by Elle Ray | May 28, 2018 | Writing
Like All Web Pages, You Must Update Your Bio
If you’re a queen at what you do, update your bio to toot your horn!
Your bio is a way to put a face on your business, whether you’re a solopreneur, a freelancer or the head of a web development firm. Potential clients who’ve found your website may want to take a look at who they may be doing business with before you meet. It’s a way to show off your creative flair or your professional demeanor. A bio on your website also provides clients with frames of reference for:
- Where you live
- Where you went to school
- What your hobbies are
- What kind of family you have
- How long you’ve been in your industry
- What credentials you bring to the table
- And other important (or fun) facts
You should update your bio when you first create your website. At the same time, you should update your bio on your social media sites, especially business-related sites like LinkedIn, where your business associates are most likely to look for your background information.
Remember Why You Have a Bio
Name recognition is highly valued in business. Consider the enormous amount of time you’ve spent building your brand. Since you’re an integral part of that brand, whether you interact with the public or not, it behooves you to put your best face forward. Building your brand and encouraging potential clients to contact you are reasons enough to make sure your bio is up-to-date.
Website developers, for example, rarely meet with clients face-to-face if they’re spread out all over the world. (In fact, Ray Access has clients as far away as Singapore!) Yet readers and clients who’re thinking of hiring some geek to create their website still want — and inherently need — to know the person who’s going to help them create an online impression.
If you don’t update your bio on a regular basis, those clients won’t get to know the most recent body of work you’ve completed. They won’t know about any awards and credentials you’ve earned recently, and they won’t know what you look like now. Face it, a picture of a goofy college grad doesn’t carry as much weight as an experienced and dedicated 40-something.
Update Your Bio Now
When you think it’s about time to update your bio, it’s probably past time to get it done. Some say that a biographical account of you and your accomplishments should be updated every six months. Consider tweaking your online brand at least once a year.
A lot can happen in a year. Think of everything you’ve done in the past year worth crowing about! Besides, looking at and reviewing your bio annually forces you to stop and ask yourself important questions, such as:
- Is your brand still relevant?
- Is the bio as complete as it can be?
- Does your bio and that of your employees still express your values and mission?
- Can your potential clients relate to you?
- Are you being relatable?
If you answered “no” to any one of those questions, then it’s time to update your bio. Do it soon because every day you don’t may be a missed opportunity to impress a potential client.
DIY or Hire a Pro to Write It
A country-and-western song famously alluded to the fact that sometimes it’s hard to be humble when you’re so darn great. But for most people, humility is not the issue. In fact, too much humility can hold you back. And when it comes to your bio, maybe you’re the last person who should write it.
If you haven’t hired a professional biographer — and who has? — then turn to a professional writer, interviewer and former journalist, like the experts at Ray Access, who can ask you the right questions to capture an alluring personality and state all the reasons people should do business with you.
Ready to update your bio?
Call on the professionals at Ray Access. We can give you a one-page bio for your website, a shorthand version for your social sites and a couple of one-lines for your marketing materials. We’ll take the humble with the greatness and turn it into a thoughtful, true rendition of you — one that represents you today, not the old you of yesterday.
by Elle Ray | May 13, 2018 | Agency Advice
The Law of Attraction Works in Business, Too
Oprah talks often of the secret law of attraction. Singles looking for love, for example, work on the physical, emotional and mental aspects of the law of attraction to get a new partner. The whole world went crazy over the 2006 book by Rhonda Byrne called The Secret, which again heralded the law of attraction.
In fact, the law of attraction is no secret. For centuries, great minds have been writing about and talking about the power of the mind to attract what it thinks about. From Jesus to the Buddha and Confucius, the notion has been in play through all major religions and spiritual paths.
In Business as In Life
Too often, though, we categorize and compartmentalize our lives into different, disparate boxes. And twain they all shall not meet. Spirituality is for Sundays, yoga classes and early morning meditations. Family gets the evenings and weekends, when possible. Friends get fit into social boxes of varying colors. And of course — business is business, and it fills up the rest of the calendar.
If, however, we combine all the boxes into one big present called “life,” we can employ the metaphysical laws of the universe just as swiftly and effectively as we apply the physical laws. Gravity, for example, crosses all borders of life and keeps us connected to the earth. The human body requires fuel to exist, regardless whether it spends most of its time in church, at home or in the office.
Good Clients Don’t Grow on Trees
If you want to build a business that serves good customers who pay their bills on time (or pay them at all), who meet agreed-upon commitments and who give you honest feedback, the law of attraction requires you to be an honest business person. When you charge a fair price, meet promised deadlines and provide a quality work product, you’re more likely to attract the same.
Just as the single gal who wants a loyal husband must first become a loyal partner herself, so you, as a business owner, must first become the customer you hope to attract. That’s the law. Just as gravity keeps your chair firmly planted on the floor, so the customers you attract reflect the kind of business person you are.
How to Apply the Law of Attraction in Business
Many of the same steps that you employ in your religion, family and social interactions also work well in business. And the law of attraction is no different. It all begins in your mind. What your mind can conceive, you can achieve.
Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich in 1937. By 2015, more than 30 million copies had been sold. And it’s just as relevant today as it was groundbreaking then. It’s all about your thinking. So be careful what you spend your days thinking about, because just as sure as the sun rises each new day, you will invoke the law of attraction to bring into your business the sunshine — or darkness — that you’ve spent your days mulling over.
Do It Now
To help, if you haven’t yet heard “the secret,” or have forgotten its power, here are a few concrete steps to get you back into the positive stream of consciousness required for success:
- Make every thought count. Right now, change your mind. You can’t afford to let any negative thoughts intrude, especially when you’re really making an effort to attract new, quality business clients.
- See the future. Visualize clearly what your business looks like when it’s running efficiently and when you and your entire team are happy and prosperous. Picture what your office looks like, imagine your bank account overflowing and see your clients just as pleased as you are.
- Give thanks for your success. Gratitude speaks volumes about your attitude. Be grateful for the success that is yours for the taking — or attracting. When you give thanks as if it’s already happened, then the universe must comply.
- Fill your open slots with positive people. As the owner or manager, you have the power to surround yourself with positive thinkers. Give those Negative Nellies a chance to change their ways or let them go find their own kind if they refuse to get on the law of attraction train you have set in motion for your company’s success.
- Write down your goals as if they’ve already happened. Make sure you include a timeline. Think of it as your diary for success.
- Post affirmations around your office. They’ll remind you of the law of attraction and the power of your thoughts. They’ll help you channel your thoughts toward positive reinforcement and future achievement.
- Sign up for positive emails. When you surround yourself with positive thoughts and vibrations, your mind stays focused and your will, with the universe’s help, makes your positive thoughts come true. Set reminders on your calendar to think and grow rich!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Apr 30, 2018 | Office
How to Stay Focused When the Weather Is Nice
Full disclosure: Here we sit at our respective desks. Outside, the sun shines on the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. After a snowy March, lots of rain and below average April temperatures — we’d much rather be outside!
The grass needs mowing and the garden craves some plantings. There are a hundred good reasons to get out, from soaking up a solid dose of vitamin D to “networking” with everyone else who’s out and about. But we have work to do. Deadlines loom. Website developers around the world are waiting for us to deliver their content. And although we work at home, Ray Access is a professional business.
What’s a Writer to Do?
To work at home, you must possess a good deal of personal discipline. There isn’t anyone counting keystrokes when you’re the owner of the company. There’s no time clock. And no one is counting your breaks.
When you don’t have an office to go to, you don’t have a boss leaning over your shoulder. You must rely on your inner boss to tell you when it’s time to go to lunch, how long you can take and still get your work done, when to call it quits for the day and when to work overtime. It doesn’t matter whether you:
- Are a freelance writer
- Design graphics for websites
- Build websites for other businesses
- Own a writing and editing firm like Ray Access
- Create apps
- Operate a concierge service
Work at Home Blues
When it’s raining or the heat is sweltering, it’s easier to stay at your desk and work. But when the weather breaks and you want to enjoy the sun shining down on your face, you do have the option of taking your laptop outdoors. But that doesn’t work for everyone.
Instead, try these four well-worn tips and tricks to keep your BIC (butt in chair), get work done and still get a good dose of the great outdoors:
- Get started earlier in the day during the summer. Start your first cup of coffee before daybreak and you may actually get more done when you work at home. The distractions of family, friends and outside fun are fewer in the wee hours.
- Work later in the evening. If you’re more of a night owl, develop the habit of hitting the keyboard after everyone else has hit the sheets or is deeply entrenched in the latest television programs.
- Plan longer breaks. When you satisfy your need to socialize outdoors (especially on the weekends), get some fresh air, play a little of your favorite sport or dig in the dirt, it’s easier to return to your desk. Remember that there’s no one to tell you that you can’t take a two- or three-hour lunch!
- Count your blessings. And count your income! You get to work at home. You don’t want to blow it by not keeping your BIC. You’re not an undisciplined child. You are an entrepreneur, a free agent, your own boss! Act like it.
Work at Home Rocks!
So instead of the blues, when you count your blessings and work with an attitude of gratitude, you tend to see the bright side of every situation. If you’re stuck inside on a sunny day, turn it into a day to make some money that will enable you to go on vacation next month. Saying no to that rafting trip on Saturday means you’ll have the resources to retire early and go rafting every day if you choose.
Self-employment and work at home jobs definitely have trade-offs. And most workers who get to go to work in their sweats and PJs understand those sacrifices. It’s much easier to make that gratitude list when you finally hit the payday and all that discipline to work at home pays off in more ways than you can even begin to count.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Apr 17, 2018 | Social Media
Social Media Creates Awareness for Your Blog
Make a splash when you promote your blog on social media!
Whether you write your blog daily, weekly or monthly, you want people to read it. Even if you hire a service like Ray Access to write and edit your blog, it doesn’t do you any good unless it’s being read. Unread blogs — especially when they’re really well written and full of interesting, engaging material — are like packets of vegetable seeds left to rot in the pantry.
To get the most out of these seeds, you have to open the package, plant the seeds in dirt, water them, give them sunshine and nurture them until it’s time to reap the rewards. To allow others to get the most out of your thoughtful writing, you’ve got to promote your blog. You must find places it’ll be found and enjoyed. You’ve got to tout its content … and yes, even its existence!
Start Writing
An important step in marketing through social media is to create good content. Blogs are not ads and they aren’t tools to tout your company, your products or your services. Instead, blogs are a means to drive traffic to your website — where you get to do all those salesy things.
Blogs are intended to create a buzz about your expertise, your trend awareness and your interesting take on the latest news. Blogs should be informative and entertaining. They must implant an idea in your readers’ minds that make them want to learn more about you and your business. (If you don’t have the time, the energy or the ideas to write your blog, contact Ray Access for assistance.)
Social the Heck Out of It
Marketing your blog through social media means more than posting it on your company Facebook page, though that certainly is an integral part of how to promote your blog. In fact, one of the biggest reasons that more small business owners aren’t taking better advantage of social media to promote your blog is that it can be really time-consuming.
It’s easy to set up a few random links to automatically post to your social accounts every time you add new content to your site. It’s quite another proposition to position yourself in front of your target social audience on a regular and consistent basis — can you say daily?
It’s not enough just to share it once and then sit back and wait. Use your social media to promote your blog the same way you use your social accounts: in and out throughout the day, reposting, retweeting, rehashing, renewing and reviving the same post over and over and over. Tease your blog in different ways on various platforms, but get it out there more than once.
Stick to a Schedule When You Promote Your Blog
Just like a daily work schedule that gets you out of bed every morning at 7:00 am to catch a train or make it to your desk by 8:00, so a posting schedule guides your blogging. Write it on the same day of the week and post your blogs consistently at the same time every week. If you don’t have time, assign the job to someone else. Assign the schedules while you’re at it.
Then promote your blog on a similarly rigid schedule. It may seem like the new marketing trends that include social media are more flexible and fly by night, but the exact opposite is true. The more unstructured your platforms are, the more disciplined you need to be about meeting your deadlines and making those posts.
Keep It Friendly
Likes and retweets are signs that you’re someone who offers readers something valuable for their time. You’re providing information or entertainment they want to share. Whether you’re the go-to source for the latest workout or diet plan, or you make your readers smile with charming turns of phrase, you want your blogs to be liked, loved and passed on. So play nice.
When you promote your blog, you don’t want to come off as a spammer, stalking your friends with the same posts all through a single day. Consider the source. For example, you wouldn’t want to post the same blog on Facebook within hours. But on Twitter, the feeds run so quickly that the odds of running over your own blog are remote. Know your platform and then play by their unspoken rules of etiquette.
Short and Sweet and to the Point
One final thought (among many more possibilities) is that you can save yourself a lot of frustration and energy-zapping time by writing really quality blogs. Pull-out quotes from your extensive blog library make for great posts to platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Give Google+ a toot with a little jingle jangle from a blog you wrote last year. If you make every sentence as powerful as possible, each can almost stand on its own!
Add a cool caption to a crazy picture you took of the weather that ties in with an enticing blog you wrote last month about freakish weather-related services you offer. In other words, use creativity to promote your blog through social media. It’s mostly free, but it can take up a lot of time. If done right, though, you may be the next big social hit that everybody else wants to copy. Post that!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Mar 27, 2018 | Writing
How to Protect Your Wrists & Hands from Harm
Writers and editors spend much of their days at the keyboard, so they’re prone to carpal tunnel syndrome. A devastating medical condition, carpal tunnel syndrome keeps you from typing — and therefore from working — for quite a while. While not everyone develops the condition, you may have some unhealthy habits that can lead to hand and wrist problems.
The carpal tunnel is the rigid, narrow passageway on the back of each hand, through which tendons and nerves pass to your fingers. It’s a pretty sturdy tunnel, but continuous pressure can eventually cause it to cave. Its lining can become inflamed and swollen too, also leading to pain and disability. Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve running through the tunnel gets squeezed at your wrist.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptoms
When your carpal tunnel becomes damaged or inflamed, the pain alone can send you far from your keyboard. And the treatment makes it difficult to continue with your work as well. Common painful symptoms include:
- Numbness in that hand
- Weakness in your wrist, fingers or hand
- Pain in your hand or wrist
- Pain that travels up through your forearm
- Tingling or burning in the palm of your hand
- Thumb muscles become atrophied
The symptoms often begin at night and may wake you up. Or when you do arise in the morning, it feels like you have to shake your hand to get feeling back into it; it feels like your hand fell asleep and didn’t hear the alarm. When symptoms start affecting you during the day, that’s a sign the condition is getting worse. Eventually, you may not be able to feel hot or cold in that hand.
Don’t Write It Off
While repetitive stress and improper ergonomics often are the main culprits, there are other causes, such as:
- An underdeveloped tunnel
- Fluid retention
- An injury to the tunnel, such as a sprain or fracture of your hand
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Pituitary gland problem
- Tumor or cyst pressing on the carpal tunnel
- Diabetes
With so many factors at play, it’s best to get it checked out by a physician who may take an x-ray or MRI, do blood tests, and provide hands-on manipulation to identify the underlying cause and give you a definitive diagnosis. Self-diagnosing isn’t a good idea, especially when it comes to your hands that are your source of income!
Prevention Is the Best Line of Defense
It may seem that writers and editors don’t do much in the way of physical exertion. And very often, writers place so much emphasis on the mental challenges of the job that just the thought of it being physically challenging seems ludicrous. However, writing on a keyboard or by hand is very taxing work.
And if you do it improperly, you’re going to feel the results — in your hands, your back, your shoulders, your neck and beyond. Your body is so interconnected that, like a string of dominoes, when one part goes down, the rest follow closely behind.
Take It Seriously
Taking into consideration the risks of continuing your unhealthy work habits should encourage you to take care of your money-makers. Make some simple changes now. Examine how you work, where you do your writing and what kind of equipment you rely on. You just may save yourself from some heavy-duty carpal tunnel syndrome treatment.
Simple modifications make your work feel better and stack the odds against you having hand problems. Tips for changes include:
- Correct your posture to allow the blood to flow smoothly to your extremities.
- Adjust the arms on your chair so that your arms rest gently on them while you type. Don’t press down on your arm or wrists — that could shut off blood flow and compromise your carpal tunnel.
- Lose the wrist rests. A common typing tool when ergonomics first hit the office scene, it’s now known that your wrists should never rest on anything for more than a few seconds.
- Get up and move around at least for five to 10 minutes every hour. Movement helps to shift waste products out that can clog up your veins and restrict circulation.
- Do wrist exercises before, during and after a writing session. Straighten out your arm and hold it steady with the opposite hand. Move your wrist in one direction for a minute, then reverse. Make sure you do both wrists, even if only one is hurting.
- Stretch during another of your breaks. Reach for the ceiling and pull your arms gently up to give your muscles and blood vessels a slight tug.
- Boost your circulatory system by adding foods high in B6 to your diet. Avocados, eggs, whole wheat, bananas and peanuts are just some of the foods rich in B vitamins, and B vitamins are good for your blood.
If you’re already feeling some early symptoms and your doctor approves, try wearing a splint at night while you sleep. If the pain continues to worsen, you may need to wear it during the day too. You may have to learn how to type while wearing it.
A custom-made splint may help. If all else fails, you may need to have surgery. At that point, we hope you have a good transcriber or a voice recognition program to type for you!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Mar 13, 2018 | Writing
Brain Food Helps Fuel Your Creative Juices
Coffee isn’t brain food; don’t rely on it to spark your creativity.
Every day, we’re bombarded with advice about what we need to put in our bodies to become:
- A better athlete
- A more efficient worker
- Safe from outside influences
- A growing teen
- An aging senior
- A healthy middle-aged anybody
But you barely see any advice for what brain food and nutrition can help you better use your noggin to be more creative, think outside the common areas of the park or tap into hidden sources of inspiration. The mind/body connection has clearly been defined and proven beyond any reasonable doubt. Yet creativity and inspiration still too often get left primarily to the unseen, mysterious realms of spirituality and/or religion.
Brain Food for Thought
While new technology or updated apps on all your devices might make them smarter, they actually do little for your own brain. In fact, the internet, Google and all other higher forms of the internet of things (IoT) has indeed given humans the ability to find, extract and process information quicker than ever – in effect, making us smarter. But rarely can technology and its spurious offspring act as brain food for higher levels of thinking – like art, prose and music.
Instead, consider relying on the research that does inform the human brain to produce effectively and efficiently. In other words, eat more brain food, and you can become more creative. Some of the best foods for higher thinking include:
- Dark chocolate. A cup of dark hot chocolate provides more antioxidants than green tea or red wine, two other common sources of drinkable brain food.
- Broccoli. A natural source of vitamin K, broccoli plays a huge role in blood coagulation in your brain, which keeps the blood and fat in your brain modulated, balanced and stress-free.
- Eggs. This is your brain on eggs: smoothly operating as ideas fire off one after another. Eggs are a good source of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that helps cells in your brain communicate with one another. It also fosters a better memory.
- Fish. The omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish – like salmon, mackerel and tuna – act like weights for building your creative muscles. As far as brain food goes, these little fatty acids are hard to beat.
- Blueberries. Now this is one all-around powerful brain food. It should fill your freezer and fruit basket every day. Not only are blueberries a superb source of antioxidants, they also boost the production of good sugar, or glucose, in the body. And since your brain can’t store glucose for later use, like fat or muscles in other parts of your body, your brain needs a constant supply to keep it fresh and healthily creative so it can spin out new ideas.
Blueberries are amazing brain food!
Supplementing Bad Food with Brain Food
One of the biggest zappers in terms of healthy nutrition is processed food, which also contains harmful chemicals that only work to derail concentration, creativity and constructive ideas. Ideally, every working writer needs fresh, organic live foods that haven’t been processed. Even if you’re just noodling around on the keyboard and haven’t yet decided whether to publish or not, beware of processed food. It’s not your best source of nourishment.
So you say you can’t afford fresh fruits and veggies every day? So you’re not a very cook? You’re the type of writer who gets started on a project and forgets to stop and eat? If you can’t make a daily habit of consuming fresh, wholesome brain food, you can make up for your lack of nutrients with supplements designed just for this purpose.
Talk to your doctor, though, before starting on a regimen of supplements. Some of them may counteract other medications you may be taking. Some supplements even require oversight by a medical professional if you have any medical conditions or plan on taking huge doses to counteract an imbalance.
Brain Food Musts
It’s always better to get most of your brain food from actual real food, but when you can’t, supplements can take up some of the slack, as long as you don’t overdo it or go against your doctor’s recommendations. But every day, make sure you consume sufficient amounts of:
- Antioxidants. These nutrients are important for reducing and even eliminating inflammation. Brain cells are particularly susceptible to damage from oxidation and free radicals. In addition to boosting your brain’s cognitive functions, antioxidants also slow down the aging process. Early research suggests they may even reduce your chances of developing Alzheimer’s or dementia. Get your daily dose of antioxidants from supplements like vitamins A, C and E.
- Fat. Yes, fat. It’s not necessarily a put-down when someone calls you a “fat-head.” Dietary fat is an essential brain food, as the organ is made up of nearly 60 percent fat. And not only does healthy fat serve as exceptional brain food, it makes you happier too. Inadequate dietary fat consumption is tied to depression. Fish oil supplements may be the best source of fat supplementation when you can’t get your fill of fish, nuts, olives or avocados.
- Protein. Those neurotransmitters that thrive on eggs every day are primarily made of proteins. They’re responsible for your mood too, as well as moderating sleep and addictive cravings, more things that can get in the way of your creative production. A heap of protein powder might suffice on days that you can’t consume enough eggs, meat or dairy.
- B Vitamins. In particular, a deficiency in vitamin B-12 leads to a condition called brain fog that definitely will interfere with your writing. But all B vitamins are good for you in the right doses.
- Vitamin D. While your body and brain need a daily dose of all essential vitamins and minerals, a lack of B-12 and vitamin D are most common because it isn’t easy to get your daily dosages from food. And too many people, especially writers, don’t spend enough time in the sun to get enough of this brain boosting nutrient. Vitamin D is often referred to as the happy vitamin for its ability to improve your mood and your memory.
When all is said and done, it’s really just common sense that dictates anyone’s diet. But unlike steel workers and aerobics teachers who burn enough calories in a day so they can get all the nutrition they need from food without gaining weight, sedentary writers need to watch their caloric intake. And fat writers aren’t as productive either, since they have other medical issues that too often short-circuit their creativity.
So, feed your brain with healthy brain food meant for Pulitzer Prize-winning writers – and all the rest of us. And keep your brain exercised by writing every day. A good diet and exercise: the keys to good health and creative success!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Feb 27, 2018 | Writing
Consider Both When You’re Writing for Fun
Whether you’re writing for fun or writing for profit, following the same simple principles helps you go further in your literary endeavors. All writing should be designed to be read. It doesn’t matter whether you’re:
- Writing for profit, hoping to get more work from freelance efforts
- Already on staff as a professional writer
- Just writing for fun because you enjoy the process
Writing that isn’t read is like a painting kept in an attic or a new dress left on its hangar – what’s the point? Just as a goal without a plan is just a wish, so writing that isn’t read is lost seed on infertile ground.
Writing for Fun vs. Writing for Personal Use
To be clear, writing for fun doesn’t include journals or diaries. First of all, those kinds of musings typically aren’t written to be read by anyone else. Instead, personal writing meant for your eyes only is a therapeutic process, best left to yourself or your therapist.
Letter writing – designed to be read by only one other person, including love letters, letters of apology and notes serving as reminders – may be called writing for fun if you get a kick out of doing it. It’s kind of a lost art today, but if you write to your recipient on a regular basis, maybe that’s a fun exercise for you. But again, that’s not the kind of writing for fun this article addresses.
Don’t Look Now!
The best kind of writing for fun is the kind that too many writers believe is not suited for others’ eyes. For example, if you’ve jotted down a short story in your spare time, but are worried what friends, family or even strangers may think of you – in other words, if you’re afraid of criticism – then you should reveal it immediately. Announce its existence and don’t hold back!
Just as the journalist braves the insensitive red pen of the editor and the novelist cringes when her editor calls, you must learn to accept constructive criticism with a fearless heart and an optimistic grin. It’s not just the best way to grow your talent, it’s the only way. By allowing others to read their work, professionals become better writers. You will too.
You may tell yourself you’re just writing for fun, but writing truly is a serious business. You need some skill, certainly, but becoming a writer, even if for fun, takes work. Some would even go so far as to say that a writer who doesn’t share her talent is no better than a person who can’t write at all. Don’t let that describe you.
Writing for Profit Isn’t Always Fun
Professional writers often express extreme envy and outrage at the thought of writers writing just for fun. Real writers, they believe, write. Every day. And they post or publish their writing; they don’t keep it to themselves. Professional writers have to meet their boss’ expectations, even if they’re writing:
- Blog posts
- Website pages
- Novels
- Magazine articles
- Newspaper stories
- Press releases
- Marketing brochures
“What I wouldn’t give to be able to write what I want to write and be damned if anyone bothers to pay for it!” That’s a common lament among those who write for profit. Yes, even novelists have publishers and a public to please. It’s often enough to take all the fun out of the job.
Marry Writing for Fun with Writing for Profit
The best of both worlds involves taking bits and pieces from each and creating a writer’s life few ever get the chance to enjoy. Perhaps when talented writers overcome the fear of rejection or ridicule and relegate their inner critic to a back room with the door locked, more great writing will be published. Don’t let those voices in your head stop you. Write to be read!
On the other hand, talent may emerge from professional writers who spent a lifetime writing for profit. When those writers retire, the skills learned from writing for profit get turned into writing for fun. Or maybe even someone like you will finally allow the world to see your writing. Once you stop kidding yourself that you’re only writing for fun, put it – and your talent – to the test. Submit your work. Encourage people to read it. Embrace your inner writer.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jan 30, 2018 | Writing
Expert Advice on Learning from Your Editor
Writers write.
Practice makes perfect.
The best writers are avid readers.
There are enough clichés and witticisms to fill buckets with well-intentioned advice on how to be a better writer. And since writing is one of those tasks that most people loathe – in fact, many would rather face a root canal than write a 500-word blog post – those words of wisdoms usually fall to the bottom of a dry well and stay trapped there forever. Good intentions, after all, pave the path to hell.
And while the best advice, cliché or not, holds plenty of truth, there are many more practical, pedantic steps that you need to take to learn how to be a better writer. So take a teaspoon of sugar to help this medicine go down a little easier, as you swallow the following tips to be a better writer:
- Take writing classes from people you respect
- Write for teachers, mentors or colleagues who don’t hold back criticism
- Accept criticism; that’s the way you learn
- Welcome criticism so you can grow as a writer
- Ask for more criticism because only the dead stop learning
- Lose your defenses; be vulnerable, honest and open to good advice
- Drop the excuses and keep writing; you improve by doing
- Hire a good editor and you’ll learn more than you’d imagine
The Magnificent Birth of a Sentence
When you put your heart and a bit of your soul – not to mention a good chunk of your valuable time – into an article, story or blog post, you feel invested. It’s natural to be protective of your chosen phrases and cool alliterations. You may even get mushy, as many writers do, and think of your prose as your children, since they were born in your brain, slid down your arms to your hands and ended up on the page.
You may have sweat over each revision until you were sure you got it exactly right. Getting up in the middle of the night with just the right opening sentence is truly a thrill that gives any writer, professional or amateur, kind of a rush. It’s a grand morning that starts out with your muse in full regalia.
Then the Evil Editor Pounces
But the feeling doesn’t last. By the time you turn in your beloved “masterpiece,” a sense of dread hovers over you like a dark cloud you can’t shake. You may even hit the Send button believing, at least deep down, that it isn’t quite your very best work. But you love it anyway. It’s all yours and no one can take that away from you.
Until your editor does exactly that. That evil writer-wannabe sits all high and mighty on her throne, just waiting to cut your work to shreds. You have a feeling that she just loves to pick it apart, to rip your precious babies into a mish-mash of obscurity that you don’t even recognize. With your ego screaming in denial and your sense of self-worth lying in tatters on the floor, you think that the last thing your editor ever wants to do is to help you be a better writer.
Feedback Feeds Your Talent
Whether your editor does just a word-by-word line edit, correcting your grammar and deleting clichés, or rearranges your copy so that it flows better, it’s feedback you need to listen to. Instead of throwing a tantrum and whining like a baby, take it like a professional. Swallow your pride, and force your ego to pay attention. Those characteristics are merely protecting you, not helping you be a better writer.
In actuality, pride and ego are the enemies of greatness. You can practice all day, every day. You can surround yourself with readers who feed your ego and tell you only good things about your writing. And one day you’ll realize that you’ll never be a better writer. You need criticism. You need someone telling you to improve. If you don’t want to learn, then stop now. If you accept mediocrity, then don’t use a skilled editor.
Be a Better Writer … with Help and Humility
But without an editor willing to tear your work apart, any raw talent you have will remain undeveloped. It’s like walking around with your skirt tucked into your panties and not listening to anyone trying to tell you. It’s like going on stage with spinach in your front teeth and not understanding why people are laughing at you.
Read the acknowledgements in most best-sellers, and you’ll notice that even famous authors always mention their editors. Good editors are those selfless professionals who have only one goal: to create the best reading experience possible. And by succeeding, they help create a better writer.
An experienced editor knows: you will rise to the occasion if you have the talent; you will write the next book better if you have the drive; and you will be a better writer today than you were yesterday if you have the inclination to learn. When you rely on your scolding, caring, prodding, exacting editor – one who doesn’t hesitate to wield her axe to mold your message and massage your babies until they sing with joy – you’ll not only fashion a story that moves your readers, but you’ll also be a better writer.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jan 16, 2018 | Writing
How to Kickstart Your Creativity with 10 Tips
Whether you’re a cabinetmaker, a writer, a photographer or painter, you’ve probably run into some version of writer’s block, when it seems like nothing is working and there’s no way to kickstart your creativity. Creative types rely on an inner muse or drive that provides the fodder for that next novel, painting, wooden bowl or sunset picture.
But when the muse is asleep or when it feels like she’s on an extended vacation, creative people often have to turn to the same motivators as the rest of the world: inner drive and previous experience. And when you make a living from your creative pursuits, usually you can’t afford to join your muse lying around lazily in the clouds. Instead, you’ve got to produce. You have to find a way to kickstart your creativity … no matter what.
You’re in Good Company
No creative personality runs on 24/7/365 creative juices. As author Philip Roth put it: “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” There’s nary a man or woman alive who hasn’t run into a dry spell. It happens, and when it does, it feels nigh impossible to produce anything even close to bordering on original.
That doesn’t mean you’re no good at what you do — which is something your ego may be shouting. And it certainly doesn’t mean you need to find a new line of work … at least, that shouldn’t be your first impulse necessarily. If you let Nellie Negativity ruin your show, then maybe you can’t cut it as a professional creative.
10 Tips to Kickstart Your Creativity
If you prefer to knock Negative Nellie off her perch and wade through those dark days when your muse flies the coop — whether you do it for a paycheck or just to save your integrity — try a few of these tips, sure to kickstart your creativity, or at least save you from sinking deeper in the mire of mediocrity:
- Listen to Salvador Dali, who said: “Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it.” And let go of any illusions that you can, or even have to be, perfect.
- Walk away. Take a day off. Walk away for a couple hours if that’s all the time you have. Sometimes, just moving your body can kickstart your creativity by mixing up your endorphins that make you normally so creativity productive.
- Change your mind. Leave a project that seems to have you stuck and move on to one that continues to hold your attention. It’s just a matter of priming the pump. After a bit, when you can go back to that dry hole, you’ll find it’s not so empty after all.
- Close your eyes and take a head trip back to a time when you were cranking out the poetry or painting up a fury of beautiful canvasses. Remember who you are, and your muse will come running back to be by your side as you kickstart your creativity right off the charts.
- Let your fingers do the work. Get your mind out of the way and just start typing, drawing, molding, whatever it is you do. Your hands have muscle memory; they’ll go about creating whatever they do best. Trust your body to take your creative mind where it needs to be.
- Forget about the money for a minute. Sure, you need to pay the bills, but you know in your heart, you’ll do that. Instead, kickstart your creativity with a joke on your muse. Laughter is good for the soul and for your creativity. Remember what Robert Benchley says: “The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.”
- Call a good friend. You’ve got at least a couple friends or family members who love you and support what you do. They also love to see your finished products, so call them and ask them to remind you how talented you really are and how much they — and the whole world — need you.
- Cruise the internet. Set a time limit because you know how time can just get lost when you dive deep into web searches. Just troll around your favorite sites or search for lists like this one. Kickstart your creativity with someone else’s ideas; it’s OK to get inspiration from others. You’re not the only one with a muse.
- Look to the heavens and to whichever higher power you pray to. Meditate. Turn off all the voices in your head that want to enter the void left by your muse. They do not have your best interests in mind. When you empty your head, your heart has room to expand.
- Get outside. This one works especially well if your creative work keeps you locked in a room or studio. The air, sunlight, stars, wind, cold or heat … the birds, smells and all the sensations of the outdoors … nature itself can awaken a sleeping muse.
Whatever you choose to do to kickstart your creativity, do it with a carefree attitude. Do it as if no one is watching. Actually try doing it when no one is watching. It’s the ego who steals the muse from you; she’s really never far from your heart. You just have to dig deep to find her. Now that you have, go create something only you can!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.