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Right before I wrote my first university exam, I felt extremely shaky and weak. I stood next to some classmates discussing some of the study terms when I realized how unbearably hot the basement was. I tore off my coat, but it wasn’t enough. I kept sweating and my throat kept restricting. Feeling like I was about to throw up, have diarrhea, faint, or all three, I went to the bathroom. I crouched in the bathroom stall, not knowing whether to put my head over the toilet and hold back my hair, pull down my pants and sit, or shut the lid so I didn’t drown when I fainted. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought, I’m going to die.

In the beginning of social distancing and working remotely, I thought it would get easier as time progressed. But unfortunately, this was not the case. The longer I spent working from the same desk or couch day in and day out, the less motivated I became.

Knowing your worth is important in all aspects of life. When you understand how valuable you are, your life improves so much. In the world of writing, it is particularly important to maintain confidence because no matter how talented you are, you’re going to get rejected. A lot.

Seeing as we’re pretty late into the fall season now, chances are you’re pretty well-adjusted to a routine. It’s likely one slightly different than you’re used to, but it’s a routine, nonetheless. Much like how school, jobs, and chores sink into monotony, your process of writing does too. There are lots of different ways to write a text and writers usually find themselves sticking to a specific method.

What I’m about to say is going to sound strange coming from a creative writer, but it’s the truth: I’ve never really liked poetry. I’ve always preferred a straightforward narrative to an abstract piece. In elementary and high school, the meter and rhyme of poetry confused me, and I could never grasp the themes as quickly as I could in a novel or short story. In university, I wrote a few poems when I had to, but I always dreaded them.

The following questions have been on my mind lately: Where do stories come from? Do authors just pull them out of thin air? Is there some kind of divine intervention that brings a good story to mind? What’s the difference between a good and a bad story?

Writing is a skillset. And like all skillsets, writing takes time to perfect. You’re going to make mistakes, especially at first. But when you understand those missteps and adapt your craft accordingly, you will become a stronger writer. I thought it would be helpful to highlight common writing mistakes to save you some time in the learning process. Here they are:

Phrases like “stop watching that TV, it’ll turn your brain to mush” are extremely common, especially amongst parents. And parents do have a point, you need to exercise your brain with complicated tasks that help you improve your overall intelligence. But the more interested in writing I got, the more engaging I found TV to be.

Editing is the lifeblood of writing as it is the means of improvement. So, if you want to be a good writer, you have to be a good editor too. Not only do writers need to be skilled at editing their own work, but they need to edit other writing pieces with the same ability.

In these blogs, I’ve talked a lot about how to become a better writer, and even touched on why writers are important, but today I want to talk about the direct effect writing has on readers and writers alike. This article won’t touch on everything that writing does, as a lot of it is unique to personal experiences and to each piece. However, there are a few broad consequences that are applicable to most texts.

​As a writer, I find it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in a rut wherein I write what I know and nothing else. While it’s good to have a specialized skill, it’s also good to branch out. After all, the best way to expand your creativity is to keep trying new things.

Between the personalized pieces and the competitive publishing industry, the world of writing is emotionally draining by nature. It is so easy to get dispirited. While the ability to self-criticize helps you improve your craft, too much of it will harm your career as well as your mental health. That’s why it’s important to persevere despite all of your insecurities. 

Often times when I tell people that I am studying creative writing they reply with the ever awkward: “oh…” sometimes followed by a polite: “good for you!” I don’t think the reason that many people react this way to my degree is because they think that writers are stupid, I think that they just don’t understand what a writer’s purpose is. It may not be as well-known as an engineering or a nursing degree, but a writing degree (and all arts degrees for that matter) has a purpose, nonetheless.  

River Street’s Hollay Ghadery reviews Crito Di Volta by Marc Di Saverio—an epic poem that is as exasperating as it is enchanting.

The old writing adage, “write what you know”—how accurate is it? Where does the line between a writer’s real-life experience and their imagination begin and end? River Street’s Margaret Huntley discusses this puzzling quandary in her latest blog.

How do writers get ideas? River Street’s Margaret Huntley talks shop on the writing processes, sharing her muse-inducing tips to get the creative juices flowing.

Unless you are an insanely talented writer, chances are you will need to do a lot of editing during your writing career. Personally, editing is my favourite part of writing. I just love perfecting drafts, whether they are my own or someone else’s. 

Right now, many of us are finding ourselves with a lot more free time than usual. Now you might be like my mother who has no issues with staying at home and getting work done. But if you are like me, and have difficulty motivating yourself to be productive when on your own, then this article is for you.