I'd Rather Be Writing » tips http://idratherbewriting.com The Latest Trends in Technical Communication Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:59:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Helpful Little Tips for Life http://idratherbewriting.com/2008/12/07/helpful-little-tips-for-life/ http://idratherbewriting.com/2008/12/07/helpful-little-tips-for-life/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:40:18 +0000 Tom Johnson http://www.idratherbewriting.com/?p=2426 more »]]> Today I bring you a random compilation of helpful little tips — for work, for home, or for dealing with kids, etc. — that I’ve learned in life.

  1. If you’re tired at work, rotate tasks on the half hour to stay productive.
  2. If you want to save money on toys, take your kids to a thrift store and let each child choose his or her own toy.
  3. If your bath tub drains slowly, remove the plug and use a bent coat hook to pull out the endless hair that’s stopping it up.
  4. If your kid is having trouble riding a bike, remove the pedals, lower the seat, and let the kid scuttle along until he or she is ready for the pedals again.
  5. If your kids act like hooligans in stores, get a small umbrella stroller and let one of the kids push another kid (it keeps them occupied a bit more).
  6. If you need better sleep at night, turn off all sources of light (light prolongs the body’s circadian rhythm) and sleep in total darkness.
  7. If your kids resist having their teeth brushed, brush in the rhythm of a song (e.g., “monkeys up, monkeys down, monkeys left …”).
  8. If you dread folding immense piles of laundry, pop in headphones and listen to a podcast while folding.
  9. If you lose your cell phone, call it with Skype.
  10. If you have writer’s block, immerse yourself in information from books, listservs, RSS feeds, and presentations.

And one bonus tip: If something is hard to do, do it every day.

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]]> http://idratherbewriting.com/2008/12/07/helpful-little-tips-for-life/feed/ 6 The Hardest Part About Blogging: Coming Up With Something Interesting to Say http://idratherbewriting.com/2007/12/19/the-hardest-part-about-blogging-how-to-come-up-with-something-interesting-to-say/ http://idratherbewriting.com/2007/12/19/the-hardest-part-about-blogging-how-to-come-up-with-something-interesting-to-say/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:22:10 +0000 Tom Johnson http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/12/19/the-hardest-part-about-blogging-how-to-come-up-with-something-interesting-to-say/ more »]]> An idea will come if you teach your brain to look for itI’m going to be presenting on blogging within the next several months, and without a doubt, the hardest part about blogging is not the technical aspect. The hardest part is writing interesting posts.

Here’s a technique I find works well. Start with the premise that every day, some new thought will strike you as being intriguing. When that moment occurs, write a descriptive word on your hand.

Later that evening, type a couple of paragraphs explaining your thought. Usually as you write, more thoughts come.

Now that you’ve trained your brain to be aware of these subtle moments of insight during the day, you’ll experience them more frequently. The trick is to keep posting often. Remember, blogs are basically thought journals. Let the journal sit too long, and you start thinking that you have to have a monumental epiphany to start writing.

Other Blogging News

While I’m on the topic of blogging, today I read a great quote by Guy Kawasaki. He says,

A blog is written by someone with nothing to say, writing for someone with nothing to do.

I’m sure he’s saying this tongue-in-cheek, because in a previous interview with Brian Oberkirch, he said he wanted to spend his time with only three things: his family, hockey, and his blog. Plus he has an extremely popular blog.

Blogs are also moving up in importance for Google, who will be including blogs in its Universal Search results. Read the story here.

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