Whether you write poetry or fiction in any genre, you need this one attribute to attract readers’ engagement — Passion for writing, especially creative writing, is not what is being referred to in this article. Neither is the craving for gold (in terms of fees or royalties) and celebrity when one’s work, a book maybe, becomes a bestseller. Being passionate is, of course, a must. But the necessity of…

A budding writer can and should explore what may be a life-changing pursuit — Writing a novel is not easy, even if there are claims to the contrary. We see such claims on our social media feeds in the guise of invitations to enroll in a writing course. Prompts like Writing Novels Made Easy or Write a Novel and Be Famous may appeal to…

No rice recipes in this piece, just a rice-eater’s lament on quibbles over how to cook rice — More than 3.5 billion people in the world eat rice. I am one of them. My rice consumption, however, is not on a regular basis. It would not make a dent in the 504.3 million metric tons of rice which was consumed worldwide in the 2020–2021 crop year. With this…

How do we know joy? How do we see light? How do we find perfect? — A perfect life seems to be everyone’s quest full of fun, awash with ease, all the very best. An imperfect life is not to everyone’s craving jammed with hard toil, suffused with struggling. But how do we really, really know perfect is it by getting or receiving all we expect? Is it…

And it may surprise us one day with what it heard from us — WHEN we express admiration for something, it does not mean that we covet what we admire. Maybe we marvelled — just by looking at photographs — at the beauty of Taj Mahal, or Eiffel Tower, or even the infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands. It does not follow, however, that…

Are you a boy, or mostly a boy, or partly a boy, or neither a boy nor a girl? — Dear Sonny Boy*, When you were still a baby, your locks grew thick and unmanageable. They irritated your eyes so your mum decided to do something about it. She plaited your longish baby hair into tiny pigtails. She even clipped bright, wee ribbons on your plaits including one on top…

Is working all hours like hustler bees worth it for the family and oneself? — AS sure as days follow nights, the same is true of bees following the sources of nectar. It happens when flowers are in bloom. We see the dedication of the bees, gathering nectar to make honey (and pollinate seeds), in gardens and woods all over the world. All that is…

Is ladybug a bug? Is ladybird a bird and can it fly? Are all ladybeetles ladies? — BUGS bother me. They bother me a lot even by just imagining those creepy-crawleys. Think bed bugs, centipedes, mites, ticks, scorpions. Wouldn’t you feel queasy, too? However, ladybugs, also called ladybirds and ladybeetles, do not give me that sickly feeling. On the contrary. Their bright, happy colors are charming. Each…