19 Jan 10 Writing When You Don’t Want To Write

Just like a lack of ideas can really stifle your writing ability, a lack of desire to write is just as bad, if not worse. When you don’t want to write, but you have to for work, you can be facing an uphill battle. Writing requires so much creativity that you really have to be in the proper place of mind to write. When you find yourself feeling less than up to the task, pushing through those times can be a long and arduous process. But here are a few tips to help you along the way.

-Make sure that you have a good schedule, and that you stick to that schedule. If you’re a writer that works from home, the biggest part of making that transition is remembering that this is still a serious job. Just because your environment is the comfort of your own home, doesn’t mean you can slack. Schedule out your projects and stick to them, in the long run this will help you feel like you’re in more of a professional environment, and you’ll be more apt to get your writing done.

-Know when you need to take a break. Because writing is so creative, sometimes you need to take a break to keep the creative juices flowing. Give yourself 5-10 minutes when you’re feeling especially unproductive. Take a moment, go outside and get some fresh air, then go back to work. You should feel calmer, and more willing to resume normal duties.

-Don’t get down on yourself, or bully yourself into writing. Everyone goes through phases where they don’t feel like writing. You just have to stay confident and positive, and keep plugging away. The feeling will pass, but don’t give in and stop working because of it.

-Finally, try making a reward system for yourself. If you have a lot of articles to do, map out the articles and make up rewards for completing a certain amount. Like if you desperately want to take a break, set a goal to finish four of those articles before you do. If you’re hungry and really want to eat lunch, make sure you complete another two beforehand.

Tags: Break, Creative Juices, Creativity, Fresh Air, Home Doesn, Job, Lack Of Desire, Lot, Lunch, Map, Professional Environment, Resume, Reward System, Rewards, Transition, Uphill Battle

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03 Nov 09 Role of Intuition in Web Designing

We are often led to believe that web designing is nothing but a principle-led mechanical activity, which has very little to do with creativity. Well, I do not think so. It indeed is a principal-led mechanical activity as far as laying out a final page is concerned, but laying out is not when a page is designed. Creation of a web page is nothing but the final execution of the output a designer get during the long ideation. The web page is created then only in the mind of the web designer.

Creativity plays an important role in web designing and so does intuition.

What did I say…intuition?

How could intuition possibly be related to web designing?

Role of Intuition

Well, do not get bogged down by thinking that intuition does not matter in the process of designing a website because it does and it does a great deal. Talk of anything creative and you are talking of intuition playing a role in how it comes about. In terms of web designing, intuition play a significant part when:

We chart out navigation map for the website. How users move from one place cannot be known by any other mean if not intuitively. You cannot explain how you know that the website visitors will go to c from a then come back to b then again to a then d and so on and so forth. An experienced web designer just knows how a visitor is going to interact with the website.
We chose the color scheme. Indeed color theories are there to assist us on which color will look good with which color and which will look awful. But you cannot explain why a certain type of website works well with certain color scheme, while it fails when other color scheme is chosen. And why one color scheme works well with one type of website and does not work will with another kind of website.
We decide the placement of elements in the website. There are many elements that are important for our website, but not all the elements will work at all places. Some elements work well when placed at the first position on above-the-fold while other works at eye-level. Can you explain why this subtle difference matter?

Can you help me find where else intuition plays an important role? Use the comment box and help me know more about this.

Tags: Color Scheme, Color Theories, Creation, Creative, Creativity, Designing A Website, Elements, Execution, Experienced Web Designer, First Position, Fo, Intuition, Map, Mechanical Activity, Plays, Principle, Web Designing, Web Page, Website Visitors

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30 Sep 09 5 More Ways to Improve Your Writing Part-IX

The importance of a good research to bring depth in the writing can never be underrated. A proper research digs the material required for writing; therefore, in this part of the 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing series I will talk about the power of research, and how to employ it to make your writing better.

Keep it simple stupid

Do not complicate your writing, nor should you complicate your research objective; keep it simple stupid. By keeping things simple, you will have clear objective of what you want, and why you are undertaking certain activity. A complex idea never gets executed.

Rethink what is normal

While researching for your big book, do not take anything for granted. Things that you or people around consider normal may be just so because of the laxity in thought on your part. Think it over and find why something is normal and others are not considered normal. Ask why writing with right hand is normal, and using left hand to write is not normal? Ask simple questions and challenge the faculty of normalcy.

Challenge the assumption

When you start researching for a subject, you assume certain things and then move forward to prove it. Just think how great a tragedy will it be when half-way though your research you come to know that your assumptions where faulty? Do not just assume the assumption; verify it before developing it further.

Muse and Map

Thinking is the best way to check your assumption, and explore the topic. Before you take your research gear, just sit tight and think over the topic, and take mental note of things that pop up. First make a mental map then draw it on a paper. The mind map thus made will be very effective.

Take time out for research

Do not conduct a research when you are eating or doing any other secondary work. If you want quality output from your work then you need to put designated hours in research. Do not multi-task when doing research; concentrate on the topic at hand, and try to find the information required to answer the questions posed.

Tags: Assumption, Assumptions, Clear Objective, Doing Research, Laxity, Left Hand, Map, Muse, Normalcy, Quality Output, Research Objective, Rethink, Simple Questions, Tragedy