Brain Improvement

Myth: Speling Doesn’t Matter For Bloggers & Writers

Garth Beyer

FALSE

A common piece of advice from great Bloggers, Marketers, Salesman and Writers is that spelling and grammar should not be a priority.

People like Jeffrey Gitomer, Seth Godin and countless others encourage you to blog and write your heart out without a worry about the spelling or grammar because it means nothing compared to the content you are providing. So many successful people think they can get more attention by suggesting to others that they do not need to focus on spelling, but do you notice… they never make any spelling errors themselves? They re-read their own material over and over until it is perfect, because they know the second golden rule of a life well lived –

Everything Counts.

Have you ever read a novel and found that one word that is misspelled? I bet you wonder if anyone else noticed it too, but then you shrug it off. Without realizing it, you have just been pushed back – taken out of the story for a moment. But then, later in the novel you find another mistake and you think, did this author even read this over? This is his heart poured out, his focus, and countless hours of time in this novel and he lets two misspellings go by? Or did he not care enough and simply had his editor try to catch everything? Doesn’t he think his information is important enough to share with other close and personal friends that could have read the novel before its release and found the errors?

Spelling Is Crucial!

It is unfortunate that the consistent effort that a person puts into a goal is not seen by the majority of their peers. Only the end result, the achievement, goes noticed. How do you think we got the term “an overnight success”? I guarantee you, it was not overnight. Why do we believe the novel we read was the absolute greatest? Because it was flawless. The author knows that everything counts, especially the little things like 1 spelling error in a book of 650 pages.

Words, grammar, and spelling are the tools of the trade and should be used correctly. Using them incorrectly is like a carpenter using a sledgehammer to drive in finishing nails. It can be done, but it will leave big marks in the wood and leave the user’s hands bruised and battered. – Michael Barbagallo

The days in which content and messages are only related to a few people each day are long gone. Now, a single message could be sent out to one person or one billion people in a day. A single misspelling could be noticed by (depending on your number of followers) thousands of people. What do these people think? “Does this author even care? And he calls himself a Writer?” Basic errors in grammar, mechanics and spelling are harmful to your reputation, your brand and your credibility.

Interested in more (pardon the reference) sledgehammering of grammatical errors? The Price of Typos

I look at it this way, Scucses is not Success. You cannot be a successful writer, editor, copy writer, journalist, ghost writer, blogger, and so on if you do not put in the effort to have everything in order.

Here is a bonus from SpellDoctor.

Why Spelling Matters 

No matter how you look at it, success in spelling leads directly to success in our overall use of the language. Spelling matters.

Developmental, Practical and Personal Matters

  • Spelling Supports Reading Comprehension. Spelling skill goes hand in hand with efficient word decoding and solid reading comprehension as well as unlocking new words and the understanding of the phonological structure of words.
  • Spelling Supports Effective Writing. Because confident spellers are adventurous with language, they are able to create richer more persuasive essays.
  • Projected Image. Spelling is part of one’s projected image. Like it or not, it is one of the means used by society to judge a person’s literacy.
  • Presentations. Many presentations involve marker boards. Spelling errors can be very embarrassing if committed during a presentation. The fear of making an error can lead to a limiting of word choices and a lessening of the impact of the intended message. (I have been victim to seeing a professional speaker not know how to spell “education” or “management”. Regardless that it was on the spot or not, spelling is an extreme key factor in presentations)
  • Employment Opportunities. A survey of major American corporations indicates that 96% of employers consider spelling, punctuation, and grammar to be “extremely important” or “important” factors when making hiring and promotion decisions. In 2005, The National Commission on Writing for American’s Families, Schools, and Colleges reported that 80% of employment applications are negatively affected by misspellings.
  • Attention To Details. A commitment to spelling teaches us to have high standards and pay attention to details.
  • Self Esteem. Strong spelling builds one’s self esteem. We are saved from that nagging worry that we may be judged as unintelligent.

Stay Positive and Know That Success Is The Greatest 7 Letter Word That You Could Use In Scrabble

Garth E. Beyer

 

An Interrelationship Trend To: Success, Business, Self-Growth

Garth Beyer

Success, Business, and Self-Growth magazines all incorporate a common trend.

Can you guess what it is? Hint: It is an advertisement.

I love learning new languages because of the joy of it but also the benefits of knowing more than one language. You may recall my blog post How To Become 3+ Billion Times More Connected, Successful, and Happy where I write about the idea that those who teach you how to speak, teach you how to think. Now can you guess what advertisement you will find in each type of magazine?

“No one is the worse for knowing two languages” – Oliver Mowat

Rosetta Stone

It hit me in the head, like an unexpected gust of wind, one day when I was reading Success Magazine and saw the advertisement for Rosetta Stone. Of course, Rosetta Stone would purchase advertising space in these magazines in addition to Traveling magazines. Why?

  • Business Owners are in the top half of polyglot’s
  • Success comes to those who can connect with the most people – which is exactly what learning another language allows you to do
  • It takes a trained mind to focus and learn a new language
  • “Insert your own explanation here”

A Brian Tracy Story

If you have followed my blog, you know that I have joined Toastmasters and am constantly working at improving my public speaking abilities. Well, as a surprise, my friend filled out an application for Brian Tracy’s Speaking Academy without my knowledge. A few days ago she forwarded me the email that stated I was accepted into the limited class of 12. The director of events provided the details of the event and also added that it would cost over eight thousand dollars. As much as I would have loved to go to the Speaking Academy, it would be a stretch to get the money for tickets and a hotel to stay in San Diego while I attended. As odd as it may be, I was interested in the type of credentials that were necessary to get an employment position for Brian Tracy International – so I Googled the director of events’ name and found her LinkedIn profile. Who would have guessed?  Her specialties: Fluent in Spanish and Italian, and speak conversational French and Mandarin Chinese.

Coincidence?

I know not. It is not only a common trend in Success, Business and Self-Growth magazines, knowing more than one language is the most common trend in the majority of successful business CEO’s, directors, associates, etc.

What do you think?

Stay Positive and Polly-Wanna-Learn-A-New-Language

Garth E. Beyer

I do have to add that the advertisement stated the following “He was a hard working farm boy.     She was an Italian supermodel.    He knew he would have just one chance to impress her.” Would it be uncalled for to also say that those who know multiple languages, have the most beautiful arm candy?

S.A.D Your Darkest Cloud #TM

Garth Beyer

5 minutes and 33 seconds – the length of my 2nd Toastmasters speech titled S.A.D Your Darkest Cloud

“I liked your creative conclusion and 3 point organization. The organization made it easy to follow and you referenced it frequently”

“>Like the blend between facts and ideas > engaging > at times you didn’t seem too sure of yourself which halted your flow (mostly at beginning) > good hand gestures, eye contact, but your legs were static”

“Good job on giving the background of the 2nd study – slow down a bit when reading the studies and during the rest of the speech. Great ending! – Loved the ‘Life Weights…’ – Great job w/ speaking clearly and in an audible tone”

“The speech was delivered well and i will probably remember a lot of what you talked [about]”

“Great job! Well laid out topics w/ great summary, using personal experience really helped people relate. Good suggestions for how to get out of the depression!”

“Great control of time and speed! i really enjoy you speak. I think you can be even greater if you don’t use notes”

“Very good speech. I love the humor at the end of your conclusion. Very timely as well.”

“Great topic. The bad weather in winter season makes many people feel worse. it is good to avoid this feeling by talk[ing] with others.

“Garth> Fantastic. I actually have seasonal depression & working out and being with others, I have found, is key to ridding negative thoughts & gaining a clear head. You spoke very well & had great energy which made it a pleasure to listen to you.”

“Feels comfortable in front of an audience. I thought the topic was important to the audience. I liked the way you ended with the statistic you mentioned at the beginning”

Thank you to the audience members who read this for their feedback. I greatly appreciate all feedback: The glamored, the guts and the grime. Now it’s time for public speaking tips.

Lessons On Speech Prep and Present

Originally my speech was not 5 minutes and 33 seconds. After I wrote it out and timed it, it was 11 minutes and 49 seconds.

Lesson 1: Time your speech at different intervals as you write it. It will prevent you from writing too much and pressure you to amp up the content and let the fluff fly away.

While I was writing essays growing up, my mom would always tell me to always write extra because it is a lot easier to take out then to put in. While this may be true for essays, it is not for speeches under 7 minutes.

Lesson 2: If you end up with a 4 page speech when it should be no more than 1 1/2 pages, scrap it. Pull your main points out and use them for an outline and reference your 4 page speech when you get stuck. It is best to use it only when you get stuck because when you try to use a lot of your longer prepared speech, you will feel like the points wont be as powerful without all the fluff around them. Trust me. I used 2 days trying to take pieces out of my speech to shorten it when I should have started over after I found out it was nearly 12 minutes long.

Once my speech was set and in between the 5-7 minute restriction I thought I would try a new memorization strategy. I recorded myself giving the speech on my computer and uploaded the file to my iPod. I will tell you now, it is very uncomfortable when you listen to yourself give your speech for the first few times. But then I learned two lessons from it.

Lesson 3: Once you get over laughing at yourself as you listen to yourself giving the speech, you begin to notice the details. You notice when you take a breath, you notice the points of poor vocal variety, you notice the areas in which you really seem passionate and the areas in which you sound boring. By becoming an attuned audience member, you can become the tuned in speaker everyone wants to hear.

While originally this was not my point for recording my speech, this strategy greatly increased my presentation abilities. I won more than half of my audience’s appeal to having listened so intensely to myself speak over and over and over. But the real reason I recorded myself was that I wanted to memorize.

Lesson 4: Increase your memorization speed by listening to yourself give your speech. You will begin to mouth out the words as if it were a song.

Unfortunately, this technique did not work as well as I expected it to for me. However, I would still suggest it because the extra bit of memorization could be vital to your actual presentation. If you have or end up trying this strategy, please share your results! I would love to know if there is a particular way you memorize your speech.

…and then it was speech time.

Lesson 5: Next time you give a speech, ask a few audience members (or if you are in Toastmasters, ask the club members) if they will observe how you handle your struggles. When speakers fail to know every single idea, thought, feeling and movement of their speech they tend to, like me, find a way to push their ideas out or find a way to strive to reach an idea.

During my speech I struggled to remember and connect a few ideas and I used too many hand movements. I felt that if I made the movements as if I were getting an idea across, the idea would follow but it wound up backfiring. Do you know how you handle your struggles?

Lesson 6: Do not focus only on hand and facial gestures.

Audience members respond to whole body movement as well, as you read in my club’s feedback, my legs remained static during this speech. Just a reminder.

The Short Version

As you know, my original speech was almost 12 minutes long. I know that work did not go to waste because I truly enjoyed researching for it, writing it and learning from it. For now, enjoy the speech version rather than the “essay version”.

S.A.D. Your Darkest Cloud

There’s something I hate. Really do hate, and as you know I’m a very optimistic person, so it’s a huge deal that I’m starting with the fact I hate something. Now what I hate is a mood disorder and almost everyone gets it, whether it’s barely noticeable or you end up taking a trip to the doctor. Even with my positive attitude, I get it. I get SAD. Seasonal affective disorder, better known as winter depression or winter blues.

The symptoms can be so disastrous that all the positive energy and self improvement you created and invested in yourself throughout the last year could flash away in less than a week.

You find yourself unhappy with all of your achievements, in fact, you don’t even call them achievements, achievement is a sign you’re going somewhere. But you’re not; at least this is what the emotional disorder will tell you.

Now, can you believe 6.1% of the population suffers from seasonal affective disorder at a degree that they should ask for help? It’s such a small percentage but 6.1% of the US population is nearly 19million people.

All of this research began from the fact that every year, I’m in this 6.1% when the season starts to change to winter. After more than 9 years of trial and error I came up with 3 ways to, not only tackle seasonal depression, but these 3 ways can be used to leverage yourself in your success journey. The three topics I am going to talk about are exercise, the personal link, and the passion experiment.

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Now, do you have a coworker or friend that works out every day? I am going to bet that they are the ones with the most energy in the office, the ones that get things done and always have a smile on their face while doing so. I am finding it incredible the correlation that exercise has on our feelings and emotions throughout the day.

Let me share a study with you, researchers compared the effects of 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill with 30 minutes of quiet rest in 40 adults recently diagnosed with depression. None of the participants were taking antidepressants or exercising regularly.

The results showed that both groups reported reductions in feelings like tension, anger, depression, and fatigue. But only the exercise group reported feeling good, as measured by improved scores on “vigor” and “well-being” indicators.

And that is what we really want isn’t it? We don’t want to not feel bad, we want to feel goooood.

Even more so, I found another article where scientists have experimented with rodents and know that running induces the production of new neurons in rodent brains, BUT Elizabeth Gould and colleagues at Princeton University report that this benefit is wiped out when animals are housed individually, a situation she likens to “solitary confinement” for humans.

Which brings me to my next factor of fighting back depression, human connections.

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I can go on about the negative consequences to social isolation, but that is not going to motivate you to make personal connections when you are feeling down. What will, is talking about an out of the box benefit. While most read that social connections promote outcomes of better health, longevity, and greater quality of life — I have concluded an even better benefit. Social interaction can spring you forward to your life’s goals.

When talking to others, you have to form all your ideas into sentences to form a complete idea. Why do you think were told to practice our speeches out loud? By talking to people you have to put it in words and simplify it to where it’s understandable and the result is achievable. When you talk with people, every word is a brick to the path of the ideas manifestation.

Furthermore, with this social interaction, you will simply forget about depressive thoughts.

Can you recall the last time you were so focused on something that time just flew by? Maybe you were on a phone with a friend and didn’t realize it had even started to rain outside or a personal example, I was talking to a friend on the bus about my eBook and we both forgot to pull the cord and missed our bus stop. We get involved with talking to others about life, and goals, and achievements that we forget the negativity, the downs, the SAD emotions.

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Now the state of connecting with people leads me to my next point, life is like a giant game of connect the dots. You know people; those people know other people or have information that can help you get what you want and live your passion.

And acting on your passion is my last point because the action of going after what you want can decrease your depression symptoms. Why? Because you have a focus. It’s similar to what I mentioned with personal connections, you get so caught acting on your passion that all the emotions and negative circumstances in your life disappear.

To be honest, seasonal depression helped me figure out what I was absolutely most passion about, and just as I have over 250 life goals written down, I have the same number of passions, but having the depression helped me figure out the top thing. Writing. When I sit down and write I forget everything, I forget to eat, I forget to sleep, I have once gone over 6 hours writing without getting up to go to the bathroom. But most importantly, I forgot it was winter, I forgot I was sad, I forgot all the negative situations in my life… they vanished. I want the same for you.

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By exercising each day to release the gitty-up chemicals in your brain, by making social interaction a priority, and by making your passion an adventure by exploring and sharing your findings,  you can decrease the force of depression, eliminate it permanently, or completely prevent it in the first place.

Before I end this speech, do any of you remember approximately how many people suffer from seasonal affective disorder in the US? (nearly 19mil) Even though this is such a small number compared to the actual number of  people in the US, if these people started to exercise, started to seek out connections, and do what they love can you visualize how HUGE of an impact that would make on the world as a whole?

That is almost 19 million people achieving their goals, feeling motivated, having energy, being happy, inspiring others, connecting with each other, exchanging positive attitudes, spreading love. They say a simple smile is contagious, well you mix all the emotions and actions of the above and you have yourself a freaking epidemic!

BUT, the winter season is filled with dark clouds, both literally and mentally speaking with seasonal affective disorder being the darkest cloud. We know that it’s the time that everyone is at the highest risk of depression, so remember when you lift weights, lift ideas with people and lift your passion, you are also lifting your darkest cloud.

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Stay Positive and Lifting

Garth E. Beyer

High Existence: A Look At Exercise and Public Speaking

Garth Beyer

When you become fit, you become fit for public speaking. Due to the plethora of information regarding healthy lifestyles and their correlation with public speaking, along with my personal experience in Parkour and public speaking, I think its due time to make a post about it.

The Analogy You Expected

The way we exercise our bodies is the same for public speaking. In order to have a fit body, we continuously hit the gym, hit the floor, hit the mat, and hit the weights. We all know that we can’t just workout once or twice a week and expect to see positive results. In order to exceed average public speaking skills, we have to give multiple speeches each week, we have to practice our tone, volume, and linguistics. For both, the list of practice methods are endless. The same goes for the results; with consistent training you become a key-note speaker or a certified ass-kicking machine. Just as well, the tips for staying motivated and consistent work for both. Here are the two simplified versions.

  • Position, Plan, Execute – Evaluating yourself and where you stand on the line of success now, is how you can tell if you have made improvement later.Figuring out your position allows you to choose the techniques for the next step, planning. You have to plan out where you want to go, to get there. You cant expect to walk around aimlessly and find the “X” marks the spot treasure chest. By knowing where you are, you figure out where you want to be. In planning how to get there, you will get there, but you need to execute your plan. You have to follow the steps you set for yourself. You do so by following the next tip.
  • Dangling Carrots and Maximizing Achievement – Regardless of your end goal, you wont get there unless you break it down into dozens of small goals with small rewards. For example, if my goal was to cook a meal for the top 10 richest people on the planet and “I” had to make it without the help of anyone else (yes the world can be cruel at times, better to expect hardship and be grateful for any help than to expect help and face the hardship of it not being there), I would make one dish at a time. I know that trying to make everything at once would end up a disaster, so I would break it up into small goals, small meals. In doing so, I am maximizing my achievement by putting 100% of my effort into the one dish instead of 10% of my effort into each dish. The real catch to accomplishing small goals, is the reward. I know the visual is typically a person that wants to lose weight and they are running on a treadmill with a donut hanging in front of them, but I am a health nut so I dangle carrots. Positive rewards to go after. As a result of finishing each dish, I will indulge myself by being the first one to enjoy its delishes-ness. After the first dish, I am ready for the next!

 The Real Connection

Why is it that people fear public speaking more than physical pain?

It does not really matter, but if that is the case, I challenge you to experience positive physical pain: Workout. I guarantee that if you begin to exercise regularly, that your fear of public speaking will dissipate with each physical mark of progression you make. Not only that, but all your public speaking attributes will improve drastically. It is easier to understand the process by examining the connected benefits between working out and public speaking.

  • Exercise releases endorphins which make you happy “the good feel hormones”
  • Increases blood flow getting oxygen to your body, making you less fatigued and providing more mental and physical energy
  • By working out you become more energetic and alert of your surroundings which results in the ability to make audience connections and impromptu comments
  • “Whenever I am running, I am always thinking of things. When you’re running, the oxygen is like the ignition switch to great ideas” – Certified Personal Trainer

What The Sweat And Physical Exertion Boils Down To: A Stunned Audience

“Audiences like speakers who reflect good health and physical vitality. Research has shown that an audi­ence associates a speaker’s well-being with the soundness of his or her verbal messages. So watch your diet and exercise regularly.” – Toastmasters manual on Gestures.

Do you recall learning that your appearance both creates and leaves the biggest impact on your audience. Speakers forget that their first impression is not the first sentence out of their mouths, it is their appearance and the way they walk up to give their speech. Having a fit lifestyle will promote a confident entrance to public speaking. Apart from the words you share, you will enjoy sharing your image, you will enjoy sharing your hard work (exercise) and the results – “Dayumm you look good. A person looking as good as you must have something important to share.”

Fact: The same part of the brain that keeps people from losing weight also keeps people from great wealth! – The Millionaire Mind

“Studies have shown that a mere 7% of the messages that we communicate to others are transmitted by the words we use verbally. Instead, 55% of communication is based on physiology: the way a person stands, whether or not he smiles, degree of eye contact and so forth. The remaining 38% of communication is in tone of voice. What is said must be consistent with how it is said […] By subconsciously mirroring the physiology of others, a sensory message is sent to the brain, creating a similar emotional state. Therefore, health and fitness professionals who love their work, company, and clients and exhibit the body language that corresponds with these emotions positively affect the people around them. Because all sales decisions are ultimately made on emotion, having this effect on people can open the door to initiating the relationships that a successful career is built on.” – NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training

I would be doing this post an undeserving torture if I stopped here.

Richard Branson is the 4th richest citizen of the United Kingdom and 254th richest person in the world, according to the Forbes 2011 list of billionaires, so his words cannot be taken lightly. Especially when he was asked what the quickest way to success was… He answered with one word “Workout”.     Here are some other quotes by Richard Branson

“There’s an old saying: Look the part, and you’ll get the part. Well, more and more research is showing that people who are leaner and fitter are viewed as being more competent and successful than those who are overweight. And when people view you as competent, they are more likely to pay you what you deserve. Don’t believe me? Consider this: A New York University study found that people packing an extra 40 pounds make 20 percent less than their slimmer colleagues” – Eat This Not That, David Zinczenko

To end this post, I have to add another passion of mine that hopefully you have read my other posts on: Parkour

Ah, Sweet Ol’ Parkour

One of the greatest Parkour founders,Châu Belle, explains it is a “type of freedom” or “kind of expression”; that Parkour is “only a state of mind” rather than a set of actions, and that it is about overcoming and adapting to mental and emotional obstacles as well as physical barriers

You have to master your mind to master Parkour. And what do you need to master in order to master public speaking? That’s correct, your mind.

I would like to add that you not only have to master your mind, but your body – your movements. Just like public speaking, Parkour requires precise movements of the body in succession to mental stimulants. Can you see the correlation with gestures? It is as simple as that.

Just one more reason to try Parkour.

Stay Positive and High In Existence

Garth E. Beyer

Stomp The Prompts And Eggshells! Out-Of-The-Box Writing Prompts and Lessons –

Garth Beyer

It’s winter time in Madison, Wisconsin. It is actually snowing right now and we are supposed to get up to 5 inches. I figured this would be a perfect time to post my writing prompts I created just for you. Regardless if you are living where its snowing, I hope you have some time to do some free writing. Below you will find 15 writing prompts and one bonus prompt that I will respond to. Following the prompts I will give you suggestions on how to successfully write prompts. As much as it is a free writing technique, there are requirements and lessons to learn. It took me a lot of cruddy free writing stories to learn and I am more than happy to share them with you. Without further ado,

15 writing prompts, just for you by Garth E. Beyer: Because getting prompts elsewhere just is not good enough!

  • The tornado sirens are blaring and you are waiting by the window patiently to see if there is actually a tornado nearby. You see a woman screaming and pointing behind her as she runs toward your house. Why do you think she is screaming? What do you?
  • You felt adventurous this morning so you are at the local park which is basically like being in the woods. Not realizing how far off the trail you have gotten, you become stuck between a wolf and the edge of the cliff with raging waters steadily streaming down below. What are your thoughts and actions?
  • A large burly man has you thrown over his shoulder. Since you are not in view of the direction he is heading, all you see is desert land behind him. What do you think is ahead of him? Where is he taking you?
  • You are a bird for a day. What do you do? Where do you go?
  • You have just won the $1000 a week for life lottery. How do you celebrate? What are your plans for the money?
  • Your school field trip leaves you stuck in the hot air balloon with the prissiest girl in your class. How do you survive the 2 hour hot air balloon ride while the fuel slowly runs out?
  • Write a detailed description of where you believe wind comes from.
  • You must use a color in every sentence while describing the beginning, growth, and end of the life of your favorite fruit.
  • Free write with the sole focus of stars. It may be stars on a flag, or the sky, as long as the subject remains on stars.
  • Write in detail of your dream vacation. Where is it? What do you do? How would you describe it to a family member upon return?
  • List different types of hugs a person can give and the significance or subconscious meaning behind each.
  • You are on a roof of a building with your friends and they are pressuring you to jump across to the roof of the adjacent building. What is running through your mind? Do you jump?
  • You have just been in a terrible biking accident down a hill. You are telling your friend the narrative starting from the beginning of your day to how you ended up in the hospital bed.
  • The city has dubbed you head of college applications “Admissions Officer”. Revise and Rewrite the acceptance letter to your liking to be given to all accepted college applicants.
  • You have an assignment for Garth. You need to come up with fifteen writing prompts. Do you obey and write the writing prompts? If so, what are they? If not, why not? (Post them in comments section for me and others)

Toastmasters Bonus Prompt

My bonus prompt is not one I made up like those above. I got it from attending Toastmasters the other night during Table Topics. I was the first to volunteer (always am) to go up and pick a folded piece of paper with the prompt. “Theme: your personal best, real or imagined… Making dinner for a picky eater”. The Table Topics Master focused on positivity and the point of the Topic was to focus on the best parts of an experience, no matter how disastrous it may have been.

When I read my prompt I quickly thought of a cursed friend when she was vegetarian. It was her birthday and I tricked her by telling her that I had to stop back at my house to get my money. How could I purchase her sweet things at the mall if I had no money? To her surprise I had the house pitch black…except for the candles. I had the dining room set up with a table cloth, candles, silverware and wine glasses. After pulling the chair out for her, I came back from the kitchen and surprised her with a huge dish of vegetarian lasagna. She had been begging me to make a dinner for her. I am not the best cook, but beg and you shall receive. I found a lasagna recipe online, but really ended up grabbing whatever ingredients I thought would go good in it. While it turned out to look a bit more like goulash, she loved it. As much as she has begged me to make it for her again, I refuse. I consider that day to be my personal best at making a dinner for a picky eater. I would not want to ruin it.

Yes this was impromptu speaking and I edited it a bit for posting it here. But I didn’t want you to be the only one writing prompts! It’s like having a personal fitness trainer that doesn’t lift weights with you. It just cannot be.

I Prompt You To Learn These Lessons About Writing Prompts Promptly

1. Writing from a prompt is supposed to break you away from your normal writing techniques. I suggest practicing writing with your left hand before you start a prompt, flipping open a dictionary and taking some random words out to use in your writing, and doing your best to not use your memories – use your imagination.

2. I broke up with my prompt and got the better half. Writing from prompts are not meant to flow. You are not writing an essay (unless stated otherwise in the prompt hehe). Be brief and concise in each idea you come up with for the prompt, break them up and find a way to connect them later. The greatest stories from prompts happen when miraculous ideas are dubstepped on paper and get the reader using all parts of their brain to connect them.

3. If you decide to crumple up your paper, you know you are in the right direction – as long as you uncrumple it and keep writing. You have to let yourself fail when writing from a prompt, only then can you figure out the message you really want to get across in the prompt.

4. Having writers block when trying to write a prompt? Others will tell you to force it and push through. They are wrong, never do this when writing from a prompt. What they are asking you to do is break your barrier and find the flow. As stated in number 2, that is not what you want. Grab another prompt that you can actually start and be creative.

5. Really do have fun with it. So many freewriters focus on making their story really important and try to send a message or lesson in their writing from a prompt. Yet again, they are trying to shape what they write, do not do this. If a lesson or theme is supposed to be shared from the prompt, then it will be. The main focus should be to make your writing quirky, unique, and out-of-the-box.

6. Lastly, I want to provide you with one great resource that I found on Squidoo (Created by Seth Godin, one of my heroes). Check out this Writing Prompt Lens

Stay Positive and Egg-on Those Prompts

Garth E. Beyer

A Writer’s Crashing “Train of Thought” and Why It’s Excellent

Garth Beyer

Disturbing or interrupting a Writer while at work is one of the best, worst acts you could perform.

The reason why most, if not all writers dislike being disturbed is due to the lack of brain capacity. I do not mean that their brains can’t handle being interrupted and filled with information, I mean that they do not leave a void open for the disturbances. Then again, why should a writer do that?

Sure, getting interrupted when you are sitting down to start writing, or when you are hitting a little writers block is not a bad thing, it may even give you a mental jump start. But why is it such a sin to interrupt a writer while he is “in the zone” or making final touches or just giving birth to a fantastic surreal book idea? Why is it me and maybe a select few other writers who praise the moments of interruption during these power-writing and focused work moments?

Enter Clover (The Cat)

I have a lot to be grateful for Clover. She is one of the reasons I finish writing blog posts instead of only writing ideas to expand on later. From the picture above, you can tell how cute she is, so when she lays on my lap while I write, I can’t do anything but write. Who would want to disturb such an adorable creature. — And so I write.

On the other hand, she often makes me lose my temper because she interrupts my writing. I don’t have a problem with the moments she jumps up on my lap and lays quietly and sleeps. What I hate is when she jumps up and doesn’t land perfectly, slides off, all the while digging her claws into my legs. Even if you don’t have a cat,  I know you can feel the pain as a writer. It’s the same when someone interrupts you when you are in a hotspot of writing; rather than having claws scraped down your leg, they are scraped down your mind, breaking the frequency of thoughts. (Unfortunately I get to feel both: scraping on my legs and my mind)

Writing is Personal History

Whether it’s a cat digging its nails into your flesh, a person shouting your name repeatedly, someone who has the tv or radio blaring, or the fridge that is making too much noise, you (a writer) need to leave a vacant mental space for these interruptions. Not so you can deal with them and move on, but so you can absorb the experience and transfer it into your writing.

Everything writers write comes from the past. It comes from some thought, some memory, some action taken, some sight seen, something in the past. Next time you read an article try to discover what had happened that made the writer want to write about it. Commonly it involves a personal experience. Some writers go on about a life changing event that happened to them, while other writers write about a small experience that made a world of difference.

The greatest writers can take any experience and write something worth reading about it.

And here we are. I have just taken the annoyingly disturbing occurrence of Clover digging her nails into my legs after a failed attempt at jumping on my lap, and created something worthy for writers to read. What does all of this have to show you?

A Non-Stop Writers Attitude

Here are reasons to appreciate all disturbances while you are writing.

1 It forces you (the writer) to re-read the last one or two sentences you wrote, thus focusing in on making sure you are writing in the direction you want

2 Allowing your brain to get out of the writing frequency for a moment or two, you now re-surged it with power and most likely PREVENTED a writer’s block period from occurring

3 You have just been universally sparked with a new memory to work into your writing

4 Which is more important? Continuing an idea that you have COMPLETE CONTROL over  in your writing and that you can go back to anytime OR giving someone else the satisfaction of your attention? (Most often, when you don’t give someone what they want – your attention – you are going to piss them off and it’s just going to spoil your day, am I right?)

If you are in or going into the lifestyle of writing, you need to have a Non-Stop Writers Attitude.

For a true writer, there are never interruptions, there are never periods that you are not writing and there are certainly never other things that deserve your focus more than the paper or document your writing or typing on. To become a truly successful writer you need to have the mind-set of the above principles, understand them, and implement them at every opportunity. (As a Writer, that is always)

Stay Positive and Mind-Void Interruptions, Rather than Avoid

Garth E. Beyer