Ever open an article where the author is using lots of high-brow words? I love the English language, but even I find it tiresome trying to read something written in high-falutin’ vocabulary. That’s not to say using unusual words here and there is an issue. But if your audience finds your work too difficult to navigate, they’ll close the book …
What would you do if someone called their wife a derogatory name while you were out socially? This is the challenge I was asked about recently. The individual in question was drunk and had been ‘joking’ in this vein with others in the group. One person in the group said something along the lines of ‘settle down’ but it was …
When you start writing or running a business, you will wonder whether to invest in a website. I have tried everything in my journey. I’ve had no website, a DIY website on Wix, a wordpress standard theme website and a custom website. I have also tried many social media platforms! With that experience behind me, I advocate that you save …
It worries me how many people #blame themselves straight away in a #conflict or if something goes wrong. If you are an entrepreneur or creative person, this tendency can hinder you in many sneaky ways, squashing your #confidence and taking you out of the game before you’ve seen success. Yes it is good to reflect on your part in a …
My natural tendency is to get to the point which may be great for technical writing, but not so much for fiction writing! Fiction involves leading the reader into the world your characters inhabit. It is a balancing act. A writer must include certain elements to create this world for the reader, all the while keeping the story rising and …
You might be doing everything right, be perfectly nice- yet people will still dislike you. This can happen for a plethora of reasons – including that your light makes someone shrink from you. They might complain about others and be frustrated that you won’t join them. Perhaps they are angry and resent your calmness despite sharing the same challenges. Or …
I could blame the heat and humidity for slowing down with my historical fiction novel Nightingale, but the truth is, I’m discovering incredible new information about the reality of life in occupied Poland in World War Two. One such source was a CIA report written by a Vice Consul living in Warsaw at the start of the war. The quality of …
I’m usually a decisive person, so when I recently couldn’t decide on an apartment, I became concerned. Why was I experiencing so much angst over this? After all, I’d made far bigger decisions than this quite confidently. If you’ve ever experienced indecision, you know how paralyising it is. Waking up in the night, endless pro and con lists and that …
No matter how much personal development you’ve done, some changes feel like you’re on a personal roller coaster. You swing from the high of ‘oh wow, it’s really happening’ to ‘oh no, what on earth am I doing’. It’s what I experienced after I decided to move to Fiji. At first, I was excited. Then I started to pack up …