A Birthday Cake With No Frosting

A published book without waiting for what seems like an eternity, and your work displayed on shelves in bookstores worldwide? Yes Please!

As amateur writers, there is nothing more one could ask for than to hit your ‘big break’, it’s a long hard road to success and trying to reach the end of this road takes up most of our time and effort. What we don’t realise is that sometimes this can put a downer on your creativity, and a writer that lacks a creative spark is like a birthday cake with no frosting, in other words, it isn’t a good look.

Recently, I have come to realise that writer’s block is usually the by-product of constantly writing for a particular project that you may be working on, without taking a breather. In such cases, I like to revert to a method I call ‘The Aimless Writer’ method. When I say aimless, I literally mean write without any aim or focus in mind.

Every so often, it’s refreshing to just take a day or a few hours out to write or poeticise about anything you want, the only aim should be to go as off topic as you possibly can. Being inspired by the objects around you will heighten your literary senses and you’ll actually be surprised about how much you could write about things you surpass every day. Remember to be silly, be spontaneous and try not to think about anything other than filling the distance between your pen and paper.

Comments are always open! :) 

Rimsha

A Social Media Writer’s 101

When you finally decide that you want to start sharing your poetry or written piece (which is a heck of a milestone in itself) you need to make a decision about where it is that you want to showcase your work.

From my personal experience, I have found that it is easier to start by sharing your work on a social networking site that you are familiar with; this should be a site that you can navigate well. Posting your first few pieces for the world to see can be immensely nerve wracking; you don’t want to have to deal with any technical complications. The best way to get known for what you do quickly is by posting your work on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. It’s always a good idea to start a new account, on which you will mainly post your writing/poetry. The name of your account should be quirky, unique and personal to you, it should stand you out from the crowd, there are plentiful writers on social media and you don’t want to have a name that has been done. Your name should scream originality.

You have to think of it as your work being the ‘product’ that you are trying to sell to people, the more you see an advertisement of something, the more compelled you are to buy it. Similarly, you should share your work regularly. With a packed schedule, this may be hard to do every day, but a well presented piece a few times a week should suffice, the old school saying of quality over quantity should not go a miss either.

In regards to setting a clear theme to your page, that people remember as yours consistency is the key! Now I’m not suggesting that you should have a boring page with minimal colour (unless that’s your thing) but what I am saying is that you should have a particular feature that you keep the same with all your posts, whether that is the font style, the background colour or the way you sign your work is up to you.

Ok. So you have created a new account, decided on a theme and you have even uploaded your first post... a few days pass and you hardly have any likes. “I knew this was a bad idea” you say as you start to argue with yourself, and start contemplating on ditching the account. But wait! Hang in there; there are a few boxes you need to tick every time you post a piece. It may seem very time consuming at first, but as you get into the habit of doing so, the time it takes to mentally go through your check list is next to nothing.

These are:

- Use relevant hashtags that relate to your posts, so that other people can find your work e.g. #poem #writer

- The next thing that I personally like to do is also use hashtags based on what I have wrote my poem about e.g. if my poem is about the ocean or just mentions any aspect of the ocean, then I may use a hashtag like #ocean #blue #sea

- The most important part is writing an inviting caption, something that will engage your readers and will make them want to read your work

Things might seem slow at first, you must follow other accounts that you may share the same interests with, and make it clear on whether or not you are open to feedback. Ask your friends to follow and share your new account too and you should also share your account on various forms of social media that you may already be on. You want to have fun with what you’re doing, but gaining recognition for it too would be even better, so don’t forget to promote your work elsewhere.

Once you get into it, you are most likely to make fellow poet/writer friends, and your account will become a comfortable abode for your thoughts and words. Don’t forget to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Is Writing Really For Me?

Writing, poetry and random scribbles to me, are all a form of art. There are countless numbers of un-discovered poets around the world not only because it may be hard for some to get noticed, but for many the problem is, they never pick up the courage to show their work.

The way music differs in terms of genres and styles, similarly writing does too. You may feel like what you write does not fit what the 'mainstream' poets/writers do, therefore you come to the self-made conclusion that it isn't really literature.

But there will always be someone out there who is looking for just the type of story that you write. If you are interested in writing and it's something you enjoy, pick up a pen and notebook and write. I don't think Shakespeare would have anticipated that his poetry and plays would be studied inside out in English classrooms worldwide, four hundred years after his death. When it comes to writing, there are many opportunities, you could enjoy story writing, poetry, or you might even have the hand to be a playwright!

The important thing to remember here is that, the only way to improve your writing and form your own unique style, is to actually start writing. Practice makes perfect.

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Tip: Set a timer for 10 minutes and write as much as you can and whatever comes to your mind, on a blank sheet of paper. This really is not time consuming, read through what u have written and you never know, you might just find your world famous poem between the lines of your scribbles. 

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In my next post, I will be writing about the various platforms that you can display your work on.

Leave your comments and suggestions. I would love to hear from you :)

Rimsha

A little bit about me and my blog

Hey there fellow reader. I am an 18 year old optimistic amateur poet and writer from England. Writing down the poetry that forms in my mind over the day is usually what makes up most of my spare time.

I know that it is hard getting your name out there as a writer, especially as a young writer! Therefore I will be blogging about how I go about it, and what I do to gain more recognition in both the literary and literal world. I will also be enclosing writing tips now and then, and I will be sharing articles on various issues that concern or interest me.

I have a writing page on Instagram on which I post my short poems and writings (almost) on a daily basis, which I will also show here sometimes. I would love to hear your feedback, and if you have a particular topic in mind that you would like me to blog about, don't hesitate to comment.

I hope you enjoy reading my blogs just as much as I enjoy writing them. Thank you

Rimsha