halynaryfiak.com

Author: Halyna

  • Writer’s Toolbox: Essentials for your success and more

    As a writer, you can use as little as a simple notebook and pencil, but if you really want to get somewhere with your craft, you’ll need a bit more than that. That’s why I’ve decided to compile a list of tools that I’ve personally tried and tested. Call this a ‘writer’s toolbox’! I’ll make sure to keep the list updated and add to it as I discover something new.

    As we live in a modern society, it’s quite self-explanatory that you won’t get far with your writing unless you digitise it. If you want to get published, send an opinion post to a newspaper or a short story to a literary magazine, the editor will expect you to hand over a properly formatted and attributed digital file. Snail mail submissions still exist, so I’ve heard. As a whole, the typical communication between an author and a publisher nowadays is done overwhelmingly via email.

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  • How to write every day: A few thoughts and tips to get started

    I don’t write every day, and it makes me feel bad about myself. It’s like I’m sabotaging my own goals. How on Earth am I supposed ever to get published if I never manage to complete a manuscript?

    I remember once even writing a blog post about ‘writing every other day’. I even made a promise with myself that I would keep on working on those drafts. It doesn’t matter how much or when I write, as long as I’m putting words down on paper. Right?

    Reality is not that simple for many reasons.

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  • Life-Long Learning: Pursuing education in your 30s

    At the moment of typing this, I have turned 36. I have a BA in Library Studies and an MA in Business Intelligence from a Ukrainian university (i.e. useless), and a Hubspot certificate in Content Marketing. If I had the money, I would’ve also had a few Coursera certificates to boast of, but I only ever did the auditing path.

    Ever since graduating in 2013, I couldn’t help but feel that my education wasn’t enough. Partly, it’s due to having studied at a Ukrainian university and having to deal with corruption and indifference from my professors. I’ve seen many of my fellow students pursue a second Master’s — something that I’ve always wanted to do, but never had the money to actually do it.

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  • In pursuit of pseudo-intellectualism

    If you’re here for the list of pseudo-intellectual books, jump straight ahead by clicking here. Or stay and read about my musings first. 🙂

    The famous saying by Socrates goes “I know that I know nothing”.

    Whenever I’m browsing the internet on the lookout for interesting blogs or book discussions, there is one thing that I notice.

    It may be only endemic to my local inter-webs, but it seems that after decades of suppressing the natural evolution of thought, and basically skipping a generation due to repressions in the Soviet times, a new generation has surfaced of people suffering from the snobbish longing to be perceived as intellectuals.

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  • Reading one hundred books in a year

    We’re barely halfway through the year, and I’ve already accomplished my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2025. That’s after bumping up my initial goal of 50 books. I’m fairly certain I’ll be changing my goal to 100. There’s no saying what it will be by the time this year comes to an end.

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