7 Tips for Overcoming Writers Block

7 Tips for Overcoming Writers Block 7 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block 7 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block By Mark Nichol A would-be teacher was assigned to tutor a boy who was not just reluctant, not just resistant, but actually hostile to reading. The first day, the tutor took the boy aside and asked him to read the first sentence of a book. The boy did so, slowly, haltingly, but he reached the end without much difficulty. Before he had a chance to throw up his hands and go into his â€Å"I can’t read!† act, however, the tutor stopped him, thanked him, and brought him back to his classroom. The next day, the student was permitted to read only two or three sentences before his tutor stopped him. This pattern continued for only a few days before the boy asked to be able to continue reading. What is this, the chorus-of-angels moment in a mawkish TV movie? No, it’s a true story, and it’s an intriguing idea for writers as well as readers (and the first of these seven tips): If you have writer’s block, sit down and write one sentence. One sentence. Even if you want to keep going. The next time, allow yourself two sentences. The third day, stop after three sentences. Avoid the urge to leap to an impressive word count right away. Try for 100, 200, then 300 words. Only then, after about a week, should you set a more ambitious goal. 2. Establish a consistent schedule that you fail to keep only in the case of an emergency. You have commitments and responsibilities, certainly, but if you can watch TV or surf online or exercise each day, you can write each day. Do it on your lunch hour or during your commute if you have to, but do it. 3. Commit to achieving a word count, not persevering for a certain amount of time. Try for 500 words, and then ramp up to 1,000 if you feel up to it. Those counts may not seem much, but at those rates, you can write a substantial article or a short story in a week or two, a short nonfiction book in a month, a novel in a season. (Revision is another matter, and another post.) If your writing requires ongoing research, cut the actual word count in half (and do the writing first), or set aside a given number of days a week to just fact finding. 4. Don’t rewrite until you’re done. If your project is a book, give each chapter a single pass but then move on, and don’t review it again until the entire manuscript is done. 5. There’s no law that says you have to write something in the order in which it will be read. Sketch the beginning and the end, whether it’s an essay or a novel, but tackle the parts you’re itching to get to first. But don’t evade troublesome or onerous sections by repeatedly reworking completed portions. 6. Juggle more than one project. If you weary of one article or story or book, give it a rest and run with another one for a while. 7. Remember the only readership that matters: You. Your goal is not to write the greatest article or poem for how-to guide or epic novel ever created. Your goal is to satisfy yourself. Author Toni Morrison once said, â€Å"If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.† And you must do so because you want to read it. If anybody else does, too, that’s just icing on the cake. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Types and Forms of HumorOne Fell Swoop5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers

Solons Constitution and the Rise of Democracy

Solons Constitution and the Rise of Democracy And all the others were called Thetes, who were not admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and act as jurors; which at first seemed nothing, but afterwards was found an enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute came before them in this latter capacity.- Plutarch Life of Solon Reforms of Solons Constitution After dealing with the immediate crises in 6th century Athens, Solon redefined citizenship so as to create the foundations of democracy. Before Solon, the eupatridai (nobles) had a monopoly on the government by virtue of their birth. Solon replaced this hereditary aristocracy with one based on wealth. In the new system, there were four propertied classes in Attica (greater Athens). Depending on how much property they owned, citizens were entitled to run for certain offices denied those lower on the property scale. In return for holding more positions, they were expected to contribute more. Those who were worth 500 measures of fruits, dry and liquid, he placed in the first rank, calling them Pentacosiomedimni (note the prefix meaning five);Those who could keep a horse, or were worth three hundred measures, were named Hippada Teluntes, and made the second class (note the hipp- prefix meaning horse);The Zeugitae, who had two hundred measures, were in the third (note the zeug- is thought to refer to a yoke).Solon added, as a fourth class, the thetes, serfs with only a small amount of property. Classes (Review) PentacosiomedimnoiHippeisZeugitaiThetes Offices to which members could be elected (by class) PentacosiomedimnoiTreasurer,Archons,Financial officials, and theBoule.HippeisArchons,Financial officials, and theBoule.ZeugitaiFinancial officials, and theBouleThetes Property Qualification and Military Obligation Pentacosiomedimnoiproduced 500 measures or more of produce per year.Hippeis (cavalry)produced 300 measures.Zeugitai (hoplites)produced 200 measures.Thetesdidnt produce enough for the military census. It is thought that Solon was the first to admit the thetes to the ekklesia (assembly), the meeting of all citizens of Attica. The ekklesia had a say in appointing archons and could also listen to accusations against them. The citizenry also formed a judicial body (dikasteria), which heard many legal cases. Under Solon, rules were relaxed as to who could bring a case to court. Earlier, the only ones who could do so were the injured party or his family, but now, except in cases of homicide, anyone could. Solon may also have established the boule, or Council of 400, to determine what should be discussed in the ekklesia. One hundred men from each of the four tribes (but only those in the upper three classes) would have been picked by lot to form this group. However, since the word boule would also have been used by the Areopagus, and since Cleisthenes created a boule of 500, there is cause to doubt this Solonian accomplishment. The magistrates or archons may have been selected by lot and election. If so, each tribe elected 10 candidates. From the 40 candidates, nine archons were selected by lot each year. This system would have minimized influence-peddling while giving the gods the ultimate say. However, in his Politics, Aristotle says the archons were selected the way they had been before Draco, with the exception that all citizens had the right to vote. Those archons who had completed their year in office were enrolled in the Council of the Areopagus. Since archons could only come from the top three classes, its composition was entirely aristocratic. It was considered a censoring body and the guardian of the laws. The ekklesia had the power to try archons at the end of their year in office. Since the ekklesia probably selected the archons, and since, in time, it became common practice to make legal appeals to the ekklesia, the ekklesia (i.e., the people) had the supreme power. References J.B. Bury. A History of Greece.Reed Colleges David Silvermans Early Athenian Institutions (http://homer.reed.edu/GkHist/EarlyAthenianLect.html)John Porters Solon (http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/CourseNotes/SolonNotes.html)Athenian Democracy (keele.ac.uk/depts/cl/iahcla~7.htm)Ancient Greece: Athens (wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/ATHENS.HTM)