Nomination and Realization #bloggys2015

Simply AMAEZING 🙂

I just made a Facebook status recently about my nomination on the Philippine Blogging Awards #bloggys2015 and I was flabbergasted  how people reacted. Mainly because their comments sound like I’ve already won. (Why not? Nothing is impossible at all.)

Thanks to the unending support from my friends. I just felt that I  already won . 🙂

Looking at the #bloggys2005 Hall of Fame under my category personal/diary, I found out that I was up against established bloggers (Feeling underdog here. hihi) But no matter what, I will be attending the most awaited #bloggys2005 gala night on November 21 at SMX, SM Aura.  See you there!

I was also reminded by a very good friend as we chatted after reading my Facebook status that I’ve been running my blog for so long, “2011 pa pala blog mo” she noted. And that comment made me nostalgic for awhile. (quite dramatic. hihi)

Flashback when I started blogging, I think blogging doesn’t ring a bell yet that time. It was actually my personal diary composed of rants, complaints, and all negativity surrounding me. If you will spend your time stalking my blog back 2011, you will see what I mean. 

But turn 2015, my blogging life has blossomed. No more maligning or freaking post whatsoever. It already found its voice and purpose. 

So what blogging has taught me? 

1. Keep your passion burning
   When all else fades and time limits you to do things, the fire flaming in your heart will push and motivate you to put an extra mile. Being skillful isn’t enough, you have to have that burning passion and the answer to why so that in the end you won’t return empty and meaningless.
2. Find your voice and have an advocacy
   
   

   I am here to inspire and do AMAEzing things 🙂

   
   There should be meaning in everything that you are doing no matter how small it is. Your writings are useless if you don’t challenge and influence someone to do something, and if people don’t get affected on it. You have to make sure that your message that you want to send was received by your readers.

3. Meeting new people is priceless
   

   I met my cyber mom/co-blogger all the way from London through blogging. Here is the Christmas letter she sent to me a year ago. Sweet 🙂

   

   Meeting new people 🙂

   What’s more fun and wonderful than meeting new people? You’ve got to learn from their experience and they will help you contemplate on life and other matters. Usually, I come to meet people older than me. Their experience are beyond what I have that’s why their pieces of advice are such treasure to keep. Perhaps this is the reason why people tend to tell me that I have an old soul. 

4. Your life itself is a blog worth sharing
   Tell your stories. Some people tend to look for other stories to inspire others where in fact their life itself is already worth sharing. You may feel that your story isn’t worth sharing, but trust me, you will never know who you are inspiring. 
5. Love and enjoy what you are doing
   When you love and enjoy what you are doing, it will always manifest on the product/result. Don’t do something just because a lot of people are doing it or just because it is the trend. Do something out of love and conviction. 

I won’t maintain something for more than four years if I don’t love and enjoy it. Blogging has taught me a lot and I love it. So to all who are reading this post, I encourage you to find your passion as well and inspire other people. If you found it already, then congratulations! Hone it and share it. 

Why You Need to Hone Your Writing Skills

You are rushing a presentation that is due tomorrow morning. And your colleague sent you the most important data needed for the success of the presentation. But you were greatly surprised upon checking the document on your e-mail. There is an enormous problem… it was poorly written. The grammar is just so unbearable consisting lengthy paragraphs and misspelled words.

You almost want to throw yourself knowing that there are just few hours left to beat the deadline. You can’t complain at all and put the blame to your colleague. At the end, you have to painstakingly understand the data.

How many times have you experienced and suffered from this kind of scenario? Or closely to that scenario stated above? How many times do you have to suffer from a poorly written report, researchers or memos?

These poorly written outputs are the cause of delay and productivity to the workplace. It tends to consume our time correcting the errors before sending to our immediate supervisors.  These kinds of mishaps can be prevented ahead of time… Only if the person guilty of committing these errors would have the willingness to hone his writing skills.

According to Grammarly – the world’s leading automated proofreader – on their recent survey, an individual with stronger writing skills works better and gets more paid.

The result came from their assessment on Elance, an online staffing platform, reviewing over 448 freelance professionals’ profiles in eight categories – writing and translation, admin support, legal, design & multimedia, engineering & manufacturing, sales & marketing, finance & management, and IT & programming.

They found out that people with better writing skills make fewer mistakes and these people highly stand out on their job.

Your writing skills matters. It maybe belittled sometimes but this skill is essential on your career. From simple research, data, report or write up on your work, you highly need the dose of this skill.

And good fact is that it’s never too late to hone your writing skills. Don’t get frustrated if you felt that you are not good enough. Remember, skills can be learned if only you desire and you are willing to. Here are  3 practical tips on how you can improve your writing skills:

1. Write!

A writer is a writer not because he is good but simply because he writes. You can never hone it until you start trying it. Blank document maybe intimidating at times but the only way to hone your skills is to put words until it form a sentence and a paragraph in a blank sheet. That is your task  – to fill the empty documents with words correctly.

2. Refresh your mind with the basic

 Writing is the first step but writing it RIGHT is the next step.If you want to hone your skill, you should be humble enough to admit that you need to go back to the basic and refresh yourself with the basic grammar rules – the difference between “you” and “you’re” or between “it’s and “its”. You have to keep on relearning these rules so you can eventually master it.

3. Read

Reading widens your knowledge; it expands your vocabulary. You have to love reading for you to enhance your writing skill. How would you learn the format, technicalities, and other important matters to hone your skill if you will not push yourself to read it?

Honing your skill is not an overnight process but it takes a steady stream of perseverance. So be patient enough to improve your writing skills for your writing skills matters!