All posts tagged: writing niche

Crossing the Threshold: Embracing My Writing Niche

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There are two sparrows preening as they perch on two small branches of the Malunggay tree that grows in our small backyard. I have a good view of  the two silent birds. There are few members of the avian family that visit the backyard now. Our country, the Philippines, is in the midst of the rainy season, and the European sparrows rarely visit and if they do, they come singly or in pairs. The birds had done their nesting work in the summer. I miss their lilting chatter that began when it was still dark, as they went about their work of collecting nesting materials. I feel a kinship with these avian friends. I too, went into hibernation after the summer. I had to break my commitment to blog daily this whole year. I’m just glad I made it half-way, through June. Breaking a commitment to myself was hard to do, but it had to be done. I was beyond exhausted from a year of heavy therapy work. I would have lightened my work load if I could, …

How to Find Your Writing Niche (2)

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When I first explored the concept of a writing niche, I immediately thought: fiction or non-fiction. But when I began to play with the phrase, I realized that to me, it meant more than just deciding whether to write fiction or non-fiction. Pondering on the concept of a writing niche conjured images of me writing, comfortably ensconced in a place where all of my energies were focused on pen and paper. In real life, that wasn’t happening. I was writing either on a desk crowded with so many things, or in a restaurant. Not in my cozy writing niche. Playing around with the phrase also made me feel how I so wanted to write at a magical time, but I had no idea what time was magical for me. Creative non-fiction had been my genre since my short career as a freelance journalist many years ago, and I knew I wanted to stick to it. Non-fiction was also my writing niche. But before I could begin to truly write again, first I had to find that place that would be …

How to Find Your Writing Niche (1)

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It seems so basic, but the most logical thing to do when you’re looking for something is to have a good idea of what you are looking for. What is a “writing niche?” You could surf the web for the meaning. But what you read from someone else’s blog is someone else’s definition of the phrase. I could define it here, and that would be my definition. But I am from a different culture. Could my definition be what you are looking for? The internet is a wonderful thing. It widens our horizons, but it could also make our perspectives narrower. There seems to be so many experts on just about anything. Have a question? Google it and you’ll find the answer. We get answers quickly. The caveat though is that we hardly think for ourselves now. We give away our power, we rely on others to provide us with the answers. What does “writing niche” mean to you? Define it in your own words. But don’t write down the answer immediately. Think about it, …

How to Find Your Writing Niche

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When I set up this blog two and a half years ago, there were many questions in my mind about writing. I used this blog to help me answer those questions. Many years ago I worked briefly  – for three years – as a feature writer for the magazines published by a huge publishing conglomerate in Hong Kong.  As a feature writer, I wrote about everything under the sun but I tended to lean more on conservation and culture. I gave up that writing career to hearken to a call to help other people heal. But the love for writing kept knocking on my door and finally, after 8 years of working as an energy therapist,I decided to to find time to do some writing. I ventured into content writing and blogging. Blogging has enabled me to clarify and resolve many writing issues and answer many of the questions that lingered in my mind. I was never educated as a writer – I studied political science – and I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “writing …

How I Found My Niche

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When I first set up this blog, I was at a loss as far as writing was concerned. This blog was my way of finding my writing self again, after almost a decade of being away from the real world of writing. I had no expectations when I began posting in this blog – I only knew that I needed to learn much about writing, and this blog would be my way of consolidating my “writing lessons.” I’ve been learning much, much more now that I’m blogging about what I learn.  Not only that, I have also found my niche – or should I say it found me, since  I didn’t even search for it? It just presented itself to me again and again until I finally recognized it and said “Yes, I have found my writing niche.” How did I find it? By writing, writing, and writing some more. Everyday, I write on my journals and/or on several private blogs. For the past 2 years I have also been writing for a London-based content …