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Huston Smith wrote the following about meditation. He could have been talking about writing. See what you think:

The restless mind can be likened to a crazed monkey cavorting about its cage. Or rather a drunken crazed monkey. But more! — a drunken crazed monkey that has St. Vitus’ Dance. Even this is insufficient. The mind is like a drunken crazed monkey with St. Vitus’ Dance who has just been stung by a wasp. Those who have tried to meditate will not find this metaphor extreme.

What happens in your brain when you try to write? My clients report a number of distractions and doubts. Listen in:

I need to do more research.

I’m not a real writer. I should quit.

Maybe I could create a product for . . .?

I wonder if I could find those shoes online?

I need to update my status on Facebook.

Oh, oh, oh! I have a great idea for a book.

Did I ever answer that email to . . .?

Take the distracting thoughts, add in a couple of ringing phones, the ping of mail coming in, kids or coworkers stopping by with questions—and be amazed that anyone writes anything.

Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell calls this Attention Deficit Trait. He says, \”It’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving. In other words, it costs you efficiency because you’re doing so much or trying to do so much, it’s as if you’re juggling one more ball than you possibly can.\”

Fortunately, the fix is easy.

1. Schedule time to think. Anyone who creates needs quiet time to mull over ideas and organize their thoughts. It’s tough to do that when machines and people are vying for your attention. Commit to giving yourself at least 30 minutes of quiet time each day. Do not use this time to read, write, or talk on the phone. Just be. Go for a walk, take a drive, or simply sit in a chair and stare out the window.

2. Change your environment. When we spend 90% of our computer time responding to the ping of our email or playing games on Facebook, it can be difficult to use the same space to write a sales letter or a poem. If possible, take your writing to a new environment. Use a local library or coffee shop as your writing studio. If you need to write at your computer, find ways to make writing time different from work or play time. For example:

Shut the door of your office and turn off your phones.

Turn off all Internet access and close your email.

Set aside or clear away the rest of your work from the space.

Change your desktop’s wallpaper for your writing time.

Use music or lighting to help define your writing time.

3. Keep a Monkey Mind file. When you write, keep open a separate document to record the thoughts of your monkey mind. That’s where you can jot your wild ideas for new projects, possible future careers, reminders to get gifts for your in-laws, and anything else that your brain throws at you. At the end of your writing time, review the monkey mind file and transfer information to the appropriate place (your to-do list or another project file).

Readers, take heart. Everyone who writes needs to learn how to tame the monkey mind. Don’t believe that some writers are immune to this. They’re not. They’re just more experienced at getting their minds to quiet down for a few minutes a day. Learning these skills takes time and effort. But guess what? The more you write, the easier it gets!

You’ve no doubt heard the famous quote, \”The pen is mightier than the sword.\” (Edward Bulwer-Lytton). What you may not know is that the pen also trumps medication and the therapist’s couch. The practice of writing can heal you both physically and emotionally.

Writing Heals Your Body. In a study conducted with asthma patients at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, School of Medicine, study participants wrote about their most stressful experiences. The control group wrote about their daily activities. According to the book Asthma Free in 21 Days, 47 percent of the patients who wrote about their challenging life experiences showed improvement in lung function that could not be attributed to medication or other factors. 24 percent of the control group showed improvement as well. (See Shafer and Greenfield, Asthma Free in 21 Days, p. 139) Notice this: both groups improved their lung function through writing.

Writing Heals Your Heart. Research by psychologist James Pennebaker has shown that people who used writing to make sense of their traumatic life experiences had the long-lasting effect of feeling happier and less anxious. He asked his subjects to write for fifteen …minutes a day on four consecutive days. Half of the group members wrote about a difficult or traumatic event in their lives. The other half of the group, the control group, was asked to write about their day or to …describe their living environment. A year later, he examined the subject’s medical records. The people who wrote about their difficult experiences were healthier than the others. What made the difference? According to Pennebaker, it was the meaning-making that mattered. The people who showed increased insight into their difficult situation during the four days stayed healthier than those who simply wrote about their feelings or the color of their carpet.

Writing Helps You Achieve Your Goals. In a study by psychologist Laura King, people who wrote about their best possible future selves showed an immediate increase in mood and, after five months, a decrease in illness. In addition, this writing work improved their ability to take control of behavior and make good changes! Writers were better able to set and achieve their goals.

How Do You Tap Into The Healing Power Of Writing? You write. All of the studies suggest that any kind of writing will improve your health and sense of wellbeing. I encourage all of my clients to do three pages of journaling a day. Maybe you’re one of those people who have always wanted to journal but when you open a blank book your mind goes blank, too. Here are some ways to get started:

1. Fill in the blank. Choose one of the sentences below to complete. List your statements as rapidly as possible.

If I told the truth, I’d say …

I deeply desire to …

I need to …

I want to let go of …

I am thankful for …

2. Write about five difficult things that happened in your life….

Why do you think they happened?…

What effects did these events have on your life?…

What do you know now that you didn’t know before these events …happened?…

What meaning might you derive from these events?……

3. Write about five good things that have happened in your life….

Why do you think they happened?…

What effects did these events have on your life?…

What do you know now that you didn’t know before these events …happened?…

What meaning might you derive from these events?

4. Gratitude Journal. In her book Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach encouraged her readers to use a gratitude journal. Find a beautiful journal and each night record five items for which you are thankful. As a twist, do this with your partner or children. Every few months, I take out a journal and write down five things I am grateful for about my husband. Then I slip it under his pillow or on his desk. A few days later, I get it back with a new list from him.

5. Vision Quest. Ghandi said, \”Become the change you want to see in the world.\” I say, \”Write the change you want to see in your life!\” Each day, write a description of what your life looks like when it reflects your dreams.

Whatever you write, know that it will heal your body and heart. Don’t ever worry about what you’re going to write. Write fast and carelessly every day. Forget all the rules. Forget that you are not supposed to write about certain things. Forget what your English teacher told you about the right way to write. Just get down your observations, feelings, and ideas. Don’t write about anything boring to you—that’s a sign that you are telling lies, writing to please others and not yourself. When you get stuck, ask yourself Brenda Ueland’s very helpful question: \”What in thunder do you want to say?\” Then say it.

What credentials do you need to succeed in your field—a college degree or a PhD? What if you don’t have either? Writing a book brings instant credibility. But that takes time. Plus, credibility is also built through regular, intelligent online marketing. You can gain credibility right now by reading voraciously and recommending what you’ve read to others. (Who knew that all those high school book reports would pay off?) Here’s how to leverage your reading:

1. Define your expertise. In this age of branding and niche marketing, you can’t afford to be a generalist. Choose a specialty. If you’re a life coach, figure out what part of a person’s life you coach. Maybe you do career transitions or goal setting. Great—that’s your niche. Remember, the best niches stir your passion and serve a greater purpose. In addition, a great niche will be something you’re curious about. Don’t choose something that leaves you saying, “Been there, done that.” Follow your passion.

2. Ask, “What information will help my customers?” Make a list. Read everything central to your field—that’s an absolute must. But you also need to choose topics tangential to but important for your field. Say you’re an etiquette expert who specializes in helping teenaged boys. Yes, you’ll read about etiquette. But you’ll also want to read about the cognitive and social development of teenage boys—so you’ll know how to talk to them! As a writing coach, I often read in the field of positive psychology. Why? Positive Psychologists research the strengths and behaviors that help us to thrive. Their work teaches me what behaviors that make people more efficient, productive, and happy.

3. Read. Read what the experts are writing. Read what the experts are reading (check their blogs and bibliographies for lists). You’ll do some of this reading at the library—checking recent books and periodicals. You will also need to devote time each day to online reading. Read all of the major newspapers. Read any professional journals that might support your work. Read blogs and newsletters by your colleagues and competitors. View and listen to online lectures by the important thinkers in your field. And read anything else that strikes you as important or groundbreaking. You’ll certainly be able to find something in it that supports your clients.

4. Write about what you’re reading. One of the surefire ways of establishing your credibility is to tell others about what you’re reading. Yeah, talking about it might impress the clerk at the grocery store and your mother—but better to write it down. Here are some places you can review books:

Develop an Amazon reviewer profile and write reviews of every book you read.

Get on Facebook and review books on your Visual Bookshelf.

On Facebook, post links to articles and videos that rock your field. Be sure to write a short comment about why you are posting the article.

Get a Twitter account and recommend blog posts and other online reading.

Use your blog to review books and articles.

Start an Ezine—and review books in your field.

Create a review page on your web site and recommend the books that matter to you.

5. Establish a schedule. As a writing coach, I know that writing does not happen without putting your butt in the chair and doing the work. Establishing credibility through daily reading and writing can only happen if you do the work. You must create a schedule. For the past ten years, I’ve read several books a week. As I’ve become more adept at social marketing, I’ve learned to broadcast what I’ve learned in a variety of scheduled ways. At the beginning of each day, I read online newspapers and post something on Twitter. Once a week, I update my Facebook Visual Bookshelf—usually on Friday afternoons, as the week is winding down. Once a week, I recommend a book or a resource on my blog in a regular feature called, “The Right Now! Coach Reads.” Twice a year—spring and winter—I create and publish a book review e-zine. Though some of this may look spontaneous, none of it is. It happens because I schedule it.

Credibility does not happen overnight. But you can hasten the process by daily reading and reporting on information and trends in your field. Before long, your colleagues and customers will be looking to you for your expertise!

Anyone engaged in writing articles for offline publications or online business has occasionally struggled with the question of “What to write?”

Methods To Help The Average Person To Start Writing

Maybe I am just an overly optimistic person. I have always believed that anyone committed to writing an article can write an article. The problem is that most individuals simply do not have the belief in their own skills and insight. That is the reason why we ghost writing lot will always have a job. As long as there are people who doubt their own skills or insights, I will always have a job.

It is an unfortunate reality that most people who write books believe that their publisher will always put their best foot forward, to promote their book. In the real world, it does not quite work that way.

Let me put this in perspective for you.

THE PROFIT-LOSS EQUATION IN BOOK PUBLISHING

It is a financial matter of profits and losses. The book publishing world is much different than what many of us believe it is or that we believe it should be.

The average publisher will only print 1,000 copies of a book. They do this because the average book will sell an average of 400 or 500 copies.

Book publishing, information publishing, however it’s called. It can create a wealth of fortune for you.

However, what most people understand about publishing means they have to do something big. They have to be really knowledgeable about the subject they want to publish. They had to be real good with writing.

But when does writing have to be a hard thing?

Here’s why: Long have we tried to write, and time after time we experience what we call writer’s block. The fact is, writer’s block can never have to be a problem at all - as you’ll learn why in a while.

Then, the world never cares whether you’re knowledgeable about something, they care when you’ve delivered to them in a value of some kind. Why do you think someone would want to buy a book from you? They wanted to learn something they can change their lives in, and further improve their quality of lives as well.

Here’s where researching comes in—but we’re not speaking about the average research. Sometimes people think research is a difficult feat requiring hours upon hours of effort, but with what you’re going to learn from me in later articles, you’ll find researching a petty little task to do, and you can create greater results from my technique!

We’ll talk about writer’s block here.

You see, the only reason why you have writer’s block is because you’re editing. It’s summed up in this one sentence.

Whether or not you’re editing doesn’t matter, but when you feel a block of your mind from writing amazing words, it’s because you’re giving yourself judgment over your writing process. It doesn’t have to always be this way.

And here’s a secret to eliminate writer’s block forever if you would but understand its true value and use it:

Write FAST. Write really, really fast.

I will teach you how to do this even clearly on the next subsequent articles I will be sharing with you which you can find on my web site, but right now here’s the most important thing you need to eliminate writer’s block forever.

To quote one of the world’s current greatest science fiction writers of all time, Isaac Asimov (featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for his prolific writing), here’s what he says when asked by a reporter what his secret is to becoming such a prolific writer: \”I guess I’m prolific because I have a simple and straightforward style.\”

Little did people really deciphered the true meaning behind his quote.

The way you can really have a simple and straightforward style is to write the way you talk… and if you want to write the way you talk, you better write fast because that’s the little trigger to unlocking your amazing writing abilities to have your readers feel as though you’re talking to them.

You know what they say? The best books in the world always makes it feel as if the reader is involved in the picture.

Well this is one of the biggest secrets to writing a book fast and publishing one you can sell on the Internet, or have them racked upon the booths of book stores you visit in the next few weeks, or months.

Believe it or not, you could publish your own book in 2 weeks and use it to change your life forever.

If you want to learn the subsequent chapters to really write fast, and how to use what you’ve written to create a multi-million information publishing business online even though you’re just an average person, be sure to wait or discover the next articles coming up for you.

When you’re writing for the Web, you answer to two masters: humans and spiders.

For your website to reach its full potential, your web writing needs to appeal to the emotional needs of your target audience as well as the logical needs of search engine spiders.

Nourish the spider

Search engines, such as Google, identify relevant web writing for their search results by sending spiders (or robots) to ‘crawl’ and index websites. Complex sets of rules called algorithms are then employed to determine how useful your site is and where it should rank in the search engine results.

Given the facts that more than 500 million world-wide searches are made daily, and search engines account for more than 85 per cent of all new visitors to a website, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is by far the single most effective marketing strategy you can use to gain online presence.

But before your webpage can be optimized, you must determine which keywords to target. This involves:

Finding relevant keywords

Determining their popularity

Assessing the amount of competition

Deciding which keywords can be best supported with quality web writing

The selected keywords must then be tactfully integrated into your web writing. Search engines reward sites with well-written, relevant and content-rich copy, so your web writing should comprise a keyword density ratio of three to seven per cent. This is calculated by dividing the keywords by the total number of words on a page.

Engage the human

Once you drive traffic to your website, your web writing must connect with visitors on an emotional level to engage them and ultimately convert sales.

What’s the quickest and most effective way to achieve this? Give people what they want: relevant web writing!

When you’re writing for the Web, recognize and address the real needs of your visitors, and make it easy for them to find what they need or want to know.

Do: Engage, inform, influence and convert online visitors into customers with clear, concise and relevant web writing.

Don’t: Bore or irritate visitors with company-centered, self-absorbed messages, which will only guide cursors to the ‘back’ button.

Ignite readers’ emotions by clearly communicating the benefits of your products or services. It’s amazing how many businesses, large and small, overlook this all-important aspect, and instead focus exclusively on features. Promoting benefits will help visitors envision themselves experiencing your product or service.

By providing relevant web writing, you empower visitors to make informed decisions. This gains you instant credibility and trust, increasing your chances to turn them into full-fledged customers.