http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/pinterest-tips-for-writers_b46019

Also check out www.diigo.com  a place to organize all of your bookmarks and create lists for research that is kept online so you can use if from any computer.

And www.dropbox.com to freely store all of your files in a secure online area that you can access from any computer.  No more worrying about having the correct file on your laptop (or worrying about it getting stolen and loosing all of your files) this system keeps the most current version of your file across all machines.

As we ring in the new year I’m sure many of you feel a sense of hope & possibility, at least it is my hope that you do. Every minute of every day holds inside of it a chance to start over again. The past is only re-created and kept alive by your mind. You recall it up any time you want to and you can let it go any time you want to as well.

“When there is no yesterday, you cannot conceive of the tomorrow. The tomorrow is nothing but a projection of yesterday. You would like to live the joys of yesterday again tomorrow and you would like to avoid the miseries of yesterday. That’s what your tomorrow is. If yesterday is gone, tomorrow is finished; soon it will disappear….One has to be spontaneous. One has to live moment to moment, neither thinking of the past, nor thinking of the future, nor clinging to the present.” Osho

The New Year is a time of reflecting and recalling what has happened in the last 12 months (often criticizing ourselves for what we did not do) and projecting out onto the next year all of our new desires and wishes (what pressure!).

This year just try to be in the present moment.

This is not to say that you should not have goals and desires and move toward great things in 2012…  when you are in the present moment you will know what your true goals and desires are, you will understand why you may not have accomplished all you set out to do in 2011 and you will feel at peace about it. In this space you can allow room for a bigger picture of your life to emerge.You allow for a little magic.

“A rebellious person is one who says, “I’m not going to wait, I’m going to live right now.” The revolutionary hopes for the future. He says, “I am going to wait. I will wait for the right moment.” The rebellious person says, “The right moment is here-now, and I’m not going to wait for anybody, I’m going to live right now.” A rebellious person lives in the present. … Life is not reaching towards some goal, life itself is the goal. It is not evolving towards some ultimate; this very moment, here and now, life is ultimate…whenever something is achieved again the mind asks, ”Now what? What is to be achieved now?” It cannot remain with itself, it has to go on achieving. This achieving mind will never be blissful, it will always be tense. And whenever something is achieved the achieving mind will feel frustrated, because now new goals have to be invented. Ecstasy is not something which you can achieve by some efforts, ecstasy is a way of living. ” Osho

Be a Rebel. Dare to be in the present moment and redefine your goals from your heart instead of your head and mental ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’. Create new habits instead of goals and live in a way that supports your blossoming instead of being a slave to tasks.

We often either try to have the perfect holiday, planning the perfect party & events, shopping for the perfect gift OR we try to avoid the holidays all together and all of the pain & heartache from childhood it can dredge up.

The rare among us have an amazing time with no family mishaps or disappoints & that is wonderful! BUT not for your characters.

The holidays are a great time of year to use to spice up a section of your story & reveal a bit about your character’s history.

So if you find a section lacking or you feel the need to reveal some major family history, think about setting a portion of your story during the holiday season.

Religious or not, the conflict will show up because this is the time of year that is supposed to be:

• dedicated to family
• happy
• about giving
• making connections
• not being greedy (yet so much is about gifts)

and if your hero is not religious or even spiritual there can be many more layers of conflict here.

As Kimberly Chitwood states in her blog “When taking a family picture, it’s important to be color-coordinated. It’s also important for everyone to look as nice as they can. This is a moment you’re capturing on camera. You’ll cherish this.”

Oh would my hero cringe if his mom said that to him!

Happy Holidays!

According to Dr. Sills of the Comfort Trap – Blame focuses on the question “Who or what is at fault for getting me stuck here?” and it is a brilliant delaying tactic. If funnels painful feelings away from yourself., all the while postponing your need to face the anxiety of leaving a comfort zone. It evokes the satisfaction of righteous indignation. Sometimes blame is an arrow aimed at one’s own heart that evokes the security that no one else can sneak up and criticize you because you are already harder on yourself.

But blame does not rely on a rational assessment of a situation. Could you have left the dishes unwashed for an hour, in order to write during your designated writing time? Of course. Could you have easily told your co-worker that you had a private errand to run at lunch and wouldn’t be going out with her, in order to write in a park for 20 minutes? Of course.

No matter what you do in life – you are always making choices. You either stick to your writing schedule or you choose not to. It’s that simple. You chose to do the dishes, or have lunch with a co-worker, or let the kids interrupt you, or run an errand. That’s okay – just recognize that you made the choice and don’t fall into the trap of blaming your lack of writing time on others or on events and todo lists.

When you choose to do the dishes (or whatever) during your writing time you choose not to write, when you choose to write you choose not to do the dishes (or whatever). You really are the one in control.

What pushes us toward blame? The physical discomfort of your own fear.

How can you stop the cycle? Do whatever you must to reduce your creative anxiety – meditation, visualization, deep breathing, daily pages (ala Julia Cameron) walking, move your writing space outside, listen to music….

And most of all notice your language when you think about why you didn’t get to write when you planned to. Are you blaming? Don’t be a victim anymore. Take charge of your writing life and when you decide to do the dishes instead of writing, acknowledge your choice and let it go.

Get Out of the House

Writing is so often a solitary practice, one in which you sit at a computer screen and try to come up with new ideas. But since your computer isn’t going to help you with these new thoughts, it’s time to get out of the house. You need to get out and experience life in order to write about it. Whether this means you head out for a coffee at a local café or you go to the park for a walk, you need to make sure you get out and experience life more often than you are doing right now. When you begin to interact with the outside world, you will begin to see things that will inspire you.

Change Your Routine

Many times, just being in a routine can cause you to feel like you’re in a rut. Maybe you’re a person who writes in the morning or a person who writes late at night – try changing that up for a week. When you do this, you will find you’re able to create from a different perspective, and with a different energy. Though you might not keep this new schedule up forever, sometimes just doing something that you wouldn’t normally do will give you the energy to write things that you wouldn’t normally write.

Write Anything

When all else fails, the best plan of action to get out of a creative rut is to write anyway. Even when you think your words have no meaning and they’re only causing you frustration, write anyway. Write for ten minutes, twenty minutes, or for an hour, without stopping. Don’t judge what you’ve written, don’t even go back to read it. Just write. The more you write past the point of being frustrated and bored with the process, the more you will push past any mental blocks that might be causing your rut.

Get Inspired

Another great way to break out of a creative rut is to read books and poems from those who inspire you. When you begin to look at the creative results of writing, you can begin to want to pick up the pen or the laptop again. Head to poetry readings, writing conferences, etc. Surround yourself with others who are creating, and you’ll reconnect with your muse again.

Writing is something that allows you to be creative, and yet, everyone gets into a rut sometimes. You will too, but you don’t have to stay there for long.