Block99u is a great resource. The name is based on the famous Edison quote: ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.’ As they say, ‘It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.’

I identify with struggling to translate my ideas to action. I will have a great thought, a bit of passion and a perfect time window just right for developing the idea. Then something very urgent and terribly important gets in the way – something like email, belly-button defluffing, polishing the teaspoons or Words With Friends. Fiendish time vacuums.

So when I came across a feature by Jocelyn K. Glei called 25 Insights about Becoming a Better Writer which touches on this (and many other things) I identified. In truth there are so many delicious nuggets of wisdom and experience, from other authors, crammed into the list that I challenge anyone to read it without getting something from it.

One or two quotea from Glei’s article to whet your appetite. First from Steven Pressfield:

[The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around “getting ready,” the more time and opportunity we’ll have to sabotage ourselves. Resistance loves it when we hesitate, when we over-prepare. The answer: plunge in.

And from Neil Gaiman on feedback:

When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong

Last word from Ann Enright

The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.

What better advice can there be?

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