Journal

A Much Needed Pause

Alicia LidwinaLeave a comment

The other day, I tried something new: I sat completely still for several minutes in the middle of a busy day.

No, I wasn’t sleeping, in case you’re wondering. I merely took several minutes to decompress right there on my desk, in-between my bustling schedule. For around ten minutes, my small desk became my solace of comfort, as I silenced every other outside interference, and focused on breathing alone.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

It was then when I realized I’ve neglected this simple decompression method for awhile. Right after getting a new job, I felt like I had to catch up with everyone else as fast as I could, and I sacrificed my much needed rest to work, work, and work.

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Journal

Of Crippling Fear and Becoming a Published Author

Alicia LidwinaLeave a comment

Fear is a language everybody speaks. It lingers like a silent whisper in the middle of the night that keeps you awake until daybreak. It awaits in ambush for your vulnerable moments, and hunts you down whenever the chance for first strike arrives. My whole life—I’ve been afraid of so many frivolous things that it starts inhibiting my movement. Like a horse ready to gallop, but weighed down by the emotional wagon it has to pull around.

crippling fear
Photo by Melanie Wasser on Unsplash
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Journal

Toxic Expectations

Alicia LidwinaLeave a comment

The funny thing about expectation is, for me, the fact that it swells and expands with time. Take one relationship you have with a friend, for example. I’d bet all my money that you didn’t start off as close as you might currently are.

toxic environment
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Like everyone else, you must have started as total strangers, then you gradually become closer. Notice that the expectation you have towards them also grows, almost hand in hand, with the maturity of the relationship.

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Article

9 Things to Do Before Starting on a Novel Project

Alicia Lidwina3 Comments

If you’ve been following me on Instagram lately, you’ll know that I’m currently planning for my next novel project.

It’s a long time coming project, since the last time I published a novel was at the end of 2017—I couldn’t even remember how many times readers and my editor had asked me if I was working on my next book.

novel project
Photo by Carli Jeen on Unsplash

Writing a novel is always hard. It doesn’t matter if I’ve done it in a short amount of time; I still shudder in fear whenever I think of the days I’ll spend getting stuck on a nasty writer’s block, trying my best to finish just one last scene before grabbing dinner to-go.

Scared as I was, I kept on trodding the uncertainty of “starting a brand new novel project”. And although it took me quite a while to gather my ideas and build up excitement for the project, I currently feel like I’m ready to start writing it.

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Announcement

Writing Prompt Challenge Giveaway!

Alicia Lidwina2 Comments

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you’d know that I’ve had this “writing prompt challenge” thing going on for awhile. To put it simply, I post a question sticker on my Instagram Stories every Saturday, and my followers can submit one writing prompt each to me.

During the following day, I would sort through all the submissions and try to write something for them. The results will vary greatly depending on what I feel like writing. Sometimes this could mean a short story, other times a prose, or poem, or anything else in-between.

writing prompt coffee
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

The best part from starting this initiative, for me, is that I get to build this small (but awesome!) community. I’ve seen the same people submitting their prompts from time to time, also people who were initially too shy to submit their prompts, but eventually took a leap of faith.

It brings joy to me seeing how my followers could find something in this program, especially considering how I first started the initiative because I was bored and wanted to brush up my writing skills.

So after giving it some thought, I’ve finally made a decision: I want to give back to this awesome community, no matter how small my token of appreciation might be.

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