You're Amazing!

Dear Friend,

Been doing some filming this week for a doco I'm making. Fun - but a different discipline to pure writing obviously - but it all starts there.

And as any TV exec know - just look at the front credits these days - the best people to lead any visual projects are writers, who often have the innate understanding of structure, pacing and form that writing engenders.

Once a writer, it's hard to break the hold of writing.

I came up with what I consider a brilliant idea for a novel this week - a sort of vampire meets alternate history adventure quest - started plotting it - but time, as always, seems to be the enemy.

I have so many fiction projects to complete I literally can't see the wood for the trees - or the paper for all the potential reams I would use!

I need clones of me - all working away in a back room, locked in until they finish their books. It's no wonder James Patterson co-writes - it's the only way to keep up with the ideas...

THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE:

You're Amazing!

Robyn Opie Parnell

A lot of the time, I feel so happy I could burst. I love my life. I love waking up in the morning. I look forward to every day.

I’m happy with who I am. I’m happy with the way I look. I’m happy with my relationship with Rob. 

I’m happy with my home, my friends, my work and my writing—everything. 

If I’m not happy with something, I change it. Simple as that.

Nowadays, I only allow good experiences into my life.

I haven’t always felt this way. In fact, for the first half of my life, I wasn’t very happy and, to be honest, I wasn’t always a likeable person. I had problems with myself and other people. I struggled to get through days. I was often grumpy and difficult to get along with, and sometimes I was mean.

I sent all of this out into the world and I got it back.

Then I became ill. You may have heard doctors report that many of our health problems are caused by stress—negative thoughts and feelings. I realize now that I brought this illness on myself through the negativity in my life.

About this time, someone—who I now think of as an angel—gave me a copy of a book about the power of our thoughts. I read the book and experienced not one, but many light-bulb moments.

I’m indebted to the little angel—okay, he was a large man—who gave me the book. I went on to read everything I could find on the subjects of positive thinking and the Law of Attraction.   

But to read the books wasn’t enough. It was up to me to change and I’m so glad that I did.

Some of the books I read were old, written back in the early 1900s. Wow! We’ve known this information for a long time.

But we’re not taught this information in schools. Our parents don’t teach us. We’re left to find this information by ourselves. What if we don’t know it exists? How are you supposed to find something you don’t even know is out there?

If I’d learned this information when I was younger, I could have been happier and experienced a better life, instead of struggling for so long. Imagine what I could have done. I’m grateful that I’m doing it now!     

I would have liked to learn this information as early as possible, especially as I now know that this knowledge is as important as reading and writing.

The above reason is why I wrote You're Amazing. I want you to have the advantage I didn’t have when I was younger. I want to give you all the help, within the pages of my book, for you to be happy and create your ideal life. 

Basically, every person wants to be loved, happy, healthy and successful. We’re human and, in a nutshell, this is what life is about—love, happiness, health and success. But a lot of people don’t know how to get these things or make them happen. In fact, many people get what they don’t want. (I explain why too, in the book!)

How about you? 

You’re popular, right? No problems there. Or is there room for improvement?

Are you shy? I struggled with shyness for the first three-quarters of my life. Most of the time, I was too scared to talk to other people, even my friends. I was afraid that I might embarrass myself or look bad in some way and that people might think terrible things about me.

Are you happy with your appearance? Do you like your body? I used to think that I was unattractive, even ugly. Did you know that you can change physical things, such as your appearance and your body, with your thoughts?

Is there anything you’d like to improve or change about your life?

Would you like to be rich? Unfortunately, some rich people aren’t happy. I bet you’d prefer to be rich and happy. Don’t feel bad if you want money. Your desire to have enough money will enable you to help charities, like I support several charities through my websites.

You can have it all. You can do anything. Best of all, you can have a happy, wonderful life.

Your thoughts create your life and the world around you. If you believe something—if you think that it’s true—then it is true. 

Whether your thoughts are right or wrong doesn’t matter. If you believe something, it becomes your reality. 

Did you know that you control your thoughts and feelings? You control your life. No one else does, only you. This is fantastic news.

Did you know that happiness is a decision? Right now, if you’re unhappy, you’ve made a decision to be unhappy. Everything in your life relates back to your thoughts. You can decide to be happy and you will be happy.

You might not believe that you can do so much good or bad with only your thoughts. But you can.  

You're Amazing will explain it all to you and how you can have a wonderful life. 

Yes, by using your thoughts in ways which are helpful to you.

Go here for more information on You're Amazing!

To Your Success!
 

Rob Parnell
The Easy Way to Success

THIS WEEK'S QUOTE:

”Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any." Orson Scott Card

A is for Attitude: Move Toward Happiness

It's important to establish ground rules by emphasizing that it's how you feel about yourself that will determine your effectiveness.

How you feel about yourself is more important than where you are.

It's all very well setting lots of goals for yourself but if the thought of them fills you with dread you're not going to get very far. This is why most goals you set are doomed to failure - because what seems like a burning conviction one moment can quickly turn into a damp 'maybe' a day or so later!

The trick is to set 'aspirations' that make you smile and fill you with a warm fuzzy feeling that will last.

Born to be Mild

This is what Robyn and I learned on a road trip to Darwin. We were filled with love for each other - high on traveling and having fun when we sat down and drew up a list of 101 things we'd like to do in the following year.

There were good, noble things there like writing books and creating charity foundations - things we knew we had to complete. But alongside, there were less serious, even silly things like meeting movie directors and visiting the pyramids of the world together.

We wrote things down that made us laugh - like arriving in a limo at a movie premiere for our own movie.

And we think that's the trick - to give yourself goals that seem like fun. When you tell yourself you need to get a novel finished, don't stop there. See the book in stores. Imagine yourself at the signing - chatting to your publishers, your fans, the press.

Imagine the reviews and the Hollywood options that will come your way. Why not? You may as well enjoy yourself - even if it all seems like a fantasy. 

Because the subconscious mind seems to like fun. We already know the subconscious likes images - real or imagined, it's all the same. 

And if you plant fun images of your future into your subconscious, your every day actions over time will pull you closer to this new, fun reality.

Are You Ready for Success?

In order to be successful, you need to be ready for success. Too often, just at the point at which success is about to come bounding down your hallway, a little voice inside your head says, "I'm not ready for this." 

And, as much as you're sure you deserve a break, that you have every right to get more money and perhaps a little fame, that little voice will stop you from reaching out and taking the success you're offered.

Moving towards happiness may mean you have to think hard about your current life.

We're told often when we're growing up that we should be responsible, that we have duties and need to make sacrifices - that this is all part of being an adult.

But really, is this true? Do we really have to go through life miserable just because our parents, teachers and bosses say we should?

Pah! Look at it this way.

Say you're a father, bent on providing for your family. You work hard, all hours, to bring home money. You're always tired. Your wife rarely sees you and, despite all the apparent comfort in their lives, your children resent you for being such a workaholic.

You'd like to be there for your family but your work, your sense of duty, compels you to work harder - to imagine you're indispensable to your job. You're busy, stressed and miserable most of the time.

How much better a father would you make if you were happy first?

What if you decided that being happy was the most important thing? 

What would you do?

This happened to me:

At one point in my life I decided I should settle down, get a secure office job, a profession, and climb the corporate ladder. I trained as a corporate buyer and moved into contract management. My glittering future seemed set...

But having children changed all that.

When the boys came along I asked myself, "What kind of father do I want them to have?" 

Did I want them to see me as some boring office type that was unfulfilled and who whinged about the sacrifices I'd made for them?

What sort of role model would that make me?

Would they rather see me as a happy, successful artist that felt proud of his life and achievements? Wouldn't that make me a much better role model - someone who showed them, through his actions, that compromise was not the only option in life?

Of course I decided on the latter, despite any and all of the consequences. It wasn't easy but I made the change. I began writing full time, on a wing and a prayer - because I knew that my being happy would be what was ultimately best for the boys. 

And it's worked out just fine.

Being Selfish is Okay

Moving towards happiness is about being selfish, I admit. But being happy makes you a much more productive and useful human being. Being unhappy doesn't help anyone - least of all yourself.

So, think about what makes you happy. Think about how you can get rid of all the things - and people - in your life that make you unhappy. Seriously consider changing your circumstances to create your perfect life.

If you need more time to just be happy, make it so.

Why not? It's your life.

And you have a duty to yourself to be happy first.

To Your Success!
 

Rob Parnell
The Easy Way to Success

Love, Your Partner, & Success

It's a truism that pop stars marry models, actors marry other actors and writers marry people with proper jobs - to help support their vocation!

The idea of marrying for 'only love' is wonderful, of course, but how many of us would choose haphazardly if we knew our artistic careers (or lack of them) were so dependent on picking the right person to share our lives with? 

Fact is, if you have any creative leanings and you pick an unsupportive partner, your life may well be full of frustration, bitterness and regret - and not a little resentment aimed directly at your 'other half'!

I remember meeting a guy who shared an apartment in London with Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley when they were a couple. 

He said they spent most of their twenties sitting around the house waiting for casting calls or modeling assignments. 

Despite having no real evidence that they would both end up being superstars, their faith in each other's talent, good looks and abilities enabled them to do nothing else but wait for the big breaks to come.

'Normal' people would have given up years before, succumbed to the pressure of the rent and bills, the need to conform to societal expectations, or even just got bored of the seemingly endless wait for 'the call.' 

But no, in Hugh and Liz's world, there was only one way to go: celebrity or nothin'. No amount of waiting limited their belief in themselves. Why? Because they had each other to constantly reinforce the aspirations and values they held dear. Hence, perhaps inevitably, they both 'made it.'

Society doesn't really teach us 'success education' at school. 

On the whole, that's not what modern schooling is for. It's designed to create the 'norms' - the 99% who will work for a living, be productive and 'settle down'. 

Trouble is that those intellectually rebellious enough to have an artistic bent are often left without help, without guidance. If artistic individuals won't push their creative talent into design or engineering or sociology, they're made to feel like outsiders - unworthy of our attention.

The logic - if there is one - is that if truly creative people want to make their mark on the world, they will do it anyway, whatever obstacles are in their path. 

The cream, it's thought, always rises to the top. 

Fine for the few with obvious talent, drive and an almost insane belief in themselves - but what about the many who harbor creative dreams but find they are locked into a society, an occupation or worse, a relationship that does nothing to fuel their ambitions?

I make a habit of watching celebrity relationships to help me understand the dynamic behind successful artistic people and the way they manage their lives.

Clearly, an actor is going to want to marry another actor, as opposed to, say, a chartered accountant, for one simple reason. The accountant will not understand the lifestyle of someone who lives on their wits, with no 'realistic' view of their chances for sustaining success, from one day to another. 

Indeed, 'being realistic' is often anathema to the creative artist's world view.

In my life I've had many partners, most of whom had no concept of this way of living. 

They may have loved and supported me - and believed in me, even. 

And yet, when it came to my creative projects, would resist any but the suggestion that the proper way to live was having a 9 to 5 job - and sticking with it, no matter the consequences for me emotionally, intellectually or spiritually. 

Simply put, they would rather I was miserable and with them, supporting them financially, rather than being truly happy.

I don't think I'm an isolated example. 

Many of my subscribers email me to say that they would have done this or that were it not for their partners, who saw little value in their aspirations.

I remember seeing Anthony Robbins a few years back. An audience member asked, "What should I do if I have an unsupportive partner?" Tony's answer was immediate: "Leave them."

If you've stuck in an unsupportive relationship but there's a degree of commitment and love involved, this is harsh - and probably unhelpful - advice. But really, it's the only long term solution.

The fact is most all relationships fail anyway at some point. Marriages have a less than 50% chance of making it past the first seven years.

Okay, a good relationship requires some compromise, some give and take, and trust, but ultimately, if you're not happy, how can you sustain happiness within the relationship? 

Besides which, doesn't a partner who truly loves you, actually want you to be happy?

Of course - but this is often easier said than done, especially when the poet, musician, playwright or actor wants just 'a little more time'.

Being creative is a compulsion in most true artists - not unlike an unbreakable addiction. It's not something that counseling will make go away. The urge to become successful as a creative artist gnaws at you constantly. Perhaps it is a sign of an aberrant personality - but it's the kind the world needs to properly grow and prosper.

I count myself the luckiest man alive to have met and married Robyn, my partner and soul mate.

Finally I'm in a relationship - like Hugh and Liz in their early days - where each understands the other's motivations and value system. Where the idea of having a proper job is absurd and where creativity and the pursuit of artistic success comes first for both of us.

Actually, that's not quite true. Our love for each comes first. Because, unlike so many of our partners before, we each know the other would never ask us to give up on our dreams.

That's a crucial element in anyone's success strategy.

To Your Success!

 

Rob Parnell
The Easy Way to Success

The Fame Game

There's speculation on E-News that the split between power couple Seal and Heidi Klum is not all that it seems. Despite the official line of 'having grown apart', both are still wearing their wedding bands and neither have filed for divorce.

There's also the convenient fact that both have much to gain from extra publicity at this point in time. Seal has a new album out and is touring to promote it. Heidi is up for another Runway Model show. Far be it from me to suggest that the split may be in some way manufactured but...

I'm reminded of a superb book written about how individuals can go about developing beneficial media relationships called "It" by Paula Froelich. If you ever had aspirations to be famous one day, this book is the only handbook you need. 

In "It" (2005) Paula, herself a reporter for the New York Post's entertainment sections and an Entertainment Tonight correspondent, spills the goss on publicity and PR - how it works and more importantly, why it works so well for attention hungry celebrities.

If you've ever aspired to get in the news, there's no better place to start than by reading "It", where Paula explains how the fame game works in practice - from the inside out. It's a fascinating read, even if you just want to have all your suspicions confirmed about the so-called 'news' we see about celebrities on a daily basis.

Artists, writers, actors and musicians are all better off these days if they aspire to manage the media, rather than fall victim to it. Better to feed the media interesting stories about you, rather than let them dig around to find something unsavory. 

Better to be the inspired source of gossip than its hapless recipient. In other words. make yourself more interesting than anything people can say about you. As in the lyrics from Seal himself, in his first release back in 1991: "Because we're never gonna survive, unless we get a little crazy."

To Your Success.

Celebrity Leaves Clues

I have a fascination for celebrities - especially when it comes to how they handle success. From Lilo to Robert Downey Jr, from Orson Welles to Marilyn Monroe, I study behavior and try to gather clues as to the correct way to behave to sustain a successful artistic career. The clues are there - just not always obvious.

Demi Moore's been having a spectacular fall from grace recently, what with her split from one of the coolest dudes on the planet, Ashton Kutcher, and her recent collapse after inhaling 'not marijuana' but some unspecified incense product (believe what you will.) And now apparently she's devastated by losing the title role in the upcoming film Lovelace, a bio pic based on the life of porn star Linda Lovelace. Ironic really, seeing as her career began to falter after the soft porn Striptease, you'd think she'd want to distance herself from 'that kind of film', especially at her age.

Celebrity is as much about perception as it is genuine talent and success - hence the spin we hear about actors when they begin to spiral out of control. Managing the media is now an important part of a successful public career. And no wonder - when the likes of Kate Moss can go into rehab and then return to the even bigger sponsorship deals then she had before. And Robert Downey Jr can go from a prison cell to Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes within a few short years. Clearly, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Quite the opposite.

Fame has a price they say but Oscar Wilde said it before anyone else: "There's only one thing worse than people talking about you - it's people not talking about you."

To Your Success!

How to Get Published

According to her bio, Jane Friedman used to be a publishing and media executive (which could mean anything) but is now assistant professor of e-media at the University of Cincinnati. The good news is that for writers, especially wannabes, she has a blog with more pertinent information than is probably good for a writer to know! 

Her latest article (28.1.12) covers the thorny question we all get asked so often: "How do I get published?" Her answer is candid, authoritative and thorough - and you would do well to read the advice and inwardly digest it. Go here.

You might also want to read my own thoughts on the subject here.

How to Write an Article - Fast!

My latest novel, PSI Kids: Willow, is on Amazon.

The Easy Way to Write Digital Disposal.
Go here to get all the writing resources you need.

This is the last of the newsletters under this particular banner. From next week, they'll come from The Easy Way to Success. (There's not much there at the moment - but time will sort that out!) You can sign up on the site if you like - no pressure!

THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE:

How to Write an Article - Fast!

Rob Parnell

I get asked this question a lot. I usually forget all about it when it comes to Friday newsletter time.

But it's pertinent today because I only have a limited time to write an article - probably less than an hour, so it will be a good test of any advice I have to offer.

It's now ten fifteen - so time me!

In the increasingly competitive world of the Net, you need to get articles and blogs out regularly. Not only do your friends and subscribers like it - Google does too. If you put out article sized messages often - at least weekly - then Google will recognize that you have something to say and start putting you in their search results.

If you're reading this article, you probably don't need to me to sell you on the importance of writing articles...

So, first, how long is an article?

In order to write quickly you need to have a clear idea of how long you've got to say something. I recommend around 500 to 800 words. Less than that and it's not really an article. More than 1000 words and your epistle will be too long for anyone but a devoted fan.

Let's say 720 words is perfect. That's twelve words a minute for an hour. Or fourteen minutes of writing if you write 50 words a minute.

The numbers are not relevant. They're only there to help you realize you have more than enough time to write something if you need to.

The hard part of course is having something to write about - and I understand completely when people tell me this is almost always the biggest stumbling block for a new writer.

My advice?

Don't think about it. Don't agonize - that will make it worse.

Simply sit down and start, even if you have no ideas at all.

Then just write.

There's a voice inside your head that chatters, right?

Write down what it's saying - without thinking.

You'll need to write quickly - type quickly - because the chatterer has often moved on before you finished writing the sentence. No matter, keep writing what the little fella is saying to you.

This is how you string together coherent thoughts on any subject.

The trick is not to stop, not to go back and read anything and NEVER edit until you've reached the end.

The basic structure of an article is something we all learned at school. As long as this structure is firmly entrenched in your mindset, you'll find that article writing feels natural.

The structure is this:

Paragraph one: introduction of the subject and the terms of reference, followed by:

Three or four points of a paragraph each that expand on or prove or demonstrate the subject you've chosen. You can use this section to cite examples, give your thoughts or merely explain the issues more fully.

Finally, you present the conclusion in the last paragraph where you either show you've proved your point of view or offered some logical 'call to action' based on your words.

That's it. Anything else is too complicated for the article format.

Of course the main thing these days is that nobody wants to read big blocks of text - so make your paragraphs short. One sentence each - never more than two or three.

Keep hitting that return button. It'll make your writing seem more punchy and dramatic - and will also get you to the end of your article sooner.

As an example, it's now ten forty - twenty five minutes after I started and you can see that I'm probably around two thirds of the way through.

Time for me to start wrapping up the first draft.

At this point I'm asking the chatterer: have I been answering the question set by the title? If not, is there anything more I can add? Something profound?

Perhaps the best advice I can offer is that it's all about practice.

I remember years back when I used to try and write articles for magazines that I simply couldn't think of anything to say - and even when I worked from notes or research I felt everything came out clunky and forced.

Nowadays - after writing an article a week for over a decade, I feel much less trepidation because - and this is key - I've trained myself to trust whatever my internal voice has to say. Completely.

Because for the first draft I just put down everything and then go back and edit after.

Okay, it's now ten forty five and I've decided I've probably written enough and will now go back and edit what I have.

So, first draft half an hour.

Second draft: probably ten minutes. Tidying up the text, fixing typos, editing out anything bad or embarrassing and generally making sure the THEME of the article is consistent from the start to the finish.

Done. It's now ten fifty seven.

I'll now spend about another half hour putting it up online - reading and editing it again each time - onto my website and my blog, and then send out notifications to FB, Twitter, Linked In and to my subscribers to tell them that it's now available.

That's it.

That's how it's done.

Easy! Fast! 889 words and just in time for lunch...

Keep Writing!

rob@easywaytowrite.com
Success is My Concern
Rob Parnell's Easy Way

THIS WEEK'S QUOTE:

"You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer." Margaret Atwood

Previous Newsletter includes:
Article: "The Pursuit of Perfection"
Quote by Phil Crosby