This article is submitted to the June-August writing competition on creativity and resilience.

I remember the first time I started to write as a form of therapy. I was a teenager and going through the usual teenage angst. I didn’t have a great time with puberty (I mean, who did?). Back then, the glow-up didn’t happen overnight as it seems to today. I don’t know what's happening to the kids nowadays, but it wasn’t always like that. The majority of us actually went through the dreaded ugly phase.

I think it was back then that I started to use journaling…

HOUGHTS

During the pandemic, I started watching reality TV. I became hooked on the real housewives reality TV franchise. I binge-watched and caught up with all the Bravos Real Housewives of Potomac and Real Housewives of Atlanta.

As I watched friendships blossom only to blither into oblivion on live TV, a few things occurred to me, and I can’t keep these to myself.

Here is all that I have learned from watching Reality TV.

Change is constant, especially in your friendships

On The Real Housewives of Atlanta, one friendship that seemed to be so bulletproof in the beginning started to shatter when one of the ladies was going…

Last night, I did something amazing. I finally finished my first draft of my longer short story that I will be publishing soon. It was a long time coming, and I had been doing a lot of procrastinating because I was so irritated at how simple it read.

It was too simple. There were no detailed descriptions, no metaphors, similies or any of the good stuff that makes reading oh such a pleasure. No dwelling on the setting and the thickness or stillness of the air because it was mainly me getting the story out. That was my goal.

But…

If you live in the UK, you will have noticed the jubilant mood that circulated the atmosphere on Wednesday as England played Denmark. It was in the cheers that erupted from passers-by on the streets and the general air of confidence that the die-hard fans had throughout the tense match.

Even before the match began, the cars on London’s streets beeped their horns to show their solidarity with the England team. Well after the match there was also a lot of celebration well into the night.

As I listened to all this go down from my bedroom, I started to…

Writing a novel is a grinding process. It requires a large dose of dedication and perseverance to actually finish writing a novel.

So, to anyone who wants to write a novel. I think you should start with a short story.

And here is why.

Write something you can finish

Writing a novel is like running a marathon. It takes a while to plot, plan and write a crappy first draft, then second-guess each chapter.

Yep, that’s right.

There is more to writing a novel than typing furiously on the keyboard. Self-doubt comes along every step of the way. You have to keep fighting it.

So…

CONFESSIONS

Anyone can be a victim of a scam. Even the young agile mind can fall victim to the crafty attempts of scammers. So don’t look down at someone who has been scammed. The wicked people behind it know exactly what to do to get anyone, and that includes even you!

I thought long and hard before opening up about being scammed because I am a very private person and would hate to be judged. However, I have decided that helping someone else avoid being scammed trumps any sense of fear I have of being judged.

So here are some of…

Are you writing a novel and running out of topics to write about? Perhaps you started outlining a plot for each chapter but can’t seem to finish it off. Or maybe the characters you originally thought would be full of life, lack the lustre you first imagined.

Writing a novel is hard work. So don’t be discouraged if you find that you have run out of ideas. The dreaded block actually happens to most of us at some point.

It is well-known fact that writer’s block is caused by self-doubt — which makes us think that our ideas are crap.

…

For a few months now, I have been interviewing different creatives on my personal writing blog. I have spoken to artists, musicians, and writers, and in doing this, I have learned some things that I cannot keep to myself.

I originally set out to try to understand the creative process because I was stuck. I wanted to learn how other writers and creatives have made it through the hard times and dealt with rejection and fear.

Here are all the things I learned:

We are all so protective of our art

Deep down, we are all so protective of our art. That piece we slaved over for some…