Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing ..read more

Have been busy for the past two days and hence could not find the time to post. But there is something interestingly different this time. I had decided that I would come here and post my thoughts about writing and what I learned from the work I did. That’s unlike me in the past. Normally, I would have just forgotten about this blog and after a few busy days, this site would remain unattended and die as slow death. Not this time, I hoped. I told myself that I would come back as soon as my busy schedule was done and post here at the first available opportunity. So here I am. This approach has be ..read more

When it comes to non-fiction, your writing is as good as your research. The question is how do you handle this very critical component of writing: research. In my post a week back, I discussed the process of working on information snippets which can be used for compiling and writing articles quickly. Today in the post, I want to take this discussion forward and talk about compartmentalizing the process of research. When I plan and propose to write an article, and pitch the idea to an editor, there are two possible outcomes – either the editor accepts the idea or the editor may reject it. Even ..read more

I am extremely happy today. Finally, I have been able to overcome my inhibitions and muster the courage to publish Diplomacy & Politics (DiploPolis), a personal blog-site where I write on global affairs and international politics. The blog-site for Diplomacy & Politics follows its recently launched YouTube channel and an Instagram page that I created almost two years back. Together, they form a major milestone of my personal projects that I have been looking to build and develop for several years now. The fact that DiploPolis, deals with a subject that I am keenly interested in – topic ..read more

Yesterday was a busy day, as I was tied down editing a video for my YouTube channel on a topic that is of primary focus – global affairs, diplomacy & politics. I have been feeling under the weather for the past two days since I got over the hectic schedule that I spoke about in my last post. And yesterday being busy working on the video, I could not muster the extra energy to write and publish a post here. Now I realize that it was a mistake. Fortunately, I was not bedridden, and could have easily mustered the energy to write a post – which I didn’t do. My bad! But I didn’t want to dare be ..read more

In today’s self-note, I want to analyse why I fail to write? Despite all the love that I have for writing. I have spent so much time thinking about this issue that I am now bored with discussing it any further. But the problem concerns my life therefore I can neither ignore it. That is the reason I am back to discussing this topic time and again – even though I cannot claim to have achieved any change at all. I love writing, and I want to become a writer. I have no doubt about it. Writing is something that comes to me naturally. And yet I struggle to focus and put words on paper. Why is it so ..read more

The foundational core for non-fiction writing of books and articles lies in the writer’s ability to do research and take notes. Research is the only process through which non-fiction writers can streamline their ideas, gather information and facts to support their thoughts and arguments and develop them into coherent content. As a non-fiction writer, research thus forms an integral and unavoidable part of our writing process. It is only through research that we can gather information to aid and develop our thought into original writing. Here are 7 tips to keep in mind while developing your res ..read more

It is true that the more you work on something the more confidence you build at doing it. The same is the fact with writing. Writing begets writing. The more you write, all the more you want to write. Although it is only a week or ten days since I relaunched Writing Mantra in its present form and I must admit that I have experienced the exhilaration. This new experience has changed my attitude and approach towards writing, particularly blogging and its purpose. I feel I am falling in love with the process. The most important aspect of this approach to blogging has been the liberty that I have ..read more

If I am to identify one major challenge that I face as a writer, it would be the problem of procrastination. I am sure it would be the same many other writers, if not all. Despite all the writing that I have achieved to do, I still face the ever daunting prospect of facing this creative bottleneck. That imaginary force which prevents us from doing what we know we are supposed to be doing. We can safely consider procrastination as the single biggest root cause for writer’s block. That feeling of wanting to write, but not being able to do so. Millions of pages have been written by experts and no ..read more

This is one post that I was waiting to write. It is what I learned from my experience in the past two days. What I did is not particularly important for the record, as much as it is important to focus on what I learned by doing it – my approach and how I intend to improve it, going forward. As part of my work, I was supposed to read several PDF documents based on which I had to prepare a review document. During these past few days, I realized the importance of reading systematically. When you start your reading process, particularly if you are a non-fiction writer like I am, the number of page ..read more