Realistic strategies to upgrade your writing skills
No matter how long you’ve been writing, there’s always space for improvement. The craft is never perfect — nor it will ever be. But it becomes increasingly better. And who doesn’t want to be better in what they do?
I’m not the writer I was six years ago, the time when I first exposed my writing to the world.
I improved my techniques; I learned the rules (and how to break a few). I perfected my voice; I learned about my states of flow, my triggers to write, and the ones that freeze me.
I also learned that I never…
Did you fall for an independent woman? Congratulations! Here’s an instruction manual to deal with her
An independent woman can be intimidating. She is confident and self minded, and she often can come across as inaccessible.
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. — Albert Einstein
It’s easy to fall for an independent woman: her self-confidence is hard to resist, her “I don’t take shit from no one” attitude impossible to ignore. She’s a magnet; you want to learn more about her, listen to her talking about her projects, achievements and…
Actions are more powerful than words
“I Love You” is far more profound than a beautiful statement.
Everybody adores listening to “I Love You”; most of us remember the first time we heard it from our loved one.
But saying “I Love You” it’s easy: it's merely wording. This emotional sentence can be used as an expression of feelings but also manipulatively: a person trying to be forgiven, to have sex or whatever crosses their (unethical) mind.
Throughout my 46 years, I’ve been involved in a few relationships, but the deepest and more meaningful was with my partner. We were together for 13 years. Until a…
6 useful tips I use in my writing
Show don’t tell is one of the most relevant writing techniques, it confers quality to the texts and involves the readers, it grabs them.
What is Show don’t tell?
Show don’t tell is easy to, theoretically, understand. However, it can be complex to apply it.
But the good news is, once you understand it and use it, there’s no going back: your writing will include it, intuitively.
The writer, Anton Chekhov, defined Show don’t tell like this:
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on the broken glass.
The difference between Show and Tell
As a writer, your goal is to provoke a reaction in…
4 apps (3 free and 1 paid) incredibly helpful for those who don’t write in their native language.
For many of us writers, English is not our first language, and that poses an additional challenge.
From the conception of the idea to pressing the “send/publish” button, we go through a lot of steps. Each of us has their methods but, in general, we all go through the same: brainstorm, draft, revise, edit, proofread (rinse and repeat) and finally publish it or send it to the editor.
As a non-native English writer, I have to add a few steps to my writing process. Without them, I wouldn’t have upgraded my writing the way I did.
In my case, it…
[on the chaos of being a writer]
Writers have the ability to transform reality. A writer has power.
In our hands, painful experiences become emotional memories, framed in beautiful scenarios (that camouflage the sorrows.)
With us, the losses are wrapped in an intimate goodbye and the in-love gazes are transmuted in magical words.
But don’t fool yourself!
Writers also have the ability to transform a goodbye into suffocating pain, a denied kiss in a breathless cry, or an impossible love in bloody tears.
The biggest power of a writer?
We choose the version that better serves us, the one we prefer to live. …
I lost the love of my life six years ago. The memories are alive, but his voice is fading away.
Grief is a very personal and subjective experience. Each one of us has our own timing, and we manifest it in different ways. Including not manifesting it (to others) at all.
When I lost my partner — the love of my life — I lost part of myself. I got lost for a long time.
Four months after the surgery that took him away from me, I felt so unpowered and alone, that the only escape I found was to leave everything behind. I left my country, and I created a new life in England — one without him.
It…
What is sleep paralysis and how to deal with it.
Some years ago, when I got acute Tinnitus, I went through the most challenging period of my life.
The ringing inside my brain was so loud that it turned my life upside down. One consequence was to make me sleep-deprived. I was exhausted, depressed, and panicking about my future, thinking I couldn't live like that, with a constant high pitch noise bursting out of my ears.
With a lot of internal work and with the help of my dog (that literally saved my life), I learned to live with Tinnitus, instead of living for Tinnitus. After understanding its triggers and…
7 things to consider before you move in with your partner.
The longest relationship I had was with the love of my life. We lived together for thirteen years; we were torn apart when a high-risk surgery took him from me. We were happy “till death tear us apart”. And we only dated for three weeks.
Now, almost seven years later, I’m in love again, experiencing a wonderful relationship. We are together for almost a year and I have no plans about moving in together with him, despite trusting that it will happen.
Two people deciding to merge their lives is a big deal, both emotionally and logistically. …
How to prevent home distractions to challenge your productivity
Working from home can challenge your productivity. Not only we are completely responsible for the management of our time and chores, as we have many distractions (or should I say attractions?) around us.
Also, because we are socially isolated, we need an escape to fulfil the emotional void, so everything around the house becomes very attractive.
Even if you live with someone else, it’s undeniable that co-workers and an office routine had its advantages.
But being stuck at home — by choice or because of the pandemic — doesn’t have to affect negatively your ability to work. Much the opposite…
Leona Brits
Storyteller | Daydreamer | Writing on Personal Development; Relationships; Fiction and Writing
