#6 Write. Write Everything

It is always advisable to carry a notebook, (it can be A5, or A6 whichever is your preference) when you're out and about, as a writer.

Because as much as we trust our minds to keep those golden ideas we have for stories or songs and the like.. sometimes we forget. And I tell you it is the most unsatisfying, upsetting feeling when you forget such an amazing idea. 

You could be anywhere.. on a bus, on a train, on a plane.. but an idea can just pop in your mind and at least if you jot it down, you have a recollection of the idea.. so when you get indoors, you can sit down and re-read, gather all your details and create your masterpiece of a song and a story.

Have you ever had such a vivid dream and when you woke up.. you forgot everything about that dream? I personally keep a dream book by my bed.. and as soon as I wake from the dream, I write it.

You never know.. all of these things can take us somewhere we never could imagine.

Remember.. Paul McCartney from the Beatles heard the melody of 'Yesterday' in a dream and it became one of the biggest songs for the Beatles!

So writers.. don't forget that trusty notebook!

#5 Writers Block: 3 steps out of it

Writer's Block is the bane of all writers.

I know.

I KNOW.

That horrible feeling of nothing even sprouting in your mind to write down-- depending on the kind of writer you are, you either continually stare at the computer screen, that blank page in Microsoft word with the cursor just blinking at you; or you have your notebook open with your pen just relaxing in your hand, or for the more frazzled writer, tapping on the book every two seconds wondering why no ideas are coming.

Not to worry. There is a way out!

I find writers block as a small period where-- I wouldn't necessarily say we don't have ideas, but the transfer of the particular idea from our mind to the page isn't coming. If that makes sense at all!

1) Write.
I know that sounds silly. But just write. Take your notebook, and just write anything that comes into your mind. You can write 'Blah blah blah' or 'I don't know what to write' or whatever, just keep that pen moving, write non stop for about 5 minutes, and see where it will take you.
I learned a technique on my Creative Writing Course called 'Stream of Consciousness' and it's literally just writing non stop, you don't pause.. you continuously write, and it did help me in most instances.

2) Set yourself in a different surrounding
Sometimes I find that we get blocked because where we write is the same place, same four walls, or same area, or same chair, whatever, it gets boring.
Change it up.. write while you're on the train. Or go and sit in a Starbucks or a Costa. Take your notebook or your phone for the tech savvy writer..

3) Get Emotional
Yep. I said it. When worst comes to worst, get in tune with those emotions. Think about something that made you upset, angry, happy,  sad-- something. It tends to send that pen a running down that page. It ALWAYS works for me, and I end up writing something out of it. It works for the music celebrities.. why can't it work for us too?


Get writing you amazing writer, you

:)

London time: Brixton Protests

Primarily for my London town peeps... (But it's an interesting read)

So, on Saturday there was a huge protest against increasing Gentrification; a primary problem in Britain, or generally the UK is that there are a lot of immigrants that come and live in London and the surrounding areas, so that forces to kick out the people who are already in living in London, and to increase prices on rent and such because there are so many people coming in and needing a place to stay.

But what looked like a peaceful protest then turned into this:

Very infuriated protesters smashed the windows of a Foxton's estate agent building, because they happen to be one of the most expensive estate agents, and also are 'to blame' for housing being put in Jeopardy for so many residents of Brixton.

Overall it was for a good cause, and for people to come together to protest about something so dear to their heart, it shows a level of unity.

I only saw this in pictures on Instagram, but after reading a couple of articles I thought 'Hmm'.

#4 Everything is a story

Happy Monday!

My dear writers out there.. I want to say one thing to you.. it is not hard to get an idea or an inspiration to write a story.

Look around you. Literally.

Over the years as I commute around London I see that everything we see, can be written as a story. From the kissing couple at the back of the bus, to the child squealing with glee as her mother is playing peek-a-boo on the bus, to a line of blood on the sidewalk, to a man and a woman sitting in their car with the windows rolled down-- EVERYTHING is a story.

I'm telling you. All we need to do as writers is to CREATE! You've seen that couple kissing at the back of the bus-- so what is their history? Are they on again off again? Did they just make up after a big argument-- do their friends agree with their relationship? Is the girl or the guy more in love than the other?

Are you seeing it? Are you picturing it?

That man and woman you walked by in that navy blue Audi (see, I'm already adding details), what was their conversation? Has the woman just revealed to the man that she's pregnant? Are they even in love? Friends with benefits? Fuck buddies? Was it just a one night thing and it happened? Are they even having relations?

This is where the creativity of you shows-- and this what makes writing so much fun; the creation process-- you can do whatever you want-- you make the characters so lovable, or the opposite, your story can draw on one specific thing-- your story can be just pure dialogue and through the dialogue, the story is told..

There is so much out there for inspiration, look at your surroundings, and write. Take your notebook with you.
See what happens.

Try it.

Think Tank: Jamelia and Being overweight

To all my UK commuters.. did you read the metro on the 22nd of April?

And for people not in the UK... here is the link to the article
Jamelia is a well known pop icon here in the UK, and she was on the show 'Loose Women' expressing her views on how plus size clothes shouldn't be in the high street shops; because it supports people to stay overweight.

Now. I'm in neutral. Because I understand where she is coming from, but at the same time, there are many conditions that are around in this day and age that cause people to be overweight. I watch this show called 'Whitney, Fat Girl Dancing' and Whitney suffers from PCSO, which stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, in which weight gain is one of the contributing factors.

It's not an excuse, because there are a lot of people who suffer from this particular disorder and are actively trying to lose weight and work on restoring their health-- so for these people, should they not have decent clothes to wear?

But what is 'plus size' exactly? It's not only overweight people, there are very busty ladies out there, w ho need the extra material to be able to cover themselves up modestly. And lets be honest here, there are very curvaceous ladies out here too, who need the correct size to accommodate their shape-- no this is not me talking in code, it is very true! Everyone was not created the same; there are different shapes and sizes and if a lady is size 18 and curvy, I don't think that should be classified as overweight.

But... over to you guys--- a saying that I heard from one youtuber by the name 'bronzegoddess' is 'Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one'

Share your opinion, what are your thoughts?

#3 Gratitude Journal

Have you ever heard of it my dear readers and writers and people in the blog-o-sphere?

I've been reading up on it for a while, and it sounds so lovely to do. Because we as human beings.. things do slip our minds, or we don't remember every single thing that we may need to-- it's not our fault. It does happen.

But the beneficial thing about a gratitude journal is noting down the many things you are thankful for, as well as noting down the day it happened, the time it happened, and your exact thoughts when it happened. I'm planning to start one soon actually and I will document some of my most memorable things soon.. and I hope you will join me!

And you don't need to do it everyday-- at your leisure, once a week.. once every two weeks; the beauty of the entire thing is it helps you to reflect and as writers especially, it's always good to reflect on thoughts and feelings because not only does it fuel you for ideas.. it helps you to get more in tune with your emotions and your thoughts-- and this is how you construct your characters to make them so very dimensional.

But generally.. it's something that will help you to know that your life is very special and very unique-- so many things happen to us and we tend to forget or only remember a snippet of it!

We go through so many situations and problems and they become so overwhelming that all the good that has happened to us gets pushed to the back of our minds, or even worse we won't remember the essence of it all-- good memories should be more than bad memories I would imagine and this kind of journal can help you to do that!

Just thought I'd share from one writer to another; or if you just want to keep a journal for yourself, start one up! You never know what it can become.

#2 A Writer's 'Niche'

So..

I want to share something with you all.

Upon embarking to make this new blog, I went on THE hugest internet search to find what niche this particular blog would fall under. A Niche is simply a 'specialized market', something very specific that you think will be beneficial to your desired target audience.

And this takes me to my first point:

- WHO is your target audience?

Any writer has an idea of who their writing will either relate to or they believe will be appropriate for. That's why there are writers who specialize in children writing, teen writing, young adult, adult.. etc. Who do you feel will lets say, like your writing? Who are you writing for? Why are you writing for them? Is what you are writing about something that they can read and say 'This is exactly how I'm feeling.' or 'This is so me' Because as writers, the best gift we can give people is our words, and if our words can impact, inspire, encourage, provoke thought, or to provide that escapism... we have done our jobs well.

For me, I found it difficult to find a niche, especially for this blog because one thing with finding your Niche is that a lot of them have already been done! But the difference in it all is how you do it. Everyone is different, and the way they handle things are different, so one tip is, don't focus on how much it has been done, but focus more on how you will do it, and watch the uniqueness come out of it. The best question to ask yourself when finding your niche is 'What do people need?' or 'What do people need to know?' 

NEXT!

- WHAT is your specialty genre?

This works hand in hand with your target audience in a way. But what do you actually enjoying writing? Sci-fi? Romance? Drama? Comedy? Non-fiction? Poetry? The thing about Genre is you can mix and match.. You can do Sci-fi comedy, Romantic Drama, etc.. or if you think your writing doesn't fit into the 'standard' Genres.. then you can always just create your own! No, I'm not joking.. writing is evolving everyday, and new things are created everyday. Like for me.. I call what I write 'Real life fiction' and it's pretty much fiction based on real life events that I have witnessed/experienced and I add my own writers twist or exaggeration to it (but not too much!) If you like Non-Fiction, which area do you want to focus in? If it's poetry, what type of poetry is your most enjoyable to write?
But do you get what I mean? Find what you like to write, and write! The rest will fall into place.

Have you got it?

Comments are well received! Hope this has helped!

#1 Where do.. How do I?...

Welcome to 'The Writer's Eveyday guide!'

This is the FIRST EVER blog, so I hope this will be mucho helpful to anyone who reads!

Right, let's get started.

So. You want to write, yes? But what to write? Poem? Short story? Novel?

What tickles my fingers are definitely short stories. You need to KNOW exactly what you are passionate about-- when you're writing that story or that poem or that song, do you feel fulfilled, do you feel like there's been a release?

Now. With short stories.. take into account three things:

-Your main character, (protagonist)
-A very SPECIFIC plot (ex: friend breaks up with boyfriend, the boyfriend then rebounds to friend, friend finds out and kills herself. Kind of morbid, but you get the point)
-Some type of hidden moral or life lesson

Because short stories have ideally a 3,000 word limit, it's best to keep everything very specific and very refined. If you were to write a novel, everything would remain-- specificity and all but you'd have more space to expand on the 3 dimensions of your main character, or character(s) depending on the kind of novel you are writing, as well as your overall plot.

For me as a writer I love to write something that has a hidden meaning, or has an even deeper meaning. Always find that special quirk when you write-- everyone has one, it's just about discovering what is is, and working with it.

So.. get to writing!

:)