NeoBluePanther

Writing, Among Other Things

Author: NeoBluePanther (Page 25 of 47)

Change – The Only Constant!

August 7, 2009 / / 1 Comment

He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.  ~Harold Wilson

Change is an integral part of survival. When a person, or even an organization, refuses to change,  doom is inevitable.

For a long time now, I had been trying to avoid making some changes that were necessary for this blog to continue. But, today, I finally decided to make the changes happen, and I am glad I did. I realised that I had let the blog become very unorganized and cluttered. At a time when blogrush has ceased to exist even in our memories, I found that the code for the blogrush widget existed in my side bar. I have removed that code now.

Some other changes I made are:

  1. Upgraded WordPress to the latest version i.e. 2.8.3
  2. Changed the Theme to something that I hope is more contemporary
  3. Tried to make the site user friendly and social network friendly
  4. Reduced the clutter in the sidebars

These changes, however, are not yet complete and I think I will continue to tweak the site over the next couple of days. I would request you to bear with me while I make these changes. If you have any suggestions for me, please feel free to tell me about them.

Five Tips for Effective Writing

August 4, 2009 / / 2 Comments

Whether it is for work or for fun, in today’s day and time, no one can escape writing. Whether you like it or not, you will have to do it, so why run away from it?

Instead, try to improve your writing, so that instead of avoiding writing you are looking forward to opportunities where you can demonstrate your skill with the written word.

It takes some talent and a lot of practice to become a good writer. Most of you may not even want to become professional writers, but keeping the following things in mind will help you in writing  better on whatever level you need to.

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Being Bilingual: Blessing, or Curse?

July 31, 2009 / / 0 Comments

There are many advantages of being born and brought up in a bilingual country. One grows up learning, and interacting with, two languages. These advantages, like all good things, come with a few drawbacks.

One usually ends up reading and writing in one language, and conversing with friends and family in another language. This is akin to having a multiple personality. One is led to the fallacy of believing that he is proficient in two languages, while he is good at none. Being good in any language involves a mastery of both the written and the spoken word in that language.

Words of the eminent novelist Raja Rao on the subject stand out, and are worth repeating here. In the introduction to his 1937 novel, Kanthapura, he writes:

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Why Should I Follow You?

July 27, 2009 / / 1 Comment

Today, a lot of people, on a lot of different platforms, are saying that Twitter is the next big thing. While I am no one to predict the future – nor am I going to try – but I can safely say that Twitter is the current big thing. There have been many social networking sites in the past, but none has seen the kind of rise in following as Twitter has. Also, the number of celebrities on Twitter, I am sure, beats all others. No wonder, Twitter dreams of being the first web site to cross the one billion user mark, and thereby becoming the pulse of the planet.

One of the reasons for Twitter’s popularity is its simplicity. You follow people, and people follow you, and that’s it.

But, why should anyone follow anyone? Why should I follow you? I will leave it to you to answer that question, but I will tell you why you should follow me.

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If you want to improve it, measure it

July 22, 2009 / / 3 Comments

Performance MeasurementA wise man once said, “If you want to improve something, you better start by measuring that thing.”

The wise man was right. If you have no way to measure your performance, you have no way to improve it. That is the reason why some things – like “being organized” – are easier to aim for, but harder to achieve.

Writing is no different. Most of us want to improve the way we write. There are many books and websites that provide us with helpful insights on how to go about the process of writing better. We read them, even follow some of the suggestions, but at the end of it all we are asking ourselves the question : has our writing improved?

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