The Ten-Minute Blogger

A couple of years ago, in my post “How do I Find Time to Write Every Day“, I was bemoaning the fact that I was finding it difficult to find the time to write something for my blog. I still have that problem but at least I know that there are ways of dealing with it. Another difficulty I sometimes have is knowing what to write about. That issue is easily solved. I only have to look at my mission statement on my “About Jeremy” page to remind myself of what this blog is all about.

But the main issue I still have is finding the time to put into practice what I have learnt about creating and maintaining a successful blog. However, I have just recently read an article in Writing Magazine which explains that you can develop a writing habit by spending just ten minutes a day – every day – creating something for your blog, novel, short story, magazine article or poetry collection. It can take up to 21 days to form any new habit, so for the first few days the routine will be quite difficult to maintain, but it is important to keep plugging away.

It might be helpful to set targets. For example, I have found Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog extremely useful in this respect, because Darren sets you daily tasks to be completed. However, if you’ve only got ten minutes a day to spare, you can take 31 weeks or 31 months to complete the course. The important thing is that you must spend at least ten minutes every day in order to create your new writing habit. It is probably best if your ten minutes are at the same time each day – perhaps first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I shall be finding my ten minutes during my lunch break.

My goodness! Is it that time already?

It’s Time for a Revamp!

I started this blog just over two years ago so I think it’s about time I started making a few changes to it. It won’t be a complete redecoration, but more of a spring clean (or should that be an “autumn tidy-up”?).

I have already made a few tweaks – for a start I’ve inserted a link to my photo gallery on Flickr – and the blogroll will undergo some tidying up fairly shortly. But the major change is that this blog will now focus solely on the business of writing, editing and proofreading, with a few funnies thrown in to keep you amused.

To deal with my spiritual life as a member of the Bahá’í Faith I have created another blog – The Tiverton Bahá’í. However, this website is still under development and over the next few months I will be spending some time providing content that is worth reading and worth your while revisiting the site for. But in the meantime you might like to visit some of the other Bahá’í blogs and websites that I have created links to in The Tiverton Bahá’í blogroll.

Who do They Think They’re Kidding?

British readers will fully appreciate the irony of this recruitment poster seen at the Tiverton branch of HBOS on Sunday afternoon.

Two Cures for Writer’s Block

Over the last few weeks I’ve been struggling to find the enthusiasm and energy to write anything for this blog, but in my efforts to overcome this problem I’ve come across two potential cures for what bedevils most authors from time to time, namely, writer’s block.

The first is Wordlube, an interactive e-book by Tom Evans (aka the Bookwright) in which he claims that you can remove writer’s block in five days or less. In this book Tom recommends the use of meditation and mind-mapping techniques to clear away any obstructions that are preventing you from putting pen to writing pad or keyboard to screen. The e-book is designed to be read very quickly and it is recommended that first you should go through the whole book in one sitting to get a feel for the principles and exercises that are contained in it.

However, these exercises are meant to be completed over a period of five days and are claimed to have a cumulative effect, so by the end of the fifth day you should be thinking and working differently if you follow all of them as prescribed. Most of the exercises only take about 30 minutes each to complete, with the final one only taking you a maximum of 45 minutes.

So, after about three hours of work spread over less than a week your creative juices should be flowing in abundance. If not, then I suggest you tell Tom Evans because I’m sure he would appreciate your feedback. In fact, he encourages it.

Wordlube includes several embedded videos and audio clips, together with a weblink to Tony Buzan’s mind-mapping website so that you can download a trial version of the software used by Tom Evans to create the mind maps featured in the exercises.

The second cure, called Coffee Break, can be found on the Webook website. It is an interactive project that aims to provide a friendly and supportive environment where writers can try out new ideas and techniques, and refresh any skills that they may have but not use often enough. The project is led by a close friend of mine, Vanessa Cobb, whose pen name is Winterjazz.

The rules of the project are simple. You choose any one of fourteen exercises, follow the instructions and start writing. The exercises cover such topics as “Developing Characters”, “Creating Settings”, “Engaging Dialogue”, “Story Ideas” and “Imagery”. Vanessa invites users to suggest topics that they would like help with, and several new topics have been added since the project began.

Coffee Break provides you with plenty of great ideas that help you think about what you are writing and is something that is probably best used when you are trying to improve your writing skills but don’t know how, whereas Wordlube is probably best if you are struggling even to find a decent idea to start with. Each has its place in the writer’s toolbox and both of them are completely free to use. So, take your pick and give them a go!

Looking for Plug-ins to Make Writing Easier?

Writers are constantly looking for ways to make their life easier. Surfing the Web while researching your next article or novel can be particularly tedious, and I’m sure there are times when you wish that you could carry out a certain task but can’t because your browser won’t allow you to do it.

Just recently, though, Kelly Sonora of the Online Education Database told me about an article written by Laura Milligan entitled “50 Must-Have Firefox Extensions for Writers“. Her e-mail arrived at exactly the right time for me because I was desperately looking for a way to store a standard reply to my Ecademy contacts with whom I interact via the Ecademy website. The Scrapbook plug-in recommended by Laura in her article certainly hit the mark and I downloaded it straight away.

The tools and plug-ins mentioned in this article range from general reference extensions such as online dictionaries and translation facilities to extensions that keep you connected with your project collaborators or contacts; help to save, bookmark and organize the web pages you’ve visited; download files and manage images; and maintain your privacy and filter out junk mail. There are also tools to ensure that you stay within your deadline by providing you with notifiers, calendars, automatic alerts and time trackers. With the business tools that are recommended you can find jobs, stay connected to clients and even keep track of how much you’ve earned from your Google Adsense account.

If you use Firefox as your default browser, like I do, and you are a writer (and even if you are not), Laura Milligan’s article is a must-read! I’ve certainly bookmarked it as one of my all-time favourites, and Kelly Sonora is certainly a name to watch out for. I look forward to her next notification with eager anticipation!

My New Website is Up and Running!

At long last, my new business website has gone live! Go visit it at www.jeremylockyer.co.uk at let me know what you think of it. It has a number of additional features including an all-new portfolio page, an expanded FAQs section as well as a direct link to my blog. It also has a completely new and much more powerful content management system, called Joomla, that can be adapted and grow as and when I need it. I’ve also signed up for Google Adsense so that I can display ads on my site and get paid for them (I hope!).

It seems to have taken ages to get this far. It was back in January that I started looking for a web designer. The first one I found was very cheap but he lived on the other side of the country; he also wanted me to complete a very long and complicated questionnaire and his content management system couldn’t be used on anything other than Internet Explorer and a PC (I’ve got an iMac and I use Firefox)! So I found someone else who lived locally, who used open-source software, who quoted a very reasonable price and whom I could pop round and see for a cup of tea and a chat about what I wanted. And, he was already a friend of mine and a fellow member of The Business League. Sam Fisher and his assistant James Quick have done an excellent job! A classic example of why it pays to ’shop locally’!

How do I Find Time to Write Every Day?

One of the first things I was taught while on a blogging course was the importance of keeping my blog up to date by writing something in it at least once every week. I made a resolution at the time to do just that – after all, I want people to be regular visitors to my blog to read what I’ve written.

It started off OK because I had plenty of material in my “back catalogue” that I could post on my blog, and at the time I was having to write a 60-second presentation every week to promote my business at BNI that I could use as the basis, or so I thought, for my weekly post on my blog.

But then things changed in my life. The local chapter of BNI fell apart and I was no longer required to write a witty presentation each week. At the same time my business workload increased, which meant that I was spending all day, every day, in front of my computer editing articles that other people had written. This meant that I had no desire to spend my spare time, if I had any, in front of the computer updating and editing my blog. Although I was spending some spare time in front of the computer, my interest in family history meant that it was being filled by visiting the Ancestry and the Genes Reunited websites, and entering data on to my genealogy software program.

As a result, my blog has barely been touched for about six weeks and the number of visitors has dropped to nearly zero. So what can I do about it? One thing that I have noticed is that I have plenty of ideas first thing in the morning and I lie in my bed composing potential articles in my head before I get up. However, by the time I’ve got up, got washed and changed, and I’ve started to make my breakfast my initial enthusiasm and creativity has waned, and I find myself thinking more about my next editing job I have to do for one of my existing clients.

So, the answer is simple! I get up at least one hour earlier each morning and write something for my blog before breakfast. As I write this, in long hand, it is eight o’clock in the morning and I’ve written virtually an entire post without much effort. The next challenge is to enter it on to the blog – but I can probably do that this evening – and if you’re reading it now it means that I’ve passed that challenge without any problems. It’s amazing how easy it is to type something up once you’ve written the first draft and it’s there in front of you.

Right! I’ve proved that it can work – now I’ve just got to make sure that I can keep it up. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem as long as I treat it like a training schedule in preparation for running a marathon (or any other distance, for that matter). After all, every evening during the week, without fail, I go out jogging. So, early every morning during the week, without fail, I must write something for my blog.

There, that wasn’t too difficult, was it! Same again tomorrow? We’ll see – I’ve got a business breakfast early tomorrow morning but I’ll try and write something, even if it’s only a few lines. So, watch this space!

Ten Important Words You Should Use in Your Sales Letters

In a good sales letter or advertisement there are certain words that are sure to trigger a positive response from your readers. Therefore, you should try to incorporate at least some of these words into your sales literature.

The first of these words is “discover”. By using this word, you invite the reader to explore something new, which should arouse their curiosity to learn more about your product or service.

The next word to use is “easy”. If something is perceived to be complicated or difficult, people are likely to lose interest. So make it easy for your potential customers to respond to your sales literature and say so when you write to them.

Another important word to use is “guarantee”. People hate to do something that is risky, so put their mind to rest by telling them that what you are offering is risk free and is guaranteed to bring them satisfaction.

People also like to think that they are following a healthy lifestyle, so if what you are selling helps to improve or maintain a person’s physical or mental well-being, say so in your literature by emphasizing the “health” benefits of using your product or service.

There is a certain four-letter word that works extremely well in any sales letter or advertisement. That word is “love” and it can evoke some strong emotions in the reader – positive ones, that is! Use this word whenever possible.

“Money” is another word that should attract the reader. Everybody wants to make it, save it or have great value in return for it, so make sure that you offer these benefits when you write to potential or existing customers.

People love to try or buy something that is “new” because they assume that a new product is somehow better than an old one. So make sure that you mention that you are offering a “new” service or product, even if it is just a revamped version of an old one.

Another word to use is “proven”. This word suggests that your product is tried, tested and reliable, and that the customer can depend on it.

What every person wants from a product or service are “results”, so demonstrate that what you are selling will produce the results that the customer is looking for.

Finally, the most important and most powerful word of all is, ideally, the individual reader’s own name because that person will feel that you are addressing him or her personally. Also make sure that the words “you” and “your” are used liberally throughout your sales literature in order to reinforce that impression.

If you use these words in your sales literature, readers are more likely to respond to it and become your customers. Try them out, and see what happens!

A Shaggy Dog Story with a Difference

Part of my job as a copywriter is to find out as much as I can about a client’s business so that I can fully understand what makes it different and decide on the unique selling proposition (USP) that best promotes it in the marketplace. Unfortunately, sometimes I find out something that a client would rather keep quiet about.

For example, a few months ago a client promised me some work to help him produce some brochures for a dog-food supplier.

Apparently, this Chappie wanted me to be his Pedigree Chum so that together we could Winalot of business.

However, he was a bit of a ‘wag’ and his ‘tail’ was a shaggy as a sheepdog. I’m not just anybody’s poodle so, after a short ‘paws’ for thought, I used my faithful bloodhound Google to track down the truth. I soon found that my client wasn’t the Crufts champion he claimed to be and I realized that I’d been sold a pup and I’d be barking mad to take up his offer, because doing business with him would become a bit of a bitch.

Meanwhile, my client had mysteriously gone ‘Walkies!’, so my dilemma about whether I should work with him was solved.

Is This The ‘Right’ Way to Describe Copywriting?

The following piece of ‘copy’ has been passed around the Net for several years now, and I have adapted it in order to promote my business as a copywriter when I give short presentations to other business people. I would like to acknowledge the person who originally came up with this gem, whoever you are!

Copywriting is all about making as few words as possible work as hard as possible to promote your business.

So, when you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy that you write, if the copy is right. If, however, your copy is not right, you must rewrite your copy to get it right. If you write religious services, you write rites, and have the right to copyright the rites that you write.

Very conservative people would write right-wing copy, and have the right to copyright the right-wing copy that they write. A right-wing cleric, such as the Rev. Jim Wright, could write right-wing religious rites, and would have the right to copyright the right-wing rites he has the right to write.

Right!