Dr. Hamna Labeeb

Stepping Back for A Better View

31/1/2018

 
I am almost talking about revision.

​After five years and four rounds of that, this is a friendly definition for revising your writing. This is an abrupt post after an immeasurably (because I don't want to count back) long episode of zero blogging. I was never good at that in the first place. Add to it my hectic, haphazard life (aka backbreaking routine).

I assume that I have a pretty good excuse though.

​I have written the most in the past one year since major life changes like marriage, motherhood, medical career etc. From April 2017 until New Year 2018, except for an occasional peep for security reasons, I took a big break - a virtual detox - from Facebook, quite infamous for killing creativity and fuelling poor productivity (realized only when you do geroff), and boy, did it do me a world of good!!!

Amidst all my crazy routine, I wrote more than half a novel, learned the art of micropoetry (that you can find on my Instagram profile @sanarosewrites) and edited my first manuscript with my mentorly friend to the finl draft.

So, seriously, now I have a couple of things I can tell you from my observations:

  • ​Geroff Facebook: You get to see more faces and more books (yes, I am back to reading). You get to see into yourself. You get to feed on lesser whinings. You get to realize that a virtual detox is cleansing. You get to rearrange your priorities and do more than click likes and scroll. The productivity and creativity shoots up. I wrote 48K words of my second novel during the virtual detox. I am still partially on it, my activity limited to sharing important news or posts from my instagram page.
  • If you are a reader, read, even if it means hoarding books and wistfully looking at them, dreaming of time to read. Dreams do come true - eventually.
  • If you are a writer, write and read (a lot). As for writing, the only way to keep at it is to write. I love Hemingway's tip to stop when you still want to write. It has tremendously helped me.
  • Speaking of which, I do want to write here more, but I will stop now just so that I will come back with more.

So, because it is late here and because I'm sleep-deprived always, adieu until next time.

Love,
Sana


Reading now:
  • ​Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Paperback)
  • On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft by Stephen King (Ebook)
​
​
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          • 5 Resources to Enrich You As A Creative Writer
          • 4 Reasons I Will Stick To An Early Morning Routine As A Writer
          • 3 Reasons To Free Yourself From ‘Write What You Know’ Advice
          • Gratitude — A Key to Unlock Creative/Writer’s Block
          • How I Balance Writing With Two Jobs And Parenting: Two Practical Techniques To Get Things Done
          • When Is The Best Time To Be Creative?
          • 10 Quotes on Writing Every Writer Should Take To Heart
          • The Two Leaps - My Author Journey
          • 7 Ways Art Dissolves Writer’s Block
          • 5 Reasons Your Novel Manuscript Is Too Long
          • 'I Am A Writer' - 3 Reasons You Should Say It More Often
          • 5 Ways to Bring Life into Writing - The Brave Writer
          • 5 Don'ts For Productive Creative Writing - The Book Mechanic
          • Writing With Self-Confidence
          • The 4 P's To Stay In Writing
          • 5 Don'ts for A Productive Creative Writing
        • Parenting, Family, Relationships >
          • When My Child Asked Me About Childbirth
          • 5 Underestimated Instances of Unhealthy Boundaries
          • 7 Lessons From My Journey To Better Parenting
          • Love May Not Be Why A Marriage/Relationship Lasts
          • Sacrificing Your Dreams — One Of The Worst Parenthood Mistakes
          • The Most Powerful Realization I Ever Had Was In Motherhood
        • Better Living >
          • 5 Ways A Digital Detox Improved My Mental Health And Life
          • A Time To Rethink And Unlearn
          • 6 Reasons To Let Go Of Ideas Of Happiness
          • Rest, But Don't Let It Rust: 7 ways to keep cobwebs and dust off your mind during COVID-19 lockdown
          • 7 Profound Quotes By Ray Bradbury - On Life, Creativity and Culture
          • 7 Reasons To Start Reading Fiction
          • Journaling Up The Ladder of Life
          • The Art of Acceptance - The Ascent
          • Reading Fiction - 6 Reasons Why
          • The Art of Acceptance - The Post India
          • 6 Ways to Make Your Healthy Eating Resolutions Stick
      • Poetry >
        • Love >
          • Ad infinitum
          • Back Home
          • Beneath the Bridge
          • Clarity In Silence
          • Eye To Eye
          • Heaven
          • I Stopped Looking For You
          • Knowing
          • Lost In Translation
          • Magic
          • More For Less
          • Petrichor Rising
          • Preservation
          • Sailing Home
          • The Cosmic Dance
          • The Fossil
          • The Mold
          • Valentine Box
          • When Love Brims
          • When The Rain Ends (Prose Poem)
        • War, Destruction, Injustice >
          • Burnt Blood
          • Don't Matter
          • How Faux!
          • Let Her Go
          • Mother
          • Numbness
          • The Way Out
        • Pain, The Muse >
          • A Note to Pain
          • Disease
          • Of Scars
          • Only You Know
          • Rearrangement
          • The Cloudburst
          • The Slow Demise Of Hope
          • The Undoing
          • Tricked
        • Life, The Muse >
          • Broken Bridges
          • Glass Doors
          • Have We Met?
          • In The Grey Days
          • Invisibility
          • Nutrition
          • Paper Dolls
          • Possessions
          • Respite
          • Tag
          • The Bird-Watchers
          • The Foundation
          • The Garden of Life
          • The Immeasurable
          • The Old Woman At The Sewing Machine
          • The Rose
          • The Scripted Plan
          • The Tornado
          • The Transformation
          • Unmasking
          • When You Forgive
          • Winds of Change
        • Motivational >
          • A Little Less Trauma
          • Chaos
          • Crossroads
          • Dare to Break
          • Dear Heart
          • Enough
          • Fire
          • Healing
          • I Flow
          • In Fall
          • Liberation
          • On Faith
          • Reason
          • Surviving The Grey
          • The Phoenix
          • Why Fret?
        • The Puppet - 1
        • The Puppet - 2
        • Songs of Motherhood >
          • Fading Moments
          • Fly!
          • Ode To A Nestling
          • Passion Fruit
          • Pink And Blue
          • The Day I Met Her
          • The Dreaded Nest
          • The Existential Little Warrior
          • The Fruits
          • The Galaxy
          • The Promised Oasis
          • The Refuge
          • The Reminiscent
          • The Wish
          • While You're Still In The Nest
    • Request Author-Signed Copies
  • The Writeous Way
    • Podcasts
    • Blog
  • CONTACT
    • Say Hi!
    • Counselling Appointments