It has been a while since I posted a writing tip, so I thought now is a good time for one since summer is over and we will soon be facing several months of dark, cold, snowy weather (at least here in Chicago!). This is the time of year when my creative writing output starts to increase and I start to read a lot more as well.

But today I’m going to focus on writing. Throughout the year, there are certain things that keep me from writing. No, I’m not talking about that anti-writing demon that lives in my closet and tackles me whenever I attempt to write something (another post for another day). I’m talking about various "mental blocks" that can keep me away from a current project, or even from starting a new one. There are many mental blocks, and I’m not going to attempt to cover them all here, but I will talk about the ones I suffer from the most.

Here are a few mental blocks that keep me from being a productive writer:

1. "I’ve started a great story, but don’t know how to end it!" - This is perhaps the biggest reason I have so many unfinished short story manuscripts stuffed into my file drawer. Writing just an adequate ending is hard enough, much less a great ending.

The Antidote: Getting through this mental block requires two main ingredients. First, know that whatever you write is not set in stone. You can change the ending later and edit your manuscript. Keeping this in the back of my mind really does help. Secondly, brainstorm ideas for how your story will end. Just write down anything that comes to mind. Then, write a couple different ending based on your brainstorming session. This also reinforces the idea that nothing is set in stone and will help open up your creativity!

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This might seem like one of those posts that I just threw together because I had nothing better to write. Nothing could be further from the truth. As absurd as it seems, this is one of those writing tips that, for me at least, has been a "hidden gem". I know this works because some of my most inspired, creative ideas and writing sessions have resulted from what I’m about to share.

This might seem very counterintuitive, but writing while tired does produce some great work. Why? My own theory is that when you are in a tired state, the mind turns off that "inner editor" and you can explore ideas and/or concepts that, when fully awake, would never even come to you.

So what do I mean by being tired? I do not mean when you are so sleep deprived you can no longer function at all. I’m talking about those times when your eyes are heavy, it’s hard to concentrate on anything that takes logical thought (this appears to be key), and you are very much ready to go to sleep. Well, don’t sleep just yet. Take out a notebook or boot up your computer and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Write what comes to your mind. You’ll be surprised at what you have written when you are awake and fully aware.

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Today I’m doing a bit of summer cleaning in my home office. My wife bought my two large bookshelves to store my small but growing book collection and I thought it would be a good time to do a little cleaning as well. I have thrown out a lot of old papers – especially from college (sniff, sniff), magazines, dead batteries, and other stuff that has been collecting dust over the years.

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It always starts with a great idea that you are usually very enthusiastic about, and you keep up that momentum by getting a lot of writing done early on. But as your piece of fiction progresses, you come to face the reality of the story: How will it end? Is the plot good enough? Are the characters well-developed? While these little seeds of doubt can be healthy, they can kill even the most we-planned and ambitious of writing projects.

Unfortunately, this has happened to me more times than I care to admit. The project always starts out so promising and then fizzles out like a garden hose with a kink in it. Why does this happen? For me personally, I think it has to do with poor planning. I’m not one who can sit down and start writing without having some sort of plan. This means getting an idea of the characters (names especially), setting and the narrative arc that will hopefully include a satisfying ending.

The ending! That is where I appear to fall short. I have an ending problem. Coming up with a good ending that will satisfy most readers (note that I said "most" not "all) is very hard. Some of my best works of fiction are ones where I carefully laid out the plot and had the ending in mind before I even wrote the first sentence. If at all possible, it is best to let a story come to its own natural ending.

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In the past I have written about many different ways to light a fire under your writing, like here and here, but it’s hard to ignite something that isn’t there. What the heck am I talking about? I’m talking about when you want to write a short story, novel or even a poem and you just sit there, staring at your computer screen. You’re motivated to write, but the ideas just aren’t there.

I’m going to share with you an easy way to come up with endless story ideas, guaranteed! And it doesn’t take a lot of hard work; just an open mind and a pen and some paper to jot down those ideas so you don’t forget them. I have used this method many, many different times to write a lot of short fiction.

Here’s my secret:

Quick and Easy Story Ideas!

Wherever you happen to be, just ask yourself this question: What if…[fill in the blank with any random thought you may have].

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A large part of being an English Major is doing peer reviews for various essays we had to write. Most professors would give us "guide sheet" to follow that gave a list of stuff to look for in the essay we were reading. There was always the usual; thesis statements, logical arguments, proper citation and of course grammar and spelling. But one thing I found in a lot of the essays I reviewed (and I’m certainly as guilty as anyone) is redundancy in the writing.

What is redundancy? A simple definition is that it’s words/phrases in writing that are extra and should be cut out. Here’s an example:

His doctor asked him the question again, "Where does it hurt?"

Can you guess the part of the above sentence that is redundant? I’ll give you a hint, notice the words "ask" and "question". Can you ask anything other than a question? Probably not. So this can be cleaned up:

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Spring is finally here! That means there is a rebirth, of sorts, as the trees, grass and other foilage come back to life. Even as I grudgingly get out of bed each morning to drag myself to my day job, I can here the birds outside chirping once again – something I haven’t heard in several months.

Much like Spring brings nature to life again, you can do the same with your writing. If you are like me, you probably spent the cold, dark winter reading a lot of books, but maybe not doing a lot of writing. So it’s time to clear out those cobwebs in your brain (a little Spring cleaning) and re-ignite your writing once more!

Here are 7 simple ways you can re-ignite your writing and bring some passion back to your literary ambitions.

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One of my goals for 2008 was to become more organized with my blogging. I decided to make an editorial calendar for Brad’s Reader utilizing Google Calendar. The basic idea is that I plan out most of my feature "bread and butter" posts in advance and fill in the gaps with more timely literary news. So far this has worked out great. By seeing all my planned posts for the month laid out in front of me, I have a good idea of what topics I might be talking about too much, and what topics need more attention.

Before I started using an editorial calendar I would pretty much write my posts as the ideas came to me. I spent many evening sitting in front of my computer trying desperately to think of something to write about for that particular day. It was very stressful, to say the least. Now, I know what I’ll be writing about in advance and usually end up writing most posts for the week during the prior weekend.

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Every weekday at 4:35pm, the local oldies station here in Chicago showcases a song by the Beatles. Before the song plays, however, the host tells the story behind the song (without actually giving away the song’s title). These are always very interesting stories that show how the Beatles struggled to create many of their hit songs, and how the group was often filled with a lot of internal strife, especially in the later years.

I have come to look forward to 4:35 for a variety of reasons: The interesting Beatles story, the good music, and the realization there are only 25 short minutes until I can jump into my car and speed home to resume my normal life.

A few days ago, the broadcast really caught my attention. It focused on John Lennon, who I think it’d be safe to say, knew a thing or two about being creative. The song that they featured was Nowhere Man. Although I don’t have an exact quote of what the radio host said, this Wikipedia entry is pretty darned close:

Lennon, however, claimed that he himself was the subject of the song. He wrote it after racking his brain in desperation for five hours, trying to come up with another song for Rubber Soul. "I’d actually stopped trying to think of something," he said. "Then I thought of myself as Nowhere Man — sitting in his nowhere land.

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In honor of today being Valentine’s Day, I was going to write a brilliant post that connected this holiday of love to literature in a way that would fascinate everyone. But then, I was doing some research for this post, I came across so many collections of "Valentine’s Day love poems" and other sappy works, that I had an epiphany. I realized that all those poems are stuff many of you read back in grade school. There’s nothing new. Nothing exciting.

I also thought about going into the history of Valentine’s Day. However, a quick search on Google showed me that the history of this holiday is pretty well known and already condensed into easy-reading form via Wikipedia (which I took the liberty of linking to in the first sentence of this post). I concluded that me writing a Valentine’s Day history would be like reinventing the wheel.

Part of the problem, I admit, is that I hate Valentine’s Day. I don’t get excited about it and I’m sick of everyone asking me what I’m doing today to celebrate. My answer is always the same: "Nothing!" No cards. No flowers. No gifts. Just business as usual.

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