If you’re a writer who struggles with self-doubt, frustration, writer’s block, fear of failure, perfectionism, disgust for your work, hopelessness, complacency, and just plain boredom — you’re normal, because all writers do!   This eBook will help you write through it all. 

Here’s what one reader says:

“After reading your e-Book I am totally charged! It’s motivational, easy to read, and speaks directly to me and every one of my writing angsts and blocks – your energy vibrates off the page. It’s like having you personally talking to me, telling it like it is and encouraging me on. It spoke to so many of my blocks – and I credit it with firing me up after being on simmer for so long.” ~ Maggie R.

I love it — that’s exactly what I was hoping would happen!

To learn more, visit 73 Ways to Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse: How to Write Even When You Don’t Wanna, or Think You Can’t.

And if you have any questions or thoughts, please ask below…

First, some wise words on writing talent:

“I see the notion of talent as quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application, industry, assiduity, will, will, will, desire, desire, desire.” – Gordon Lish.

I don’t know what “assiduity” means, but I get the rest of it. To be a successful writer, you need to work your tushie off!

Okay, here’s a roundup of my new articles on my Quips and Tips blogs…

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

Ideas for Writers Who Travel, But Who Don’t Write About Traveling – because I love to travel, but never write travel articles for magazines! But, I do write about other things when I travel…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips For New Web Writers – a guest blog post from a fellow Suite writer, about online writing.

Editing Help – Tips for Revising Articles, Essays, and Short Stories – based on a book about trying to sell your book idea to agents or publishers (I describe this book below).

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals

Are Introverts Normal? Information About the Introvert’s Personality – because a reader interviewed me about introverted personality traits, and referred to introverts as “abnormal”!

How to Buy a New House – 8 Tips for First Time Home Buyers – a press release from Bills.com, one of my favorite sources of money info.

Letting Go of Someone You Love When You Don’t Have Closure – because Letting Go of Someone You Love is the most popular topic on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals.

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility

Benefits of Getting Your Period – How Menstruation is Good for You! – I’ve been trying to sell a “power of your period” article for far too long; this blog post is the basis of that article.

Living Without Children in a World of Families – because a reader asked how she can learn how to live as a childless woman in our “mammocentric” society. I offered a few thoughts on not having kids in a world of families.

New Articles on See Jane Soar

The Key to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Coco Chanel – because I want to help women succeed, and soar, and shine!

When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know – I’m slowly beginning to think of my writing career as a business, and thus need to learn and write all I can about being a successful businesswoman.

Money Tips for Women in Their 50s and 60s  – a wonderful overview of how to become financially stable in the middle half of your life, from the financial experts at Women & Co.

New Articles on Psychology Suite101

How to Control Angry Feelings – because a teenage reader talked about his uncontrollable anger, and asked how to stop being so angry.

Solutions for Depressed or Anxious Teens – because I’m shocked at how many teenagers struggle with depression! I don’t know if it’s hormones or what, but they sure are lots of them.

What I’m Reading This Week – Book Recommendation

I’m LOVING Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected by Jessica Page Morrell. I suspect this will become my favorite resource for writers; it’s full of great writing, plotting, revising, editing, and “how to get published” tips.

Click the book to learn more, and have a great week!

You’re welcome to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, or jokes below…

Before the articles, here’s one of my favorite quotations from Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- From A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles.”

Lovely, no? And now a roundup of my most recent articles on my four blogs…

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

• The Best Ways to Invest in Your Writing Career – because, fellow scribes, you have to spend money to make money!
• A Top 10 Writing Blog – Quips and Tips for Successful Writers – a full list and description of Michael Stelzner’s Top 10 Writing Blogs, because I’m chuffed that Quips & Tips is one!

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals

• Jet Lag Remedies – Natural Ways to Stop Feeling Jet Lagged – because I flew to Austria a few days ago, and am up at 2:30 a.m. every night! Here’s how sleeping pills help…
• Tips for Hiring a Personal Fitness Trainer – for people who need external motivation to lose weight and get fit.

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility

• Can’t Get Pregnant? 3 Complicated Fertility Tests of an Infertility Workup – this is list and brief description of three more complicated types of fertility tests, which will help women figure out why they can’t get pregnant.

New Articles on See Jane Soar

• Money Tips for Women in Their 20s, 30s, and 40s – a wonderful overview of how to become financially stable in the first half of your life, from the financial experts at Women & Co.
• Turning Failure to Success for Female Entrepreneurs – Maya Angelou – because I love the quotation, “Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett.

New Articles on Psychology Suite101

• The Top 10 Qualities of Good Psychologists – wanting to be a psychologist is different than actually being a good one; this list of the best qualities will help people decide if counseling is the career for them.

 

What I’m Reading This Week – Book Recommendation

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott is my reading material while I explore Austria – it’s a perfect balance between serious writing advice and light happy reading.

I’m also making my way through Sophie’s Choice, but it’s a bit of a slog. It’s a slow, meandering novel that includes lots of descriptions and background info…not my favorite type of reading. But, I wanted to bring a classic along.

Click Bird by Bird book for more info about one of my favorite books about writing, and have a great week!

You’re welcome to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, or jokes below…

First, here’s an interesting quip from How I Became a Successful Novelist (a work of fiction) by Steve Hely.

“The financial success of an author is inversely proportional to the literary worth of the book.” – Pete Tarslaw. 

Me, I’d rather be a financially successful writer than a literary author! Call me a hack if you’d like (and people do), but I’m paying my bills and going on adventurous vacations

Okay, here’s a roundup of my new articles…

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

• 5 Over-Used Words and Phrases for Writers to Avoid – this is a guest post from Susan Johnston, of The Urban Muse. We write guest posts for each other every month; mine for her is the 5 Commonly Misused Words and Phrases in Writing.
• Writing Quips and Tips From Annie Dillard – I love gathering writing quips from famous published authors, and pairing them with my own writing tips. This week, Annie Dillard is featured!
• Networking Tips for Successful Writers – How to Get More Writing Jobs – my last two major writing jobs came from networking at a party…this articles summarizes a few ways to network for even the most introverted writers. 

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals

• Love Relationship Advice – How to Save Your Marriage After Infidelity – my love and relationship articles are the most popular ones on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals; this is more or less my best advice to readers (based on reader questions).
• Getting a Payday Loan? How to Avoid Borrowing a Paycheck Advance – I love getting press releases from Bills.com; they’re informative, practical, and tips-based! Plus, the powers that be let me post their info on my site.
• Kids’ Halloween Ideas – Candy Shopping, Halloween Parties, and Spending Money – this is a guest post from Karyn Hodgens, creator of KidsSave. She helps kids learn to take charge of their money, and has been contributing to Quips & Tips regularly. 

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility

• Having Trouble Conceiving? Basic Fertility Tests of an Infertility Workup – a round-up of the easiest fertility tests for couples coping with infertility.
• Clomiphene Challenge Test – an Infertility Test for Women – my new fertility doctor recommended this important fertility test, which my two other fertility doctors never mentioned! 

New Articles on See Jane Soar

• Online Relationships – How to Survive an Internet Affair – because so many readers are coping with emotional affairs and infidelity; this article is based on a male reader’s question (he cheated on his wife and wants to make it up to her) and a female reader’s response (her husband cheated on her).
• Healing Female Friendships – Michelle Obama – female friendships are so important for our emotional and physical health, and I always feel guilty for not maintaining my female friendships better… 

New Article on Psychology Suite101

• New Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease – interesting new research from the American Academy of Neurology found that poor money management skills can be indicative of future Alzheimer’s Disease. 

What I’m Reading This Week – Book Recommendation

It’s been fun reading How I Became a Successful Novelist by Steve Hely – probably because I want to be a successful writer! Also, because it’s full of quirky characters and historical info about published writers. For instance…

“American novelist Amy Abbot McNicholas found writing so difficult that each morning she had her servant lock up all the chamber pots in the house, and keep them locked up until she was presented by her mistress with ten pages of prose. McNicholas died at 48 of a bladder infection.”

Click the book cover to go to Amazon for more info, and have a great week!

You’re welcome to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, or jokes below…

First, advice from Ray Bradbury for writers:

“To sum it all up, if you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling.

You must write every single day of your life.

You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next.

You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. 

I wish for you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime.

I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you.

May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories—science fiction or otherwise.

Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

Thanks, Mr Bradbury — this is wonderful advice for writers.

Okay, here’s a roundup of my new articles on my four blogs…

New Article on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

• Writing Careers – Jobs for Magazine Staff Writers and Editors – I quoted Rona Maynard in this article – she was the editor of the fabulously successful Chatelaine magazine for 10 years. Canadian! 

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals

• Leaving Your Husband or Wife – 4 Ways to File for Divorce – if you’re getting a divorce, here are four options (I’d go with mediation – but I’m not getting divorced!).
• How to Save Christmas Money Before the Holiday Season – this is a great list of ways to save money, from Ethan Ewing of Bills.com.
• Signs of Eating Disorders in Teenagers – because too many girls struggle with body image and body confidence issues.
• 8 Thanksgiving Gift Ideas for Turkey Day – Thanksgiving is just ‘round the corner for Canadians…what are you taking for the cooker of the turkey?
• Invited to a Potluck on Turkey Day? Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas – if you’re invited to a turkey day potluck, you’ll find some great ideas for gifts and dishes here.
• How to Find the Right Brain Games and Brain Exercises – from Alex Colket, creator of PlayWithYourMind.com.

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility

• Infertility and Divorce – How to Know if You Can Save Your Marriage – I tell ya, I picked up A Step-by-Step Guide to Deciding Whether to Stay or Go by Susan Pease Gadoua because I thought it’d trigger an article idea…and I wrote three articles about divorce. 
• Ways to Cope With Infertility Depression on Thanksgiving Day – because infertility depression is worse over the holidays, unless you can get out of town or something.

New Articles on See Jane Soar

• Women Considering Divorce – Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Husband – it can be hard to know if you can save your marriage, but sometimes the signs say go go go!!
• What Halloween Costumes Reveal About Personality Traits – Halloween is just ‘round the corner for everyone (not just Canadians!) – what does your costume say about you? 

If you want to read more about relationships, go to Popular Articles About Love, Relationships, and Infidelity – there’s lots of info there! 

Oh, yes, and I also wrote How to Decide About Getting Divorced: 4 Options for Married Couples in Unhappy Marriages on my Psychology topic on Suite101, where I’m a Feature Writer. Mustn’t forget about Suite!

What I’m Reading This Week – Book Recommendation

As I said, I’m reading Contemplating Divorce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Deciding Whether to Stay or Go by Susan Pease Gadoua. Even if you aren’t considering divorce, this book shows how to build a happy marriage – or how to reconnect with your spouse. And since so many readers ask questions about love and relationships on my Quips & Tips blogs, I think this information will help me help them!

Click on the book cover for details. 

That’s it for this week!

You’re welcome to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, or jokes below…

First, a quip for writers:

“Failure is part of it. You will be rejected dozens and dozens of times. The best way to prepare for it is to have something else in the works by the time the rejection letter arrives. Invest your hope in the next project. Learning to cope with rejection is a good trait to develop.” – Po Bronson.

Learning to cope with rejection is a good trait for all people, not just writers. Bounce back and move forward, my friends! And, check out my newest articles…

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

• Tips for Writing a Long or Short Author Bio for Magazine Articles – as requested by a fellow writer, through Twitter.
• 5 Tips to Make Your Sentences Flow – Good Writing Skills – because you can’t keep readers until the bitter end unless your sentences flow!
• 14 Tips for Successful Magazine Writers – a round up of tips from published authors, freelance writers, script writers, bloggers, and editors.

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals

• Weight Loss for Teens – How to Lose Body Fat – because a teen asked for help on one of my Suite101 articles.
• 6 Ways to Create Long-Term Success – because a reader asked for help on one of my Suite101 articles!
• Solving Tax Problems Early – 9 Strategies for Income Taxes – because I think it’s smart to think about taxes midway through the year if you’re an entrepreneur.

New Articles on Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility

• Reasons for Low Sperm Count and Male Infertility – interesting new research on the evolutionary causes of infertility.
• Dr Phil’s Tips for Women Obsessed With Having a Baby – I made a point to watch Dr Phil that day because he was featuring infertile couples who want to get pregnant — and was infuriated with Dr Phil’s advice!
• How to Overcome Infertility Depression  – because infertility is a drag, but it doesn’t have to ruin our lives.

New Articles on See Jane Soar

• Overcoming Shame and Guilt – Erica Jong – based on a wonderful reasearch study from the University of Alberta (my alma mater).
• Dealing With Different Money Personalities as a Couple – Suze Orman – are you a saver or a spender? What about your partner? This was fun to write
• Overcoming an Unexpected Relationship Breakup – Eleanor Roosevelt – not because my hubby and I suddenly split up! A reader asked a question on Quips & Tips, which prompted me to write this post.

What I’m Reading This Week – Book Recommendation

I’m reading Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond by Aaron Walter, and think it’s the perfect balance between basic and technical information. He discusses everything from WordPress plugins to managing domain names – some of it is way too “computer program-y” for me, but most of it is accessible, practical, and helpful. He highlights best practices for creating websites and blogging, and explains the “how to” clearly.  I like this book much better than Blogging for Dummies.

The best part is that Walter’s tips will help readers find your website or blog, and encourage them to return! Click the book cover for more info on Amazon.

Your turn! If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, or jokes, please share them below…