"Bang The Keys": A Fabulous Video by Jill Dearman

I came across this YouTube video by Jill Dearman, author of Bang The Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice. After watching the 9-minute video, I felt like I was dunked in a cool, refreshing bath of inspiration. Jill is chock-full of advice and motivation for any writer, artist, musician, or simply someone looking to add more creativity to his or her life.

Jill also got me thinking about some of my own "bang the keys" writing tenets that I've gathered from teachers and from my own experience over the years:

*Write every day, even if only for fifteen or twenty minutes.

*Keep a writing pad with you at all times to jot down ideas and notes and scraps of information.

*When writing a first draft of fiction, don't even think about the market or future readers -- focus on your instincts, on the characters, on the story.

*Exercise is an amazing cure for writer's block.

*So is travel, people-watching, or doing something else creative, like painting or cooking or playing a musical instrument.

*First, please yourself. (That's from Elizabeth Berg.)

*Drink deeply from good books. (That's from John Wooden's 7-Point Creed.)

*Don't forget time to play -- in life as in your writing. Remind yourself why you fell in love with writing in the first place.

Jill's website is http://www.jilldearman.com/ and you can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Her book Bang The Keys is available at bookstores nationwide and on Amazon.com.