Writing lessons from my mentor..

Endurance lessons for writers...

Monday 26th September 2011..Kenilworth..Warwickshire..UK

All the advice from writers and mentors about writing highlight the importance of endurance and dedication, without it our ability to feed ourselves physically and mentally will often fail to bring success. The goal is a published piece of writing. Yet often, despite all those voices giving us advice how many times does the real "kick in the pants" come from an unusual source?

The back garden of my house is an unlikely location for what may be one of the most outstanding feats of endurance I may have encountered and certainly one that took my breath away.  The walk  along the path takes me through a trellised arch of grape vines which rises to about three metres from the ground, with the leaves above my head.

This morning I was looking at the number of bunches hanging above me which I hadn't noticed before and something  caught my attention on one of the leaves above my head. I guess right now, your wondering how this ties in with endurance? I saw a snail hanging onto the leaf slowly eating it's way across the "track." It's shell wasn't that big and it barely covered the size of a thumb nail, but there it was three metres off the ground.

How did it get there? 

How did the snail, carrying it's own house get there?

There was a small trail at the foot of one the post holding this part of the trellis up, but who's to say it was laid by this particular snail. As a traveller, as someone with a touch of the adventurer inside me am I wrong to give this hero the benefit of the doubt?

 What guts and fortitude it must have taken to begin that climb. What were the dangers of doing a night climb? Or was it undertaken over two or three days?

 I smiled and passed on by, but had the little thought to myself that success comes from "keeping going", that sometimes reaching the means of feeding yourself takes great endurance and single mindedness.

What do you think?

And if you have any ideas on how it may have got there apart from climbing, I'd love to hear from you at www.balancehealth-fitness.co.uk

@ErnieBalance on twitter

R is for Results

We are all judged by results..we judge ourselves and are judged by others.

Most of my life has been shaped by results one way or another. I've been a soccer coach and fitness coach for most of it and the success or failure of any undertaking, the happiness of many days have been conditioned by whether I or the people I have coached have won.

It's the most precarious of jobs, because of the variables and the characteristics of the people around me. In fact winning meant a hell of a lot when I was a teenager and a boxer. If you lost at boxing it hurt, physically and mentally, though it may surprise some people to hear that getting knocked out doesn't hurt at all, for at least ten seconds anyway.

At soccer losing always hurt mentally, always. I have watched people hurt and I have been hurt, but I have cried worst when I lost. In the Faeroe Islands even I was sick on the evening we lost a home game in the final minutes of a fixture and one of our fans shook me and told me to "go home!"
In these conditions your whole countenance is determined by the actions or in actions of the players on the pitch.There is only so much a coach can do and the fans only look at one thing, "did we win." I have coached teams that played so well, the opposing goalkeeper makes great saves, the posts intervene, the referee is against us..everything except I may not be a good coach!! No, I know that's wrong.
So, what has this got to do with writing?

You see it's the exact opposite really because unlike bad or lucky coaches where a one nil win is enough, how do you judge a bad writer Bad writers never get read and some writers who are labelled "bad" make millions of dollars. How can this be?

What is a bad writer?

Who makes that choice when often the millions come about because of good marketing. In the UK we had a writer by the name of Jeffrey Archer, a member of the government whose life took many negative turns through his habits and life style. Yet because of, or despite, this he sold millions of books worldwide while the critics here panned him calling his books "lightweight" while they were writing serious tomes that sold in there hundreds only.

What have results in writing got to do with me? Take a look at my contributions to the A-Z list and notice the number of letters I've missed, some of these were because I came to the challenge late and was told to begin where the group were at the time. But, over the last week my need to write marketing material and the need to gather clients has taken president. If the materials bring clients through the door and if my hours of talking to prospective customers bring money into the bank balance the result is success. If not then the material I could have been writing will never see the light of day, and I failed. But, what results do bring home is the need always to reflect and re shape your actions. For instance, I have just finished reflecting on the fact that I should be writing three of four days in advance when I get the opportunity.

Results, reader always have a part to play in the final scenes of an adventure and for the results of my work this week you could go to my post and leave a comment!!

N is for Networking

Who you are?
Where you are?
What you do?
Who are you looking for?

The general guidelines for networking. But sometimes it takes something different, especially as writers among a thousand writers.

How can we make ourselves stand above the crowd? My other "job" is as a Personal and Executive Well being instructor.How could I make myself memorable:

Well, instead of the above I tried this:

"There's a villain in your office., stealing your wages. The thief only picks on people who care about their work.
It's name is "PRESSURE." If you or your staff suffer from headaches, neck tension, lack of sleep or poor movement. Balance Health and Fitness has "4 Ways To Stop Work Killing You." We have cardio fitness sessions; t'ai chi classes; shiatsu therapy and if you'd like to know the fourth way book a one to one session with Ernie Boxall. Balance Health and Fitness. It's different and memorable. The talk of the villain makes people look up if it's delivered in the right tone of voice and the call to action at the end.
But, it becomes even more memorable if it's delivered while standing in the squat position.

So, how can we replicate this as writers.

"Write your own ticket to success!"
Stories sell your success and stories written down sell your success for ever. You're an
"expert" in your field and the information you have, the experience you've gained mark
you out as THE EXPERT.
"How To Move More Easily..More Often..without sweat"is my story since 1998..
when I reached the low point of life physically and mentally. Read about the way an error put me on the right path to success and how I was able to use the lessons to build a business in well being.
Ernie Boxall, Author and Well being Instructor.


This is delivered with the book in my hand and a form to buy a complementary copy of the book at the end of the session.

K is for Keywords

Keywords are not just for websites and blogs.

It seems that everyone talks about keywords now, SEO, Articles and all writing in between. If you want to make any impact now and especially if you want to earn money from your words it's vital to begin your work with words that "everyone" use to search for information.
How can we maximise the benefits of readers coming to our sites:

• Google and Yahoo Alerts
• Alerts from newspapers and journals
• Trade magazines
• Social media

We are constantly reminded that our e mails, articles and copy has to contain certain words that have been proven to attract visitors.

The best ways to gather a shopping basket of this material has been to tap into online stores where a search of the subjects we cover have already been sorted by quantity and quality. It is also an opportunity to listen-in on conversations amongst potential clients, what question are they asking? What issues are they discussing and what experiences are they recalling?
Check out the goals and complaints of customers and your "lists" and read the newspapers and journals for headlines. The professionals do this for a living and there has to be a reason that millions of people are drawn to one paper or magazine over another. It's often in how each particular story is covered.

J is for Joining Groups

Lets just go back to Lone Man's quote about "no great undertaking" depending on one "man" alone.

I have been thinking about writing for forty years or more, and in small ways have completed some works. I have some poetry published and have presented some work at Writing Weeks locally, but most of the work I did ended up as notes on pieces of paper and filed as "important information" in a drawer somewhere. (Anyone else no what I'm saying?)

It was just over three years ago that I began to take real notice of online programmes offering advice on writing with groups, and even then it was still in the stages of read it, save it and forget it. The real change came at the end of last year when the urge, or stronger came over me to write a story about my experiences over thirty years ago when I found myself standing on a kibbutz in the Negev Desert, in a war zone. The story had been with me for all those years and it took the prompting of some "giants" of the internet to give me the kick I required.

The first mention must go to Mark Victor Hanson after reading "Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul" and realising that I had a tale to tell i n the first place. Next I think was Joan Stewart "The Publicity Hound" where I started picking up ideas about writing PR for my other businesses; then Suzanne Leiurance of The Working Writer's Club  where I finally decided to "get my backside" in gear and seek a group where advice, support and the opportunity to write came into fruition. It was through the WWC that the A-Z Challenge first showed itself to me and through the members of the club that I have managed to follow this through so far.

It is a great undertaking, because I could be doing a thousand other things, but thanks to everyone on my lists, from networking, social media, exercise classes and the world in general, I am not doing it alone.
www.balancehealth-fitness.co.uk

www.TheWorkingWritersClub.com

I is for Interviews

I for Interviews Interviews can make or break you! It all depends on either you're preparation or your ability to tell a story; or both. Today, Tuesday April 10th I was in London for an interview that can make or break my acheiving my goals in a reasonable time scale. I prepared all my papers and packed my briefcase. I had spent six days working on my presentation and I knew that the papers were the small details that can put the shine to a professional presentation. The time came for an early start to the train station and everything re-checked one more time. My diary and travel details, my pens, Gymboss timer, Kindle, MP3 and a copy of "Tell To Win" by Peter Guber. My partner drove me to the station and off I went, rucksack over my shoulder and ticket details ready for receipt. I have a bit of a phobia about things like automatic ticket stations, where the only human being is "packed tightly" into the machine ready to make all manner of trouble for me. But not on this occasion,everything went well and I waited for the London train deep in thought.There was just time for a sit down, prices at the rail cafe's are notoriously high so just a sit down and one last chance to go over my presentation. Now "dear reader" if you've been concentrating as you read this you would have spotted my first big mistake. I left my partner's car with my rucksack but not my briefcase with my papers in, they were still in the back of the car, all the things that I thought would make the difference were on their way back home. Did I panic?Not exactly, because if my t'ai chi training has taught me anything it is to focus on the moment. There was nothing I could do about it now.I had to think of another plan and the train journey was an ideal opportunity to do that.On the journey two things happened that helped minimize the mistake. I had my Kindle and, at the moment, the book I'm reading is "Think and Grow Rich," so often quoted by marketing experts and worth their praise. I opened the "page" and began reading when, on the next turn of the page I reached the section on "giving service." The book talked about "QQS," "Quality, Quantity and Spirit." This was what I had to focus on now, particularly presenting my business as being in the right spirit, the quality is assured and the quantity is what I needed to control. The other  saviors were "Tell to Win" which emphasised the need for me to sell the story of my benefits not the numbers.

H is for How To..

How many times have you received an E mail request on How To learn "How To.."

In almost every report I've received on either writing, copy writing, advertising or monetising a piece the author has always included a "Top 10 Headlines to attract readers," and always in close at to number one has been "How to..."

We see it so many times, and we know that in most cases we will have to buy whatever information is being offered and in my case it does attract me. My Dropbox or my Downloads are pretty full of "How To's.."
In these cases the information is from people I have built relationships with and trust to pass on valuable knowledge. In my opinion that is the key to doing anything before you do send out any of these tips, you have to have placed yourself as an expert in the field. I often tell networking friends that if you "put me in front of a thousand people I could design a programme to get them moving. Put me in front of a computer and ask me to design an E book or Video programme and I'd struggle, thus I try to read "How to.."

The truth is, as in all things, not many of us can be experts in all fields, we need to gather around us the people we need to drive our businesses forward in the most productive way and in this I am always reminded of a quote from "Native American Wisdom"  "I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself." Lone Man..Teton Sioux
So with that in mind I offer my How to:
How To Stop Life Killing You. Part One.

How to “Stop work/life killing you”

Take Action

Welcome the first article from Balance Health and Fitness on “How to stop work or life killing you”.

As an introduction to the work we do, I want to give you an example of a 20 minute self relaxation session which should be done three times a week.

The session has been taken from a method of focusing on the breathing as a way of allowing you to take time away from the pressures of work or life and to bring some control back.

Preparation: Either a supportive cushion or a hard-back chair.

No electrics.

Someway of timing 20 minutes.

A blank wall or plain surface.

Session: Switch everything off and make a promise to yourself that if the phone rings you will ignore it.

Sit cross-legged or in the hard-backed chair with your feet firmly on the ground.

Eyes open so as not to doze off, and look at a blank wall or plain surface.

Be aware of the breathing, without trying too hard to change it.

Breath In gently to a count of 1,2,3,4

Breath Out slowly to a count of 1,2,3,4

Breath In count 2,2,3,4

Breath Out count 2,2,3,4

Breath In count 3,2,3,4

Breath Out count 3,2,3,4

All the way up to 10,2,3,4

Out 10,2,3,4

Then count backwards to 1

Note

When your mind wanders, as it will at the beginning: Don’t become frustrated

Just start again and keep going for 20 minutes.

End

At the end of 20 minutes don’t jump straight up to get back to work ,just take a minute to listen to the quiet and even allow yourself to smile.

This practise, done over a month will not only become easier, it will also become more powerful in it’s ability to allow you to take control of the day and to have a method of letting moments of anger or frustration pass. It will improve your Tai Chi and exercise capacity.

It will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

If you have found this helpful pass it on to a friend with my thanks.

Warmest Regards

Ernie Boxall

Balance Health and Fitness

www.balancehealth-fitness.co.uk

www.warwick-personal-trainer.com

If you have any questions please contact me. I promise not to pass your information on to any other user.