Writing Techniques: One Technique That Crosses All Genres

There are writing techniques for every type of writing out there: jou
aling, copywriting, fiction, non-fiction, poetry. You name it, techniques exist to help you do it.

I'd like to introduce a technique I use that crosses the lines and works for ALL types of writing.

One of the biggest roadblocks I hear from many would-be writers is "I'm not good enough, yet" or "I don't have enough time". Procrastinators have hundreds of excuses. Those are two favorites.

But how do you get past such obstacles and onto the job of writing?

By envisioning your success before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

You may have heard of the movie, The Secret. In it, the makers reveal what has made their lives hundreds of times more successful (yes, a happy by-product if you use this method for your writing: a more successful life all around).

What's this secret?

The Law of Attraction. What you think about comes to you. That means, if you're late to work and you worry you'll be even later because traffic's bad - you will be. You focused on the bad and it happened.

No, it doesn't just fall into your lap. You do have to act on things that will lead you to success, but if you think you will succeed, you will. If you think you'll fail, guess what - you will.

I've practiced this positive thinking when I've felt I was going to fail at something and found it works wonders. When we put our house on the market last year, all the doom-sayers I told assured me it would never sell. Theirs hadn't, so mine wouldn't.

I told them it would. And it did. In a month-and-a-half.

Talk about the power of positive thinking!

But what has selling a house got to do with writing? Plenty. This "life" technique is my favorite writing technique. And you can use it, too.

In writing, this means if you think you aren't good enough, you won't be. What you write will be boring, amateurish or just plain garbage, because that's what you think you will write. You'll attract bad writing, if you will, by believing you'll write badly.

In the same vein, if you think you're too busy, you will be. Extra projects will pop up out of nowhere. Or the car will break and you'll have to deal with it. Or the kids will be sick, and you'll have to miss work to deal with them, then work overtime to make it up.

Life is busy. And we're brought up to believe we're not good enough. But it's time to stop excusing our lack of time and "wisdom" and start attracting happier outcomes.

Imagine you're a great writer. Do whatever it takes to help yourself become one: read books on writing, read the kinds of things you want to write, whether that's fiction, non-fiction or poetry.

Then keep imagining how wonderfully and easily words slide from your mind to the page. Believe in yourself, and you'll find you're much better than you thought. You've given yourself permission to BE good.

If time is your enemy, imagine your full days moving smoothly, everything falling into place on time. And picture yourself with an hour of spare time every day, an hour when you're fresh and jumping with ideas. An hour when you write great things because you KNOW you can.

For many, this mind-set isn't easy. We're taught that life is hard and we have to spend a long time getting to the "good" in life, the things we want.

But if we change how we think about it, whether it's your writing or selling your house, we can change how it happens. For the better.

Stop letting the naysayers and know-it-alls tell you how hard it is to find time to write, much less write well. You KNOW you can do it. Believe in yourself, and you can.
Copyright 2009 by Susie Henderson