Building and Nurturing Harmony in Your Writing

Dr. Ian Prattis , founder of Friends for Peace Canada, who is a Zen teacher, speaker and writer about the well-being of the planet . He is a writer of articles for Guidelines to Recreate Our World based on the teachings of Zen.

He believes the source of peace in the world is a peaceful mind.

This also applies to your writng. To create this environment , you have to work on transforming the seeds of fear of failure and rejection by cultivating peace within its inner core.

Sometimes, such an environment can be nurtured simply by being at peace within yourself. Peace happens one step , one person, and one mind at a time. Yes, it can take internal work to achieve this... Some people can work towards this through meditation, Tai Chi, and Qi Qong and other programs that can reduce stress and negative emotions.

Yes, it is possible to change the human mind set-- when dealing with perils of being a writer.

Scrapbooking-- a writer's inspiration

As a writer of a one-of-a-kind journaling workbook “ A Year in Serendipity” http://
tinyurl.com/serendipityjournal -written to help people in their life and career goal
attainment, I have come to experience first-hand some of the unique insights
regarding how to use scrapbooking in both my professional and personal life.

There are some very wonderful and inspiring practical reasons for scrapbooking.

Yes, indeed, it can be a multifaceted technique/approach to career and life management and planning. For example, it can be applied by writers in autobiographies, diaries and even as a professional career portfolio/webfolio/ blog.

Scrapbooking, in a life skills sense, can be employed to focus on motivating and
inspiring moments , and even to retrace a journey to life transforming/ life –changing moment(s). For instance, you can immortalize a pictorial of a significant historical event you were involved in , or an episode of personal achievement that changed your life forever.



Scrapbooking can be one way to figure out who you used to be, how you got to be who you are today, while at the same , rediscovering the journey that got you there.

The possibilities for its uses and benefits for writing are limitless.

Advisory panel --Mastermind group for writing goals

How many of us have an advisory panel-- mastermind group-- that you can access for feedback to evaluate your writing goals.

Such persons can guide, motivate and mentor us... But choose wisely-- try to choose people whose strengths are your weaknesses, and come from very diverse backgrounds and writing perspectives.

Radio Canada on the Internet-- a great research resource

Radio Canada is a leader in Internet TV --Tou.TV--get full programming, catchup viewing and simultaneously webcasting.

Use this resource to keep up with the news for your writing research and planning.

Goal setting and achievements for your writing

For goal setting and achievement re your writing projects, do a photo collage to inspire and motivate yourself, especially when facing writer s block.

Place it in a prominent position and it will be imprinted on your mind... You will find it quite effective as a visual reminder and energizer, I am sure.

Voice to text software

Here below is a site for software to help you in your writing projects.. Excellent tool for those who get tired of typing text.



Voice to text software--, check their website:

http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/

Good sites for Research

Here are some sites for research:

www.fumsi.com and www.freeprint.com.. Both of these sites provide practical help with info skills, and with company and trends research.

You can also check out Moreover Newsdesk-- it has the most news content from the Web.

These are definitely some sites you should bookmark.

A site for online computer courses

Go to www.linda.com-- for free computer online courses and not so free courses, and other great stuff that can help you in your research for your various writing projects.

It also has a great online course for using Twitter-- a great research and marketing tool that all writers can use...

Happy Hunting on this site. Enjoy!

Focus on the big picture

When you are writing, it is important to think of your script/piece – not as a thing in and of itself, but as part of a larger process.

This is particularly significant in our digital world with its emphasis on open platform, interactivity and global venue.

Other groups and associations for writers

1-WFNS: Organizations for Writers

www.writers.ns.ca/organs.html -


2- Canadian Links of Interest to Writers

A national organization, with strong regional representations in Toronto and ... Canada's national writing association of "Writers Helping Writers"

www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/WWClinks.html -


3- ... The Toronto Branch is one of several Canadian Authors Association (CAA) Branches located across Canada....part of a nation-wide organization.

www.canauthorstoronto.org

Associations and groups for writers

1-- You can join the Canadian Authors Association: www.canauthors.org/ but they can be expensive . If you are really into making a living by writing- this is one organization you might like to join.

2- The MetroActive Writer's Club ; www.metroactivewritersclub.com/ “ The MetroActive Writer's Club is a place for both established and aspiring writers, authors, and publishers to grow and flourish. We provide an environment for informal, open, and one-on-one discussions with industry people. It is a great opportunity to learn about the writing and book publishing trade and meet people that know the industry best. Over the past two years, we've had some of Canada's best-selling authors share their wisdom with our members. This year we have teamed up with the world-renowned talent from St. Michael's College to offer expanded perspective into the literary world.”

Baldassare B. Minaudo, B.A. (Hons.), M.B.A.
President, MetroActive Lifestyle Network



3-You can also try this one- visit http://www.torontobookcamp.org. But, I don't know too much about it. Still, it is worth investigating.

4 –Word on the Street Book Festival September ,2010. They will have a booth area for e-books this year. A must- attend event! Contact name and details below.
Amanda Shamshudeen
Marketing and Development Associate
The Word On The Street
67 Mowat Avenue, Suite 242
Toronto, ON M6K 3E3
T | 416 504 7241
E | amanda@thewordonthestreet.ca
W | www.thewordonthestreet.ca
B | http://read-write-think.blogspot.com/
Become our fan on Facebook: http://bit.ly/bnaU4D
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/torontoWOTS

5. The Editors Association of Canada (EAC) www.editors.ca/- “Promotes professional editing as key in producing effective communications in the corporate, technical, government, non-profit, and publishing sectors”.


6- The Periodical Writers Association of Canada (PWAC). www.pwac.ca/ “National association of professional freelance writers, providing services and benefits to members, and an online free "find a writer" service to businesses".


7- There are also Facebook groups , LinkedIn groups and various MeetUp groups for writers.

TheFuture of E-Publishing and E-Reading—

Here below is an excerpt and link to a Panel Discussion on e-publishing. I thought you might like to see it as it may help you in developing plans for your e-book


The Future of E-Publishing and E-Reading—Panel Discussion—April 7th, 2010



Traditionally publishers have been printing books for authors, selling to distributors who turn it around and sell to retailers. A consumer buys the book and sells second hand book to other consumer or a specialist used book store. The digital publishing is changing the model and on its way by passing many middle businesses. The book is no longer a physical entity and an e-author can publish the book him or herself and sells directly to the consumers. The process has also created new vistas – eBook readers, self-publishing houses, e-authors, and e-books. Anita’s presentation has a lot of good info. See below for link.



Future of E-Publishing and e-Reading Panel Discussion Apr. 7 2010 http://www.sipgroup.org/events/e_publishing2010/index.htm

Writers' Associations and groups

These are a few resources I hastily put together for a friend a few years back re: writing associations I have come across on the Net-- so some of the links may have changed. You probably are aware of them but I thought I would put them out there for you anyway.

I hope it helps you in some fashion.



1- You can join the Canadian Authors Association but they are expensive to join. Apparently, a friend recommended that if you are really into making a living by writing- this is one organization you might like to join.

4- ( This blurb was taken from one of their emails) The MetroActive Writer's Club has a couple of hundred writer's many of them
have written best-selling books and others have written over the
years, perhaps published some articles and are working on our first
best-seller. They meet the last Tuesday of each month at the University of Toronto.
Details are found at www.metroactive.org in the upcoming events section. They
always have a panel of two or three experts; and they discuss relevant topics
to becoming successful authors

5- You can also try this one- visit http://www.torontobookcamp.org. But, I don't know too much about it. Still, it is worth investigating.

Common Sense Writing

I recently discovered the book “The Art of Plain Talk”-- real oldie but goodie-- by Rudolf Flesch . As the book quotes: ” it shows you how to say and write what you mean in English that people understand.”

It is well worth a look through for those interested in what I call “ common sense writing”.

Turn your blog into a book.. soft or hardcover

As you continue into the New Year of 2010, are you looking at ways to get your writing "out there" in a trendy, but cost effective manner?

Did you ever think about turning your blog into a book.. soft or hardcover? Well, here is a link that deals with this endeavor.

http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html