Takhayyal Writing Prompt 89: #amwriting by the Sea

Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen, Artists, Poets, Writers, Authors, Dreamers, Friends and Family; Welcome EVERYONE to Nadaness In Motion's MONTHLY picture-prompt writing challenge Takhayyal/Imagine.

I honestly didn't know what to post this month. Kept going through lots of pictures, some on my phone, some on my computer, Pinterest, Facebook…

Then I thought I could use two images I took with my phone that well I think might be inspiring. September is when people are leaving the beach behind and getting ready for school, so here are two images for the hearts we're leaving by the sea (I know I am) with a final dose of salty sea spray.

I've also heard or seen a few people who dream of being able to be inspired to write by the sea; this is for YOU!

Ready?

Get set...


Here we go!

Photography by Nada Adel Sobhi. Taken at Egypt's North Coast 2018.

Photography by Nada Adel Sobhi. At Egypt's North Coast km 89. 

Arabic for Imagine, Takhayyal is a challenge for writers of all ages and genres; a place to spark creativity and explore new genres.

Your post can be in English or Arabic, prose, poetry, short story, flash fiction; you name it and write it.

Give credit where due, the images were taken by me, Nada Adel Sobhi at Egypt's North Coast.

General rules:

·        No nudity, violence, and/or abuse.

·        Leave the link to your post in comments below OR post your piece as REPLY to this post

·        Your piece MUST be inspired in some way or other by the above picture

·        Multiple entries allowed

·        It is not required but it is a nice and encouraging gesture to comment on others' pieces.

·        Feel free to add your Twitter handle (@....) so I can tag you in my tweets!

Let's IMAGINE!

Red Nails - Poem by Nada Adel Sobhi

Red nails

Break the blue calm

Like tiny roses

In a sea of green

Colours

They paint my world

Breathe new life

Into my lungs

I close my eyes

Feel the cold air

Fill my being

Those moments of life

Lapses of perfection

In a world of endless

Hustle and bustle

Sunlight sifts

Through clouds and mountains high

The wind blows on my face,

My lips can almost taste

The saltiness of my surroundings

I close my eyes again

Then open them to see

Red nails

On a sea of brown rocks

Covered by a hue of greyish blue

By: Nada Adel Sobhi/Nadaness In Motion

Photography by Nada Adel Sobhi aka Nadaness In Motion

Written Thursday, 29 March 2018 at 16:50

The writing and publishing of this poem coincides with the April-long National Poetry Month.

What Is the Most "Demotivational" Quote Ever? (& How Do You Overcome it?)

Sometimes you feel down and Google some motivational quotes to give you a power boost. At other times, you're on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or any other form of social media and they just pop up.

I do that. Often.

Then there was this one quote, I don't know who said it, that stuck with me. It's a motivational quote. Or at least I thought so.

I had just changed jobs but less than a month in the new one, I felt something was wrong. I was at the beginning of the burnout curve after only one month in my new job. How does that happen?

Anyways, I remembered a quote or part of one I had read that had to do with being able to get up in the morning and pursue whatever it is you want to pursue and googled "motivational quotes" along with a couple of words and found what I was looking for.

It read:

"No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up, and never give up."

I did that for several days may be even weeks. It gave me the motivation I was looking for, for just a few of those days.

But as the days passed and I kept "never giving up" and struggling against the challenges of this so-called new job, and what I had hoped would have been a promising one, I realised I was getting demotivated by the minute. I was literally struggling to get out of bed and work from the comfort of my own home.

I realised that what I had thought was "motivation" was actually "bringing me down". It literally stuck me in a rut of my own making.

I was sinking in a black hole. And kept falling further. Deeper.

I was sinking in regret of leaving my old job, feeling weak because the new one, along with the new manager, sucked, and the quote, it added to the wounds that no one could see.

I was suffocating.

I needed out.

And that's exactly what I did.

I quit.

And it was the best decision I had ever made.

Yes, the two-and-a-half months I had put in the new job left some psychological "trauma" for a few months after.

But I had made my decision. And it was the right one.

You know why?

Because there is NOTHING in the world that says you need to put with shit. I understand not many people can quit their jobs or whatever it is that's keeping them from actually "living" in the spur of a moment, but they just have to find out what they need to do.

You don't have to "get up, dress up, show up, and never give up" no matter how you feel. That's weak. That, on the short or long run, will hurt YOU emotionally, psychologically, could even be physically or mentally or all of above.

And no one deserves that.

You deserve to live, love, smile.

I know life is never the picture we envisioned for ourselves but when you're down and you're feeling like you're just dying inside, that's when you know it's time to go: Time to leave these people or that place or even that emotion.

So, no matter how you feel right now, know that you can make things better for yourself. Yes, it might take time, money, sweat. 

If you really want to be happy, you don't have to suffer for it. You don't have to come out with emotional scars that no one will understand.

You can get up, dress up, and show them who YOU are and what you want to do with your life.

Takhayyal writing prompt 75: Uncage Me

Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen, Artists, Poets, Writers, Authors, Dreamers, Friends and Family; Welcome EVERYONE to Nadaness In Motion's bi-weekly picture-prompt writing challenge Takhayyal.

Arabic for Imagine, Takhayyal is a challenge for writers of all ages and genres; a place to spark creativity and explore new genres.

Your post can be in English or Arabic, prose, poetry, short story, flash fiction; you name it and write it.

General rules:

·        No nudity, violence, and/or abuse.

·        Leave the link to your post in comments below OR post your piece as REPLY to this post

·        Your piece MUST be inspired in some way or other by the above picture

·        Multiple entries allowed

·        It is not required but it is a nice and encouraging gesture to comment on others' pieces.

·        Feel free to add your Twitter handle (@....) so I can tag you in my tweets!

Let's IMAGINE!

Underestimating Autumn by Nada Adel Sobhi - Prose

I have always viewed autumn as the tasteless season. A season with no character. Just grey skies, jittery weather; you never know if summer has ended or winter has started. You feel like you’re unsure what to wear and always end up with the wrong guess. You wear something light so it ends up being cold; you take a jacket or something heavy - because winter is coming right? - and it’s too warm.

But then I saw ‘her’ garden. I was struck, not by lightning, but by beauty, by colour.

Colours I had never seen in nature before. Colours no painter’s palette can ever bring to the canvas. Colours that breathe life into your being.

I have often read descriptions of autumn, where yellow and orange leaves litter the sidewalks. The descriptions were enticing. But that’s what I had often assumed they were: descriptions.

Photography by Cathy Ace - Her Garden of Inspiration

Here, in Egypt, there are no yellow-and-orange leaves. The dull greens fall and the trees become bare in autumn and winter. The sky wavers between grey and sunny, unsure what the day will bring, like it is trying to maintain a level of suspense. But as time passes, this suspense wears away and everyone is just bored.

I admit: I never liked autumn. The bland season. The prelude to the cold. Not until I had seen these images. I felt my eyes open.

I was seeing another - stunning - world for the first time, an enchanting one.

I stared at - and shared - the images before me. I wanted the world to see them, feel them, bask their beauty. I could almost feel a slightly cold breeze, smell the damp grassy garden, and see myself sitting amidst the flowers and trees, reading, writing, and above all living.

I look at the pictures again and understand why authors abroad write such beautiful books and settings. Because their views are different. Colourful. Vibrant. Alive.

Cathy Ace's garden in full colour and force. Photography by Cathy Ace

I know the garden will turn white with snow when winter comes, but for a moment I lived.

Writing by: Nada Adel Sobhi/Nadaness In Motion

Photography by: Cathy Ace (originally a cozy mystery author.) Find her on Facebook and Twitter. 

I saw these pictures by Cathy and the words just started flowing out of my mind and pen.

Happy Birthday to Me! + Surprise

Every year, I tell myself I'll post something special on my birthday. A new poem, short story, or something on that line. This year, I've decided to recoup a few things I've learnt and share some personal experiences.

The post will not be as egotistical as the title but it's about me, a writer, translator, book worm, and above all, a human and my experiences.

Since August, I've been doing monthly "writing progress reports" to keep track of my writing – and sometimes lack of it – as well as learn about my writing abilities and habits. For months, I've failed to meet my writing targets BUT I've learnt a lot of things on the way.

My progress for October is abysmal, but there are 11 days left in the month and I can make amends to myself.

Over the past year, I've LIKED tonnes of posts on Twitter, kind of like bookmarking them for later but haven't read much about them. Some are book-related, writing-related, digital marketing-related. There are lots.

I want to get to them because most of them in some way or other carry personal self-development for me. So, I guess this will be a 2018 New Year's Resolution. :D

I've had plans to launch a small private project but have neglected that for sometime L

I hope to get serious about it in the remaining two months of the year, which means I should have a nice announcement by January, or at least something to look forward to after work.

Last but not least, my birthday is Friday, 20 October, 2017. My friends made me a surprise party on Thursday, 19 October. Earlier that day, I had no desire to go to work. My energy was drained; I desperately wanted more sleep or just curl in bed, in the darkness, alone. But I put on my "Super Power" t-shirt and went to work. I had been planning to wear sweatpants (coz why not?) but thankfully, I opted out of those. I'm a middle manager and really don't want to look like an extra-crappy-dressed manager.

The surprise – I'm sure made me blush more than a tomato – made my day, and several days after that. They bought me a beautiful gift, flowers, and cake. And even though, many people in the company had recently left for better endeavours, I had a full-house of friends.

I'm not going to post a story today, although I think the above has told you a few things about me.

But I am going to post something else.

I had been thinking about launching a new editing service. My designer has done several stunning banners for the new service, which I had been planning on postponing till December. Instead, I'm launching it today, on my 29th birthday.

Without further ado, check out Nadaness In Motion's Editing Services.

My Favourite Colour - Blog Post

The other day, I was asked what my favourite colour was.

I thought of the blue sea, the green grass, the pink of the unicorn logo for my blog. But every time I thought of a colour, my mind went to black, how it fit with all the other colours, how it blends and contrasts. It can go unnoticed or it can make stars sparkle in a black expanse of a sky.

The colour just kept coming back to me.

I love colours in general; I paint several shades on my nails; I've dyed my hair pink, blue and purple before; I can't take down notes with a single pen, there has to be at least two. I rarely wear all-black and when I do, I just a little of something else, a bright red or pink lipstick, green nail polish, a rose or labradorite necklace. Anything to break the black but still make it look good. Not a sad black.

I've written about black before, how it's a misunderstood colour. But the question lingered with me.

Yes blue and green are calming colours and I love mixing them with black, navy blue, beige or white. But I don't know. Black just stuck with me.

The background of my blog is black and I like it because it allows me to use any font colour I like – with minor exceptions.

It was a simple question. Colours say a lot about people and I wondered for a minute if I should say something else but I didn't.

I love all colours. All I want is to blend them right.

Life in Colour by Nada Adel Sobhi - Poem

I could see him

Paint her face

On the canvas

In the heart of the rose

His love in the work,

Emotions flowing

From the soul

To the tip of the brush

His heart beating loud,

Every step brings him closer

To the rose

To her

…to completion.

Inspired by Vincent Keeling's White Rose pic.

Takhayyal #writing prompt 25: Colour the World

Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen, Artists, Poets, Writers, Authors, Dreamers, Friends and Family; Welcome EVERYONE to Nadaness In Motion's bi-weekly picture-prompt writing challenge Takhayyal.

I've been rather down so I figured a dash of colour to our worlds. I'm also providing two pictures, feel free to use one or both.

Arabic for Imagine, Takhayyal is a challenge for writers of all ages and genres; a place to spark creativity.

Your post can be in English or Arabic, prose, poetry, short story, flash fiction; you name it and write it.

The above pictures are not mine, I found them on Pinterest. Authors/Artists unknown.

General rules:

·        No nudity, violence, and/or abuse.

·        Leave the link to your post in comments below OR post your piece as REPLY to this post

·        Your piece MUST be inspired in some way or other by the above picture(s)

·        Multiple entries allowed

·        It is not required but it is a nice and encouraging gesture to comment on others' pieces.

·        Feel free to add your Twitter handle (@....) so I can tag you in my tweets!

Let's IMAGINE!