Notes from Minnesota

Hey Freelancer, 

I've got a nasty cold and am keeping 'er short today. Enjoy today's article!

Blowing my nose,

P.S. Be sure to check out our best sellers. Here's the link

Mindset Moment

“I mean seriously. With the air above us churning and whirling, with the ground beneath us hiding untold treasures of beauty… how can you not wake up and become aware of the incredible magic occurring with every single breath you take?

Instead, the vast majority of human kind trudges back and forth between two points each day, always ignoring the myriad of ways our creator shows its love. Again I ask, how crazy is that?”

From the Creative Mindset Newsletter #14

http://filbertpublishing.com/creative.html

Beth's Hot Pick of the Week 

Encouragement. Marketing tips. Insider secrets that'll give you an edge in any market conditions. Click here for more info.

Out With Passives?    

Beth Ann Erickson

The following is an excerpt from the Creative Mindset Newsletter #14

We spend our entire careers banishing passive verbs. “Great writing is ultra-specific,” we repeatedly hear. Heck, I’ve told my coaching students the same thing on more than one occasion.

I tell them this story:

Pretend you’re writing to me. “I have a car,” you say.

Sadly, the image in my mind is quite different from the image you hold. You specify.

“I have a red car.”

OK. We’re a little closer, but I’m still betting my bottom dollar that we hold two different images.

“I own a red Geo.”

Little closer, but still no cigar.

“I hold a two year lease on a cherry red Geo Metro convertible.”

Yup. We’ve hit it. In all likelihood we’re on the same page right about now. I not only know what kind of car you drive, but I can also make a number of inferences based on that choice. A convertible? That tells me something. Red? That tells me another. These assumptions may be incorrect, but that doesn’t matter. Readers/ fellow communicators always make inferences. That’s just the way we’re wired.

So, you write… as specifically and lively as possible. After all, if you’re an effective communicator, you will always strive for as much clarity as you can.

Correct? Perhaps…

Overall, the same holds true for your verbs. “Saunter” is far more visual than “walk.”

Some words simply pack more punch than others… and these words tend to be active, vibrant, and quite vivid.

Contrast that with what we’ve been talking about in the Creative Mindset Newsletter.

I’m always talking about waking up. Living fully in the moment. In fact, the most profound action you can take all day is to simply “be.”

It’s when you’re in this state of “being” that you’re the most “awake.” It’s in this state that you can live life at its fullest.

You aren’t planning the future. You aren’t mulling over the past. You’re simply “being.”

Ironic then, that we writers continually strive to write in the active voice yet the best place to achieve this is in the form of the verb “to be”… probably the most passive of all verbs.

Think this sounds easy? Give it a whirl. Today, make note of every single moment you’re actually living in the present tense… when you’re actually seeing, tasting, experiencing the now.

It’s amazing how we tend to live life in default. Take eating for example. Many people, particularly Americans, have never experienced true hunger. Did you know our bodies turn off our taste buds if we’re not hungry? Yup. It does.

If you’re not hungry, food will not be as tasty. So, when we eat before we get hungry, we barely taste our food. If you come to the table in a non-hungry state, you’re not only less apt to taste the food, and more apt to over eat.

But in our hurried lifestyles, we tend to rush, or worse yet, multitask, through everything, including eating. We eat watching TV. We eat planning our tomorrow. We eat discussing subjects over which we have no control. We pretty much do everything but eat mindfully.

This is just one example of how we tend to not live in the present tense. I’m sure you can come up with a bunch of more.

What to do?

Take the reins. Control your life. Carry a little notebook with you and take note of all the times you aren’t living in the present. You’ll be amazed.

What you’ll find (if you’re like me) is that you spend a good portion of your day in the past, trying to avoid a mistake you’ve made before, rewording your last argument, boiling over someone who offended you, enjoying pleasant memories.

On the other hand you’ll also find yourself spending an awful lot of time living in the future. Fantasizing about getting “even” on someone who slighted you; dreaming of a bright future where you’re honored, your advice is gold, and you’re always right.

But living in the moment? Existing in the now? Precious little time spent here.

And it’s in this exact moment that everything gets done.

It’s here that dreams become reality. It’s here that all the legwork to achieve your goals is born and matures. Everything wonderful happens in this moment where you currently live.

This moment lasts an instant, yet it contains the TNT to ignite all your plans, all your aspirations, and every single one of your dreams.

It’s the gasoline for your engine. It’s the wind under your kite. It’s the pressure that turns a chunk of coal into a diamond.

And yet so few people live here, let alone harness its power.

So, how do you live in the present?

You just have to do it.

Start small. Take a moment each morning to just be. Sit in a chair, walk outside, doesn’t matter. Simply be. Don’t make plans. Don’t “think.” Turn off your brain, just for a while (this feels scary at first), and just observe.

What do you see? What do you feel? What do you smell? Do you taste anything? What do you hear?

Use all five senses to experience your world. Then document it. :)

More on this next time.

~~~

Beth Ann Erickson is the “Queen Bee” of Filbert Publishing. She’s also the author of numerous titles including “101 No Cost and Low Cost Secrets To Turbo Charge Your Freelance Income.” Pick up your copy today at http://filbertpublishing.com/101.html She’s also a busy copywriter, speaker, and publisher of Writing Etc., the free e-mag for writers. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I Recommend:

Writing For Dollars! The FREE ezine for writers featuring tips, tricks and ideas for selling what you write. Receive the FREE ebook, 83 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WRITING when you subscribe. Email to subscribe@writingfordollars.com -*-

http://www.WritingForDollars.com 

WRITERS FIND MARKETS EASILY - Worldwide Freelance has a NEW fully-searchable Markets Database. Discover writing markets from North America, Europe, Australia and other places. It's free, so come and try it out

here: http://www.worldwidefreelance.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~