Category Archives for Creativity

Six Ways to Use Reddit as a Professional Writing Tool

In June 2005, the world’s first democratic social site was born to two proud startup papas: Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, aka u/kn0thing and u/spez. They named their baby Reddit. Thirteen years and a scandal or two later, Reddit is an edgy teenager in the thick of a growth spurt.

For those who are unfamiliar with the platform, Reddit is a forum-style catalog of social news content with an emphasis on community building and discussion. Engaging with content and other users is as simple as creating an account. An important component to the site is the presence of subreddits, which users can subscribe to depending on their interests. According to metrics released by Reddit at the beginning of this year, there are 1.2 million subreddits (and counting).

The site, which bills itself as “the front page of the internet,” aims to achieve some semblance of neutrality, allowing users to a) upload and post all content; and b) determine the value of content via an upvoting/downvoting system. The more upvotes you get, the higher your karma score will climb.

What Inspires Writers to Write on a Regular Basis?

Have you ever tried to define the concept of inspiration?

If we ask a dictionary, we’ll get a pretty simple definition: “Someone or something that gives you ideas for doing something.” Inspiration may also be defined as a good idea that suddenly comes to your mind.

But what is the true meaning of inspiration when we relate it to writing? It’s that moment when you see true greatness within yourself. You can express deep feelings and emotions in a way that touch people’s minds and hearts. No matter what project you’re working on, you feel inspired to write valuable content and share it with the world.

Every Writer Should Do Blackout Poetry… Here’s Why

It was a steaming hot June day on Main Street in a tiny north Georgia town, and my friend and I were in a used bookstore, browsing, and touching, and smelling to our heart’s content. She picked up an old book and said, “I’m going to buy this to make blackout poetry.”

I’d seen blackout poetry on Pinterest before, and I had only a vague idea of what it was. I nodded and kept browsing.

When we finished shopping, we went back to my friend’s college dorm to sit on her floor and draw. It didn’t occur to me until she picked up a paintbrush what she actually intended to do. I watched in fascination and horror as she confidently covered nearly an entire page in black paint, somehow leaving a beautiful poem layered with meaning from the page of a children’s storybook.

Blackout poetry is an unorthodox art form: You open a book and scan a page, looking for any words or phrases that catch your eye regardless of whether they’re connected. Then you use a marker or paintbrush to fill in everything except those words. The result might look something like a letter from WWII, with text redacted by a censor.

Once I got over the feeling that I’d be condemned forever for taking a paintbrush to a book, blackout poetry became my new favorite thing. Here’s why it’s a great activity for professional writers who may have lost their love for language in the 9-5 workday.

Anxiety and Stress Relief Through Writing

I never planned to become a freelance writer—I had been employed as an administrator for only two years in a community-based office in the center of my town, only a stone’s throw away from my home.

I had to write a few snippets and letters for work, and looking back now, I had found writing soothing and it put me at ease.

Writing made me panic-free, almost as if I was possessed by it in some sort of positive way. I just never realized it at that time.