Welcome to Part II of this First We Dream “Dream 10″ Guide on how to elegantly fit what you’re trying to say into those scant few 140 characters in Twitter!  If you skipped Part I, it’s vital you start there, so you understand the first five tips before proceeding.

Otherwise, let’s move on to tip 6, next page!

If you’re a member of the A.D.D. generations- or a President of the “Death to the English Language” club, and are a regular on the best social media site out there- Twitter- you probably don’t care how unreadable your Tweet is when you jam your commentary into 140 characters.  You’re making up words, abbreviating everything into forms that word has never been abbreviated into in the history of mankind, replacing every you and two with “U and 2″ (it’s only cool when Prince does it!). You’re struggling to jam what you want to say into a limited space- and in the process you’re often losing your point while simultaenously confusing anyone reading your Tweets into a heaping pile of “what the hell did that mean?”

Fear not: I present the First We Dream “Dream 10″ Guide of ways to help you fit your Tweets into 140 characters, be able to speak in proper English (with some obviously necessary exceptions), and make sense at the same time (well, depending on content- that remains up to you.)

Important Note:

Keep in mind one important Tweet-size rule though:  You can jam a Tweet in at exactly 140 characters, but MOST Tweets (unless you only stick to your few followers) will need one to four hashtag (#) channel labels that count towards the 140 characters.  You have to learn to write clean, but short so you have room for those hashtags, and for other people to RT (re-Tweet) your witty statement with your Twittertag included in that 140 limit.

Tip one, next page!

If you’re into writing, you are going to, under all circumstances, get writer’s block.

Accept that now.

Once you’ve accepted that, the next most important step is to NOT PANIC when you get it. You’re far from the only person in history to get stuck, or have their muse go on a seemingly indefinite fishing trip. Just take a deep breath, regroup and consider all of your options.

First off, make sure you’re feeding your creativity beast. Yes, your beast requires a constant stream of sustenance, and if you’re not providing it any new sources of tasty creative juices, it will turn on you, snacking on what’s left of your imagination until you distractit with new food.

As a writer, you must make sure you are always reading. Reading is a fundamental aspect of writing. You’ve heard the phrase “Writers write.” Another truism is that “Writers read.” Not only does it get those imagination juices flowing, but it continues to teach you more about the art of writing and helps to hone your own writing skills. If you are already reading plenty, don’t neglect other sources of inspiration- painting, music, dance, gaming… anything that tickles the creative center in your brain will help keep you inspired.

Once you’ve made sure you’ve fed the beast, you can turn to resources at your local bookstore or online to help give you a boost. In your local bookstore’s writing section you’ll find a few dozen “riter’s block” books and kits, all designed in different ways to give you a spark. Some provide exercises, some a simple word, phrase or idea to run with. After all- just because you’re writing a science fiction novel doesn’t mean that starting to write anything you can come up with off of the word “ball” won’t apply. Perhaps you use that keyword to start talking about a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, which leads to you alter it to be a ball of energy that powers a spaceship- and, wait! The engineer’s trainee dropped it during maintenance… and if the crew doesn’t get it back in storage soon, it will melt through the ship’s hull! Suddenly, you’re back on track- just from seeing the word “ball”. Don’t underestimate the appeal of randomly writing from seemingly unrelated topics!

If you want help of the free variety, there are resources online- besides countless forums and writing blogs, there are tips, tricks and aides to be found anywhere and everywhere you can search. Take some time to see what’s on the net- some of it is quite valuable information!

For instance, here’s a great list of tips on solving writer’s block.
Not all writing tips come in writing: YouTube Creative Writing Resources

Another freebie? Grab a pen and notepad (or your laptop if you’re a tech-fiend) and go sit at Starbucks for a few hours.  Watch people come and go, sit at their tables. Watch the staff do their work.  Eavesdrop on “appropriate” conversations – (in other words, if you realize someone’s talking about private matters or work-related issues, you should tune out. But if two people are chatting about a night out on the town, there’s no harm in listening in discreetly.)  By doing this character study, you are gaining valuable information on how different people move, act and talk.  You can learn mannerisms that your characters can envelop into their personalities.  Studying the people and places around you can immediately bring in a flood of useful ideas to shatter the worst wall of writer’s block you may have.

Remember- just because you’ve been staring at the same page for five hours or five days, it doesn’t mean you should give up altogether. You can always get back on track in order to let your creative beast run wild.