Don't Let These 4 Things Affect You.

 Don't let these 4 things affect you:

1) UNSOLICITED OPINIONS OF PEOPLE WHO BARELY KNOW YOU

Often times the people who say they don't like to be judgmental are the ones who are most guilty of it. Not unusual. But please don't let their opinions color the way you think of yourself. What people think of others is mostly a reflection of what they think of their own selves. If they don't like themselves, they try to bring you down to their own level in their heads because they know they can't do it any other way. 

2) LACK OF SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE YOU THOUGHT WERE VERY CLOSE TO YOU

You will find a lot of friends around you when you're hitting a low. But very few people who will be there to support you when you're trying to create something of your own and need their help. Let that act as an eye opener. Don't let it break your heart. People like to shower sympathy because it makes them feel like they are in a much better place. Value the people who are 'always' there for you. They constitute your tribe.

3) CRITICISM

There's a difference between constructive criticism and being downright nasty. Learn to spot the difference. Work on the former, disregard the latter. If someone is being unnecessarily mean, it is just their inner bitterness lashing out at you. They cannot make themselves happy which is why they go around making other people sad. That's easier, right? All you can do is pity them. 

4) PEOPLE NOT LIVING UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS

It might be a friend, a significant other, a family member, anyone. You might often feel like your emotions are not being reciprocated. But remember, how other people behave is completely beyond your control. If you let them affect you, your mental peace will be at their mercy. Don't let that happen. If someone truly cares for you, they will make time for you, they will let you know you are important. They won't keep you on hold.

Hope you're having a nice day! ❤

5 Books/Series I Remember Obsessively Reading as a Kid.

5 books/series I remember obsessively reading before I turned 12:

1) Malory Towers by Enid Blyton- YES! I was OBSESSED about this series, about Darrel, Felicity and all their lovely friends. I have read each and every single book from this series and I still possess the whole set. I even tried to write a similar series of my own inspired by Malory Towers. 

2) St. Claire's by Enid Blyton- This too was quite similar to the Malory Towers series and reading them together would inevitably get you confused. I LOVED the O Sullivan twins, Pat and Isabel, the midnight feasts, the lacrosse matches, Miss Potts. OMG! I can't stop gushing.

3) PINK PAGES- OH MY GOD! I read Pink Pages for the very first time when I was probably 8 or something, and I was absolutely thrilled. This is not a novel. It's more like a teenage self help book with so many cool activities and games. I feel so nostalgic whenever I think of those days!

4) Glitter Girls- A series again, about a super cool girl gang who had so much fun together doing different things, participating in various competitions, going to the same school. They had these cool team T-Shirts and accessories, secret hide-outs. I absolutely LOVED the idea of a girl gang when I was a kid. Was never lucky enough to actualize it though. 

5) FAMOUS FIVE, Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Little Women, Heidi, Oliver Twist, Alice in Wonderland, Adventure Series, I couldn't decide which one to pick so I listed all I can remember :'3 I was an avid reader when I was a child. It's sad that I don't read half as much nowadays. 

Which books/series do you remember reading when you were a kid?

5 Things You Can do Today to Have a Better Future.

5 things you can do today to have a better future:

1) CUT OFF TOXIC PEOPLE 

Please cut off toxic people from your life. If you have someone who's always critical of every little thing you achieve, who's constantly bringing negativity into your life or a 'friend' who's never appreciative of your efforts and is constantly letting you down, please cut them off. You owe it to your mental peace. 

2) EXPLORE TO FIND YOUR CALLING

What's the one thing that you can do better than most people you know? What's that one thing that makes you want to wake up in the morning? Find that out. Do different things to see what you like to do best. Explore!

3) PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

If you're dealing with mental health issues that are holding you back from ascending to your full potential, please make them your priority. Seek help! Don't shy away from doing so. There are various online forums, Facebook groups, that can get you in touch with people who have gone through the same and who can/want to genuinely help you.

4) SELF CARE

Have a 'me-time' that you keep sacred. Devote time to yourself. Take care of your skin, be mindful of what you're putting inside your body, get enough sleep, eat healthy, exercise, take different courses that you think might help you further your goals and always put yourself first. 

5) READ

Read books. Read articles. Read blogs. Educate yourself. Please don't choose to stay in your bubble. Catch up on what's happening in the world. Think. Form your own opinions. Reading helps you develop and analytical thinking. So, please READ.

Please contribute to my thoughts by adding yours below. 

5 Ways to Create Strong and Believable Characters.

5 WAYS TO CREATE STRONG, BELIEVABLE PROTAGONISTS:

1) PAINT YOUR PROTAGONIST GREY.

 Don't paint your protagonist all good or all bad. Break out of the black and white morality and paint him/her grey. Readers don't like perfect characters. They are looking for someone they can relate to.

2) MAKE YOUR PROTAGONIST VULNERABLE.

Give your readers a reason to care about your protagonist, to root for them and be invested in their journey from the start to the finish. Show what makes your protagonist weak, what keeps them up in the night, what they fear the most, their insecurities, their prejudices, the parts of them they aren't proud of.

3) SHOW DON'T TELL.

Reveal the character of your protagonists by dropping seemingly irrelevant details about them, the way they walk or talk, what they think, how they interact with other people, what kind of music they listen to, what shows they watch on TV. Don't explicitly state what they're like. Let the readers perceive that through the details. 

4) PLACE YOUR PROTAGONIST IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS.

Create conflict, place them in extraordinary situations so much so that they contradict their natures, their beliefs, their core values. Shatter the images that you've created of them. Don't make them flat, predictable, boring characters. Every once in a while, make them do unexpected things.

5) LET THEM EVOLVE.

Let your protagonist evolve through the story. The way the readers find him/her in the first chapter should change by the time they reach the last chapter. The change can be a positive or a negative one but letting your protagonist evolve or transform through the narrative is extremely important.

If you've learnt something new from this post, please check my profile, follow me on social media, interact with me if you like the kind of content I post. I would love to hear from you! ❤

Hope you're keeping well.

Stay home! Stay safe! ❤

3 Ways How Online Content Writing Courses Exploit You.

With the mushrooming of online courses on sites like Coursera, Udemy and even independent websites, exploitation of labour has become the order of the day. Watch out for these 3 RED FLAGS while you're taking an online content writing course:

▶ UNPAID INTERNSHIPS

Any course that charges you an enormous amount of money and then asks you to devote your time working for their clients FOR FREE is not worth it. This is exploitation at its most fundamental level, an instance of unpaid labour, where you are made to feel like you're getting to learn a lot through 'first-hand experience' but all that is happening is that they are profiting off you by: first, making you purchase an expensive online course, and second, by earning thousands of rupees from the sale of your articles. As for me, I have had a 'first-hand experience' of such exploitation. So, trust me when I tell you, it's not pleasant at all.

▶ UNCORRECTED ASSIGNMENTS

Well, it's quite natural for coordinators of such online courses to display remarkable sincerity/punctuality when it comes to promptly correcting your assignments in the first one or two weeks. But just wait for a few weeks and see if they maintain the same level of sincerity throughout. More often that not, you will get to see their true colours by the end of the third week. And then you'll find yourself writing long emails and text messages requesting them to correct your assignments and give you some feedback.

▶ SKIPPING MODULES

While there might be a detailed, comprehensive brochure offering extensive modules specially curated to fill all the gaps in your knowledge when it comes to content writing, after you have actually paid for the course you will find these modules being half-heartedly covered and at times being left out altogether. This is not what you signed up for. Any discrepancy between what they have promised to offer and what they actually end up offering should be taken seriously. When you are paying for something, it is your right to question and demand your money back if your needs haven't been met.

Have you faced similar problems? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

#contentwriting #contentwriter #contentcreator

What to do when you cannot write?

Haven't written anything in a while? Get that notebook out and pen down whatever comes to your head. A lot of people have asked me how I deal with a writer's block.

My answer is simple. I WRITE.

Because that's the only way you can battle a creative limbo.

1) Write. Write everyday. Write a lot. Write whatever comes to your head without being conscious about what you're writing.

2) Even if what you've written doesn't turn out well, don't stop writing. You don't get a chiseled body in a day. You have to keep hitting the gym regularly. Same with writing.

3) Don't write with publishing as your goal. Not all writings have to be monetized. But you need to train yourself every single day in order to be able to write something that can be monetized. Invest today to get the returns tomorrow.

4) Stick to a schedule. Take some time out everyday and devote it completely to writing. Be it 30 minutes or an hour.

5) Take writing courses. There are a lot of free and paid courses available on the internet. Enroll for the ones you think serve your writing goals and watch yourself flourish! 

6) READ. READ. READ. If you cannot write at present, why don't you read? Read the works of authors who you look up to and try to understand what exactly it is that you find so compelling.

Don't forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Have a great Sunday! ❤

A Random piece of Advice.

So, after a full two hours of going through all my old posts from 3-4 years back, I've realized, no word is a wasted word in the writing world. In fact, we need to do something wrong in order to figure out how to do it right. The entries in your old journals might be replete with inaccurate expressions, grammatical/syntactical errors, the tendency to use bombastic words just for the heck of it, never-ending clichés and naivety of thought. It's okay to cringe. You might even want to go back and delete all your old posts because they don't fit with the way you've conducted yourself lately. But I'd suggest, let them be. 

You've only grown. And probably ten years down the line, you'll look back and laugh at what you're writing now. Quite natural, right? Everything you've gone through, everyone you've ever met has made you who you are today. The clichés have had an equal contribution in that, whether you admit it or not.

Look back and celebrate your growth as a writer, and perhaps learn a thing or two from your old posts. Treasure the simplicity that used to be the essence of all your former works. But don't you ever stop writing. :')

Hope you're having a great day! ❤