inspiration

Think back in time to the you who was fresh out of high school, with the world at your feet and the presence of the unknown looming over your head. Now think about the you of today, of the person you’ve become and the milestones you’ve achieved to get to this point time. The in-between of then and now is your own personal story full of twists, turns and hurdles. All the places you’ve been, the connections you’ve made, and the knowledge you’ve acquired can all be classified under one genre: coming-of-age.

With the promise of sunny skies, soft breezes, and warm weather on the horizon, it’s safe to say winter is finally in our rear-view. Yes, the period of hibernation is coming to a close as people are trading in their cozy sweats for swimsuits and hot cocoa for popsicles. The new season marks the time for change and the possibilities are endless.

Spring is here. The birds are singing, the snow has melted, and flowers are poking up through the dirt, both where they are expected and where they are not. At the beginning of winter term, I wrote a blog post on freewriting with a focus on my notebook as an agent of the writing process. I’d like to come back to this general topic, but from a slightly different perspective: spring.

Why is creativity so elusive? We see artists and poets and marvel agape at their powers of creation, but in truth creativity is a learned thing – a practice of insight and introspection. You too have the potential to produce art almost as good as the greats, if only you look in the right places. It doesn’t matter that no one’s listening.

Visit the place where the magic begins and the fun never ends. Every day is a nail-biting adventure inside A WRITER'S MIND™!

Breath-taking beauty awaits you in this rainbow-land of fantastic ideas and colour-splashed coping strategies. Consider how grand it might be to pitch-tent upon the blissful symbolic plains of the subconscious.

Over the past few years, I have a turned into a monster. What kind of monster you may ask? A monster that starts books and doesn’t end up finishing them.

*distant horrified gasps*

Oh yes, a bookworm’s worst nightmare!

“’Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.’” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

In my last post, I discussed how adopting a reading habit can help you strengthen your academic skills and become a better student in any discipline. However, making a commitment to recreational reading is often a challenging task. A common misconception seems to be that not reading regularly is a personal failing, as expressed in this simply-worded Tumblr post which resonated with hundreds of thousands of people:

It’s widely acknowledged that the number of people who regularly read for pleasure has been in decline over the past decades (Flood). Accordingly, although today’s post-secondary students spend a great deal of time poring over academic articles and studying classic novels for courses on literature, they’re less likely to pick out a book that interests them and read it purely for entertainment and relaxation.

Often, the hardest part of completing a writing project is getting started. Whether you’re working on an essay, a lab report, or an online discussion post, there are all sorts of problems that can prevent you from penning those first few words. Let’s break down a few of those problems and explore some solutions that can help get the sentences flowing.