Fiction Blueprints

The Mindset of a Billionaire

June 17, 2013 by Sharon Leave a Comment

Actually, this could be the mindset of anyone who wants to be successful in their chosen field. It doesn’t matter if you’re a billionaire now, or 10 years from now; or if you’re never a billionaire – success after all, means different things to each of us.

When I read this post by Bill Gates, I knew I had to share it here. Although he was talking about lessons he learnt from Warren Buffet, and those lessons were business related, I saw the correlation with the business of writing and knew it was too good not to share with you.

I’ll pick each point he made (there were three) and share how it relates to a writer.

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Filed Under: Inspiring, Life, Mindset, Reflections Tagged With: A Successful Writer's mindset, Bill Gates, Mindset of a Billionaire, Warren Buffet

Creating a Mindset for Success

June 16, 2013 by Sharon 1 Comment

In the months I’ve been working with authors and aspiring authors, I’ve come across really great people who consistently talk down at themselves. They say things like:

I’m not a good writer

No one will read what I write anyway

What made me think I could do this?

They suffer from self doubt.

One important part of being a successful writer is not just the ability to write well; many people write well and are still not successful. What differentiates a successful writer from all the others is the mindset.

Mindset is defined as -

1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.

2. An inclination or a habit.

(The Free Dictionary)

What is your mindset?

How you respond to setbacks, failure and success is a result of your mindset. Your mindset is usually formed by the things you tell yourself.

Getting a rejection for your manuscript is not the problem, how you react to that rejection is the main issue. When I was younger, my Mum always told me, “don’t re-act, ACT instead!”

A reaction is what you have no control over…it just happens. Going through life having no control over your emotions and your thought-process is okay for a toddler. It is NOT okay for you. If you are reading this, and of course you are, then you have gone way past the stage where it is acceptable to simply react to stuff. You need to act instead.

To act means to take responsibility for the way you respond to situations. It means staring the rejection in the face, maybe feeling a little sad, but squaring up your shoulders and deciding to send out your manuscripts to more publishers/agents. To act means that you will do whatever is necessary (even rewrite your story) to get it out there.

I’ll be writing a lot about mindset this week because it’s a subject I’m studying. I am exploring issues like -

Failure
Rejection
Growth
Success
Getting out of your comfort zone

If you noticed, the second definition of mindset was an inclination or a habit. I want you to get into the habit of saying positive things to yourself. Practice that this week; look in the mirror and tell yourself how successful, pretty, good, WORTHY you are. Craft a positive affirmation if you need to, and place it where you can see it each day.

Success is a mindset, which when you attain will manifest in your daily life.

~ Sharon

Filed Under: Inspiring, Life, Mindset, Success, Uncategorized Tagged With: Mindset, Mindset for Writers, positive affirmation, Success

Consistent Blogging: 30 Fun Writer Assignments for June

June 5, 2013 by Sharon 3 Comments

coffee breaks small

This month’s theme is blogging consistently and effectively. Blogging about ‘how to write a novel’ is all well and good if you want to attract writers. But what if you want to attract more readers? Remember, they are the ones who will buy your book when it comes out.

In the free e-book I shared, which had 30+ blog post ideas for authors, one of the ideas was:

A Free short story (flash fiction, maybe) – This is one type of post that is very popular with readers. You could write a short story (1,000 words to 5,000 words) and post it on your blog.

If you need inspiration or ideas on what to write, Writers Digest published a list of 30 writer assignments for June. Most are centered around your current WIP (work-in-progress), but this one caught my eye:

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Filed Under: Blogging, Coffee Breaks!, Writing Tagged With: blogging suggestions for authors, Coffee breaks, writer assignments, writers digest

Google Authorship for Authors

June 4, 2013 by Sharon 2 Comments

Have you ever noticed that when you google something, amongst the search results are these articles (or posts) that have little photos of the authors just by the left hand side of the link? Have you ever wondered about that? I know I have. I found out not too long ago that it has something to do with ‘Google Authorship’ and I’ve been curious about how it works. Thankfully, Carol Clifford has taken the time to explain it in this post. Let me know your thoughts once you’re done reading.

Do you use Google Authorship? If you are an author, it’s a great way to increase exposure to your brand and let’s face it we need all the exposure we can muster up. If you are into SEO, you might even be aware that Google is using Authorship as part of its campaign to provide an enhanced search experience for customers. As an author, it makes sense that you want others to find you and your work because at the end of the day, more exposure will mean more sales.

What is Google Authorship?

To keep things simple, it is the way Google links the author of a piece of content to the URL of that content when it shows up in Google search results. It does this by way of your photo which it places directly underneath the URL on the search page. [Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, Tips, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: Google Authorship for Authors, Google plus, social media

Blogging and Mindset

June 3, 2013 by Sharon 2 Comments

No matter what success means to you, it is an undeniable fact that your mindset will probably determine whether you meet your expectations or not. Life will always throw challenges your way; curve balls which have the ability to blindside you and make you question your very existence. But your mindset will either hold you back or move you forward.

May was a crazy month for me in many ways. I hosted the 30 days of writing challenge and learned several lessons. I also learned a lot about myself and my mindset.

To some extent, that has influenced my theme for June.