Dulee Paranavitana

  We all experience rejection in some form, be it in life or in writing. But I think this is not something that we should worry too much about when it comes to writing. Rejection might show you how you need to improve and help you understand what your shortcomings are as a writer. In other words, rejection is great feedback that can help guide you in making you a better writer. Rejection will help you understand what you do well and what you might want to work on to get better as a writer. Currently I am querying my middle grade fantasy novels and let me tell you that I expect to have a couple of rejections in my email inbox every week. While any other type of rejection might sting, a rejection from an agent doesn’t sting as much because it is often the norm in the writing industry. Even the best writers get rejected. But I think this shouldn't stop you from wanting to improve as a writer. We all have room for improvement as professional writers and individuals.  Famous Writer...

If you are starting out as a middle grade fantasy author, one of the first questions you get asked is, “what is your story about?” In other words, most people will ask this question if you tell them that you are writing a book. Coming up with a plot can be challenging. But here are some sources where you can draw on to begin, add to or expand the plot of your story. Your Experiences While the adage that you know can sometimes not be what we want to hear, you might want to dig into your personal experience to get inspired. While every moment of your life might not be story worthy, there are moments in our life that can spark a story, maybe something funny that happened to you like a toddler mistaking you for their dad or something outlandish and hilarious, or maybe you ran into a friend you thought you’d never see again. Incidents like these can be the start or have a story seed that can grow into a whole new story. Mythology and Folklore Yes, this is true even if you don’t write fantas...

  If you have always wanted to be a writer and write your own stories, then you might have wondered how to build your own world. This is very relatable if you decided to write fantasy, which is often set away from the life we live everyday, though sometimes it might overlap. If you are struggling to build your fantasy world, here are some ways to kickstart your imagination and get going. Read both the Classics and Latest Books Most of us either read the classics and ignore the latest books that are being published or viceversa. But if you want to become the best writer you can be, you need to read diverse books, not just limit yourself to one area or genre. Sometimes stories from other genres might spark an idea if you will feel like writing and developing into a full blown story. Just think about stories all the time, and remember to rest too.  Watch Movies, and Listen to Songs While some writers say not to watch movies, I think movies can offer us a lot of inspiration, as lo...

  Intermittent Fasting for Beginners | The Natural Method To Lose Weight, Boost Energy, and Regenerate Your Body by Luca Morelli   Recently I read a book on Intermittent fasting that was an interesting read. The writing style was simple and accessible. As a person who had heard about this but had no deep idea about how intermittent fasting worked, I learned a lot from this book. This book made me curious about how intermittent fasting worked. Intermittent fasting introduced many core concepts that imparted a clear and succinct understanding on how this method was a healthy approach towards enhancing one’s quality of life.  As a person who hasn’t read many books on health and lifestyle, I had no idea what to expect from this book. But this book was written in an informative tone that conveyed a ton of useful information without unnecessary fluff, just the way I like it when it comes to non fiction. The author introduced practical approaches as to how one could start invest...

  I have come across many people who lie, cheat and scam people out of their money, time and energy working in digital marketing and social media. This experience has been invaluable to me to help me understand more about how to spot a profile that might belong to a scammer. While on LinkedIn it’s very rare, as the system warns you about accepting connection requests from certain individuals, other platforms don’t do a good job at keeping these devious cybercriminals at bay. They Rarely Show Their Face From their profile picture to the images they upload, it’s mostly not about them and what they do. This is one major giveaway, if they don’t have a profile picture, especially on LinkedIn, they are likely hiding something because LinkedIn is one of the safest platforms online - if I say so myself. Unlike Meta who does a subpar job at keeping unlawful activities at bay, LinkedIn does a much better job. If they don’t even bother to upload a profile picture on a secure platform like Lin...

Since people here just adore throwing around the word, “ethics” I thought I will talk about the ethics of using AI or artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence didn’t magically appear during the last few years, as it appears to have, it has been around for 60 plus years, officially. I think people tend to go to town with things, especially if they are from where I am. Here are some things you might want to consider when using “AI” or artificial intelligence.  AI is Not Always Right While I can’t argue that I felt that AI is honest more than most people here, it tells the truth it thinks is true. Since it was created by humans, who are not always right (even if they firmly believe they are in and are oftentimes are in complete denial due to pride and ego), AI can make mistakes too. In other words, it can be wrong. Therefore when consulting AI on important matters, other than posting things on social media, you might want to fact-check what AI tools such as ChatGPT says. If Yo...