Tag: writing

Nimble

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

Here you are.
In between my thoughts,
juggling like an acrobat,
on a thin wire.

In between my thoughts,
hiding like a bat in the dark
corners of my mind.

In between my thoughts,
white dove
knocking on my window
carrying a message of love.

In between my thoughts,
I try not to think of you,
but you’ve become nimble.

Note: This poem was originally published here, in Redwolf Journal. Strangely enough, I accidentally discovered that my poem was published, since editors never notified me on the acceptance of my submission. With time I totally forgot about it and this is a good reminder for everyone – always make inquires about your submission process or application – as you might get positively surprised 🙂

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5 simple ways to keep procrastination at bay

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!

5-ways-to-beat-procrastination

When we want to get things done, it’s amazing how human mind can get creative and tricks us into any number of reasons of why not doing something. Excuses simply pile up and convince us why we should wait for some perfect conditions in order to get things done.

So lets approach this problem from other perspective. We often blame our procrastination habits for not having things done, but we can ‘take the bull by the horns’ and resolving those mental barriers.

The first step in this process is to identify which type of procrastinator are you. In this article they suggest there are 5 types:

The Perfectionist
This procrastinator is trying to avoid being embarrassed by mistakes or judged. They may spend too much time on one component of a project, failing to manage their time properly, or avoid the project altogether, then rush to finish it at the last minute. Of course, this may increase the likelihood of making mistakes.

The Impostor
Afraid of being revealed as unqualified or inferior, this procrastinator puts off doing anything to avoid that risk.

The Dread-Filled
When work is boring or unpleasant, we may procrastinate just to avoid doing it. If you hate what you’re doing or you find it mind-numbing, it’s tough to get motivated to take action.

The Overwhelmed
Sometimes, there’s just too much to do, and it’s hard to figure out where to start.

The Lucky One
Some people believe they do their best work under pressure, so they procrastinate until their back is up against the wall. If they have a history of doing this without consequence, they’ve essentially been rewarded for procrastinating.

Do you recognize yourself in any of these types?  Identify your three root causes for postponing your work. Be mercilessly honest with yourself and write them down.

For example I have noticed that number two often surfaces in my case. Since I have so many interests and I’m always curios, want to learn and share my findings – the environment might not always agree with me. It sometimes impacts my work that I end up not doing something at all. But on the other hand, this blog is also a great medium for me to beat this habit and things are getting better. You don’t always have to be qualified or master in the field in order for your opinion to count or that you are any less creative, artful, ext.

And number 4…if I have too much to do, it really makes me nervous and impacts the quality I deliver. So, I’m aware of my priorities, what and when I need to do. This wasn’t always the case but experience (and my health) taught me to ease down, make a choice between two or three important things and stick to it.

So, once you identified your type, the next step is for you to find interesting, motivating ways to replace your procrastination triggers.

1.First imagine how does look like your perfect productive and creative day.

What elements do you need to accomplish that? Write that down – every detail you think might play a crucial role. How much more do you think you would be able to achieve? How would that make you feel at the end of the day?

Now look at your average day and see where is the biggest mismatch.

Are you spending too much time on social media, watching TV? Do you sleep enough? Are you eating enough nutritious food? That everything adds up to you creative power and energy.

2. Do you spend too much time on one component of your work?

If I ever fall into this trap, I simply distance myself and move on to the other part of work. Time brings other perspective and the ability to find satisfying solution. Once you come back to it, probably you will resolve what’s been bugging you.

3. Is your schedule overcrowded?

Lighten up your schedule – not everything needs to be done today, by you. Find ways to delegate some tasks and free your time.

4.Your work load is to big for you to swallow?

Brake your tasks in small, bite-size chunks – it will help you beat that feeling of overwhelm and it will be easier for you to track the progress.

5.What is that one small thing you can do today to get you closer to delivering your project?

It can be something simple like organizing your stuff – it will give you the impression of progress and it will become easier to tackle ‘heavier’ parts of project.

Try these tactics, it will certainly improve the quality of you work.

How do you battle procrastination? Any tips? Please share in the comments below.

If you liked this post, please share. And, If you you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, writing and personal growth, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You’ll get a free e-book with 31 daily prompts to inspire your writing. For additional tips, follow us on twitter and connect with us on facebook.

Poetic inspiration: Instead of comparing, be daring!

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Poetic inspiration

writing_comparing

A leaf never compares itself

to another leaf, but rather

enjoys his journey in the wind. So do you:

stop comparing yourself to other writers

and instead invest in yourself

in developing your skills

and enjoy the ride.

If you liked this post, please share. And, If you you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, writing and personal growth, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You’ll get a free e-book with 31 daily prompts to inspire your writing. For additional tips, follow us on twitter and connect with us on facebook.

Poem by Maja S. Todorovic

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, My personal rhyme - from time to time

My new poem ‘Life journey of an apple’ has been published in Oddball Magazine. I hope you’ll enjoy humorous take on my obsession with fruit. And definitely check out some other beautiful poems there. 🙂

Oddball Magazine's avataroddball magazine

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Life journey of an apple

An apple knows it all:

“I’m succulent and deceiving,
run, run before everything turns
rage in Eden!”

“I’m attractive and mouth-dreaming
come, come the beauty in you,
calls into me – screaming!”

“Gravity is your friend or foe”,
I whispered in the Newton’s ear,
when I bounced off his head,
on my way down to roll in leafy
autumn bed.

“Have me one a day, keeps
the doctor away.”

But now as it sleeps calmly
a part of still decor,

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Learn the biggest secret of every good writer

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

secret_goodwriter

We all know that nobody is born as a good writer. It is a constant process of becoming. And I do believe that the difference between good and bad writers it’s not about the skill or gift. It’s not even about the number of written or published pieces. The key word we are looking for is persistence.

Good writer is writing – no matter how many times he fails or writes crappy work. He is there showing up every day, practicing and trying to improve himself. Not only writing, but everything that goes with writing.

In that sense, I think that biggest secret every good writer knows and we often forget is how good writer treats his bad writing. First, he takes time to write, erase, rewrite, edit, tailor every word to what’s need to be written. And how does he know what’s need to be written? He is attuned to his inner-self and follows the voice that drives him to write. Once you master to recognize that voice, you will know if what you wrote is good or bad.

The second essential part here is also his relationship to criticism. He is persistent, not afraid to try, to let his work be judged by the public eye. He knows how to tame his ego and accept constructive advice that can only help him become better and improve his writing.

Good writer is not writing because there is nothing else to do or simply he likes recreationally to scribble. There is ingrained need in him that he has to tell something, his story needs to be written. It’s not a job. It’s not a work. It’s almost like breathing.

Many writers do achieve certain level in their skill and they are determined that it’s all there is. They believe, by default anything they write is good and not subjected to alteration. In reality, what happens is that fear of failure is greater than desire to produce really good piece which requires additional effort and time. And frankly, often their writing is not even close to be good as they think.

Being defensive about the quality of your work is not going to make you a good writer.

So what can you do?

You can make a decision to be different and take responsibility for your writing. Go and write that extra page that many aspiring writers are not prepared to. Put an extra hour and improve that paragraph that has been bugging you. Be brave and send your poem to that journal you’ve been reluctant to do for so many months.

That’s how you become a better writer: with stillness to listen and eagerness to change. Are you ready?

If you liked this post, please share. And, If you you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, writing and personal growth, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You’ll get a free e-book with 31 daily prompts to inspire your writing. For additional tips, follow us on twitter and connect with us on facebook.

A minute of

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, My personal rhyme - from time to time

Cannot name that color: looks like wet white, an ivory with shadow or grayish that we used to call ‘pigeon dirty’. Painting of a horse head in ochre tonalities suited very well, especially with engine strokes so beautifully placed above the horse’s mane. Dark wooden frame bounds like it borders something very important. But the head was turned sideways, it listened carefully but didn’t have the guts to look around. Even the picture! Next to it, a playful aquarelle of Bruges, centered around innocent afternoon and lazy clouds. Water pretends to be still, but cannot hide the reflection of reddish bricks, red like cheeks of girl on the first date. This one stood tall, a painting bought as a remembrance of one hopeful day. In the next corner, 45 degrees further hanged a tapestry, old and out-worn, last twitch of the hand that wants to forget tradition and robust lines of family roots. And there was our floor lamp, high and dignified crown of an early spring tulip. This fragile light-keeper claps its metal cold hands in the curled handshake – even it’s lifeless and heavy body  prays for a minute of contempt, minute of sound and minute of everything else we didn’t manage to achieve in the empty room of our lives.

Maja S. Todorovic

If you liked this post, please share. And, If you you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, writing and personal growth, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You’ll get a free e-book with 31 daily prompts to inspire your writing. For additional tips, follow us on twitter and connect with us on facebook.

Poetic inspiration: Every creation has a life of its own, so does written word

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme

fruits-of_creativity

If you liked this post, please share. And, If you you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, writing and personal growth, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. You’ll get a free e-book with 31 daily prompts to inspire your writing. For additional tips, follow us on twitter and connect with us on facebook.

Get busy with writing – free e-book avaliable

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

My dear readers,

I hope that for all of you this year has started on the right track, with enough energy to tackle any problem and challenge coming your way, with positive thoughts and enthusiasm to fulfill your writing and other creative plans.

Year 2016 was a great learning path giving me the opportunity to connect with many of you, get acquainted with your work, ideas and writing. It is very inspiring to be part of such community and simply have that opportunity to improve my own writing and creative skills.

As my small ‘thank you’ to all of you, I have developed and compiled an e-book, that is all about getting inspiration and creativity nudge for our writing and brainstorming. It consists of 31 daily prompts that you can use anyway you like. I know we all face lack of inspiration, doubt, discouragement and procrastination from time to time. This is my little way of helping you combat those situations and I hope you’ll like the exercises. Many of the challenges in the book you already know, but there are also some new additional ways to move in the creative flow, which you will also find in the book.

get-busy-with-writing

If you are signed up to Business in Rhyme newsletter, you already have the access to the book. For all of you who would like to receive the e-book directly, you can do that by following this link and signing up for newsletter. You can opt anytime.

I also encourage you to share this information as we can all work together to improve our writing and enjoy our creativity more. Your comments, feedback and ideas for improvement are all appreciated and welcomed.

Business in Rhyme also has a lot of plans for improvement and moving more into professional realm, so stay tune for novelties and makeover. 🙂

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3 simple truths about criticism we often forget

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

criticism_writing

Rejection. Bad review. Returned papers and manuscripts. All these essentially we consider as a bad news. And it’s not fun to experience it. You feel naked and exposed, your heart is pounding, probably you are blushing and even feel embarrassed. “How did this happen“, you might slur for a second, but the only thing you can actually think of is how hurt, disappointed and discouraged at the moment you are.

Today I want to share with you a different look at the criticism that might help you deal with these situations easier in the future.

I believe, the first and foremost thing we need to do is to accept that it is simply inevitable –  there is very small likelihood that everybody will like and approve of your writing. As we are able to appreciate praise for our work so there is also the other side of the coin: we need to face there is always a chance that someone will not find our work suitable.

The second truth we often forget is that there is nothing personal about it. There is no conspiracy against you and your work. Nobody hates your poems and your stories are not boring. But the problem here is that we as writers always offer something that is part of us – thoughts, emotions or knowledge. Any criticism that comes our way, we might translate as a personal attack – to some point that many writers give up creating at all.

One simple thought that helped me a lot at the beginning of my academic career is that any professor, writer or reviewer of my work was also a beginner. He was also rejected and criticized. With years, I managed to write and work with many people I admired as a student. But it takes time and persistence.

Another thing I learned along the way is to differentiate constructive criticism and when someone is just plain rude. These are two completely opposite things: constructive criticism is oriented towards offering helpful insights and advice, while when someone just bashes your work to satisfy their own ego issues – well these type of people you want to avoid completely. These are all merely opinions and you always have the opportunity to explore the source – where is this criticism coming from, is it really applicable to your work, how reviewer /editor is really competent to analyze your type of work. And from that point decide how to accept or deal with criticism.

The third truth that will serve you the most is – take what you can from that experience and simply let go. In order to continue writing and creating, this is the crucial step. If you got honest feedback about your work, take a step back and think how it can help you in your future work; how you can use it to improve your writing and creativity.

Any negative situation is your chance to learn and grow. You are the only one in charge of your self-confidence, so keep writing.

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Poetic inspiration: Every writing and every reading is always relevant

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Poetic inspiration

A photo by Oscar Keys. unsplash.com/photos/AmPRUnRb6N0

Any written poem –

just like language is ever-evolving,

changing, as each time

we can perceive it, experience it

differently.

Maja S. Todorovic

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