International Day of Education
When it comes to education in the year 2020, we are stuck somewhere between ease of access and the struggle to retain information. If you’re over the age of 21, then you most likely remember the “joys” of writing out notes; copying “word association” off the chalk board at school or visiting your nearest library for research purposes – or even just to read to broaden your knowledge. If you’re younger than 21 however, then you probably only know what it is like to have information constantly available, via your trusty mobile device(s). With the evolution of technology, we can fact check and research faster and easier than ever before, but is this a good or bad advancement? For some people and certain occasions, this is excellent. No longer “wasting” time looking for the correct page in a book, or having to attend a lecture to make necessary notes; it’s all available on a mobile device now, making things easier for sure. But is easier better? Perhaps with small facts and irrelevant subjects, but when it comes to fully understanding something, people are falling behind. Why think about something and develop an understanding when you can simply find out and forget – because you can always just go back and check again at a later stage. We are inundated with information, most of it completely unnecessary. Social Media may have helped us to connect and keep in contact, but at the same time it floods our lives with memes, gifs, jokes and pictures of other peoples’ food. There are of course constructive posts on social media, but we need to spend a great deal of our time sifting through ads and reposts before we can stumble upon something useful. With the International day of education upon us (24 January), we need to remind ourselves what education really is. Knowing something now and forgetting it in ten minutes isn’t education, it’s simply repetition. We need to step back from making life easier, and start making life worthwhile. Understanding is why we are here, knowing why the sky is blue and understanding why are two separate things. Think about going to the doctor, imagine she or he tells you what is wrong with you, but in the same breath, he or she demonstrates that they don’t fully understand the “why”. Knowing the facts is important, but knowing the details is paramount. This goes for everything in life. We have so much information available to us, we just need to start looking at things “holistically” so to speak… like a doctor looking at your diet and lifestyle as well as the facts of your possible illness. Having our devices on hand to check information is important and a fantastic scientific advancement; but that doesn’t mean we should cease the ways of the past. Just because emails and social media are easier than letters, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t write letters to one another. Writing has been proven to help ones brain and mental functions – even a casual letter to a friend of colleague will be beneficial. The movement of one’s hand combined with the thought process has been proven to boost creativity – something not as easily achievable via text message or IM. We have one go at this existence, we need to make the most of it in every sense. No one wants to be ignorant or to miss out on something, so why limit your education. Today, we need to remind ourselves and those around us what makes us human; what makes us different from machines or animals as...
Read MoreWriting For Comics
My childhood was enriched by the comic books I bought with my weekly allowance. These visual masterpieces awakened in me the love of reading that led to a career as a full-time writer and editor. Today people choose to rather watch television or listen to audio books instead of reading a book. Sure it’s a lot faster than reading, but this instant gratification is fleeting, and so is the value and memory of the story. Perhaps this preference is due to time constraints, but mostly it’s because the love of reading was not instilled in them as a child. Reading a good book is not only a leisurely activity that has the capability to trigger your imagination, it also furthers one’s knowledge in every topic under the sun. Imagine the stress a student encounters when tasked with reading a 400-page book and having to write a short summary based on their interpretation. Just to satisfy your curiosity, ask any mainstream school teacher whether the pupils who achieve good grades are avid readers or not. Teachers across the board agree that people who enjoy reading from a young age have a great advantage over non-readers. Many may disagree with me, but I am convinced reading comic books as a child not only helped improve my grammar and enjoyment of pictorial storytelling but also set the stage to learn more through other forms of literature. A valued birthday gift each passing year was books; now I just buy them myself to expand my library. I’m hugely selfish about my library; it is difficult to part with any of my books. It is a great pity that educators today fail to recognize just how important it is to expose children to picture books and graphic novels as an effective learning tool. Comic books are especially helpful to young readers who might initially believe books are boring and who are struggling to improve their reading skills. A child naturally fond of reading develops a powerful imagination that must be nurtured. The child might show an interest in writing; this raw talent must be encouraged by teaching the budding author to write short-short stories. The child may not yet have the vocabulary to write the tale, dictating to someone who can write down the child’s verbal account of their story. The combination of visual format and text in comic books is much more engaging than other literary media, including short stories comprising block text and a few illustrations. Our technology-driven world obliges us to keep abreast with developments and human competencies, which means children from the time they are born must be exposed to early childhood development exercises; effective training must be pursued by scholars to develop reading and comprehension skills. Here’s an interesting fact: people who read comic books process information differently. According to University of Windsor English professor Dale Jacobs (2007), comic books require readers to create meaning, using multiple modalities. In other words, readers of comic books simultaneously process three stand-alone components, namely the visual and spatial aspects of the pictures and textual. However, more research remains to be done regarding the neurological benefits of reading comic books, but it is evident that there is far more to this genre than simply “looking at pictures” as some critics of comic books believe. Reading is actually good for your brain function and can change the way we think. I’ve been thinking a lot about comic books lately, mainly to write a script and commission an artist to create the drawings. While some people believe comic books are for kids, it is clear...
Read MoreSubmit Manuscript
Imagnary House is a boutique publishing house for children’s books and young adult literature in South Africa. Their Mission: Imagnary House is focused on building a larger market for local authors and illustrators of African children’s books. The intention is also to ignite the love of reading. Imagnary House is committed to engaging with both local and international readers, and literary agents. A Call for Submissions: As of 1 July 2018, Imagnary House opened their Call for Submissions to build their publication list for the next 2 years. Submissions close on 31 July 2018 at midnight. What are they looking for? Their priority this year is to find teen or young-adult fantasy, science-fiction, and alternative history novels. They are also looking for children’s chapter books and picture books that are sophisticated, fun and imaginative. However, they are not looking for educational, didactic, or moral-focused stories, definitely leaning towards manuscripts that are diverse and can travel across different cultures and countries. Imagnary House will consider submissions in the following genres: Children’s picture books (junior-grade) Children’s chapter books (middle-grade) Teen science-fiction, fantasy, or alternative-reality novels Young-adult science-fiction, fantasy, or alternative-reality novels Writers and illustrators can submit their work on Imagnary House’s submissions page. Website: https://imagnaryhouse.com/ Email:...
Read MoreThe current “future”- In a world where privacy is up for debate
The current “future” – by Matthew Smith In a world where privacy is up for debate and identity is increasingly fading. What do you do when the world begins to resemble the likes of a sci-fi novel? People find Science fiction interesting, creative and thought provoking, but what happens when it is no longer an idea, but part of our everyday lives? “Fiction” has become reality. Already we see people glaring at devices instead of conversing in the “real”; preferring online personas to real human interaction. Why be yourself when you can essentially portray what you want to be; filters, editing and face correction… showing a visible difference between who we really are and who we would like people to think we are. For some, your online self is more relevant than your real self and if you don’t have online popularity, you’re irrelevant. Progress is change, and change is inevitable – but to what extent? Since the creation of the internet, the lines of privacy have become increasingly blurred. Gone are the days where “privacy” simply referred to your physical self. With the evolution of technology, the very definition of “privacy” has changed. Your “private” information is at risk and “Cyber bullies” or “trolls” lurk the internet, creating viruses and stealing peoples’ identities. The world is becoming increasingly complicated with the older generations being left behind by a tech-savvy youth that has access to more information than they could possibly need. Along with the general privacy implications of technology, we now live in an era of false information where with a few simple photographs and some free software, you can insert anyone into an image or video of your choice; most frighteningly, pornographic images/videos or GIFs. (https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/24/16929148/fake-celebrity-porn-ai-deepfake-face-swapping-artificial-intelligence-reddit ) On an even more frightening note, Google is currently experimenting with the possibility of AI adapting to social cues from humans – body language, facial expressions and what makes humans happy. Although the intention may be to help AI better understand human needs, there is always the possibility of things going wrong – “Terminator” comes to mind. If companies like Google and organizations like MIT are able to successfully “teach” AI to have emotional intelligence, it could be extremely good for the “future”, but it could also mean complete human redundancy. With Technology already able to best the average human (or even above average) with regards to equations and so forth, all humans will have left is their emotional intelligence, which we are teaching to technology. (https://qz.com/1209466/google-is-building-ai-to-make-humans-smile/) However, if you fear that technology is going to surpass you, don’t worry – Elon Musk is working on it. Elon Musk; CEO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, Inc and Chairman of SolarCity; and the same man who is planning to take humans to Mars within our lifetime; is currently working on “Neuralink”(A thin mesh device inserted into the skull) -essentially merging your mind with a computer and creating an interface. (https://futurism.com/scientists-cant-replicate-ai-studies/) Sounds fantastic; but why would you ever bother trying to learn again? The purpose is so that we can have a fighting chance against AI, but humans adapt, and over time it could be our downfall. Not to mention the implications of direct marketing – really, really direct. What about Privacy? Viruses? Hackers? There is a never ending list of complications that may or may not arise, not to mention the social; religious and economical implications. (https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17444-neuralink-brain-implant-elon-musk-black-mirror) Recently people in Europe couldn’t pay for purchases due to a Visa network outage – further proving our reliance on technology. https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/1/17418684/visa-cards-europe-not-working-network-outage Furthermore, people are leading such busy, competitive lives, that we are leaving...
Read MoreSteps to Writing a Novel
Plotting the structure and pace of a novel must not only personify a unique way of looking at the world, the aim should consistently be to bring all aspects of the story together to hold the readers’ attention. While it helps to create a preliminary framework of the story to give you direction, it should be flexible. A good rule of thumb is to write off the cuff for at least the first fifty pages; allow the story to unfold without being restrictive to too many pre-determined notions. Where does your story take place and when? Imagine what would occur by visualizing the sequence of events. Create a mental picture of the setting, which should encompass not only a description of the environment but also time. Bear in mind that the reader depends on your choice of words to visualize the setting that plays a vital role in the unfolding story. Keep the description authentic so that the reader can relate; if the setting is in a city, explore relevant details such as a particular part of the city, street, building and circumstances why the story occurs there. Decide who is telling the story; it may be a first-person narrator, omniscient narrator, or third person narrator. Who is telling the story? First person narrative – identified as “I” or “we” – refers to the person telling the story where the story is told by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about themselves or relaying perceived experiences. Similarly, the readers’ perception is influenced by the speaker, hence our understanding of the roles the different characters play, conflict and plot development are based on what we learn from the narrator. The first person is also an alternative to third person omniscient narration, which uses “he” “she” or “it” when to describe events. This is a common form of narration in which the teller of the tale often speaks with the voice of the author and assumes an all-knowing perspective about the unfolding story. Why is the story being told? In the early stages of writing it is important to introduce the main character, someone that features strongly at the centre of the action. Allow your story to develop without restraint, whether it’s grammatically or content-driven. Write a paragraph, a page or a chapter, depending on your focus. It could be a brief description of a scene or an event that covers several pages. Try not to put yourself under undue pressure to maintain sequential order of developments; you can piece the novel together at a later stage. A good rule of thumb is to introduce a conflict situation at the start of the novel incident that will prompt the reader to understand why this story is being told. Always write in active voice It is essential to set a deadline to complete the first draft of your manuscript. Consider that a standard novel comprises 200 manuscript pages or about 60,000 words. There are a certain set of steps to writing a novel. First, familiarize yourself with the principles of this genre – conflict, setting, voice, dialogue, view point and creative description of the environment or mood – as well as when the “conflict” will shatter the so far even-keeled pace of the story. How would your hero react to and resolve the discord? Always write in the active voice; touch on perceived options so that the reader is able to relate to an outcome. Incorporate dialogue that facilitates the development of the story. Set aside at least an hour or two every day to writing and editing your manuscript; compose a thousand words on day...
Read MoreAcademic Essay Writing
The purpose of an academic essay is for a scholar to not only demonstrate their understanding of a particular subject and develop their own ideas, but also to understand the ideas of other scholars. Writing an academic essay is also an opportunity for the student to communicate their understanding of the prescribed text and research material, with their lecturer or supervisor. Enough time Never rush writing an essay. The process to follow starts with fully understanding the topic or questions. Brainstorm ideas that best outline the topic, including your responses and insights. Write a rough draft and read it critically; consult with your supervisor to verify that you have devised a comprehensive table of contents. Understand the essay question Define the problem and find the “introduction words” in the topic. These words tell you what to do; whether you need to analyze, discuss, analyze or argue in order to bring clarity to the essay question. Read the prescribed text as well as different scholarly studies on the same topic; make notes. Express your own views in relation to that of other writer views. Writing & Editing An academic essay contains your own interpretation of other scholars’ work, published in books, journals and research studies. The essay must be written in a formal voice and in a carefully structured manner. Take note that the format of the essay takes the reader step-by-step through a well-ordered sequence that connect ideas. All essays must have an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Each paragraph must be logically connected to the thesis statement. It is vital that the content be well written, free of grammatical and spelling errors. Include references that are not older than three years. Follow the referencing style required by the tertiary institute. The introduction summarizes the problem and the proposed solution. The body of the essay or research study explains the solution in detail, including an explanation how the task will be done, what research methodology will be applied, when the work will commence, and when the procedure will be concluded. The conclusion emphasizes the positive outcome of applying the solution to the problem The tone in which the closure is written must be confident and assertive. ...
Read MoreAbout Theresa
I’m a published author of four business books and have written a number of self-study tutorials [creative writing; editing and proofreading; business writing; and self-publishing] and an eBook [Workplace Harmony]. I am an experienced writer, editor and publisher. 
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