"I Have Nothing To Say!" Overcoming The Fear Of Writing, 
                by Penny Graham 
               You have worked hard on your business and now the time has come. 
                You keep reading that you should do it and all the benefits of 
                it, but the thought terrifies you! You've been putting it off, 
                but eventually you know you are going to have to do it. Okay so 
                today is the day, after all nothing is being done putting it off 
                and your fear certainly isn't getting any smaller. So this it, 
                you are psyched and ready, poised with pen in hand or computer 
                in front of you wait...and wait... You discover you only have 
                one thought in your head at this moment "I have nothing to 
                say!" You were afraid of this. How are you suppose to write 
                any articles when your mind goes completely blank at the thought 
                of it? Ok not completely blank, you have thoughts, but not the 
                kind that are going to actually help you. These thoughts are your 
                Fears and reasons why you think you can't do this. 
              Have you ever felt this way when you think about writing that 
                first article? If so, I hope this article will help you overcome 
                your Fear of writing.
              The Biggest Fear - "I have nothing to say!"
              You never know when a great idea will come to you. Keep a pen 
                and paper handy. When you get an idea about what you want to say 
                then Write it down. I like keeping a word processing window open 
                so I can jot it down there under notes. Don't skip writing the 
                idea down thinking you will remember it cause most of the time 
                you won't. If you start doing this, you can go back, look at those 
                ideas, and be surprised how you can put them together to form 
                an article.
              Read other people's articles on "how to" write articles 
                and this will give you something to go by and you won't feel completely 
                lost when you start to write yours. You don't have to be an expert 
                on something before you write an article. Just write about something 
                you have experience in. Maybe you have experience in web design, 
                so write about what you have learned. Write like you are talking 
                to a friend. Wisdom and knowledge come through experience and 
                that's all you are writing about is your own experience and what 
                you've learned. Remember your first article doesn't have to be 
                long. Short articles (300-800 words) can be helpful, if the material 
                is clear, concise, and to the point.
              "I'm Not A Writer!"
              Guess what, you don't have to be a great writer to do this. The 
                point is to keep your writing in a friendly conversational tone. 
                You want to write to the readers not at them. Decide what you 
                want to write then write like you are talking to a friend. Don't 
                worry about being perfect or editing at this point. You will go 
                back, proofread, and edit later. The important thing is to get 
                the words and ideas on paper-Just do it.
              "I Wrote It Down And It Sucks!"
              Okay so you have the words on paper and you hate it. Remember 
                you are not required to be perfect and I bet a lot of your dislike 
                for your writing is your Fear talking. At this point, you proofread 
                what you wrote, make corrections in spelling and grammar as best 
                as you can. The main point is to be clear and organized in what 
                you say. Check your article for repetition. If you found you have 
                repeated a phrase unnecessarily then take the extra wording out.
              Get another opinion. Read it out loud or have a friend read it. 
                See if your writing makes sense to them and they understand what 
                you are writing about. This will help you in the proofing department.
              "What If No One Likes It?"
              Ok not everyone is going to like it, but there will be people 
                who do. You will never know unless you try. We are far more critical 
                about ourselves than other people are on us. Somewhere some one 
                is going to find what you have to say helpful. I think of the 
                articles I have read that have helped me. It was great to read 
                about someone who already went through what I am going through 
                now. At least I knew that I wasn't the only one that was going 
                through the frustrations. I also learned from other people's mistakes, 
                what pitfalls to avoid, saving me some problems in the future.
              Don't write simply for business reasons, but write from the heart 
                with the intention of wanting to help someone else. If your article 
                has helped or motivated one person in any way, then your writing 
                has served a purpose. Yes there are benefits like name branding, 
                credibility, free advertising, etc, but the thing that counts 
                the most, is you wrote from the heart and someone was helped. 
                Remember we all learn from each other and we are all in this together.
              Okay now your article is done. Put your resource box at the end. 
                Now go get it published. Ezines and websites are always looking 
                for new content and there is someone out there waiting to learn 
                from you! An excellent place to start is at http://www.Marketing-Seek.com. 
                This website is for new writers to submit and publish their articles. 
                Also has a great resource for you to check out on other places 
                to submit your article.
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                This article may freely be reproduced provided the following resource 
                box is included intact at the end of the article.
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              About the Author
              Copyright © 2003 Penny Graham. All rights reserved. Penny 
                believes three important things are needed for online success-honesty, 
                motivation, and willingness to help others. She is owner of http://www.Insightful-info.com 
                that provides online business resources to help people make their 
                business an online success.
                She can be contacted at editor@insightful-info.com.