The blocks caused by lack of confidence can be caused by an innocent criticism of something written earlier – like an essay that got a black mark at school perhaps and has created a deep and lasting belief in their ability to write well.

The solution is to identify the old behaviours and beliefs and replace them with new beliefs and patterns that are much more resourceful. This can be done at either a conscious or unconscious level and can sometimes be as simple as turning a belief around from ‘I can’t write creatively’ to something like ‘the more I write, the more creative my writing becomes’.

To deal with the second type of block, there are many excellent books on how to improve your time management. Books like this are brilliant at pointing out where you can claw back time by better managing your day. Additionally, I would like to propose a more lateral and fundamental approach to time management – and that’s to change the perceived speed of time itself.

Now this might seem far fetched, or in the realms of Doctor Who or Back to the Future, but scientists are coming to the conclusion that our reality – our space and time – are linked to our consciousness. In fact, it’s more accurate to say that it’s our very consciousness that actually creates our reality. So all you need to do to change time is to make a change in your consciousness.

I am sure you have heard about athletes who have been “in the zone” – a sort of timeless place – or perhaps you have had a light bulb moment where in less than a second, you get a flash of inspiration – a whole picture for a new idea. If you were able to MRI scan your brain at this moment, you would see both the right and left hemispheres light up in synchronism. For that split second you were Whole Brain (or even Whole Mind) Thinking. A brain scan would show that your brain was generating alpha and probably even theta waves.

Now you can access this state while meditating. When I mention this to authors, their first reaction is that they don’t have time to meditate. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I can testify that 20-30 minutes meditation before a writing session will deliver not only the time back by a factor of 3 or 4 but also much better quality writing.

“But I can’t make my mind go quiet,” is normally the next protest swiftly followed by, “I’d like to meditate but I don’t have time to learn how.” Well, if you hear yourself saying this, help is now at hand. You don’t need necessarily to enter an ashram for two months. Although, if you did, it might well be time well spent … Meditation machines are now available that help get you into both alpha and theta states. I have been using one for over a year now and even though I am reasonably adept at meditation, I can testify that they really do work.

I’ve written a free companion guide for users of meditation machines to specifically help authors through writer’s block and to tap into their creative muse. After a few weeks of use, you will even find it easier to enter the meditative state without a machine and while you are in what is normally thought of as the waking state.

For a writer, this becomes significant as time seems to stretch out so that in a single hour you write what would normally take a whole morning or afternoon.

The benefits to your productivity are therefore immense and you will be amazed at your output in all areas of your life. People who have used machines even get comments of how well they look.

1. Write What’s Fun for You

When you are paid for your words, the more words you can write the better. However, it’s very difficult to write about something which you actively dislike, or which bores you.

For example, if you’ve been hired to write an ebook about a particular topic, and you know nothing about the topic and are bored by the research and writing process, chances are you’ll never complete the project. Not only will your client be annoyed, but you’ll feel bad about yourself too.

That’s not to say that you can’t write on topics which bore you, there are ways in which you can prime your creativity. However, when you’re new to writing, choose your topics carefully. You can only be creative when you’re inspired by a project… and that means, when you like it.

As you make friends with your creative self, you’ll be able to write about anything.

2. Set a Word Count Goal for Each Day

Here’s a vital truth: you get ideas for your writing when you’re actually writing, and not when you’re thinking about writing. Nor do you get ideas when you’re talking about writing: many writers find that talking about their current projects results in writer’s block.

Therefore, set a word count goal for each day and meet that word count.

You’ll find that if you create a schedule for your writing, and focus on the process of writing, the creativity will take care of itself. You’ll be amazed at how much more creative you are when you have a framework into which that creativity fits.

3. Start a Blog, if You Don’t Have One Already

Blogging is an amazing creativity tool.

Here’s why. As with our second tip in which you set a word count goal for each day, blogging provides a framework for your writing. When you know you have to write a certain number of blog posts each week you’re forced to be creative. Over time that creativity becomes a natural way of working for you. You stop worrying about writing, and you just get on with it and write.

Creativity is natural, and everyone is creative. You’ll be most creative as a writer when you focus on enjoying your writing, and have framework into which your writing fits. With such a framework, you’ll find that you’re happier as a writer too, and you’ll make more money writing.

The first step to take in finding first edition books are linked to understanding the basic components that make up a valuable book. Typically, first editions are rated higher then other prints of books. Often times, they become collector items because of the value they have. Because the books are no longer printed with this edition, it provides extra substance with the print. Others also have extra information that is taken out of later versions because of publisher requests.

Because of the value of these types of books, they are often difficult to find in regular book stores. Most of the time, finding first edition books also means searching through specific areas to make sure you can find something that is genuinely valuable. Problems with this include regular book stores that don’t focus on carrying the rare, first editions, with an unavailability of older prints because of the changing value with reading material.

If you are checking for first edition books, the first characteristics to look for are based on defining whether the book is the right print. Typically, if you see one date with the copyright, this means it is a first edition. Later editions may also specify that it is a “second print edition” as well, allowing you to find true editions. Inside each cover, are also numbers that state which printing the book is, which allows you to define the value that the book has.

Once you see the characteristics within these, you can continue with finding the right area to get the book from. Most likely, you will have to go to a speciality store to make sure you can find the rare and collectible items. If you are lucky, you may be able to find this at a regular book store, but this is not a typical find, as the values of the first prints are different then the normal reading materials most are looking for.