| Wednesday, June 27, 2007 |
| Merdeka Contest by Bernama |
Bernama is organizing a Merdeka Contest, which one of the part is writing competition. Write anything about Malaysia at 50 years of independence specifically "50 Years of Independence: Malaysiaku Gemilang".
For more info please visit BERNAMA at http://web5.bernama.com/events/merdeka50/contest.php. Let us celebrate the wonderful days of our beloved Malaysia! I love Malaysia!! |
posted by haNNa @ 11:24 PM  |
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| Monday, June 18, 2007 |
| Night of insanity writing essays! |
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| posted by haNNa @ 8:44 PM |
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| Essay Writing 101 |
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| posted by haNNa @ 8:35 PM |
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| A Writer's Inner Battle |
There is a psychological nuisance so powerful that can deflate the drive, self-esteem, and human spirit of many aspiring Writers of any age. These Writers are faced with an obstacle that make them stop, think twice and question their right to be a part of a respected community. This even leads them to doubt their ambition of pursuing their literary or journalistic calling.
It is that inner voice echoing: “Huh! Who do you think you are, a J. K. Rowling in the making?” or “Oh my God, stop pretending you have a literary mind!” and more similar lines of thinking. Some may call it a fiend while others may describe it as the self-defeating aspect of a person.
If you have been afflicted as I have been, do not worry, the voice speaks only in behalf of detractors, real or imagined. It is not the embodiment of the authentic gift of creativity you and I were born with.
When you know you have a great idea brewing in your head that you could almost see it completed in your mind, strike the keys; When the voice blows its cacophony horn, resist the urge to stop.
Mind and Behavior
How your thinking becomes your staunch enemy at times has reasons of its own.
While confidence takes a respite, this occupational hazard of qualm attacks during your journey as a blossoming writer haunts even the best of Writers.
“I have written practically nothing yet, and now again the time is getting short. There is nothing done. I am no nearer my achievement than I was two months ago, and I keep half doubting my will to perform anything. Each time I make a move my demon says at almost the same moment:” Oh, yes, we’ve heard that before!” Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), British short story Writer.
Just as how old manipulative thinking habits have repeatedly, slowly, and unconsciously crept into your subconscious, so shall you replace them with new ones consciously.
“Whatever action we take is first of all determined by our thoughts, so if we change our thoughts, we can change the way we behave.” Cherith Powell and Greg Forde
Decision is your first step. Redeem your faith in your ability to write by making up your mind of wanting to do so. Ignore unwanted mental murmurs right away. Refuse to dwell on them.
“Anytime you can be aware of and witness your own thoughts, instead of becoming lost or absorbed in them, you’re in a position to grow from your experience rather than being immobilized by it,” Richard Carlson, Ph.D., famous author and Expert on happiness and stress.
Act on this decision by writing always until the habit has been embedded in your system. Stick to it. The discipline will condition your mind to an ‘I can’ attitude and will provide you with proofs of your writing skill, slowly but surely.
Search for the inner voice responsible for getting you on board this vessel of courage to have ever wanted to write or written a few pieces in the first place. Relive it. Delight in it.
However, more than positive self-talk, you will need something tangible to corroborate your long buried positive belief. Produce the written piece. It will bear out the reality of your skill as a writer and will sustain the writer’s spirit running in your vein.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle.
In addition, submitting your work often and getting published even in small publications (print or online) immerse you more in the world of writing and defines further what you really want, what you can achieve and what you will ultimately become. It validates you further as a writer in your eyes and in the eyes of others.
A published work further nullifies that damaging inner voice and even the real detractors (in contrast to professional, constructive and objective Literary Critics) existing beyond your writing comfort zone.
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask Act. Action will delineate and define you. You will find out from your actions.” Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969), Polish Novelist, Playwright, Essayist.
Beating the Beast Within
Make it a habit to study the lives of people who started out with wobbling knees in careers totally different from the degree they have earned in college, dreaming dreams that no one thought they could reach. Count the number of times they were told they were misfits but went on to succeed in fields seemingly incompatible to their personality and intellect.
Read Writers’ biographies and unearth their struggles, look around you and be inspired. Shift your focus from the mockery of your thoughts to real quiet people who never bragged but wrote nonetheless with profundity.
As a late blooming writer myself I employ these pointers. In my own pace, I have learned to fight back. The automatic reaction casts out the ugly feeling of inefficiency and helps me to proceed.
It may not guarantee a life free of backslidings to negative self-talks but these mental approaches serve as buffers that strengthen the mental defenses overtime until the bad voices are subdued.
The advice of other writers that says write, write, and write is a gold mine. It sharpens and stimulates your writing mind. Best of all it brings you closer to your vision and away from your psychological beasts.
So unless you do exactly the opposite of what your demon says you cannot do, your inner battle will not be silenced.
Pursue your dream. Write! |
| posted by haNNa @ 12:45 AM |
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| Avoid Crafty Traps in Essay Writing |
Hidden pitfalls are on watch for your paper success in every paragraph of the essay you write. They are notorious misprints, insidious misspellings and numerous stylistic, syntax and format errors. Indeed they are your restless essay writing enemies, which are always on the alert, putting obstacles on your way to excellent grades for your writing assignments.
The drastic truth is that even slight mistakes make you freak out and lose the train of your thoughts. They evoke a fear of losing the main thread, give rise to uncertainty in your strengths and potential, dissipate your motivation to write and give the way to other distractions. Ultimately, make it challenging for you to complete your task at hand.
These minutiae seem to be minor for the inexperienced writer, but in fact they obscure an overall picture of your essay and occur to be crucial for the estimation of your work by professors, reflecting on your poor grades. Hence, essay writing pitfalls must be eradicated by all possible means.
Take these helpful hints to avoid crafty writing traps and forget about poor grades for your writing assignments once and all the time.
# Say No to poor thesis statement
Everything you write should develop around a clear central thesis statement. Good thesis statement zeroes in one main idea and states it clearly, avoiding ambiguous and vague phrases.b It should be specific, analytic and has to evaluate the significant insights of your essay. Strong thesis statement usually introduces the original approach to the traditional view on the problem.
# Avoid weak introduction and open-ended conclusion
Focus on one primary function of the introduction - to introduce your thesis statement clearly and precisely so that to grab the attention of the audience. The success strategy of writing your introduction is to start with the broad statement of your main idea and to close it with the actual thesis of your essay.
Don’t leave the unfinished and open-ended feeling at the end of your essay. Always remember that your paper must make its point clear right from the beginning and up to the logical ending.
Make your conclusion coherent and smooth and be sure to stress the significance of your work in the concluding part of your essay, pointing the ways in which your invaluable contributions can be applied.
# Beware of undeveloped essay
This problem is particularly common and results from not understanding clearly the essence of the chosen topic. Selecting your essay topic make sure to familiar with it completely and to ask yourself what you really feel passionate about and don’t forget to research it preliminary very thoroughly.
Your paper won’t produce an undeveloped impression if you provide your work with a solid argumentative ground, explaining clearly your view on the researched topic and elucidate the past attempts of the solution of this problem. So that to show the professor that you’ve got the core of the chosen topic at your finger tips.
# Never use slang language
Bear in mind that slang language and curse words are absolutely inappropriate in your work. Always remember that your targeted audience is educated professors. More over that college writing commonly implies the utilization of the formal style, which has definite frameworks.
# Don’t just recollect the events in your paper
Simple recollecting of the events is boring and unrecognizable to the reader and can become an absolute failure to the writer. “A good essay is one with imaginary appealing to the five senses.” Try to harness this strategy in your essay writing. Make your audience feel, taste, smell and hear everything you are narrating about.
Hope that these useful hints will help you gain the upper hand over your restless essay writing enemies, strengthen your writing skills and ultimately help you get excellent grades for your writing assignments. |
| posted by haNNa @ 12:43 AM |
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| Thursday, June 14, 2007 |
| Art of Essay Writing |
Let’s start our trip from a short background. The word “essay” originated from French word “essai” which means “attempt, effort, sketch”. And this translation reflects the essence of the task you are assigned at your college.
Really, it is your personal attempt to give a challenging sketch on some engrossing issue. Unlike other academic assignments, essay suggests freedom of your creative work. Its main advantage is that you can write it on any topic, in any style. Essay is your own point of view on something you have heard, read, seen etc. The forefront of the essay is your personality, your thoughts, feelings and your life position. You have a unique chance to enter a reasonable controversy with other authors, as the teacher expects you to show your erudition in the subject.
However, you should remember that regardless freedom of the writing process, it is not that easy at all. Because you are expected to find an original and capturing idea (even in the traditional context) and exceptional opinion on some problem.
The title of essay does not strictly depend on the essay topic: the title can also serve as a starting point in your reflection; it can express the relation of the whole and the parts. A free composition of essay is subject to its inner logic, it is an emphasized position of the author.
The style of the essay is marked by its aphoristic, paradoxical and figurative character. To convey your personal perception of the world you should: employ a lot of capturing examples, draw parallels, choose analogies, use various associations. One of the characteristic features of essay is the wide usage of numerous expressive means, such as metaphors, parable and allegoric figures, symbols and comparisons.
You can enrich and make your essay more interesting if you include in it: unpredictable conclusions, unexpected turning points, interesting clutches of events.Essay presents a dynamic interchange of author’s arguments, supporting evidence and questions.
Be brief, but at the same time avoid absolute simplicity. No one will like reading a monotonous narration. Completing the draft of your essay, read it aloud, yes, aloud. You will be struck by the number of rough details in your essay. You should get rid of them with no regret. If you have to say something new, original and exclusive, then the genre of essay is your genre.
Be creative, free your mind and may be you will reveal a great essayist in yourself. |
| posted by haNNa @ 2:36 AM |
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