One thing you have got to realize and take so seriously is that every piece of writing that you let out into the world is going to work for you FOREVER. That means that it is going to represent you to people who have never heard of you, and many who have read nothing else from you other than what pops up in a search on the internet. You have to consider every single piece of your writing as a possible introduction to you. That means you have to always consider your grammar, spelling and punctuation, as well as any visual design that might accompany your work. Think of it like this: every piece you send out into the world is a little foot soldier representing you and going to work for your brand. So it has to dress nicely, speak respectfully, and inspire!

What happens when you meet someone who trips over themselves and knocks over your coffee when reaching out to shake your hand? You get a very quick, probably negative impression. What happens when you meet someone in a business environment who is wearing an old shoddy blazer, smells like they have not bathed in weeks and hasn’t shaven for just as long? You get a probably negative impression. And how do you feel when someone spits on you while meeting them for the first time? You might have a negative impression.

In the same way, you can also be very impressed with an initial meeting. Someone who dresses well, looks like they take care of themselves and doesn’t behave in some ridiculous fashion actually gives you an opportunity to hear what they are saying, as opposed to hearing their negative behavior. And then there is room for the AHA moment where epiphany strikes. That’s what you want every interaction with a reader to feel like. You want to be someone who lights epiphanies in their mind. This builds value in your perceived brand. And it encourages others to spread the word about what they have experienced.

So be aware of your foot soldiers. Take care of them, train them well, teach them to be respectful and mind their manners. If indeed, you have something worthy of sharing, they will serve you well.

Think of your platform as your launching pad. The place you’re taking off from.  Essentially, it’s where you are today in terms of your exposure, your following, your regular speaking gigs and the organizations you’re already involved with.  Publishers and others who are going to be interested in getting into bed with you (hey now!) are going to want to know how impressive you are.  The way you demonstrate your grandeur is by presenting your platform, in descending order of impressiveness.  Items that would be included in your platform might be:

1.       The appearance you did on MSNBC last month.
2.       Your long-standing relationship with the Boys and Girls Club.
3.       The 35,000 friends you have amassed on facebook.
4.       The 3 people who follow you on Twitter.
5.       The 3 reading groups you participate in regularly.
6.       The 17 speeches you gave to regional writing groups.
7.       The online articles you’ve written for Comicbookhero.com.
8.       The published article you wrote that was accepted by Cookbooks Anonymous Magazine.
9.       The 347 people on your regular newsletter list.
10.   Your current, up-to-date and smashing looking website!

Ultimately, your potential business partners want to know who you know, and who they can rely on to support you both through publicity and book sales.  So your platform is where you are today.

I’m a huge fan of spending time building characters before beginning the plot.

1. Label your main characters’ greatest fears and desires.
2. Write a narrative around the root of each of those fears and desires. What was the moment that created the emotional scar, or the euphoria?
3. Repeat this process for ten fears and desires.

The goal of this exercise is to bring your characters to life.  Think about how you act on a regular basis.  We are faced with millions of choices every day and each choice comes up against an unconscious fear vs. desire.  Even simple thoughts like what to have for dinner.  Desire for flavor vs fear of gaining weight.  Choices like whether or not to be honest with our spouse about our sexual desire for fear of being romantically rejected.  If you can build the source of each of these fears and desires for multiple characters and then stick them in a room together with goals they want to achieve, they’ll play off each other like ping pongs.

The idea here is that if you develop them well enough, they’ll have their own agendas and you’ll just be the conduit.  If you’re having to “think” too much, then your characters are not alive and chances are good that they will all sound a lot like YOU, not themselves.

Once I have my character bibles down, I do a skeletal plot outline; only one sentence per scene.  (Because the character bibles are done, the characters inform the outline.)  Then I move into an in depth outline, similar to what screenwriters call a treatment.  One paragraph per scene.  This gives me time to really dig into the plot and I make the majority of my big changes here which saves SO MUCH time when I move into writing chapters.

Then I begin with chapter one, knowing it will be the chapter that will be rewritten the most.  I don’t start with exposition mind you; I begin by dropping the characters into the middle of conflict.  “John felt for the wedding ring in his pocket as Mandy cornered him in the alleyway that night. She had already killed three people in the last hour and John was the last one blocking her path to freedom.”  CONFLICT where both the protagonist and the antagonist have a reason to fight for their life, figuratively or literally.

I use chapter to create the style and the rhythm that I’m looking for in this particular piece. Then I move chapter by chapter, attempting to stick to the outline, but not being afraid to stray if the characters tell me they have agendas that they have to explore.

I hope this helps you!  Oh yeah…and “sit your ass in the chair and do your damned job!”  When I get stuck I look over at that sign I have posted on the wall.  It was something a business coach once told me and I’ve never forgotten it.

We are pleased to announce that EDGE! A Leadership Story has been named a finalist for the National Best Books 2008 Awards in the category of Business/Motivational.

We want to extend our thanks to each and every one of you who have supported this effort and who continue to spread the word about this work. If you have not yet read the book, we invite you to pick up a copy today at Amazon.com.

Thank-you again for your continued support.

It’s a combination. The reality is that you do need to know people. That’s why it takes ten to twenty years to build a successful writing career. Accept it and get busy on the marketing of your work so you can be seen. Writing is a business. If you fail to treat it as such, you’ll wind up pissed off with nobody reading you. Your talent is only one of four elements you have to focus on:

1. Development: all things related to your writing ability (classes, exercises, writing gigs, your novel, conferences, writing magazines, reading competitive work).

2. Marketing: This is how you communicate with your potential audience. Who would benefit from reading your books? You have to find them, reach out to them and convince them to spend their time and money reading your work. You can do this through a website, through getting short stories published, or through a blog you write.

3. Networking: everyone you meet falls into one of two categories: 1) they can buy your work; 2) they can commission you to write something for them. It is imperative that you collect contact info from everyone you meet for step 4.

4. Publicity: whenever you have a writing victory (getting published, receiving an award, getting reviewed, etc), you have to have a mechanism for reaching out and telling people. If you don’t shout it form the rooftops people will assume you’re doing nothing and that does not benefit you. People love watching artists become successful - it makes them feel they are a piece of the dream. Publicize your successes.

Focus on each of these 4 areas equally and you’ll build a legit career.

This is an older article I wrote with Bea Fields that I wanted to repost:

In your business and in your life, intentional growth takes effort and focus. Sure, you may have a so-called business plan or even personal goals. You may even have them in writing. Moving from ideal to action, though, takes very specific attention to three areas of detail. Here’s where some people get lost when they decide to skirt territory that may seem a bit touchy-feely. Don’t be fooled. Defining and addressing your Core Values, Core Essence, and Core Business is not for the faint of heart. Doing so and being consistent about it demands the very best you’ve got to offer. It takes grit and guts and, yes…heart.

To address these three areas, you need to first understand what they are and what they mean to you and to building work that you love, which is integral to who you are and the way you conduct not only your work but also your life.

1) Core Values

What do your clients expect from you? How do your employees fit into the grand scheme of your business? How do you implement a strategic plan? The answer to any of those questions rests on your core values. These values are the guiding principles that help you make decisions on a daily basis and define what you stand for as a company. They are the essential, enduring tenets on which you stand. You can spend a lot of time haggling over what they are, but that what really matters is that you have them and that you allow them to guide you. Walt Disney’s core values, for example, were imagination and wholesomeness. It’s easy to see how they continue to play out.

2) Core Essence:

What is it about you that remains consistent through fads and changes in public demand that determine where your product or service line is headed? Beneath it all, there is a thread of consistency. That consistency is your essence, steadfast and true. You may think of it as the combination of your core values and your purpose.

3) Core Business

Quite simply, it’s the thing that you do best. Your company may do a lot of things, but it probably does one thing better than all of the others. Coca Cola, for instance, makes all different kinds of soft drinks, but good old Coke is an undeniable classic and without it, the company would probably not survive.

Address the Questions: Getting to your essence is a simple concept, but you’ll have to take an intentional path. Addressing these seven specific questions will make the journey quicker and more fun.

1. If you had to dump all of your products and services with the exception of the one that is most important to the sustainability of your business, which one would you keep and why?

In answering this question, don’t confuse what is most important to you with what is simply a comfortable habit. Frequently, growth is uncomfortable for a time. Go with that feeling and you’ll reward yourself later with tangible results.

2. Your best customer has just called you and told you that they are switching to your competitor. Why would someone choose your competitor over you?

Ouch. That’s a tough question. Maybe you honestly don’t know the answer or maybe you’re not even sure who or what your competition is. If so, take the opportunity to find out who else is out there and what edge they might have that you could learn from.

3. What is the one thing that you stand for so much that you are willing to lose customers and strategic partners for it?

When you know the answer to this question, your team and employees will intrinsically know it as well. Your actions do speak louder than your words, but words don’t hurt either. Don’t be afraid to speak your truth; let it speak in your advertising, your marketing, and all of your communications.

4. When you are gone, what is the one thing about you and your business that people will remember and talk about?

We all have the power to inspire and empower people. Before we can do that, we need to think about the kind of legacy that we want to leave. Be intentional about creating the kind of person, the kind of life that you want to be remembered for. If you want people to think of you as a compassionate, empowering leader, before your feet hit the floor every day, decide to take the actions that define you as such.

5. What does a company or individual gain by doing business with you that they cannot get anywhere else?

Don’t underestimate yourself and assume that other people or businesses are driven by the same values that drive you. They may use strategies that seem to speak your language, but take a deeper look at what drives them compared to what drives you. Again, it comes to intentions. Focus on what is unique and passionate about your business and your 3-5 core values.

6. Your biggest fan has to deliver a 30-second commercial about your business. What would this fan tell the 10 million viewers about you?

You’d be surprised at how people perceive you. Think long and hard about how your actions-the things that you do day in and day out-speak for you and how people respond to what you say and do. Perhaps engage your team in an exercise where each of you writes this commercial for another team member. This engaging activity will hold a mirror to the workings of your team.

7. Your closest colleague bursts into your office and says, “I’ve got the best news about your business and the worst news about your business!” What would those be?

The answers to that will be tied into what is most important to you and your business. What’s the best thing that could happen? What’s the worst thing that could happen? What would emotionally cripple you or your company? What would most empower you or your company?

When you know who you are, what you stand for, why you do what you do, and how to best accomplish it all with consistency, the sky is the limit. But don’t fool yourself. This kind of confidence is not a state of being. It’s a state of constantly becoming; intentionally becoming, every day, the kind of leader at home and at work who inspires and touches lives at every turn.

Copyright (c) 2007 Bea Fields and Corey Blake

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

Bea Fields and Corey Blake with Eva Silva are the co-authors of Edge! A Leadership Story. Fields is an Executive Coach and the President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. Blake is an author, screenplay writer and the President of Writers of the Round Table Inc.

This one’s easy.  Don’t SELL in your writing.  Focus on providing valuable information.  The goal of your writing is actually not to sell.  It’s to demonstrate your validity as an expert in your field.  Few people have the ability to close a deal with writing alone.  You need your writing to invite people into your sphere.  From there you have to find a way to relationship build, either through personal contact, blogging, vlogging, working on small projects, advising, etc.  Once the trust is there, selling happens naturally.  So spend your time giving away the information you have been working so hard to obtain.  Give it away for free over and over again and people will flock to your business in droves.  And some of those people will become clients or customers.  Some of them will work with you on small projects and some of them will work with you for years.  Contrary to what so many professionals advise, I say stop trying to sell and start trying to help people.  Make a difference in their life and they will pay to keep you around.  It’s a fair trade.  The man with money meets the woman with experience and they trade.  So get out there and make yourself trustworthy by caring and affecting change.