Pooh's Motivation For Monday

On my latest trip to the bookstore, I made a quick impulse buy - THE LITTLE BOOK OF

POOHISMS. Figured I would share a few with you this week.

Pooh says, "If it's not Here, that means it's out There."

While Pooh might have been talking about Heffelumps and Woozles, I wanted to look at this in terms of building that story and how we often find ourselves facing that infamous writer's block or some dead end that we know will make this story the worst story ever.

For too many writers, hitting this point in our writing is due to writing with blinders on. You get so caught up in your story, there is no way you can see any other approach. While this focus is great IF you have a great sense of direction, for so many writers, this is just going to lead into major problems.

I have worked with several writers in the past who have struggled with this when it comes to their latest work in progress. After I had a look at it, and looking at the market, it became clear that there would need to be major revisions to make the story head in the direction of a successful book. For the author, this type of change just did not seem possible. These authors only saw their one path and could not see something else. For these authors, they were still stuck in "THE HERE" and could not see "THE THERE."

So, here are some ideas for getting out of this hole.

1) Step away from the book for a while. That "quick" time out might be just what you need. Take a weekend off. Take a quick trip to the gym and work out. Give your mind a break.

2) Talk to other people. This is the benefit of a "GOOD" critique group. I stress good here because if you are all people who see things the same way, you will not get much out of this.

3) Try something COMPLETELY different. Pick up a different project to work on. Literally start the story over and see what happens. No, you don't have to finish that new project, but sometimes seeing things that way may work.

4) And finally, you HAVE TO BE OPEN TO CHANGE. This is the only way you will make it in the publishing field. People WILL have recommendations and you WILL NOT be able to have it your way all of the time (And this includes those of you who self-publish).