Are you writing a book or a novel? Or maybe your project isn’t that large but you’re still getting too caught up in the fear (will it be good enough? Will they change their minds?) to enjoy it.

Think about one of the pieces of writing you’re currently working on. What have you been focusing on? How would it feel to enjoy the process? If you’re still interviewing people, appreciate the fact that your work involves you talking to all sorts of interesting people.

If tying up loose ends feel frustrating, at least acknowledge the fact that you’ve become better at handling bitty assignments as you’ve built up more experience.

Enjoy the process and it will come out in your writing. It will also make you a more pleasant writer for agents and editors to deal with so you’ll find yourself landing more assignments.

Your loved ones will benefit, too.

If you’re still struggling to think of ways to enjoy your own personal writing climb, think about whether changing the area you write about you needs to evolve.

What can you start doing right now to enjoy writing more?

For more information and advice, please visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk

“The key to wealth isn’t in how you invest your money. It’s how you invest your time.” Roger Hamilton

Are you telling people (even just yourself) you want to break into a new field of journalism / write a novel / get a book deal?

What are your actions saying? Are you spending at least some time every day progressing that goal?

If you don’t know how you’re spending your time and you’re unhappy with the way your writing is progressing, a simple shift is often all you need.

Can you only find an extra 30 minutes a day to push forward with that book  proposal / novel / queries? Do it. You’ll still have a boost in wellbeing from knowing that you’re moving forward with your goals.

Get more information and free tips at www.coachingwriters.co.uk

Do you take the fact that you come up with great ideas on a frequent basis and turn them into wonderful copy (articles, books or other writing work) for granted? Or maybe you have amazing organisational skills but, because it comes easily to you, you dismiss them as something anyone could do?

What about the things you struggle with? Do you over rate the skills needed to balance your accounts or to pick up the phone for that tricky conversation?

The more time you can spend on doing the things that you do best, the better you’ll get at doing them.

You’ll also be constantly re-energising yourself by doing something you love. But if you let all the niggly chores that you hate overtake your schedule, you’ll have no energy or time left for your writing work.

This isn’t to say that you should neglect all the things that don’t come so naturally. But identifying what needs to be done doesn’t mean you have to do everything. List all the jobs you hate doing and think about other ways you could get them done. Would hiring a virtual PA help? Or maybe you could trade services with another small business (your writing skills for their accounting, perhaps)?

Use your creativity to bring more energy into your writing business and you’ll find you have more time to relax, too…

To order your FREE Coaching Writers Information Kit, please email eve@applecoaching.com

To sign up for FREE confidence tips, please visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk

To sign up for FREE Creating Copy with Confidence tips, please visit www.CreatingCopyWithConfidence.co.uk

If you’re a writer and you don’t already have at least one computer solution, you’re likely to be wasting imagination by worrying about what you’d do if it all went wrong.

It’s something I used to worry about all the time. But now, with so many easy back up solutions (my favourite are the memory sticks), I feel much more relaxed.

When I worked in an office, while I felt frustrated when my computer got ill / died (pretty regularly!), I learned quite a lot from the IT staff just by osmosis.

Since 2004, when I started working for myself, I’ve been able to fix most problems myself but it’s reassuring to know that I have options available.

One of these is a local computer technician who has been an absolute star.

For 24/7 support (I often work odd hours), The Geek Squad are fantastic. For a small monthly subscription, they can fix things remotely and also talk me through processes so I learn, too.

And, finally, there’s a lovely local computer shop, Billericay Computers, who are very helpful and fast. When my wireless adapter died a few weeks ago, I was concerned in case the whole computer was problematic. Now, my broadband connection is better than ever.

By spending a little time researching your local options, you’ll save hours (not to mention loads of stress) when something goes wrong.

For more information about Business Coaching and NLP for Writers, please visit www.CoachingWriters.co.uk

To order your FREE Coaching Writers Information Kit, please email eve@applecoaching.com

© Eve Menezes Cunningham 2008

This time last week, I was feeling pretty pleased with all the progress I was making with various writing and work projects.

Then on Monday, my kitchen burned down. The fire fighters, neighbours, friends and everyone has been amazing but it's been a real shock.

Now that I've had a few days to adjust and things are moving forward (although it could be 2-3 months before I can cook in my own kitchen again), I realise that my "emergency plans" weren't adequate.

When it happened, I was just relieved to get out myself. If it hadn't been contained by the amazing fire fighters so quickly, I'd have lost all my work (including all the careful backing up I do).

As it is, workwise, I've only lost a few days' concentration and some books that were in the kitchen.

Luckily, I was ahead of deadline on the 6 most urgent features I'm working on so that's not a disaster.

You don't have to be melodramatic, working yourself into a state thinking about all the potential disasters that could befall (we writers often have overactive imaginations).

But do think about the kind of emergencies, accidents, illnesses and other disasters that could negatively impact your writing.

When you back up work, keep a memory stick off site (whether at a friend's house or in a safety security box). I've been doing this but the most recent back up was a couple of months ago so I'll be more careful from now on.

Also, consider the kind of insurance you need if you work from home. It's hard to predict the unpredictable (and who wants to give deepest fears energy anyway?) but taking basic precautions will help you relax and enjoy life.

© Eve Menezes Cunningham 2008. All rights reserved.

www.coachingwriters.co.uk

www.articlesbyevemenezescunningham.co.uk

Years ago, when I started reading books that promised to help get me published, I read them with a heavy heart. With too many of them, the tome was one of gloom and doom. Too many people wanting to write, too many changes in the publishing industry, tortured artist…

This didn’t motivate me and I stayed in jobs where I was doing a bit of writing but not in any field I felt particulately passionate about.

Then, when I was preparing to go it alone in 2004, I came across a delightful book (and I’ve been lucky enough to interview the author a couple of times) which I now recommend to many of my clients: Making a Living Without a Job by Barbara Winter was practical and funny.

I learned a lot about running a business without feeling that I was struggling through a text book. I then came across Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell’s absolutely delightful The Renegade Writer which is filled with tips for journalists who haven’t taken the most obvious route. What set it apart from the other journalism books I’d read, with their template letters for agents, editors and publishers, was the upbeat tone.

Linda and Diana addressed these templates to Dear Ms Publish Me, or Dear Wondrous Editor.

They also include practical advice from other freelancers and, liking Kelly James Enger’s advice, I bought her books Ready, Aim, Specialise and $ix-figure Freelancing. Again, I was laughing aloud as well as growing my writing business (I puzzled non-writing friends and family by reading especially funny bits over the phone, too).

She recommended Bob Bly’s Secrets of a Freelance Writer and he, too, adopts an upbeat “You can do it!” tone. One of his sample email addresses is DelightfulMessage@yourcompany.com

If you’d like to know more about these books (and others that may be of interest), please visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk for full details.

Whether you read them or not, consider your own query emails and letters. Take another look at your book proposals. Is your message cheerful and happy or is there a sense of desperation?  

By focusing on the joy that publication will bring you, you'll feel more motivated, happier and productive.

To order your FREE Coaching Writers Information Kit, please email eve@applecoaching.com

To sign up for free confidence tips, please visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk

To sign up for copywriting tips, please visit www.evemenezescunningham.co.uk

Many writers are naturally quite shy.

If you feel you clam up or ramble on the phone and in person, it's natural to want to hide behind written words in emails and letters. These can be edited so your meaning is completely clear.

Then again, when you send of an email query or post a book proposal, even though you've laboured over every letter, you have no idea how it's going to be received.

If you were talking to the editor, agent or publisher, you'd be able to gage their level of interest from their tone or, in person, body language.

Next time you have a meeting with a client and are worried about being "face to face", remind yourself of the advantages. You can always send an email when you get back to your office to summarise what you've agreed and ensure you're both on the same page.

Meeting people can be fun for even the shyest of writers. Expand your comfort zone by testing out one new networking opportunity each week (or if that really feels like too much, each month).

As you meet other people, maybe through a writer's organisation like the NUJ or through a local business group, you'll get better at it.

And when you automatically plan to send an email, just ask yourself if this is something that could be handled more effectively on the phone. Often email will be perfect, but by checking in with yourself each time, you'll be more likely to notice opportunities to get to know editors, agents and publishers better by phone.

There are all sorts of things you can do to boost your confidence before a meeting or scary phone call. But something you can start doing right now is to think about the result you want from the interaction.

Imagine yourself hearing you've got the commission at the end of your meeting or phone call. Visualise the payment on your online bank statement. Feel the joy and excitement as you think about the interesting people you'll be talking to.

Then make that call / go to that meeting... 

If Business Coaching and NLP for Writers would help you, visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk to find out more and sign up for free tips.

© Eve Menezes Cunningham 2008. All rights reserved.

Too many people live their lives in the past. They worry about what they’ve done, what they haven’t done, what they wish they’d done… Some people work themselves into such a state, they lose sight of where they are and where they can be.

1. UPDATE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS LOG – Ideally, you should be doing this everyday (listing all the things you’ve done well each day, both small and huge) as few things build lasting self-esteem faster. When this becomes a habit, any regrets about commissions lost / ideas not acted on etc. will be tempered by all the fantastic things you’re doing. Too often, people only focus on things that they’ve done wrong. Start redressing that balance today…

2. REMEMBER HENRY FORD’S WORDS – “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye of your goal.” Regrets are just another distraction from where you’re going. And Henry’s Ford Motor Company was his third attempt at setting up a company to manufacture cars. Keep your focus on what you want. Breaking into that glossy magazine? A book deal? A column?

3. DAYDREAM A LITTLE – It doesn’t matter what’s gone wrong. Shake it off and think about your best case solution scenario. Really get into it and imagine how your happy ending (for this solution) will look, feel, sound, taste, smell and so on. When you can taste the result you’re after, you’ll be well on your way to making it a reality…

4. IDENTIFY THE CRITICAL VOICE – If you had critical parents / teachers and so on, you may have become hypercritical of yourself. Next time regretful thoughts flood your brain, see if you can tell who’s influencing them. Disassociate from them (using a cartoon voice will help – try it!) and watch their power over you evaporate…

5. TRY SAYING “NEXT TIME” - If you still fight the urge to regret, shift the focus just a little. I knew a person who used to spend her whole life apologizing. After several people pointed it out to her, she started saying “Thank you” instead of “Sorry” and we could practically see her blossom. Similarly, telling yourself that “next time” you’ll do whatever differently is much more positive than fixating on past mistakes…

The days seem to be getting even shorter as we speed into 2008. Take a little time to look into areas where you’re wasting time, saving time and where you can make more time for the things that really matter (like your writing career).

1. THINK BACK OVER THE PAST WEEK - Or any typical week. What did you do? Exactly? Make a list of how you spent every morning, afternoon and evening. As you list everything, be as specific as possible and observe (without judging yourself) areas you can be more effective in.

2. WHAT SURPRISES YOU? If you are working full time and writing alongside this, are you surprised to see where your time’s been going? Is there anyway you could work on your writing during your commute? If you’re writing full time, how can you make it more effective? Is your problem area giving yourself enough time off?

3. WAVE A MAGIC WAND - What, if anything, would you change in your ideal world? Take a moment to ask yourself this question and actually answer it out loud. Do you crave more time to write? To work on your writing business (book keeping, admin, marketing, continued professional development etc.)? More work / life balance to see friends and family? Be honest with yourself. 

4. IMAGINE WINNING 24 HOURS IN THE LOTTERY - A completely free day with no pressure, obligations or commitments! How would you spend it? How can you incorporate these activities into your current schedule? You may not be able to fit them into one day but break them down and aim for at least one a day. This will increase your overall energy.

5. CREATE YOUR IDEAL SCHEDULE - Use a diary, wall planner or pie chart and timetable in the most important activities you want to fit into your week for the sake of your writing and your wellbeing. Prioritise your days to include the important tasks as well as the urgent and immediate ones.

Please visit www.CoachingWriters.co.uk  for more information and to sign up for FREE confidence tips.

Recent research from the University of California shows that our brains handle rejection in the same way they handle actual physical pain.

Another US study (from Baruch College, New York) discovered that when participants were given false feedback (told that someone hadn’t liked them) after being introduced, they approached the next person expecting (and receiving) more rejection.

Do you ever submit your novel / short stories / features already anticipating that rejection? Take a moment before hitting send (or, if you’re sending a hard copy, sealing the envelope) and think about the response you want.

Can you imagine getting an email / phone call / letter accepting your work? How will you feel when you read or hear the words?

Even if your writing is rejected (it’s something everyone on the planet faces – not just writers), by focusing on the response and outcome you want, it won’t hurt as much. You'll also find it easier to refocus on your goal and take the next step towards it instead of getting sidetracked by the disappointment.

If you feel emotionally wounded, consider trying a technique like EFT (find out more at www.applecoaching.com/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/1138?opendocument&part=6) to clear that energy. 

You can also let out your frustration and hurt / angry feelings by writing it all down and then burning it / ripping it to shred. (You might even want to write it out on toilet tissue and flush all the rejection away.)

Get it out of your system and move on.

If you’ve had further insights (or feedback from the person who rejected it) and can improve it, do so. Then you can send it straight back out to the next person on your shortlist.

You might want to compile a short list before sending out the first submission so that this is done when you’re feeling good and positive and can make clearer decisions about the best markets / agents / publishers etc.

Ultimately, wallowing won’t help you (or your potential readers) at all. So give yourself a moment to mourn and then figure out what steps you can take to make success more likely next time.

Once you learn how to pick yourself up faster, you’ll be better able to make much swifter inroads to success.

For more information about Business Coaching and NLP for Writers and FREE tips, please visit www.CoachingWriters.co.uk