On a Writing Journey

Documenting my adventure to pro writing and sharing tidbits along the way.

[azus-reyan]

The reason your mind rages for ideas before you sleep.

Last night, around quarter to twelve, I riggled around in my bed trying to find the rest my mind and body needed. But that very mind was firing so many neurons and flashing so many colours that relaxing was out of the question. 

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It isn’t when this began or how or why that matters, though, as much as when it happens.

It always occurs not during hot noon hours or bright afternoons. No, it always happens in bed, during late hours when I want to catch myself some sleep. 

But why not other times? Perhaps my mind (maybe yours) hates your freaking guts and wants you to have no rest at all. Or maybe, you are too distracted the rest of the time, so your mind takes advantage of the only downtime there is.

You probably have a phone, and if you’re like most people, you use it 24/7, minus the part where you’re sleeping, of course. And if it isn’t your phone, it’s your wife, your family, your job, the ads, the lights, and all the other minor things that fight for your attention every day. Is it really a wonder, then, that the only chance your brain gets some of your attention, it gives you the hardest time? 

When this happens, I allow myself to observe and feel my thoughts. To hell with the time that’s now three A.M., and to hell with the numbing awareness that I’ve been lying on my bed, in my dark room, staring towards the invisible roof for more than two hours. My mind needs to speak; it will be heard. 

And the things it says or shows me when I allow it are special beyond super, to say the least.

Good Friday.

[azus-reyan]

A bit of rest goes a long way for a writer.

Have you ever stared at a photo long enough and seen the details get mushed?  See nothing more than the major colours, shapes, and contours?

You have two options to see what was hidden by your bored mind.

One: step away from the image and give your brain the rest it needs. By the time you come back, you get to see those smaller details and view the whole image in a new light. 

Two: View the photo from a different angle. Maybe from above, where the details will tilt downward, or from below. You can also use different light colours and see it from their perspective. The idea is to stimulate your brain with a bit of variety, though the image itself remains consistent. 

More than two weeks ago, I decided to take a little rest from writing. I diverted my attention to another artistic passion, designing. During this time, I was both glad and anguished at the thought of not writing like I used to. 

Anguished because of the unusual limbo felt due to a change in one’s habit. Glad for the chance to revitalize my interest, hope, and motivation for writing. 

I always find that real improvement happens not when I work out and exercise my body, but after sufficient rest. The same goes for writing. 

During that rest, my mind went to vivid ideas and beautiful yet simple prose. And along with that mental journey, there was motivation and suspense for the act of writing itself. 

And even as I took on other habits, routines, and skills, my main thought was of how they could help me become a better writer, a better human being. 

I can say with confidence that to write is to be in a special space. And that special space can only be felt by first-time writers—and those who took a meaningful, purposeful, and pleasurable rest, only to get themselves back to their world of words. 

It has been an adventure for me.

Thank you for reading.

[azus-reyan]

Fiction is fun, but it doesn’t make money. Here are three types of writing that do.

To write a story and leave behind something beautiful for generations to come is a dream we all have.

Some of us have what it takes. Beautiful writing, amazing storytelling, love of people and of life. But no matter how good you are, it’s unlikely that you’ll reach the top-selling list any time soon. It’s too competitive. And even if you did, you’d still struggle after the storm blows over. Or in a nutshell, fiction writing isn’t where the money is.

But there’s good news. If you love writing, love people, I mean that’s a given, considering your love for storytelling. And thirdly, if you love creative thinking, then you’ll make an almost perfect candidate for: 

Content writing

These are long-form written content. Think two-thousand-word blogs or articles, though they can be shorter or longer than that. 

The main purpose of this type of writing is to educate the audience or entertain them about a subject/ product. It’s usually in-depth and accessible, due to its length and simple language for audience outreach. 

Why would this be for you? 

1- Good content writers are in demand. 

2- The best content written pieces have elements of storytelling in them. And you know all about storytelling, don’t you? 

3- You won’t feel lost by the length because you’re used to writing short stories, novellas, or even novels.

Bonus: As of May 2025, the average content writer in the US makes around $40 per hour.

Copywriting

These are brief and have one aim in mind: to make the audience go from A to B. Every copy has a CTA (call to action) around which the rest of the content is constructed.

This will be a treat for flash fiction lovers, as the copy content never reaches more than a thousand words.

The main difference between content and copywriting is the purpose: to create a positive reaction from the audience, usually by following the CTAs. 

Copywriting has some storytelling, but not that much. Most of what you’re doing will be presenting a product’s features and benefits. 

Why would this be for you?

1- The short room for words allows you to unleash your creativity. 

2- It requires knowledge of psychology; people watching will become your new hobby. 

3- It’s the most well-paid type of writing, in the long run. 

Bonus tip: As of May 2025, the average salary for a copywriter in the US is around $36.74.

Email writing 

Email has made a serious comeback in the last ten years. It’s become a go-to for most companies. 

Though slightly different from content and copywriting, email writing involves writing for a group of people in an intimate, non-intrusive way. 

The main purpose of email writing is to educate and entertain, kind of like content writing. You can also use it to redirect the reader to a blog, a product, or some other source. So it can function as a base for copy and content writing, which makes it highly effective. It’s also more personal, making it great for building trust. 

Why would this be great for you? 

1- Its flexibility allows you to write in different formats and styles. 

2- That same flexibility gives you room to work your creative forces.

3- Email writing is in demand, but there isn’t enough supply. If you’re a good writer and you know a thing or two about email marketing, you’re there.

Bonus tip: The average email writer makes around $37 per hour, as of May 2025. 

So, which will be your new side hustle? Let me know.

Until next time, goodbye.

[azus-reyan]

Do you know the most important stage in storytelling?

So, you’re reading, writing, listening, or viewing a story. You capture the details with your senses and see the characters, maybe even connect with one or two.

You have the beginning, middle, and end of the story. You have your exposition, climax, and resolution. But most people don’t know or care about these details. They only remember one or two moments of the whole story. The rest becomes a padding, a background for only those moments. 

Why do they remember those and not some other moment within the story? 

The most important stage is the part that makes us feel. 

Emotion becomes the currency of storytelling. The thing we read, or watch, or listen to in a story. Feelings from the non-physical heart. That itch, ebb, and flow that rises from somewhere, that’s what we’re looking for. 

The rest? It becomes, as we’ve described before, a padding for just that moment or two. A glorified background for those sweet times. For any writer or storyteller, you devote your time to these moments and make them glow like a candle in a dark room. 

Moments of great sadness, moments of great happiness, of great realization and insight. They can be quiet too, but they must move the heart from one state to another. 

And the thing is, you can find these in any stage: the beginning, middle, and end.

In fact, the whole point of storytelling is to lead to that one final moment of ‘feeling’. And since most people love to save the best for last, they love to have their moment of exquisite repast in a story, around the end.

Au revoir.

[azus-reyan]

Why do I write anyway?

I journal only during my darkest moments.

To remember... maybe.

[azus-reyan]

Cellar Door—the most beautiful word in the English language.

Cellar door is considered to be the most beautiful word in the modern English language because of its euphony. This claim is credited to J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

But the question of which word is most beautiful in English, is subjective.

I love the word serendipity not only for its meaning: unexpected good luck, but also for its pleasing sound. 

What word do you think is the most beautiful in the English language?

[azus-reyan]

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway.

It’s actually that simple. After all is said and done, writing becomes an act of putting one letter after another. The rest of the magic happens along the way, not before, not after. 

It’s about the journey, not the destination.

[azus-reyan]

Look under the bed and you’ll find your idea.

Eureka! 

The first brick, the foundation of storytelling: an idea. Also, the most misunderstood.

For most, it’s mysterious, mystical beyond ordinary. But the reality is less magical.

Have you ever peeked under your bed, felt the blood flowing to the back of your eyes, and your head becoming lighter? If you look around the contents under your bed, you’ll find the bedrock of ideas there.

Go ahead, look under your bed, and let the blood drain into your eyes. Things will click themselves into place. But careful! Don’t think about having an idea, only look for what's there. The trick is to let your mind wander.

The idea is already there, but you’re not seeing it. It's like having something in your hand, something you were looking for, and feeling ridiculous when you find it later. Don’t feel ridiculous; allow the idea to exist. 

You can also look at the ceiling and move around the shapes, if there are any. And if it’s blank white, create the shapes in your mind’s eye. The trick, again, is to not think about having an idea. 

Read, watch, listen—listen to people, listen to podcasts, engage in artistic expressions, write freely without thinking, without grammar. Live life and breathe, and then, at some point, it will come to you. 

To me, the hardest part isn’t getting ideas, but keeping them.

For one, I have at least three good ideas a day, even if I’m unaware. For two, they love their inconvenient timings, usually after bed, when I’m about to doze off. Thirdly, the amazing ideas turn sour the following day, discouraging any act of commitment towards them in the future. 

Nevertheless, I made it a rule to write down these ideas. That’s the most important part. Because, like dreams, the more you show care and remember them, the more they appear.

Remember them; ideas are already there, but I think they have feelings. So give them some attention and look under the bed, but don’t think about having an idea; they can be shy, too.

[azus-reyan]

A chance for reflection.

Pray you never feel the dread and disappointment of never living. 

At the young age of 22, I have felt the grip of despair. 

Yesterday, I was suspended between unresponsiveness and frustrated forlornness.

The ceiling, the walls, and the window beside my bed were my only company. My thoughts took me from one side: empty, distant, and devoid of meaning, to the other: full of regret and anger.

For long enough, I reflected on my life, as it was, focusing only on what didn’t go right and what could’ve been better. 

I remember thinking, ‘If I could go to another place, with another name and body, I could start over, then it would all be better.’ 

The day passed as it came in, and I was losing myself further into despondency. But before I slept, I wrote an oath. Something had to change. 

It was in this moment of rare clarity that I realised something important. In the pursuit of my goal: living for more than merely breathing, I will suffer and toil. This thought made me anxious. I don’t want pain. I want comfort. But I looked around. 

Comfort? I asked myself. Well, here’s comfort. Three warm meals a day, a roof over my head, safety from famine, from war. Utilities that can only be found in a few places: a smartphone, a laptop, and a million other smart gadgets. There’s your comfort, are you happy? 

I knew then that my path led elsewhere. It must lead through pain, trek through suffering, and find abode inside the lowest layers of discomfort. 

It was all set then. I would begin a journey of self-transformation—but not tonight, tomorrow. Tommorow

Knowing that there’s no such thing as tomorrow, however, I signed my promise that very night and shouted that I would, by choice, create a life worth living. 

I wanted to share this with you because I believe I'll end up sacrificing many things before this is all over.

Writing here, sharing my words in this wonderful community, is one of the sacrifices I dread most. But if it's necessary, then it must be done. And maybe for once, I can truly benefit people from every corner of life with more than juvenile thoughts and ideas. 

I hope you remain with me through this, because I intend to share my experiences as much as I can. And though I might not be able to post every day, I believe that every word from this point on will have twice as much value as any I have put down before. 

Until then, thank you and stay well.

[azus-reyan]

“The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions.” – Saul Bellow.

This has never been more true than in today’s world. 

Our lives are defined by raging distractions and quick fixes, and between one attention hogging task and another, there’s always a space for a good read.

Writers are still needed, especially in this world.

[azus-reyan]

Instead of sensations, describe feelings.

Ever noticed how some reads pick you up and throw you into their world? How you can feel your surroundings, sense the setting, see, and hear, taste, and touch everything the characters are going through. 

These stories leave a mark on our minds as we remember them far more than anything else. 

How do they do it? They describe with efficiency. 

As you are, take a look around.

Use your eyes, your ears, and every other sense. Try to pick up every sensory information, from the small dust gathering around the corner of your room to the shapes and patterns on the adjacent wall. 

Pay attention to the sounds near you. Feel the pressure under your feet, if you’re standing, or around your back if you’re sitting. But don’t stop there, use all of your five senses. 

Can you describe these sensations using your words, spoken or written? In fact, take a moment to imagine writing these sensations. Describe them as if another could feel them. 

I bet that was difficult. I can also guess how difficult it would be to list every single sensation. 

A good description is more than writing what you see. Most of all, a good description is about what you feel. Feelings translate over paper much more than sensations. 

Take a look around your room again and see if you can feel something this time. Keep looking until you feel anything at all, then hold on to that feeling. Turn it over, feel it again and again, then write them down. 

Don’t write sensations: what you smell or taste, write what you feel about the sensations, what’s in your heart.

Feelings are hardest to translate, but the easiest to connect with. They’re like a dynamic line on an organic shape, like a Potato. The eye flows naturally on top of these shapes, as opposed to rigid, geometrical shapes. 

Feelings and emotions bend and twist. They reach far and faster than sensations, and most important of all, they move someone from their mundane existence into where it matters—into the heart of the story.

Aside: If you're wondering what it’s like to describe feelings, read The Book of Disquiet.

[azus-reyan]

3 fun facts I found out about writing.

Fact #1:  Shakespeare invented over 1,700 words and phrases that are still used today.

Fact #2: The word “bookworm” originally meant insects that infest and damage books.

Fact #3: The dots over the letter “i” and “j” are called “tittles.”

Bonus Fact: The word “quixotic,” meaning extremely idealistic and impractical, comes from the character Don Quixote, the novel's protagonist, by Miguel de Cervantes.

Leave a comment if you have any writing ‘facts.’ 

Until next time, take care.

[azus-reyan]

As a writer suffers, he's handed a gift.

The truth is, I have never experienced true suffering.

I haven't felt hungry without the safety of warm bread nearby. I haven't felt the night cold without being under a cushioned blanket, and I haven't wrestled with poverty, loss of home, and security.

I don't want to go through these afflictions, as I don't envy someone who's in them. But for those select few writers going under the anvil, caught between a rock and a hard wall, maybe...just maybe, could it be a blessing in disguise?

Suffering Might Be A Writer’s Gift.

A while ago, I made a poll on Tumblr asking my audience a question every writer asks themselves at least once: Do I need life experience?

Reblog so more writers have a chance to embrace their suffering.

[azus-reyan]

“Short stories demand a certain awareness of one’s own intentions, a certain narrowing of the focus.” – Joan Didion.

Compared to a full novel, this narrowing allows the perfect room for learning and experimenting.

Short stories often have precision you can’t find in anything else. You can’t explore everything, so you focus your energy and concentrate instead of dissipating.

How will that help? You can write an excellent character because you're focused only on character. You can have a well-developed plot because there isn’t much room for scenery. You can take one and build it over and over again, and by the end, you’ll know how to do it better than if you tried jamming the whole thing in one meat grinder. Does that make sense to you?

Anyway, I am in love with short stories.

[azus-reyan]

“There are no rules for creative writing.”

Within the list of writing advice you’ll receive in your lifetime, this’ll be as good as it gets. 

The very thing that makes creative writing different from traditional writing is how it can bend and break almost every kind of rule. 

It’s not just grammar, but the various parts of storytelling. 

You want to write a story in a strange, non-linear direction that often headbutts itself? You can. 

Do you feel like a characterless story that works only on a dream-like feeling rather than an individual? You can. You want a story without a setting? You can do that too. 

As there are no rules, there are fewer inhibitions that hold you back. You can do limitless things! Your creative power is unshackled—just as it was meant to be. 

But we’re often forced to oblige with certain rules. Otherwise, people might not understand, the story might not sell well enough, and so on.

These are annoying and can limit your creative potential, so here’s the fix: Take certain guidelines or principles in your pocket. These are usually the basics of writing or storytelling. You’ve probably heard it in school, on a YouTube video, or in an online course.  

Well, you take these and check on them from time to time. When you're writing a story, for example. 

These are not rules; they should never become rules but guidelines. And guidelines can be bent, broken, or completely tossed aside. 

This way, you ground your story with something fundamental, but they don’t bind your potential, because you’re the boss of them.

What do you think?

[azus-reyan]

What time do most authors write? 

This is the general outlook of when most authors write during their day. 

Early morning

Most people write during early hours, when they’re fresh and the world is quiet, between 4 A.M. and 10 A.M.

They’re early birds and love the sunset, fresh air, and chirping birds.

Late night

Another majority work late in their day. This happens around 11 P.M. to 3 A.M. These writers are night owls and prefer the cool noiselessness of night over the brightness of day. 

Afternoon

Some prefer to show up while the sun’s still warm and the night is close but still not there. They love to write around 2 P.M. –  5 P.M., though they can write a bit more into dusk. 

Evening lovers

They’re the diamonds among writers, as they prefer the commotion afforded by waking hours. They love people and can only write when they know someone's near. Atypical for most writers. Their time falls between 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.

A Jack of all trades… or times

These are the second rarest type of writers, after evening lovers.

They can write anytime they want: early morning or late evening. They can try high noon hours and find their writerly prowess undiminished. That said, they tend to lean towards one part of the day, afternoon, for example, as this gives their schedule consistency and familiarity.

So, what time do you write most? I fall under the last category, a jack of all trades. Let me know yours.

[azus-reyan]

Writing—art shines most when done for its own sake.

Have you ever seen the dark sky before sunrise? And you wanted to capture that quiet beauty with your phone, or with colours and paint, music, or words?

It’s those quiet moments that make life so special. They make me feel like I’m standing near the source of life itself. When I draw, write, or daydream because I’m inspired by those moments, the result is always beyond beauty.

Money is the most common motive of all the reasons why people do art. To me, that’s a swift disaster for any artist. 

The money you seek comes from others. And others have other tastes and other ideas different from yours. If you want their money, you cater to their personal tastes or current market trends. This restricts your creativity.

If your interests don’t bring in money, it won’t make your manager happy. You are, in essence, prostituting your intuition, insight, creativity, passion, and artistic soul—all for a pittance that barely covers rent. 

I guess the only question is: is it worth it?

Between selling my soul and part-timeing with slave-wage McDonald's so I can have my freedom, I’d take the latter in a heartbeat. 

What would you do?