genuine writer and not a marketing hack whose only goal is to attract and to cash in on clicks at his or her web site. If you stick to what you like you’ll have fun no matter how many or how few readers you garner.

(2) Don’t stop to judge the quality or the appeal of a given article. If you keep writing, which I always advise, you’ll undoubtedly craft some that exceed and which fall short of your earlier achievements. More writing will cure most of your blues and help you to gradually reduce your defects and shortcomings.

(3) Don’t compare yourself to other writers. One person emailed me and asked me how I was capable of crafting such a large volume of quality pieces. Though she complimented me, I sensed she silently chastised herself for having produced a lot less. Hey, I simply made the time to do it. It was my commitment more than anything else. If she makes the same commitment and sets aside an equivalent time, she’ll do it, too.

(4) Try writing in different styles and make yourself write in new categories. I just posted a piece under the heading, Military, and nobody has tried to shoot me, yet! Ezines won’t make you rich, directly, unless you own one, but the flip side of that coin is they are risk-free. You can count on being published, in most cases, even if you’re an utter novice to a field. That’s one of the few “sure things” you’ll ever find in a commercial setting, which is remarkable, really.

(5) Don’t worry about articles that don’t gain an immediate audience. Some take time to catch on, and in other cases you might want to alter their titles or re-post them in different categories. A small adjustment or simply being patient may be the answer.

I hope this helps. Again, no matter what, keep writing!

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 950 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered “The Gold Standard” in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

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Once upon a time there lived a young girl (well almost young) who decided to write a fiction novel containing the most perfectly poetic prose possibly put to pen. Not that hard, right? Two months later she found herself stumped, for lack of a better word, and unable to leap beyond the frightening realm of…. Chapter Two! What was a young girl to do?

Superman: Enter Stage right.

Ok let’s be honest, Superman didn’t come to my rescue. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the ‘young’ girl was me, and this was the first roadblock, of many, on the journey toward writing my first bestseller. As I sat on my ever-so plump posterior, staring at the demonically defiant computer screen, I was hit smack in the face by what many famous authors call, inspiration.

Helpless victim executes Plan Google (a.k.a search for term “writer’s block“)

My first result sounded something like, “write it and it will come” and truthfully it wasn’t as silly as it sounds.

Writer’s block, also known as Muse Apnea, is the result of over thinking. What’s the cure you ask? Simple. Stop thinking and just start writing. Don’t edit, don’t critique, simply start writing about the first thing which comes to mind. In the end most of what you write will be complete garbage and not worth the paper it’s written on (clich

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