It’s been an interesting last week here. I ran into a little bit of a writers block myself, but fortunately I ran into some articles that have got me all excited and pumped up about some of my future articles. First I ran into a great article over at 43 folders called ‘How to hack your way out of writer’s block‘.

# Talk to a monkey – Explain what you’re really trying to say to a stuffed animal or cardboard cutout.
# Do something important that’s very easy – Is there a small part of your project you could finish quickly that would move things forward?
# Try freewriting – Sit down and write anything for an arbitrary period of time’say, 10 minutes to start. Don’t stop, no matter what. Cover the monitor with a manila folder if you have to. Keep writing, even if you know what you’re typing is gibberish, full of misspellings, and grammatically psychopathic. Get your hand moving and your brain will think it’s writing. Which it is. See?

That plenty of great resources, but next I ran into an extended article from Darren Rowse over at Problogger called ‘Battling Bloggers Block‘. As always with a Problogger article you get more than a screen load of information.

When I run out first sit down to work out what to say for a public speaking gig I often lock myself in a private room and just begin to speak (to myself) randomly on the topic that I’ve been asked to talk about. It feels a bit odd when you first use this technique but it’s amazing how quickly a talk begins to form in your mind as you do it. I find as I do these exercises that the first few minutes is generally pretty gibberish but that in most cases as I write whatever comes out that eventually I hit on an idea that is worth building on.

And if that is not enough, each of the 25 tips in his post lead on to larger more detailed posts.

I did also come across a few more articles as well that really had nothing to do with my little writer’s block. The first one talks about the importance of goals and that’s something that we talk about from time to time here. The post starts off asking ‘How Important Is Your Goal?‘ and ends with a strong message about the determination of one of America’s most prolific personalities that many people never knew, myself included.

Failed in Business – Bankruptcy, 1831
Defeated for Legislature, 1832
Sweetheart/Fiancée Dies, 1835
Nervous Breakdown, 1836
Defeated in Election, 1836
Defeated for U.S. Congress, 1843
Defeated again for U.S. Congress 1846

I also came across a great article that’s basically a who’s who for the web. Yahoo news and PC World recently published ‘The 50 Most Important People on the Web.’ While it is a good article and really great, I’m not sure that some of the people should be on the list. Outside of my own idea of their errors and omissions, I recommend you take a look at the list.

Here is the entry for Tim O’Reilly, and there are many other great ones.

36. Tim O’Reilly Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media

O’Reilly coined the phrase “Web 2.0,” and he continues to cohost (with John Battelle–see #26) the industry’s must-attend Web 2.0 Summit conference. The Harvard-educated publisher laid his foundation in computer manuals. (Many a computer enthusiast would immediately recognize the intricate black-and-white line drawings of animals that grace the covers of O’Reilly books.) But his company has grown to incorporate the new media–blogs, podcasts, and online news–he espouses.

In terms of articles, that’s all for this week! Once again I want to urge you to enter into the Entrepreneur’s Poetry Contest. There currently are not a lot of entries, so your chances are looking pretty good!

I guess you’ll never know when the creative muse might strike. Most of the time, left-brained folks never really connect with their right side. Or vice versa. …but we’re hoping you’ll be inspired to give it a shot.

Have you entered our poetry contest?

Several months ago, the muse hit me on Aridni when Dolly Pardon starting rocking:

Workin’ 9 to 5 is just your time misgivin’
Makin’ others rich while you’re strugglin’ for a livin’
While others whine on the weekend couch where they all sit,
I’m seekin’ wealth and workin’ hard so I can QUIT.

An elderly man once told me that every person should hold a real estate license. “Sure,” I answered, feeling quite indifferent.

Several years later, I am here about to earn a real estate license. I finally understand what the man meant (or should have meant). Every intelligent person needs to take the time to understand real estate. Getting a real estate license is one method, though not the only strategy. Read books, blogs (hint hint), talk to people, and jump into the market yourself. A real estate license will teach you the rules; the license won’t teach you a thing about real estate investing.

The reason you need to know about real estate investing is that it usually comes through. Around 30 years ago, the federal government started tracking average home prices. Some areas have experienced a downfall here and there, though these spots are rare. Average home prices have yet to demonstrate a year-to-year decline.

People sell for money, and people buy with emotion. If you know nothing else about real estate, know this fact. Of course, you buy and sell just about everything with the same feelings. But a house holds far more impact than a candy bar that’ll disappear before the next stoplight, anyway. Every property is unique.

Just a quick note that the CNBC million dollar investing challange has begun once again. This time around the prize is actually a million dollars.

In CNBC.com’s Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, you play the market starting with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks. Every day you’ll be ranked based on the size of your portfolio, and each week we’ll award a winner $10,000 for earning the largest weekly percentage gain. At the end of ten weeks, the weekly winners, plus the ten highest ranked players – will qualify for THE FINALS.

On May 14th, those twenty street savvy investors start all over with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks in a brand-new
portfolio. They’ll compete to see who can build the biggest portfolio in just two weeks – it’s a winner-take-all challenge for $1,000,000 (that’s real money!)

So whether you’re in from the beginning or late to the game, have a strong long-term strategy or one solid week, you can make it to the finals for the chance to win $1,000,000!

During the their last game, the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio I didn’t do so great. I mostly stayed at the same level during the whole game. I was ahead a little at the end, but just not enough to win.

If you want to check out a contest where your odds of winning are a little better, make sure you check out our Aridni Poetry Challenge