Welcome back, you epic writers, you. For the last two weeks, we’ve been talking about why it’s necessary to make every project into a big bad dragon you have to fight, and what you can do to make yourself better at fighting said dragon. This week’s lesson: How to kick some emotional butt. Put the Freud down. I said, PUT THE FREUD DOWN. We have other things for you to put your attention toward. And they are way more fun than figuring out your relationship with your mother. Instead, you’re going to figure out your
> Read MoreArchives for September 2009
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How to Decide the Best Community Contribution
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Last week, I wrote about deadbeats in the community. I even swore. In English. It was great. I didn’t really mean it. Well, I did mean some of it, like the part where I say screw the deadbeats who use ‘community’ as their reason why I should contribute my time and effort into helping them build their business. And I did mean to start a discussion about what community should really be all about. You see, no one is discussing what community means. We all have our opinions, certainly, and the amazing number of comments
> Read MoreWhat’s Your Style of Writer Underpants?
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I’ve been asked a lot of things in my time. There’s very little that phases me. But when Suzannah boldly demanded to know what I wore beneath my jeans, I had to arch an eyebrow. Instead of answering, I let her put the question to our crowd. Enjoy her post – oh, and feel free to show off your style in the comment section! You have a favourite pair of underpants. I know you do. They’re comfy. You feel good wearing them. Neither fraying waistbands nor faded colour can hide their true worth. Try as
> Read MoreSlaying Writer Dragons: Epic Skill #1, Mental Prowess
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All right, brave writers of the MwP world. I wrote last week about why you really need to make writing a big dramatic event. So you feel like it’s worth doing. This probably indicates some deep failing on your part, but since we writers all have the same problem, we will just call it a strength and embrace it with all of our (not un-mighty) might. For those of you who missed last week’s post, here’s the situation: your writing project is a big, bad dragon. You are a mighty warrior who must defeat this
> Read MoreTop Ten Blogs for Writers: The Results are In!
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Well, it’s a wrap, folks. The finalists are out for the Top Ten Blogs for Writers, and we’re pleased and honored to have made the grade again. “Oh, come on, James. We all knew you’d be on the list…” Well, to be frank, we didn’t. There are new sites for writers and writing blogs cropping up daily, some of them with excellent contributors making waves around the world. It’s anyone’s game, frankly. And making it to the Top Ten Blogs for Writers list is still is anyone’s game, because no one should ever get so
> Read MoreScrew Community
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Community is a word you’ll hear all over the internet. You’re part of a community on Twitter. Blog networks are a community. Your blog’s comment section is a community. The whole blogosphere is a community. You’ll also hear that you should be part of these communities. You should be contributing. You should be giving others a leg up. Do your part! Join in! Show that community spirit! But I’ve been wondering lately – exactly what is this community everyone’s talking about? Who is in this community? What does being a community mean? What are we
> Read MoreThree Words to Help You Finish Any Writing Project
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I’ve always liked Ali Hale. She’s been a long-time reader and commentator here at Men with Pens, she blogs around the universe with wisdom and simply worded advice, and always has something good to say. She’s one of those people that’s just… well, nice. She threw a guest post my way with a nice email that said, “I thought you might use this on one of those days when you couldn’t post yourself,” and I thought to myself, “Wow. That’s so nice.” Hope you enjoy it as much as I did – cheers! Do you
> Read MoreThe Dragons of Writing and How to Fight Them
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Writers are notorious procrastinators. If you are a writer (and you can convince people that this is in fact your profession and that you are not just referring to the three chapters of that novel you’ve had in a back drawer since high school), it is more or less assumed that you are incapable of completing a task ahead of schedule. This is often painfully true. My personal theory on the reason for this is that procrastination is kind of exciting. There’s something thrilling about skating into a deadline by the seat of your pants,
> Read MoreWe Like Special Announcements. Here are Three.
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Special announcements are good. Everyone needs special announcements from time to time, right? Well, I have three for you today. Top Ten Blogs for Writers Finalists The 4th annual Top Ten Blogs for Writers contest is now closed for submissions, and the list of finalists has been posted. Nearly 300 blogs were nominated, and we’re honored to have made it to the list of finalists. We’re ready for the next stage, too, where finalist blogs are analyzed and winners selected based on some pretty tough criteria. Whew. It’s a little nerve-wracking! In Which Attempt to
> Read MoreHow to Add Spice to Your Content
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Finding ways to help your readers understand your ideas and concepts isn’t always easy – but there are two writer tricks that you can use to get that “a-ha!” from your crowd: analogies and metaphors. Now, we’ve covered analogies before. You can read about them right here. The short version is that analogies compare something unfamiliar to something familiar. Readers thus grasp what you want to teach quickly and with greater understanding. For example, the medical explanation of how microorganisms affect our health can be complex and involve plenty of jargon that people might not
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