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1. Resumés don't tell the whole story.
I can't remember where I heard this quote, but I love it. "A resumé is like a self written obituary." All it does is tell the potential employer what you've done (that is, if you're telling the truth). It doesn't tell the employer what kind of person you are and it doesn't tell them about your hopes and dreams (more important than you think)! Traditional resumés tell you very little - there's so much more you can do!
2. Too many resumés, too little time.
For every available job, there are three unemployed people. Now, this isn't to say that there are three people applying for every available job. There's many more than that. Some jobs have hundreds of people applying, which means employers have to look at all of these. You know they're just skimming through them trying to find spelling errors so they can throw 98% of them out before actually doing any reading (I get screwed on the spelling error part). But wait? How are you going to get hired if you don't give someone a resumé?
3. Why are you still applying for jobs?
Yeah, I know - this is a bit of wishful thinking for some of you. This does require a little bit of past work experience, or even better yet, an expertise in something. This doens't require a university degree. This doesn't even require a masters degree. There are ways to work around the whole "higher education" thing and come out on top. By becoming an expert in something, people will come to you - here's one way to do it:
4. Blogs make you an expert (social media too!)
Resumés don't make you an expert. Sure, you could say that you're an expert in something on your resumé, but it doesn't necessarily make it so. Blogs, on the other hand, have the power to make a nobody into a somebody. Here's my thinking on it: Blogs get you a lot more coverage, which means a lot more people are able to read your work. You do have to be blogging about a particular niche (preferably something having to do with the line of work you are in), but once you start doing this, and you do it for a while, you'll build a following of people who are interested in whatever you are doing. Thus, you become their expert, everytime they think about a particular subject. You will rise in search rankings, you will build...

Birds of a feather flock together—unless they’re writers, in which case they tend to fly solo.  Solitude and independence are revered parts of the writing life, but pecking at the keyboard alone can eventually lead to feelings of disconnection and isolation.
Nobody better understands the struggles and triumphs of writing than other writers, and we can all benefit by forming groups to help each other achieve our goals.  A good writers group not only provides a forum for critique and workshopping, but can also offer networking opportunities, professional partnerships, community building, and access to resources in other areas such as publishing, publicity, book sales, etc.
Established writers groups exist almost everywhere, but don’t always welcome new members and won’t necessarily offer the kind of experience you’re looking for.  If birds of a feather prove difficult to find, form your own group.  This allows you to set the tone and...

In writing, we can choose whether or not to begin in medias res—in the middle of things—but in life we’re there all the time, whether we like it or not.  Our personal stories, episodes and epiphanies are constantly unfolding—sometimes all at once.
Ever find yourself revising your novel, mentally shopping for holiday gifts, worrying about the economy and brainstorming to-do lists all at the same time?  In this scattered state, we waste precious energy, get less done, and tend to reinforce the cycle in a futile rush for denouement.  We’re in the middle of the action, but we’re far from centered, and this can leave us feeling anxious, worried and spread too thin.
Conversely, when we achieve a centered presence, we concentrate energy, alleviate stress, function from a place of creativity, and become more effective at everything we do.  Use the following exercise, adapted from Eric Maisel’s book Coaching the Artist Within, to center yourself...

Mention the word “schedule” and it’s fight or flight for a lot of writers.  Structuring life to make room for writing is often perceived as contrary to the creative spirit, but most writers will tell you they’re happier and more productive when they stick to a plan.
Whether you work full-time and juggle a family        or have wide open days with no obligations, a schedule can channel your energy, focus your creativity and keep you sane when life gets crazy.  Here are some tips for making one that works:

Anchor obligatory events.  If you walk your dog every morning, barista in the afternoons and teach Thursday nights, anchor these events in your schedule.  Now you have a basic structure to work from, and can position other activities, like writing, feng shui and Tango lessons, inside it.
Channel your energy.  Position activities for the greatest...

In the jungle of daily life, writing time is hard to find.  Best intentions flag in the heat, and rarely recover by morning.  You want to write, you have to write, but it’s just not happening and the guilt feels like monkeys howling in your chest.  Job, kids, errands, friends, family, finances—the time and energy you need are nowhere to be seen.
Stop looking.  When you can’t find time to write, you have to make it.  Hack it out of the vines; coax it down from the trees.  Elmore Leonard wrote parts of his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, inside a desk drawer at the ad agency where he worked.  Plenty of writers juggle full lives and demanding jobs and still consistently produce.  If you’re committed, you can, too.  Here are six ways to make it happen:

Commit.  If your heart and mind aren’t in it, making time won’t help.  You’ll...

Ever been asked a question that stopped you dead in your tracks?  That hit a nerve and changed your outlook?  That challenged assumptions and set you on a new course?
When it comes to communication and transformation, questions are among the most powerful tools we have—but not all are created equal.  Take the ones I just asked, for example.  Did you pause to answer yes or no?  Do you even remember what they were?
Punctuation alone can’t elevate an impotent question to ‘powerful’ status.  Simple, direct and open-ended, powerful questions come from a place of integrity and genuine curiosity.  They stimulate discussion, encourage reflection, touch on deeper meaning and loose to the surface underlying information that often lies dormant within the recipient.
“So what?” you might ask.  “What does that have to do with writing?”
Good question.  See the difference?  Powerful questions...

Writers use intuition in all kinds of situations, from deciding what to write, to making plot decisions, to following creative urges that make no logical sense.  Intuition is always trying to lead us to the right destination, and to get there we must learn to follow it.
Shakti Gawain, author of Developing Intuition, says that to capitalize on this innate faculty, we must pay attention to what’s going on inside us, quiet distracting thoughts and get in touch with that place where gut feelings reside.  In our logic-biased culture, this requires discipline and practice, but the benefits make it well worth the effort.
Here are some steps you can take to start developing and applying your intuition (for more detailed explanations, refer to Gawain’s book):

Quiet your mind.  Allow 5-10 minutes for this exercise, and combine it with numbers 2 and 3 below.  Get comfy.  Close your eyes.  Take deep...

In the novel I’m writing, fire images recur ad nauseum.  Boats burn, yards burn, dogs leap through flame, etc.  The repetition eventually caught my attention, and my rational mind recoiled.  Why so much fire?  This is nonsense, man, stop it! 
I made a conscious effort to snuff the flames, despite an urge to incinerate things in almost every chapter.  Thousands of words later, I caught myself writing a scene in which an entire prairie burns.  Then it hit me: fire was the solution to motivation problems my protagonist had been struggling with since the novel’s inception.  Intuition was trying to clue me in, but my rational mind, with its insistence on reason, wouldn’t listen.
How can intuition be accessed and employed in writing?  What role does it play in the writing process?  I asked a poet, a nonfiction author and a novelist how they harness their...

Right now, intuition is telling me to do something writers are taught never to do: open a piece with a dictionary definition.  My rational mind is screaming, Don’t do it!  But I’ve learned through experience to trust these intuitive nudges.  So here goes…
Intuition (ĭn'tū-ĭsh'ən, -tyū-): The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; a sense of something not evident or deductible.
That was tough, but following intuition almost always pays off for me—sometimes in unexpected ways.  Intuitive feelings are a natural part of the human experience—they happen to everyone—but in Western culture we’re trained to suppress them in favor of a rational approach.  The rational mind is great at organizing and learning from experience, but it’s limited to computing information it’s already received from the outside world.
The intuitive...

Last summer, single-handedly and ill-equipped, I began to remodel my kitchen.  In a burst of novice enthusiasm, I sledged through studs and ripped up floors.  I hung drywall and knifed mud.  I tiled, grouted, griped and complained.  Then, frustrated and over my head, I walked off the job.  It’s now a year later, and unfinished trim work taunts me.
Writers often face the same dilemma: After fits of inspired toil, they hit the proverbial wall.  Sometimes writer’s block is to blame, but just as often it comes down to having the right tools for the job.  Next time you’re stuck in construction, power up with these:

Photographs.  Images are a great way to tap the visual cortex for ideas.  Need to nail the description of a landscape or a character’s chin?  Whip out a National Geographic or People and...