Well, this is day 2 of having the Tony Robbins Personal Power audio CD’s [personal stuff edited out]. Yesterday’s exercise was a good start I think. I had to pick a couple of things I procrastinated about, and get started on doing them. One was to basically clean up my office, and the other was to finish reading the “Techniques of the Selling Writer” book, that I’ve been procrastinating on for a long time. So, I got all the old electronics out of my office, cleaned up a bit of miscellaneous clutter, and totally wiped off the white board that had all my links selling and seo stuff written on it. It’s truly a white board this morning, as there is actually nothing on it. Oh yes, and I broke up and took to recycling all the old cardboard boxes that were cluttering up the office from all the stereo gear I’d bought lately. The most alarming thing from all that, has to be the white board. It just looks so blank, that it’s a bit weird. I’m not really too sure what to think of it. But, I think it’s a good thing. It’s like, I’ve still been clinging to the past (link selling stuff), instead of moving on with my writing endeavours. Maybe that’s what’s been holding me back as well. Ah yes, and the other thing I did yesterday was to finish reading the current chapter of the book last night. I was pretty energized to do it actually, which was after 11 pm, which would normally put me to sleep, but I had no problem with that. I wasn’t all the focused at first, but I did stick with it, and eventually finished it. I’ve been reading that chapter for what seems like forever. I think, I started the book like actually a year or more ago. I think I should go back, and read it from the beginning again, once I’m finished. And, I think, that now that I’m journalist, I should write in here a quick summary of the points that were covered in my last reading. On Tony’s cd yesterday, he made a comment about remembering things so much better (like 80-90% more), if you write things down after you hear them. That just hearing them, usually means you’ll totally forget about them in a few weeks. So yesterday, I was reading about how you finish a story, and Dwight (author Dwight V. Swain) talked about the climax of the story. How in the climax of the story, you have to give the main hero a choice to make. How that choice is between the goal he has been striving for all story long, and something that has more principal to it . . . a more loftier choice so to speak. Then he went into detail, on how to draw out the tension of him making his choice, and how to reward him when he made the correct choice. Also he talked about using gimmicks . . . something that was emotionally important to the hero throughout the story and that would come into play during his decision. He also talked about how the reward didn’t (maybe shouldn’t) necessarily be what the hero wanted exactly. That, the physical manifestation of what he wanted, should actually show what he really wanted emotionally. In other words, what was the real primal rooted desire inside of him that drove him to yearn for that physical manifestation in the story. He also talked about how, even when the hero chooses, the more principled of his choices, that something – someone – somehow he would still survive, and get what he wanted in the end. It’s definitely a chapter worth rereading, and now that I’ve written a bit about it, I think it should stick with me a bit more when I’m reading. I think that’s kind of the goal here, is to be reading a book like this while I’m writing, and to gradually let it sink in and affect my writing as I go along. I think at the moment I can still write a pretty good (although flawed) story, that can keep readers interested, as long as their not to picky about how good (or bad) of a writer I am technically. But, in the long run, if I keep reading and writing about the art of writing, then perhaps I will both generate stories, and become a better writer at the same time. It’s an extra advantage, that I think most other writers don’t have.

LOCATION: home office WORDS WRITTEN: 0 PUSHUPS: 50 TODO: 3000+ words, cleaner office, read “Selling Writer”, xmas tree, jessicas concert, recycle electronics at staples TV: glee BOOK: Techniques Of The Selling Writer GAME: none EXERCISE: squash WEIGHT: 178 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: roast beef & carrots SNACKS: orange, grapes, trail mix ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:30 am AWAKE: 8:15 am