Streamwriting

This past weekend I went on the most amazing course. I’m a fan of courses, semimars, workshops, and the like, particularly those aimed at self-development. This 3-day course was a hybrid of NLP (neuro linguistic programming), hypnosis, and the latest techniques in re-setting negative mind patterns.

Now what has this got to do with writing?

Well, in my own personal experience and that of working with lots of other writers, one of the biggest stumbling blocks I keep coming up against is that of self-belief. Or lack of it.

The limitations we place upon ourselves, in all walks of life, are often the things which hold us back. We think we are not good enough, we have the fixed opinion that getting a book published will be hard work, we expect rejections. And when we get a rejection we let that rejection spiral into other rejections because we start to equate one person’s opinion with everyone’s opinion.

Which is why coaching is such a big business. An athlete needs a coach. A tennis star has a coach. A singer often has a voice coach. Even the most successful people in the world have coaches. Especially the succussful people. Why? Because a coach helps you eradicate all the weaknesses in your game. A coach can help you believe.

I’m not going to go on and on about coaches here, but what I will say is that being a professional writer is not always about having the best product on the market. It’s about self-belief, the self-confidence to promote yourself, and the focus, will, and power to keep going when you have a goal worth pursuing.

I haven’t written this blog for a while, 3 weeks or so, mainly because I’ve been busy, but also because I’d gone off the boil re my own novel. The rewrite loomed over me, I found myself staring at blank page after blank page whilst my mind floated skyward, and deep down I was starting to doubt. Doubting my ability to finish a project, to successfully sell a project, to make it into the big time. I’d had the course scheduled for months, it was a gift, a free ticket, and I knew it would represent a turning point for me, because what I needed more than anything was a healthy kick up the butt.

I highly, more than highly, more than anything, recommend this weekend course. There’s ones in Australia, the US and London so whereever you are you can go experience the Christopher Howard experience. He’s a dynamic, fun, charismatic teacher that will help you unearth any limiting beliefs that are holding you back from actualising your dreams.

I’ve got a hundred free tickets for the next Breakthrough to Success seminar in March. It takes place in London and if you want to reach into your pysche and pull out any demons, or if you want to believe that anything, even having a bestselling book, is achievable, then click on this link and reserve your place now.

http://champions.christopherhoward.co.uk/ukbts.asp?cli=CLA1017875

This is an interesting link. Continuing my theme of aspiring wealth, I tuned into this woman a couple of years ago when she ran an online prosperity game which actually worked! If you’ve seen The Secret then you’ll know what I’m on about because this lady, Sandy Forster, teaches the law of attraction.

Anyway, that’s all beside the point. The point being Sandy used to be thousands of dollars in debt (she’s Aussie) but in the space of 5 years transformed herself into a millionaire and now lives on the Sunshine Coast. Along the way she wrote and self-published a bestselling book, How To Be Wildly Wealthy Fast. Now she’s running a series of free teleseminars which you can download from her website: www.wildlyweathly.com or click here to go to the direct link: http://www.wildlywealthy.com/teleseminars.php .

The author teleseminars focus on lots of aspects about the publishing/marketing process and have a few handy tips. More for people who are thinking about going down the self-publishing/POD route than the traditional avenue, and particularly helpful if you are writing a non-fiction book aimed at helping the reader in some way (that way you can follow it up with lots of other avenue streams – audio, seminars, online programmes, workshops etc). She kind of annoys me in places (am not even sure why really) but the material over-rides that. Some good stuff here. Thanks Sandy!