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Book Talk: What I Read in August
As you may or may not know, I’ve been up to a bunch of random educational stuff over the summer. It was an interesting experience. Long story short, there’s a reason I hated my (almost) alma mater. I spent the last five years romanticising what graduating from there would’ve been like. But after one six week program? No, thank you. With all due respect. Seriously, there’s a reason I didn’t stay at that university. The past week was quite difficult because I was balancing my job, a couple of side projects and finals (yay!). So, this week’s update is meant to be a little easy on my packed schedule. So,…
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How to Create Notion Templates You’ll Actually Use (+ Free Template to Get You Started)
Okay, so I’m big on scheduling and organising myself. And to do this, I like to use Notion. In fact, I’ve been regularly using it since 2022, when it was introduced to me at work. It was our company’s project management tool. It was great at that and I ended up using it for other stuff too. Think about this blog, my manuscript edits, even budgeting and keeping track of expenses. But it wasn’t a switch-flip moment for me. I didn’t always look at my Notion page regularly, and it’s because I wasn’t using a Notion template that worked for me. I actually ended up doing a lot of fine-tuning…
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What is LLMs.txt and Should You Add It to Your Website?
Alright, so I’m not too confident about this one. Usually, when I write something, I like having an opinion about it before I write. But unfortunately, we live in a world where AI “experts” are actually just hype marketers. To be honest, it shouldn’t be this difficult. Or confusing. It should be straightforward, but unfortunately, like most things out of Silicon Valley, the so-called AI revolution is starting to look less disrupt-y and more tech bubble-y. And if you’re a long-term reader, you know how much I loathe bubbles. Especially since 2022. In fact, this blog’s happening because a report was submitted at work. And it includes a suggestion I…
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How to Build Backlinks to Your Blog (the Right Way)
I’m super busy these days with work, a new freelance gig, and summer school. And naturally, one of the things I tend to do when I’m super busy is further burden myself with more stuff. So, I’ve made the executive decision to redesign this blog for all my new readers. Naturally, the first thing I did was run an SEO audit—in fact, I’m still knee-deep in it—and realized I should probably look into ways to build backlinks. I hadn’t really focused on backlinking much here. I’d thought about guest posting, and all, but to be honest, I just didn’t have the time or the audience to care much about it.…
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Book Talk: What I Read in July
Consider this me making up for the late June reading list. Anyway, this month, I decided to save myself from stress and actually read the reviews before choosing which books to read. Since I’m back in school these days, most of what I read in July was meant to help me relax and escape from the laws of thermodynamics. Seriously, I completely forgot why I hated chemistry back in high school. Summer school reminded me of that, even though granted, it’s been less chemical equations and more balancing energy equations. Let me know if you want me to do a blog on my summer school experience. It’s been fun so…
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How to Write a Short Story (+ Free Worksheet to Get Started!)
Writing a short story sounds simple…until you’re 6,000 words deep with no ending in sight. Trust me, I’ve been there. And even though I have a few publications under my belt, I still struggle to write short stories. Or used to, before I got super focused on my manuscript and lost any interest in any other form of fiction writing. But recently (and that’s probably because I suck at writing romance anything), I’ve hit a wall with my manuscript. And it’s the summer, and it’s a slow time at the office, so I’ve been thinking about getting back into writing short stories again. So, in this blog, I’m going to…
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I Did Something Potentially Stupid…But Potentially Life-Changing
The title pretty much sums up what’s happening. I don’t know how often I mention it here; if I mention it here at all, but I took a two year break from my education during the pandemic. It’s never bothered me much (read: it bothers me a lot) and a university degree is just a degree, right? So, naturally, I threw myself into my career. Let’s be honest: payday is everyone’s favorite day of the month, right? I never really focused much on my education after I got into the work force. I mean, I do continuously take courses on LinkedIn and Coursera. In fact, my boss has even paid…
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On Writing Subtext: What It Is & Why It Matters in Storytelling
In case you missed it, I just wrapped up my June reading list, and a common denominator in the four great books I read this month was subtext. Seriously, when done right, subtext in writing can be an incredibly powerful tool to make your story seem more alive. If you have no idea what I’m talking about (and that’s totally fine), think of it this way. Have you ever read a story where characters feel very, very realistic? Where their true feelings and motivations just seemed to simmer beneath the surface? Well, that’s subtext. And if you use it correctly, it can do wonders. So, without wasting any time, let’s…
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Book Talk: What I Read in June
Yes, I know. I’m late for this one, effectively breaking my streak but I have good reason. If you’ve read my blog on morally grey characters, you’ll see some shots fired at a certain writer. What can I say? I’ve been trying to write this blog on what I read in June for a few weeks now, but A Simple Favour just makes me so angry. Like, really, really angry. And I’ve read bad books. I read Fifty Shades, and Twilight, and yet those books (and others: think that Mexican mafia and white supremacist romance I won’t dignify by name dropping) were comprehensible. The plot made sense. This book was…
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On Writing Morally Grey Characters (That Aren’t Just Your Typical Villains or Anti-Heroes)
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been talking about writing anti-heroes and villains (if you haven’t checked those blogs out, I highly recommend it). So, this week I thought it would only make sense to talk a bit about morally grey characters. Characters who aren’t evil or rebellious on purpose—but still make you uneasy. Or at the very least, question if they’re making the right decision, or make you ask yourself: would I have done anything different? Think Victoria Neuman from The Boys, or Zuko during the Ba Sing Se arc in Avatar: The Last Airbender. We’re talking about characters who have the potential to be right, do the…