A Productive Pen» Uncategorized

How You Can Help Make ‘A Productive Pen’ a Better Blog for You

ebourne — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:00:20 +0000

With ‘A Productive Pen,’ going into its third year of existence, I was thinking that it’s time to have a little chat with you, my readers first to thank you for the time and attention that you give when you read my blog. I appreciate all of the comments and the positive, loving feedback that I receive from you, my fabulous readers.

In an effort to make sure that you are getting the best reader experience possible, I’ve put together a quick survey here. I’ve taken much of the text of this from Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. I’m following his “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” challenge with the amazing women at the SITS blog and Blog Frog. I am doing the survey out of sequence because of an incident last week.

The time was right now, so I’m doing the survey now to ask you, my readers what you suggest for this blog as I move forward. I ascribe to the belief that you can get everything you want to the degree that you help other people get what they want. I have learned so much in the area of blogging, online marketing and running an online business and this blog is where I share what I am learning with my visitors.

Taking a moment to answer these questions helps both of us. Thanks in advance for your comments. I appreciate your time and your thoughts on how I can make this blog even better.

Topics – What are the topics (specific or general) you’d like to see me cover in the coming months on this blog? What are the main issues that you’re facing as a freelance writer, blogger or online marketer these days? What would you like to learn about or grow most in for the remainder of the year?

Types of Posts – reader questions, tutorials, case studies, short tips, guest posts, tool reviews…. have your say about what you’d like most/least

Posting Frequency – too many posts, not enough, just right?

Design – How do you like the design? What would you change, add, get rid of?

Blog Features – what kinds of things would make your reader experience better?

Community – Do you have an interest in connecting with other readers? Are there features that you’d like added to the blog help you connect more?

What Frustrates You about A Productive Pen? What is your favorite thing about it?

Other Ideas and Feedback – anything goes here, big or little.

The ‘Rules’ – Any feedback, suggestions, dreams or ideas that you have are welcome. While I can’t promise to respond to each comment or put every suggestion into place I make a commitment to you to read anything you have to say.

All that I ask in return is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your comments and feedback. Thank you.

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How to Remain Committed to Your Goals When it’s Not Fun Anymore

ebourne — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:38:45 +0000

When you have set a goal or stated an intention for something that you plan to manifest or accomplish, there is always a bit of lag time in between the moment that you make your intention or desire known to the Universe, and the moment that your intention is manifested in your experience in the form of matter or a particular circumstance in your life.

You may have heard the old adage, “God helps those who help themselves,” and this is true. You can state your desires but then you must show up and take the necessary action required to manifest it. Now, this is not to say that this must be ‘nose-to-the-grindstone, break out in a sweat kind of action. But you must take whatever step is necessary to manifest your desires–inspired action.

Simply writing down your goals and intentions begins the process of moving something from thought to existence. Taking that inspired action and not giving up is what transforms your visions into reality.

Sometimes when we are already vibrating at a high level and we are in perfect alignment with what we desire it can come very quickly and from quite unexpected sources. However, there will be those occasions when we experience resistance and we are not vibrating at the level of our desires making the lag time a bit longer.

The questions I am posing here are, “How do you hang in there and remain committed to your goals when it’s just not fun anymore? How do you get through the meantime and see your project or your vision through to its completion?”

Well, to begin with, you’ll have to learn to embrace the concept of delayed gratification. The idea that you do what you must do in order to be able to do what you want to do. It’s also the idea that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Staying with it and putting in the work not only builds character, but allows you to appreciate what you receive that much more.

One of my favorite spiritual business success coaches, Khama Anku, says, “You don’t have to love every minute of it,” and this is so true. You must be willing to put in the work required that will transform you from who you are today and what you have right now into the person you will become that will be ready to receive what it is that you desire.

You’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize and stay positive. As you create your daily ‘to-do’ lists and mark off your accomplishments no matter how small, understand that this is sacred work that you are doing. You are growing your spirit, and raising your vibration and by doing so expanding the Universe of what is possible.

Nelson Mandela went into prison a hot-blooded, angry, militant young man. The 27 years he spent in prison, many of those years on Robben Island, refined him and prepared and transformed him into the statesman, diplomat and peacemaker that emerged and changed his country and the world.

Exercise discipline and commitment as you work towards your goals. Work your faith. The Book of Romans 4:17 reminds us that we should, “Call those things that be not as though they were.” Speak positively about your life and your circumstances. Believe that you have everything that you need within you already to accomplish everything that you desire. You would not have received the inspiration if you were not also given the means with which to bring it to fruition.

The Universe, in her infinite wisdom, does not give us a magic wand that we can wave to get what we want instantly. Sometimes it’s the process– the in-between time–that refines us and prepares us to walk in the life that we dream of. The only way to get there is to never, never, never give up.

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5 Tips For Becoming a Freelance Blogger

ebourne — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:53:51 +0000

Freelance blogging involves writing blog posts for other bloggers. You will be helping other bloggers keep their blogs supplied with fresh, well-written content while doing work you enjoy for decent pay. Adding freelance blogging to your portfolio can be an effective way to keep a more steady flow of work coming your way while adding more variety to your work life.

Freelance writers enjoy an enviable lifestyle that affords them the ability to work where and when they choose, and for clients that they choose doing work that they enjoy. One of the downsides is that there tends to be a bit of a ‘feast or famine’ cycle of being swamped with work, and then sometimes, work is difficult to find. Adding more skills to your service offerings gives you more opportunities to serve a more diverse client base.

Aside from a love and passion for the craft of writing, you’ll also need a solid foundation in Internet marketing, effective website design and some knowledge of basic SEO practices to become a freelance blogger. Knowledge of how to manage the popular blogging platform, WordPress, is also important. Your clients may want you to write the posts and then publish them to the blog as well.

Because basically anyone who can write a sentence, and who has Internet access can slap up a blog, you’ll have to differentiate yourself from the teeming masses by providing excellent, well-written content that’s beyond what the average person would be able to find upon doing a cursory online search.

Here are five tips for getting started with freelance blogging:

1. Start your own blog.
Your first step is going to be to demonstrate that you can create some results with your content. Create a blog on a topic that you are passionate about and work towards getting it ranked high in the search engines for your keywords. Cultivate an audience and engage with them on your blog. Demonstrate best practices and show potential clients that you know how to build and maintain an effective blog.

2. Create a page for your blogging services
Decide on what price you will charge per word, giving a price for a range of word counts from 350-400, 500-600, and 1,000 word posts. Although blog posts tend to be more effective when they are shorter and to the point.

Post your resume and a way for potential clients to request references.

Provide sample blog posts and consider sharing traffic data for particular posts.

Include testimonials that describe the results your blog posts have helped other blogs achieve.

3. Create relationships with potential clients by guest posting.
You can begin by offering to guest post for bloggers that you’d eventually like to write for. If they like your work they may consider hiring you in the future.

4. Comment regularly on blogs that you’d like to work with.
Leave thoughtful comments that add value rather than trying to show how nifty and smart you are. Join in the conversation and keep coming back to blogs that you like so that you can establish a reputation and credibility.

5. Utilize social media to gain exposure.
Use your Facebook profile, create a fan page for your blog and use the Networked Blogs app to connect your blog with the millions of other blogs on Facebook. Use Twitter to get traffic by tweeting when you publish a post. You
can also tweet about your topic and what’s happening with you.

If your blog is on a more serious business topic you’ll want to create a LinkedIn profile, add lots of relevant connections, and join participate in and start groups on your topic.

Visit the following forums to find blogging gigs:

forum.freelanceswitch.com
forum.freelancevenue.com
jobs.problogger.net
bloggerjobs.biz

You can also find blogging gigs on the regular freelancing sites such as oDesk, Elance and Guru.com.

If you’re an online freelance writer looking to expand your reach, freelance blogging can be a fun way to branch out , attract more clients and increase your bottom line.

Resources:

http://www.bloggingteacher.com/how-to-become-a-freelance-blogger

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5 Tips for Improving Your Online Writing Skills

ebourne — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:33:57 +0000

Writing for the Web

Writing for the web is not the same as writing for print. If you are going to be writing content that will be consumed online there are a few concepts that you need to get clear on. By now most people understand the fact that we don’t read text online in the same way that we read text in hard copy such as a book or a newspaper that we hold in our hands.

People tend to skim online copy very quickly with their eyes.
The Internet is by nature fast moving and bright and shiny. Our brains and eyes move hyper-fast when we are online and if what we are looking at does not appeal to us, we can quickly get rid of it within a nano-second by clicking the next link.

As writers, we need to get in touch with the way our readers engage with our work online so that we can create a product that will be both useful and enjoyable by those who consume it. You want to craft content that makes your readers stop long enough for you to convey the message that you are trying to send. Your words must draw them in so that they can consume your content and in exchange for their attention you must fulfill the promise of supplying the information they were searching for.

Write for human readers but with SEO in mind.
Another unseen audience that is consuming our content online is the search engines. Since our human readers’ eyeballs are our most important audience we write for them, but it’s also important to keep the principles of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, in mind as we create web content.

Since many of us learned to write prior to the Internet age, there are a few specific strategies that we can employ in order to be effective at online writing.

Do Keyword research and write content that focuses on one or two keywords while delivering concise information that the end user is searching for.
Link to other related pieces of content within the site that add to topic.
Link out to related authority sites that have high search engine rankings and provide additional information for your reader.
Use images that illustrate your point and break up the text on the page.
Write in shorter paragraphs allowing for sufficient white space on the page to give the reader’s eyes a place to rest.
Use bullets and call-out boxes for the skimmers to grab information quickly.
Use meaningful sub-headers to introduce ideas.

Tips for sharpening the saw:
This is a list of five tips that can help you to improve your online writing skills, but this does not pretend to be an exhaustive list. You’ll want to keep learning and constantly strive to improve your craft over time–’sharpening the saw’ as Steven Covey calls it.

1. Read excellent writing
While it might sound far too simple and obvious, but reading good writing is really the best way to improve your own writing skills. Read widely on diverse topics. Pick authors whose writing style you admire and read several of their books. Get suggestions for good reads from fellow book-lovers, or make friends with your local librarian.

Here are a few blogs that feature both excellent writing and compelling content for writers:

http://www.copyblogger.com/
http://www.problogger.net/
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
http://www.doshdosh.com/

2. Join a writing group
This can be tricky because a really good, established writing group can be quite challenging to find. You may end up starting one of your own, but find a group of fellow writers of varying levels of skill and accomplishment where you can share your work and get honest feedback on how you can improve it.

There are tons of writing groups online, but I prefer live groups because it gives you the chance to interact with other writers and create real relationships with real people who share your interests. Check out meetup.com to find a local writer’s critique group, or search online writing forums to find local writing groups.

3. Take a class
Visit your local University or Community College’s website to see if they offer an online writing class. It may, oddly enough, only be offered online, but you can find some live online writing classes as well. Other resources for online writing classes include:

The Education Portal has an article with links to 10 Universities that offer free online writing classes
http://education-portal.com/articles/10_Universities_Offering_Free_Writing_Courses_Online.html
The Gotham Writing Workshop
http://www.writingclasses.com/
Wrter’s Digest University writing classes
http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/

4. Hire a writing coach
Working with a writing coach is an excellent investment. If you want to write a book, but you would like to polish up your writing style, a coach can help you to get motivated, get unstuck, create a writing routine that works for your lifestyle, and most of all hold you accountable to the goals that you have set for yourself.

http://www.writingforward.com/category/writing-help/writing-coach
http://writingcompanion.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/writing-mentor-coach/
http://www.genreality.net/ten-reasons-to-hire-a-writing-coach

5. Practice, practice and more practice.
“A writer writes,” as they say. Write something everyday. Set a daily word count goal that you feel that you can stick to, but that will also force you to stretch yourself a bit. Commit to meeting this goal, but don’t beat yourself up when you don’t. Just pick up where you left off. Keeping a daily longhand journal can be therapeutic and help you clear out what’s on your mind so that you can focus on creating good writing.

Keep a blog where you write about whatever inspires you. Write a new post every day and before long you will begin to notice that you are developing a unique style that your readers will come to enjoy.

Additional Writing Resources:

http://www.webanddesigners.com/20-ways-to-improve-websites-readability
http://www.problogger.net/31-days-to-building-a-better-blog/
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/fifty-50-tools-which-can-help-you-in-writing.html

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The Power of Attention

ebourne — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:26:06 +0000

If you have ever had any interest in personal development than you already understand that you are an infinite being with infinite potential and that you create your own reality every day. But there is one thing that directs all of your co-creation and manifestation. This one thing is the seat of your power to achieve and that one thing is your attention.

Your attention is you directing your mind to focus on a particular thing. Your attention is a powerful force because where attention goes energy flows. Part of your evolution as a spiritual being having a human experience is to choose carefully where you focus your attention because whatever you focus your attention on expands.

Attention is a form of currency. When you ‘pay’ attention to something you take it in and it begins to shape your thinking. Advertisers pay dearly to grab just the smallest amount of your attention to try to persuade you to purchase their products. What you have been paying attention to lately will be evident in what has been showing up in your experience.

So, in order to move from where you are to where you would like to be in life, you must be diligent about where you place your attention. Learn to pay attention to what you want and ignore what you don’t want. What do you want more of? Focus your attention on that and feel good about it. As an infinite being it is within your power to do and be and have whatever you desire. But, so many of us get caught in the trap of giving all of our attention to the status quo rather than focusing on making our dreams and intentions a reality.

Here’s how to use your attention to your advantage:

•Your attention directs your powerful, creative energy and life force so use it to your best advantage. Take out that list of goals and dust it off.

•Pick just one thing that if you devoted your attention to it and accomplished it, your life would be closer to what you want it to be.

•Choose an end-date when that goal will be accomplished.

•Open your calendar and schedule in the tasks along with how much time it will take to complete each task on your calendar. If your calendar syncs with your cell phone, program in audible, daily reminders to give your attention to your goal.

•Celebrate when you achieve milestones whether they are major or minor as long as they are moving you forward.

Focus, discipline and diligence are the best weapons against overwhelm and analysis paralysis. Imperfect action is far better than perfect inaction, and failing early on teaches you valuable lessons that you can incorporate as you pick yourself up and keep moving forward. A helpful mnemonic is: FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful.

Your consistent, unrelenting attention and action will ensure that you successfully achieve any goal you set for yourself.

The benefits of developing the discipline to focus your attention will begin to show up in all areas of your life. Whether you want to get a better job, start your own business, go back to school and finish your degree or finish a big project around the house, your attention and your action is what will transform your vision and idea into its physical manifestation. So, pay attention!

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Encourage A Blogger: Leave a Comment

ebourne — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:52:48 +0000

Mark Twain once quipped, “I can live for two months on a good compliment,” and I can totally relate to his
sentiments. It just really feels good when someone points out something positive about you in a public way.
Hearing a compliment really can make all of the difference in a person’s day.

As bloggers, each of us knows that our blog can be compared to a single tree in a vast forest of millions of other trees just like it. We spend hours doing research to write what we hope will be useful, compelling content for our blogs, but there are days when you just feel like a small fish in a big pond. You’re not getting the steady flow of traffic that you dream of, and you spend more time than you’d like deleting comment spam.

Just one positive comment from a real live person who has actually taken the time to read your post and has
something thoughtful to say in response makes you feel really good when it first starts to happen. It reminds you of why you started blogging in the first place.

But commenting is not just you being magnanimous to the blog author. Commenting is a win-win. Please take a minute and watch this video training by Amanda-Marie, a blogger that I met in the Unified Tribe community, who’s got some great tips about how to select the right blogs to comment on. I first found Amanda-Marie’s blog post because another UTribe member, Chris Bernardo, shared it with me. So, the Unified Tribe really rocks:

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you start leaving comments on blogs:

As Amanda-Marie said, choose mid-level blogs that have at least one or more of the following plugins installed:

Top commentator’s plugin
Gravatar plugin
Comment Luv
Coree Silvera from the marketlikeachick, blog recommends adding NoFollow Free WordPress plugin that allows you to determine the number of times a commenter should comment before being given a ‘do-follow’ link.
Write meaningful comments that shows you actually read the post and found something that resonated with you.
What is motivating you to write that comment? Being authentic and writing a thoughtful response can be more beneficial than trying to sound like an expert. (Nobody likes a smarty-pants know-it-all)
Keep your comments short and to the point.
Be respectful and remember my grandma’s advice that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
For bloggers who want to encourage more comments:
Sounds pretty simple, but ask for comments in your post.
Make it simple and advantageous for people to comment by using plugins such as Comment Luv.
Respond to the comments you receive to create a continuing conversation.

Commenting on blogs benefits both you and the blogger. The blog gets more attention and better SEO with more comments, if done effectively, you can come off as an authority in your topic and attact traffic back to your blog.

Giving that which you’d most like to receive opens you up to receive even more. In Luke 6:38 of the Bible it says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

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WordPress Security: 5 Crucial Strategies for Protecting Your Blog

ebourne — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:47:16 +0000

WordPress Security

WordPress security is an important issue for wordpress bloggers. I maintain a network of about seven blogs, and thank God none have been hacked yet. Last year I installed a blog for a client, and recently she came to me saying that her blog had been hacked.

A hacker had gotten in and embedded some malicious code, so Google blocked it. Now imagine if your blog that you had worked on for months to develop a stream of traffic and revenue got hacked and then banned? Does the thought give your chills? It did for me, so I have taken this as a warning and I’ve done a little bit of research on WordPress security.

Since I am by no means an expert on this topic, I came up with some links to a few good blog posts about blog security that should be helpful to you:

• http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

• http://blogsecurity.net/wordpress/wordpress-security-whitepaper

• http://www.noupe.com/how-tos/wordpress-security-tips-and-hacks.html

Here are five of the tips that I gleaned from these articles that I plan to implement immediately:

• Always update to the latest version of WP. WordPress developers take security seriously. As new potential security vulnerabilities are discovered they are cleared up in subsequent versions.

• Back up regularly using the WP DB Backup plugin. Set a schedule and stick with it. Otherwise, you may be kissing your hard work goodbye.

• Change your username and password regularly. Don’t use the word ‘password’ for your password. Use a secure password which should be at least 7 digits, not a word in the dictionary or a name, contain numbers and letters and a capital letter.

• Add an index.html file to hide the contents within your directory. Upload to your ‘plugins’ directory to help prevent unwelcome intruders from seeing the plugins you are running. Just open up a Notepad file and save the blank file as index.html.

• Add a security plugin. WP Security Scan is a good one: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan, but there are many others to be found at wordpress.org.

Take a minute and put these security measures in place so that your blog will be secure.

Please share your favorite blog security methods here.

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Freelance Writing: Establish a Morning Routine for a More Productive Work Day

ebourne — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:35:27 +0000

One of the coolest things about being a freelance writer is that you can work pretty much whenever you want to. If you are a morning person, you can get up before the crack of dawn and complete your writing projects early so that you can have the day free to do what you want. Night owls can burn the midnight oil to get projects completed on time. But regardless of your schedule, you might want to consider establishing a morning routine to get your day off to a productive start.

But what makes being a freelance writer cool can also be the most challenging and that is learning to manage our productive time and energy in the most efficient way. I was inspired to write this post when I was listening to Internet Business Mastery, which is one of my favorite podcasts. They were talking about how important it is to establish a healthy morning routine, and to create a sense of order in the way you approach your business.

I was so inspired that I decided to create a morning routine of my own:

• Wake up

• 15-30 minutes meditation

• 15-30 minutes Yoga

• Wake children up

• Prepare breakfast and lunches

• Get dressed

• Supervise girls getting ready for school

• Drive girls to school

• Return home

• Shower & get dressed

• 30 minutes devotional time

• Begin work

When I can stick to this routine I find that my day flows much more smoothly. Now that the weather is warm again there’s a struggle between fitting in my walking time and my devotional time, but if I skip either one I can feel the effect of it pretty quickly, so I find a way to balance the two.

Writing is a creative talent that needs a rested, alert mind in order for the output to be of any usable quality. Getting enough rest, eating a healthy diet and establishing healthy routines can serve to feed your creativity and enhance your productivity.

Your Turn:
Do you have a morning routine? Please feel free to share if you think it helps you to be a better or more productive writer.

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How to Destroy Your Comfort Zone in 2 Easy Steps

ebourne — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:26:21 +0000

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

I have been giving a lot of thought about exactly what it takes to forge ahead despite the adversities that appear in the path to block us from our intended goals. I’ve also been thinking a lot about my comfort zone and about how it is more accurately called a rut. But guess what? The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.

It occurred to me that the only way to keep moving forward–to keep taking the massive action that leads to massive results–it would become necessary to completely destroy my comfort zone. It would require me to have nothing to fall back on so that I can move ahead fearlessly. It does not, however, mean making brash, foolish mistakes or plunging headlong into disaster for the sake of taking action.

What it does mean is letting go of that infantile urge to procrastinate. The time for pondering, planning, researching, and making priority lists has come to an abrupt end.

“Do,” as our wise friend Yoda said, “. . . or do not. There is no try.” I have a particular fondness for an expression that my mom used once or twice during heated exchanges with my Dad, which is “Sh*t or get off the pot.” Enough said.

So, how do you destroy your comfort zone in 2 easy steps?

Step 1. Do it

Step 2. Keep moving

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” -Anais Nin

I invite you to join me by choosing to embrace the greatness of who you are as you destroy your comfort zone every chance you get.

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Stress Management Strategies–5 Tips for Freelance Writers

ebourne — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:33:58 +0000

April is stress awareness month, which is a great opportunity to take a look at the stress in your life and what you are doing to manage it. Freelance writers experience many different kinds of stress whether it’s from the ‘feast or famine’ nature of freelance consulting work, dealing with constant rejection, the endless waiting to hear back about submissions as well as the stress that comes when you are taking on writing jobs that you really don’t like so that you can pay the bills.

Since it is stress awareness month, let’s take a look at some strategies for managing stress that can make life as a writer more peaceful and rewarding.

1. Journaling
This may sound like a ‘no-brainer’ but there are writers out there who are not keeping a journal. Make it a
practice to start and end the day taking the time to write longhand in your journal. Get a nice journal and use a pen that you really like. If you write all day at the computer doing client work for others, writing longhand in a journal on paper can be very relaxing and therapeutic.

Write about things that make you feel good
Write snippets of poetry
Capture ideas to inspire your creative writing
Write out a list of the things that you accomplished that make you feel proud
Write about the goals that you are aspiring to

2. Meditation
Meditation is a wonderful stress management technique that helps you to relax, relieve stress and get centered. As a writer, meditation can also help you to clear your mind so that you can have an open channel to receive ideas and generate fresh ideas. It can help you to get clarity on projects that you are working on.

The simplest meditation is to sit quietly on the floor with legs folded in the lotus position with a cushion under your bottom to support your spine, seated in a straight back chair with feet flat on the floor, or laying flat on your back on a bed or on the floor. Begin by taking long, slow, deep breaths. Let your attention gently rest on your breath and as thoughts come up, notice them but keep your focus on your breath.

3. Walking
Exercise is a great way to relieve stress, but walking is also a effective way to clear your head and sort out or work through ideas. Schedule in a mid-day walk to give your eyes a rest from staring at that screen. Vary your route so that you are seeing different scenery and experiencing different terrain. Walking vigorously and taking deep, full breaths will completely revive you and relieve any pent-up stress in your body.

4. Rest
Getting adequate sleep helps you to feel rested and refreshed and better equipped to handle stress in a more
productive way. If you are someone who takes their worries to bed, writing in your journal and or meditating
before you fall asleep are two good ways to diffuse that destructive habit.

5. Creative Visualization
This is another stress management technique that works to relieve stress, but it’s also a good way to build your creative muscles. Take a moment to create a mental picture of something that you desire be it a dream vacation spot, a new home you’d love to have, or maybe even the setting of a book you’re working on. Make the picture have color and sound and activity. Really look at the details like the flowers in the lobby of the resort, or the artwork on the walls of the new house. Visualization takes your mind off of your stress but it also serves to speed along the manifestation of those things that you are vividly imagining with your mind’s eye.

I’ve got more stress management tips that I’ll share throughout the month. Be sure to sign up for my email update list to get information that I don’t publish on the blog.

What are some of your favorite stress management strategies? Please feel free to share.

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A Productive Pen» Uncategorized

How You Can Help Make ‘A Productive Pen’ a Better Blog for You

Other posts on this topic. . .

How to Remain Committed to Your Goals When it’s Not Fun Anymore

Other posts on this topic. . .

5 Tips For Becoming a Freelance Blogger

Other posts on this topic. . .

5 Tips for Improving Your Online Writing Skills

Other posts on this topic. . .

The Power of Attention

Other posts on this topic. . .

Encourage A Blogger: Leave a Comment

Other posts on this topic. . .

WordPress Security: 5 Crucial Strategies for Protecting Your Blog

Other posts on this topic. . .

Freelance Writing: Establish a Morning Routine for a More Productive Work Day

Other posts on this topic. . .

How to Destroy Your Comfort Zone in 2 Easy Steps

Other posts on this topic. . .

Stress Management Strategies–5 Tips for Freelance Writers

Other posts on this topic. . .