This is article is worth reading, if you struggle whenever you sit down to the computer screen to write:

Five Positive Thoughts That Will Turbocharge Your Writing (and How to Channel Them)
by Daphne Gray-Grant  (From MarketingProfs.com, November 14, 2006)

1. Writing is simply talking on paper

2. Writing can be done quickly, in little bits of time

3. Writing is easy to change

4. Writing always gets better and easier with practice

5. Your writing "voice" is unique

I find the thought of writing 2000 words makes it harder for me to get started, so I tell myself, I’m writing 200-300 words, or, I’m writing just the introductory paragraph. That usually gets me going, and gets me to set onto paper the main concept. Once the main concept is stated, then it becomes clearer what  supporting evidence must follow in the next paragraphs.

What about you? What sort of positive thoughts get you started when you have a writing task?

You know the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you become a better writer? Write, write and write some more. How do you get readers to come to your blog? Write more.

Now here is scientific proof from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution that writing more and posting more to your blog will get better just because of the increase in quantity. I may be exaggerating a little, but I’m serious. I knew my undergraduate degree in biology would come in handy one day, and I also recently read this in a book. So bear with me as I explain:

  Excerpt from the book 111/2 Weird Ideas that Work, by Professor Robert I. Sutton of Stanford: "Research by Dean Keith Simonton shows that the success of individual geniuses like Mozart, Shakespeare, Picasso, Einstein annd Darwin himself, is best understood from an evolutionary perspective, where excellence results from "a range of differences." These famous creators generated a wider range of ideas and completed more products than their contemporaries. They didn’t succeed at a higher rate than others. They simply did more. So they had both more successes and more failures.

"The great artist Vermeer created fewer than 50 paintings in his lifetime, all in a similar style. He achieved a singular excellence that, despite the stunning beauty of his art, adds something less than Picasso’s astonishing range and history-changing influence."

This makes sense, doesn’t it? You don’t have to be a biologist to understand the concept that more is better, based on the fact that the more you produce, the better are the chances that you will produce something excellent.

You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. So, in the words of Andy Wibbels, "Shut up and write!"

I make these all the time, and even the best spell checker won’t catch them, because the words are actually spelled correctly, but used incorrectly. This usually happens when I’m typing too fast. It’s not that I don’t know the grammar rules, it’s my fingers…it’s their fault.

For example, I’ll type you when I mean your, and your when I mean you: "Be sure to catch these mistakes by reading over you blog post before your save it."

Here’s a great review of Ten Common Writing Mistakes Your Spell Checker Won’t Find over on Judy Rose’s Writing English blog. It’s a good review of what to look for before you save and publish.