Posts tagged Writing

Juice Fasting Update

This is the seventh day of my juice fast and I am feeling pretty good. I didn’t lose any measureable weight since yesterday, but my gout has relented a bit more and my energy is still acceptable. I worked out this morning for twenty minutes, Tae-Bo kick boxing, and I think that is decent for early on in this fast. I expect that my energy will continue to rise as my body converts ever more into fat-burning mode.

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” ~Epictetus

juice fasting, self publishing, Writing

Muse Part 2

Dec 3rd

Posted by Jack in Coaching

“One reason I don’t suffer ‘Writer’s Block’ is that I don’t wait on the muse, I summon it at need.” ~Piers Anthony

Last time I mentioned that I am creating a muse for myself. This time I will begin to go into that process in greater depth. Strap on your safety belts…here we go!

Project: Create the Ideal Muse (Creating a Great Muse in probably good enough for now and I can evolve it over time)

Deadlines: Created by January 1st, 2011; Tested, de-bugged, installed in myself and fully operational by February 1st, 2011.

Resources:

My memory of great writing sessions and what that felt like.
My memory of poor writing sessions and what that felt like.
The readily available information (thanks to the internet) from other famous writers about writer’s block and what they did about it.
The readily available information from other famous writers about what it was like when they were in a great writing place – what I am going to call for now: a place of connection and flow.
NLP and my ability to model excellence in other people.
That fact that I am really fed-up with not being more productive in my writing.
My compelling vision of how my writing and speaking business life can be once I am writing freely, consistently and well.

Definitions of Success: How will I know that I have successfully achieved my result? How and what will I measure to know that I have a created a great muse for myself?

I’ll talk more about this next piece more next time.

Bye for now…Jack

“For hundreds of years people have talked about artists having inspiration, but often, some persons would say, write us a symphony or write us a song, on commission. The artists would come up with a masterpiece without waiting to have their muse inspire them.” ~Tom Glazer

Muse, NLP, Writer's Block, Writing

What Does Your Muse Look Like?

Nov 30th

Posted by Jack in Books

Muse…Noun: The spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist; a source of genius or inspiration. ~ from Ancient Greek Mythology

I have been spending an every greater part of my business life writing. This is certain to be a permanent change and I have been working diligently, sometimes intelligently, to make myself a better and especially quicker writer. Some days I am great. Some days I would need to improve quite a bit just to be terrible. It is well past time to make the great days much more common and the terrible days mostly a thing of the past.

Over the next few entries I am going to talk about creating an ideal muse…in some NLPish terms, creating the perfect set of nested and related emotional states and beliefs and I am even going to create an artificial entity – an ideal muse. Once I create it, then I will start to use it, to use this newly created muse on a daily basis, and then share my results with you…I expect it to be fun and effective!

For now, read this article from the Washington Post, written by Stephen King, where he talks about his muse…just excellent!

Till next time…Jack

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, “Why God? Why me?” and the thundering voice of God answered, “There’s just something about you that pisses me off.” ~Stephen King

Muse, NLP, Stephen King, Writing

$100,000 Mistakes in Book Writing

Aug 27th

Posted by Jack in Books

“A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.” ~Author Unknown

This article assumes that you have some interest in getting a non-fiction book published some day. You might find it interesting even if you don’t have any such desires!

Book Writing Mistakes Cost $100,000

Last time I talked about the mistakes that I made after I decided to write a book. I would guess that those mistakes cost me at least three years – three additional years where I did not have a book working for me to increase my income. Guessing what that has meant to me in lost income from additional speaking engagement fees, increased coaching income and direct book sales to my seminar participants, without out even calculating in any book sales thru Amazon or other sources, I am going estimate that not having a book for those three years cost me at least $100,000 in additional income. (Wow! It even hurts to type that out and read it!)

What will it cost you to add an additional three years onto the book writing/publication/marketing cycle? I don’t know, but I guarantee it will cost you at lot! Depending on your business, it could cost you much more than $100,000!

So what would I do differently if I was starting a book today and wanted to get it done and working for me as quickly and elegantly as possible?

11 Steps to Non-Fiction Publishing Success

I would completely forget about getting my first book published traditionally and I would immediately start the process of becoming an expert on self-publishing. (I’ll talk about the why of this in future entries, and notice that I said first book.)
I would find and join or create a non-fiction writer’s group that met weekly and made me read new, not revised, material each and every week. (I’ll talk more about this in future entries as well.)
I would immediately start blogging, however short the entries, 5 times per week. (More to come here as well.)
I would immediately hire an email newsletter service and start collecting names of people that like my material. (More coming)
As quickly as possible, I would start to release a weekly newsletter to those collected names – however short the newsletter! (More coming)
I would create a Mastermind group of like energy and achievement minded and completely different skills people and we would begin to meet weekly. (Much more about this process later – this is one of my strongest passions!)
I would decide and commit that I was going to write every single day, no matter what, and I would slowly amp up the volume of that writing. (More coming)
I would hire a book writing coach, if I could afford one, or join a monthly book writing coaching membership site if I could not afford a personal coach. (More about this to come as well)
If I wasn’t already a public speaker, I would join Toastmasters and start the process of becoming one! (Yes – you guessed it…more coming)
I would open a twitter account and start following people that interested me. (More to come!)
I would start on account on LinkedIn and then dedicate just a bit of time each week here.

I wouldn’t expect to get all of these things done right away. But I would expect to have most of them in place within six weeks and all of them in place and working for me within six month. (In point of fact, I don’t quite have all of them in place myself yet, but I will within a couple of weeks!)

Did I mention yet that I have a non-fiction book coming out in September of 2011? I do! More about that next time as well.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” ~John Wooden

Coaching, Mistakes in book writing, self publishing, toastmasters, Writing

Avoid These Mistakes When Starting Your Book

Aug 25th

Posted by Jack in Coaching

1 comment

“A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.” ~Rita Mae Brown

In 2005 I decided that I was going to write a book. As I mentioned in my last entry, this wasn’t a consciously made choice. My unconscious mind decided that it was time to take action and let me know this at the end of a seminar.

I am not sure why I made that decision at that particular time. I had known that I would benefit from a book for years; as a seasoned and in-demand seminar leader, I almost always had the opportunity to sell products at the end of my presentations. Instead I used this time for chatting with attendees and over time, many of these chats ended up becoming coaching or consulting clients. (Although I can successfully coach virtually anyone that speaks a common language with me, I only consult on a handful topics.)

So, these seminars, along with other marketing techniques, kept me with a consistently full coaching practice, commonly with a waiting list, and I was complacent. Not lazy, just complacent.

Use me as a BAD example

Once I had made the decision to become a published non-fiction author, I thought about it virtually every day. And there is the beginning of the first mistake. I thought about it everyday. I invested energy into it every day. I felt bad that I wasn’t writing more – almost every day. What I didn’t do was take action on it every day – that would have taken a different and much wiser decision!

Three Mistakes I Made

Looking back 6 years, I am embarrassed. I should have known better! As an NLP practitioner, I had helped hundreds of people get unstuck and begin taking consistent action from a place of pleasure. From my slightly more enlightened future, I can look back now and see three big mistakes that I made.

My first mistake was not deciding – not committing to – taking action every single day.
My second mistake: I was using a pitiful motivation strategy to get myself to take what little action I did take! (I’ve talked about good and bad motivation strategies before and I will again – really useful stuff!)
Finally I was not accountable to anyone for getting this book done. The only person I was reporting to about it was me and that was just not good enough.

Next time I’ll talk about what I would do differently and what I am doing differently now to write books.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

Connect with me on Linkedin

“Choices are the hinges of destiny.” ~Attributed to both Edwin Markham and Pythagoras

goal achievement, NLP, Writing, writing a book

Learn to Write Like Author Richard Bach

Mar 9th

Posted by Jack in Books

1 comment

“The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder.” ~Richard Bach

Last time I wrote about planning and the importance of setting big goals, long term goals that stretch out at least 10 years. I was going to write today about the process of setting these goals and how to create a great attitude that makes this process even easier and even more fun. Well, scratch that bit of learning for a couple of days, wonderful as it would be and will be again and instead let’s go on a little adventure filled side-trip together. Let’s take a trip into the mind of best-selling author and pilot Richard Bach.

Learn to Write Like Richard Bach

I have been reading Richard’s books since early 1970 and after nearly 40 years, his books are still some of my best friends. Just like my human best friends, I enjoy seeing Richard’s books each time and I enjoy spending time with them. Also just like my human friends, Richard Bach’s books are smart and I learn something from them every time we meet. I had the pleasure of finding a short video interview with Richard Bach a couple of days ago and it really had an impact on me. I am including a link to this video here and I encourage you to watch it. For ears that are ready to hear, there are wonderful, bright and beautiful gems of empowering beliefs just waiting to be picked up in this interview. Next time I will talk about some of these beliefs that Richard is gifting us with and how we can use them to make our own writing better and more fun for us and for our readers. The link will autoload and start to play immediately. Link to Richard Bach video interview.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have

And step into the darkness of the unknown

Believe that one of the two will happen to you

Either you’ll find something solid to stand on

Or you’ll be taught how to fly!” ~Richard Bach

empowering beliefs, modeling excellence, NLP, Richard Bach, Writing

There’s Nothing Like the Smell of a New Laptop

Feb 12th

Posted by Jack in Coaching

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” ~St. Francis of Assisi

My new laptop arrived a couple of days ago and I have been immersed in moving my computer life from an older machine to a new machine. This is quite a bit more work than I had imagined, but it will be worth it. I travel quite a bit for speaking and I write for hours each day – pretty much every day, so I got the best laptop that I could find for mixing travel, speaking ( I use my laptop as a prompter while the audience sees the presentation on the screen behind me.) and writing while on the road. I ended up choosing the new Sony Vaio “F” series with the fastest quad processor and lots of ram. I have only been playing with it for 2 days now and I love it. Fast – super fast and Windows 7?- this is a great improvement over Vista. I am sure that Vista had some great features – I just never found them. I had downgraded the 5 computers in my system to XP to avoid the madness of Vista. Anyhow, I love the Sony “F”. I love what I have experienced of Windows 7. And of course, there is nothing like that new laptop smell!

That’s all the time that I have for today. Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette.” ~Henry S. Hoskins

Public Speaking, Writing

I’m an Idiot for Self-Publishing?

Feb 4th

Posted by Jack in Books

1 comment

“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it”. ~Sidney Howard

I’m an idiot for self-publishing? Maybe, but maybe not. Last time I talked a bit about what I had recently learned from my study of the genius British novelist Charles Dickens. I also mentioned that some of what I had learned from my study of him had been a deciding factor in my decision to self-publish my first book. I think if Dickens had been beginning his writing career today, he would have almost certainly self-published his first works. Then I think he would have partnered with a great publisher for his next works.

For me, the decision to self-publish was a hard one. I am already busy and writing and then publishing a book – and really doing the proper promotion to ensure a great reception for the fledgling book – this is a lot of work. I had no idea how much work it was until I began the process. For me at least, the writing of the book has turned out to be the easiest part. All of the things that the publisher would do for me, if I had sold the rights of my first book immediately to a publisher, – that has been quite a steep learning curve.

So why did I decide to self-publish? I’ll start from the side of what I won’t be getting or what I am giving up.

It will cost me more money to self-publish, quite a bit more. Since I am taking on all of the costs of proofreaders and editors, cover designers and printing and the hiring of top-notch PR people, all things that a publisher might have done for me, I am spending more money.
I am giving up a great deal of my time learning the book business. Had I sold my book immediately, I would have needed to learn very little about the book business – at least at first. I could have let the publishers handle all of the details for me.
I am giving up the money that I could have made by simply coaching or speaking instead of learning the book business. I am usually fully booked or as booked as I care to be for coaching and I could have simply coached more, earned more, and let the publishers do what they know best.
I am giving up some credibility for this my first book. A self-published book does not have the credibility in the eyes of some people that a traditionally published book has.
I am almost certainly giving up some sales that I might have had otherwise. I don’t know all of the distribution channels that an established publisher knows and although I am learning fast – it is certain that I will miss some of them – and not sell those copies of my book.

So, with all of that, why on earth would I self-publish? We will both have to wait until next time for that answer – my time is up for this entry.

Next time I will explain the balance of my thinking about traditional publishing versus self-publishing.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs”. ~Vance Havner

Coaching, Consulting, Writing, writing a book

Charles Dickens and Groundhog Day

Feb 2nd

Posted by Jack in Books

2 comments

“Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert but the people are better behaved and there’s a groundhog involved…” ~Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper.

… As an aside, it is Groundhog Day in the United States while I am writing this entry. Although I am not sure that “Punxsutawney Phil” is any better at weather forecasting than me, and I am not very good; I do love the concept! The cute little devil did see his shadow today and has forecast 6 more weeks of winter. Not a shocker – this winter does not seem to want to let go. …

Last time I talked about my first book and its upcoming release in November of 2010. I also mentioned that my decision to self-publish this first book was influenced by my research into the life of Charles Dickens. Here is a bit more about that story:

I recently read “The Making of Charles Dickens” by Christopher Hibbert and I really enjoyed the experience! I not only discovered a new author whose style I liked, but a prolific author as well. This means I have lots of great books waiting for me to find and read. I also got some great insights into what might have helped Charles Dickens be the incredible novelist that he was. (Did you know that he is one of the very few authors that has never gone out of print? And this, as I write this entry, some 140 years after his death? Wow!)

I am always looking for the “secrets of success” or the unique beliefs that help exceptional people be exceptional. Here are some of the secrets that I extracted from my recent study of “Boz”:

1) Being extremely focused on the task at hand – fiercely determined to get it right – is a key to success in writing (and any other aspect of living.)

2) It is okay to be afraid about the reception your writing will receive – as long as you are brave enough to get it out to the public to read.

3) Believe in the value of your writing, even if others at first do not share your enthusiasm.

4) Write about what you know intimately well and share the clarity of your vision.

5) Don’t be afraid to ask what you think your writing is worth.

6) You can do more than you think you can.

7) It is fine to use newest technology to publish your books. (Dickens commonly used magazines and serial releases of chapters – then he sold the books as completed documents. This was pretty cutting edge stuff for the day.) This final point is the one that swayed me to the side of self-publishing.

Next time I’ll be talking about the complete set of reasons why I decided to self-publish this first book and what the implications might be for you and me.

Till next time faithful reader…Jack