The Zen Of The Blank Page: How To Bust Through Writer’s Block

photo by Time Grabber

It was a cold and dreary morning.  Clouds in the sky, clouds in my coffee, chance of showers all day.

Perfect!

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

I am happily prepared for bad weather dressed in my cool white trenchcoat and my silver Donna Karan sneakers which I remember buying months ago thinking to myself that yes, I will need these for a rainy horrible day.  Seth and I once went to the hardware store and came home with my wedding dress.  Talk about being prepared.

Well, what about writer’s block?

There is no such thing as writer’s block, only bad planning.

As the weather warms up, does it cross your mind that eventually you may find yourself on a beach on a very hot sunny day?  Of course you do!  And you go out and get yourself a bathing suit, a pair of flip flops, sunblock, cool shades and a stack of summer reading.  You are ready to rock the beach.

This simple philosophy is true for most things in life and especially for what strikes dread in the hearts of aspiring authors everywhere – writer’s block.

If this is something you know you are going to face, you should put down that pina colada,  shut off the Beach Boys and put down that sexy summer sizzler you are in the middle of reading and picture yourself staring at that blank screen.  What can you do to plan for this?

Here’s are seven do’s and don’ts that work pretty well for me:

1. Do something physical before you sit down to write. Take a brisk twenty minute walk, stretch, take a deep breath and touch your toes.  If you can get your blood moving, your creative juices can’t be far behind.

2. Don’t come to your desk emptyhanded. Some of you may interpret that to mean a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.  Not a bad idea but not what I meant.  When you are ready to write, bring all of the observations you have made throughout the day, the five headlines you wrote for your next blog posts, an outline for a series of articles you are thinking of writing – notice how I am speaking in plural.  If you can think of one story, you can think of several.  Make lots of lists and bring a fistful of them to your writing.

3. Do a quick straightening up around your work area. Clutter is the great mind killer.  You will work so much better when your surroundings are not chaotic.  Bring a calming sense of order and space to you writing area.  Make sure you have all the tools that you need at the ready.

4. Don’t just warm up, set up. If you simply can’t get started, common wisdom would tell you to do some kind of warm up.  I prefer to jump right in and do something that gets me somewhere faster.  Forget the warm up.  Just set up your writing.  If you need to produce a week’s worth of blog posts like I do, set up five draft posts with titles and sub headings on one day, add links and footer text the next day, images or videos the following day, until you have set up every one of your posts.  Once you have all that infra structure done, you will be surprised at how quickly you will be able to write.  If you are writing a longer article, put down an outline so you can see how it will flow.  I like to include notes like, “open with a short punchy sentence”  or “descriptive narrative with quotes”.

5. Do give yourself a high five for whatever you accomplished. We so often remember to beat ourselves up for not doing everything we set out to do.  A much better way to approach this is to appreciate what we have done.  It is important to recognize the effort and the work we have done so that we look forward to doing it again.

6. Don’t leave your desk without a list for tomorrow. This is one of my favorite things to do.  The very last thing I do before I leave my desk is my to-do list.  I feel better parking the things I did not get to on a list that I will get to the next day.  Having this list gives me a clear sense of what I am going to do and allows me to think about each item on the list ahead of time.

7. Do this often so it becomes a habit. It gets easier.  You are all busy and you have to seize the time to write.  Writer’s block is the last thing you need.  Following just a few of these tips will help you tremendously in maximizing your time so you can actually enjoy your writing experience.

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Hoong Yee

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How To Unleash Your Inner Nonprofit Ninja Artist

photo by Gabriele Hengeveld

Of course you are an artist

Is this you?

“Me, an painter?  Oh, I can’t draw a straight line!”

“Me, a musician?  I sang in the high school chorus.”

“Me, an artist?  Gee, I would really like to write poetry.”

There are a lot of you out there who like art, seeing movies, going to museums, listening to music.  You are art lovers, you are arts curious.  You are the most important person in the art world.

I am sure that many of you have a creative demon lurking in the depths of your soul who whispers things like, “Hey, you should be singing cabaret.”  It knows that there is an inner artist within you that is longing to emerge.

You have a unique story to tell.  And a perspective that is yours alone.  I equate story with art in this instance because I believe true expression of the soul is the art of telling a story in all of its endless and glorious creative forms.

My inner artist has recently picked up her head and howled, “You never pay attention to me!  I want out!”

This is very bad for balance in your life and for your skin.  Of course, I had no choice but to stand back and release the hounds.  I am hard at work in my atelier honing my nonprofit ninja marketing skills.  High on creative juices and caloric deficit.  What’s not to love?  Here is more good stuff about being a creative communicator by Kivi Leroux Miller, someone I admire greatly for her ability to help others creatively market their story.

In a recent post by Beth Kanter, she captures key points about creative integration of technology and content in a conversation with Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.  The two takeaways for me were:  leading with the heart and making a challenge a solution, not the problem.  Here’s an excerpt:

He discussed the topic of regional philanthropy and giving.    He urged people in the room to lead with the heart, not the head.   He said that the heart wants to know the stories, not the statistics and jargon.   Collect the anecdotes and then follow up with the numbers.   He also talked about the lost opportunity for continued donor engagement.  “Once we get that first check, we say – oh, we’ve got them.  Put them on the donor  list.   The only time we reach out to them is when we ask them for money.”   His advice was to schedule “heart time.”  – That is meet with your donors and engage with them — share a story that isn’t linked to an ask.  What terrific advice for social media strategies too.

It is all about engagement.  And story, whatever form it takes – is what connects people to each other.

Here are some of my Ninja Notes:

Lead with your heart

My mother, who is 86, is performing in a tango recital on Friday and simply expects me and the rest of her world to be there clicking castenets in adoration, thank you very much.  She loves to talk about her dance class, her friends she dances with, the new steps she is learning.  She beams at people who say, “How wonderful!  I would love to do that.”  Then she will shoot them a pointed look and ask,  ”So, why you aren’t you?”

I never say that to her.  I know better.

It is better to be bold and do something that raises people’s eyebrows than to incur my mother’s wrath with a lame dilettantish excuse.  It is the distinct characteristic of a nonprofit ninja artist spirit to do the bold and the unexpected.  Not only will it give you the pleasure of doing something you have secretly wanted to do for a long time, you will earn admiration and encouragement from those around you.

Make the challenge the solution, not the problem

I love writing but like many things in life, writing doesn’t always love me.  Writer’s block is my daily demon.  The specter of the blank screen is eclipsed only by the blank look in my eyes.  This is not good ninja ness.  I just made that word up, be bold, remember?

How I overcame this was to look at my inner stash of superpowers and find one that I could wield as a saber and boldly go where no nonprofit ninja has gone before:

Voila! My iPad stylus.

I sketch when I am stuck for words.  In addition to blogging at conferences, meetings and other gatherings of brilliant creative people, I always capture drawings that can help me share what I have learned.  Thanks to my Sktechbook Pro app on my iPad, I can easily dash off quick sketches, embed them in my posts and share them with all of you.

Here are a few of my recent ones from a piece about how to live artfully.

Take heart and take your inner nonprofit ninja artist out into the world.   If you run into naysayers, do what my mother does.  Toss your head and say in a withering tone, “I am having the time of my life changing the world.  Are you?”

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

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Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

What Mick Jagger Can Teach You About Hiring Staff

photo by wnick87

When I was in music school, a girl I knew auditioned to be a back up singer for the Rolling Stones world tour.  She was an opera student and dreamed about being on the stage of La Scala.

She came back from the audition and I could tell that she was shocked and upset.

Voice?  She had a set of pipes that were golden.

Presence?  Magnetic.

Talent?  Over the top chops.

So, why didn’t she get the job?

When she could finally speak without astonishment, she said what separated the mezzos from the mediocre was something totally unexpected.  It was something Mick Jagger had said:

“All of you are here because you all got what it takes – talent, voice, looks.  But if you ain’t fun on the bus, you ain’t going.”

I hope she is having better luck at La Scala.

How does that bit of wisdom help you hire better staff?

Let’s look at the metaphor.

You have a prospective candidate who, on paper, has everything you are looking for.  That is what I call the “talent and looks quotient”.

In the interview, you have the chance to talk to the person and get a sense of their personality, their thinking, how they deal with challenge or failure.

You should also ask if they like chocolate.

Or cooking.  Or surfing.  What makes their eyes light up?  This is what I call their “fun on the bus” quotient.

One of Seth’s bosses goes one step further:  he will go out to dinner with the prospective candidate.  If they have a pleasant time, great.  If not, forget it.   This is someone you will be spending a lot of time with.  You have to get along and work well as a team.  If you can assemble a group of talented, hardworking, vision focused people that enjoy being together, why not?  Especially on a tour bus.

A job posting appeared about a year ago for two positions that had just opened at Union Square Ventures.  Here is the blog post with the job descriptions. What I loved about it was that they clearly described what life “on the bus” would be like and that they are know for their work culture.

“Perhaps most importantly, the successful candidates for these positions will be “net native”. They will use web services in their personal and professional lives. They will ideally have an intuitive feel for what works and what doesn’t on the web. We assume that they will have a web presence, whether that is a profile on a social network site, a photo stream, an academic paper on social media, a blog or tumblelog, a lead role in an open source project, a reputation on Stack Exchange, or a spot on the leader board in Mafia Wars.”

Here is a comment:

Judah 1 year ago in reply to albert

Here’s what you do

1. Know who you need

You are a rock star.  Of course you are going to look for top notch talent and for a person who loves what they do.  Is it someone who is good at managing, problem solving, keeping it together, etc?  What is the specific skill set you need for your team?  Remember, you can hone skills.  You cannot teach passion.  Look for that.

2. Know your environment

Are you a small office?  A unit within a larger organization?  A single person operation?  A friend of mine who ran a large theater company used to call the hiring process “staging”.  He said he would rather “stage” the work around the talent, meaning the staff.  How do you see your work environment and who are the best people you can get for your “stage”?

I hire people for a small nonprofit arts council.  Seth hires similar kinds of people for a large nonprofit social service agency.  Two different environments but almost identical hiring filters.  We both know what strengths, or what archetype we are so we can hire people with the strengths we lack.  Successful candidates need to project their particular superpowers so they can find the perfect batcave.  Read more about what Pam Slim says about this here.

3. Know what you value

This is really a question about you and what kind of team you need around you.  Not necessarily to fill in the gaps, but who can creatively contribute to your success – and to your fun quotient.  A good question to ask yourself is, “Do I look forward to seeing these people in the morning?”  If the answer is yes, you are going to have a fabulous day.  If the answer is maybe, go out and pick up a box of good Italian biscotti and a box of Joe for everyone.  Show them you care.  If the answer is no, they are draining the good positive energy you need to be excellent in what you need to do.

OK people, listen up.  Let’s get this party started.  Time to rock your house.

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

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Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Snowbound in Rockaway Beach

Seth

Me

Walking on the beach is the only way to get around Rockaway today.

We are home this week between Christmas and New Years that swing pivots us into a new year.  I am loving this feeling of detachment and disconnection to what normally invades my every waking thought.  Being physically cut off by snow and unploughed streets adds to the experience.

What about you?

I actually got up to run with Andrea at 6:00 am this morning which was great!  Most people, like John, my physical therapist, shake their heads and think I am certifiably insane to get out of a warm bed on a cold winter morning to run five miles into a blasting cold wind on the beach.

What do you think?

These last days of December came quick, don’t you think?  I suppose this is a good a time as any to start thinking about what you hope the new year will be.  Spending a lot of time walking along the water is the best place for me to do this.

And you?

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Seth’s birthday

Seth’s birthday, originally uploaded by hoongyeeleekrakauer.