Nillu Nasser's Blog, page 10
March 1, 2017
The Threat of Smileys and the Superficiality of New Technology
Photo by Pen Waggener
I’m a language purist at heart. You know the type. I know I’m not alone. How many of you insist on writing out words in full, even when you are texting? I like seeing every letter painfully spelt out. It brings me joy, masochist that I am. Not for me, the LOLs, TIAs, BTWs and OMGs (except ironically, of course). There’s nothing like struggling to understand teen speak to make you realise you are getting older. ROFL, anyone?
Then along came emoticons and they tested me ev...
February 13, 2017
Writing for Introspection vs Writing for an Audience
Photo by Elena Kalis
Many moons ago, I wrote about the benefits of journalling. I journaled as a child, continued sporadically as a teen, and then with increased regularity after reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, which recommends morning pages as a conduit for creativity. Then I had children. Often, it’s not an alarm that wakes me up, but a child, and the quiet moment for picking up pen and paper gets swallowed up in their immediate needs.
The truth is, nowadays I buy far more noteboo...
January 31, 2017
Starry Universe
Photo by Alice Popkorn
When humankind flounders in the shadows
and the gods weep for a lost world,
when tyrants roam our shores
and women wear pearls at their necks
to detract from the fear in their eyes
remember
So long as there is life
and the trees grow silent and steadfast
so long as the sun caresses your skin
and gusts of wind refresh your weary head
so long as a swim in the salty ocean
soothes the red welt of your heart
and the moon illuminates your misdeeds
when your head rests on your...
January 18, 2017
On Beauty, Cynicism and Action
Photo by Angela Marie Henriette
Happy new year, readers. I hope the coming year finds you healthy and hopeful, that you uncover pockets of laughter, reach into your potential and fill the spaces of emptiness that sometimes haunt us all. I’m late with my well wishes, I know. I have an excuse though. Littlest Stelter was born a month ago, just in time for Christmas, and we’ve been in a haze of night feeds, nappies and baby soft cuddles. He is delicious and we are very lucky to have him.
The wor...
December 19, 2016
Rekindling the Flash Flame: A Bite-Sized Story
Photo by Moyan Brenn
It’s been a while since I’ve shared some new fiction on this blog. My wonderful writer-editor friend Jess West reminded me recently about how we both regularly used to make time to write flash fiction, and how we particularly enjoyed Rebekah Postupak’s Flash Friday community, sadly now discontinued (although the website is still home to an archive of wonderful stories).
In honour of those early writing days, when flash fiction played a significant role in helping me to es...
December 5, 2016
The Power of Naming
Photo by Steph
Language is powerful. We have seen recently on the world stage how the choice in language can sway large groups of people to either reject or identify strongly with orators. I feel the power of language when my fingers slide across the keyboard, or when I nail a phrase that perfectly captures my thoughts. And amongst language, there is perhaps nothing more powerful than naming: when the essence of a person, object or idea is condensed into one word.
In the Bible, one of the fir...
November 14, 2016
Broken World, A Poem for My Daughter
Photo by Bureau of Land Management
‘Has the world always been broken?’
asked the girl, eyes laden with sorrow
Her grandfather knotted his fingers together,
paper-thin skin over cobweb veins
and considered which truth to convey
Should he comfort her as he longed to do,
until her heart had no knowledge of hate
or unfold to her the wisdoms he had amassed
though they weighed like scars upon his soul,
such that he longed for the river of forgetfulness?
The girl grew impatient with his silence
as t...
October 31, 2016
Left it late to prepare for NaNoWriMo? Here’s your hit list
Photo by Alice Popkorn
National Novel Writing Month begins tomorrow, a heady rush of 30 days in which writers across the globe attempt to write 50,000 words of their project. When I look back at the milestones that have propelled me along my writer’s journey, NaNoWriMo is a key one.
For newbies, NaNoWriMo is great for building a writing habit; seasoned writers use it to drive up their word count or to get out of a rut. For flighty creatives, it helps you to commit to a project. The best thing...
October 11, 2016
Is Swearing Uncouth?
Photo by Maksima Mrvicova
If you promise not to tell a soul and agree to share a red-faced moment of your own in the comments, I’ll let you in on one of my childhood humiliations.
I must have been about fourteen, and had been asked to recite a prayer at mosque. That day, all the ceremonies were being performed by children from Saturday School. It was a great honour, so our parents told us, and to refuse would be rude. More nerve-wracking still, it would take place not at our local mosque, but...
September 21, 2016
The Trapdoor and Springboard of Curiosity
Photo by David Werner
Some of the oldest stories that exist centre around curiosity, and what happens when our thirst for knowledge is indulged. Take the story of Eve taking fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Or Pandora unable to resist opening her box and allowing the world’s evils to escape. Or fairytales such as Red Riding Hood, in which Red asks questions of the Big Bad Wolf as he pretends to be her grandmother. Or Bluebeard’s young wife, unable to resist the forbidde...
