Online Dictionaries

Here's a short list of my favorite online dictionaries whenever I'm writing, which I thought could be useful resources to other writers:

1. www.thesaurus.com

I absolutely LOVE this one, as it can help me find better ways to express what I'm trying to say (using stronger verbs, or avoiding endless repetitions, for example. Also nifty, when you look up a word, there's a little box that will appear on the right-hand sign with the word's origin and history!

2. www.thefreedictionary.com

This one is my second favorite online dictionary. Not only does it boast a "regular" dictionary, including pronunciation help in both American and British English), but it also has a: thesaurus, medical dictionary, legal dictionary, financial dictionary, acronyms, idioms (super practical for writers too!), encyclopedia, and Wikipedia entries. All rolled into one! They also have translations at the bottom (though I like to use 2 other translation dictionaries instead--see below).

3. www.wordreference.com

My automatic go-to dictionary whenever I get stuck on a word going from French to English, or vice versa.

4. www.linguee.com

Another translation dictionary, but one where they give you tons of different passages where your word or sentence is being used, so you can see how others have translated it before. This is great when you're trying to find the perfect translation (nuance included) to what you're thinking about in the language you wish to translate.

That's it! These are my four go-to online dictionaries whenever I'm working on my writing. Are there any others that you use that you think should be on this list?

10 Fun Gift Ideas For Writers

As the Holiday Season approaches, we are often faced with trying to find gift ideas for our friends and families (or even co-workers).

Here is a list of items I find that other writers like me might find fun and useful, and won't break the piggy bank!

1. Post-It Notes

I use these a lot when brainstorming ideas for my stories, or editing (which I do alternating between working on a screen and paper). This also means I like to have a variety of sticky notes--to either help me quickly find a page or passage, or to add notes/ideas to my chapters (in which case the size of the sticky notes varies).

Here are some types that I like to use:





2. Pens

I go through these really fast--not only do I have them in every bag/purse and over all flat surfaces at my place, but I also write longhand a tremendous amount. Either ideas that come to mind, or copying interesting passages/ideas I've read/heard about; editing on paper; brainstorming (I like to use notebooks for that stage).

For this reason, I like to have fun pens that are also light (especially if you end up writing a lot). So here are a few that I like, from just silly and fun, to silly but a little more refined:




3. Lined Notebooks

I use varying kinds of notebooks (but all have to be lined), depending on the purpose. For instance, I like them to be bigger when I know which story I'm going to develop next, but need to come up with the ideas for the story (brainstorming scenes, events, people, places, etc, etc).
However, I like medium-sized notebooks when I'm studying writing. By this, I mean that I read a lot, and when I find a passage or dialogue or even just a vocabulary word that I find really well written, I like to copy it down. I also like to write down interesting descriptions or thoughts that I come up with, so I don't forget them. And most items are noted depending on the type (D for dialogue, for example, and d for description, etc.).
Finally, I like the smaller notebooks for whenever I leave the house, that way if an idea strikes me, I can just pull it out along with one of my fun pens, and write down my idea before I can forget it.



4. Special Address Book

I use an address book (only 1 kind) to keep track of all my characters in alphabetical order (what they look like, key elements of their lives, when they die and of what, etc), so I can make sure to stay consistent throughout the story. This is particularly helpful when working on a long book or series with a lot of characters.

The reason I reallllllly like this particular address book is that, apart from alphabetical separations, the pages themselves are only lined. Nothing else (not even icons)! This allows me to put down as much (or as little) info as I want. Absolutely LOVE them :)

5. Inspirational Mugs

I know that every writer mentions coffee or tea, to the point that the image has become a cliché. But it's really anchored in truth. When you spend hours every day anchored to your desk working on a story, you need a little something (however trivial it may seem to others) to make yourself feel better (especially when the writing gets tough, and believe me, we all get those days).
So when I have to wake up extra early to work on my writing (which is every day before work), one of the things I love is having a series of beautiful and inspirational mugs to choose from to drink my tea with. Here are some I think others may like as well.



6. Other Miscellaneous Items

Remember that we writers spend wayyyyy too many hours sitting at a desk, which we all know to be very bad for our health...and (I admit) can get boring from time to time. Here are therefore some items that I enjoy as a writer as well, to either make myself more comfortable, help ease my back/neck/leg pains, or are simply entertaining.



There you go, I hope this list has been able to help you come up with a fun and useful present for the writer(s) in your life (or yourself--I place high value in rewarding yourself as well ^^)!


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Meditation Powers On The Brain

Art by dandingeroz

I am currently reading (among, possibly, 20 other books...yeah, I need to work on that) Mind to Matter: The Astonishing Science of How Your Brain Creates Material Reality, and though I'm still quite at the beginning, I already have so much food for thought!

The book talks about the science behind how our mind and thoughts can alter physical reality, starting with our own brain. As part of the intro on this topic, it brings up an article written by Tang, Hötzel, & Postner in 2015, which I'll partially transcribe down here for you.

The article talks about an astrophysicist/journalist, Phillips, who decided to check how meditation would affect his brain, and test it medically (to convince his skeptical self should there really be any major effects):

By Robert Voight/Adobe Stock

"After just two weeks of practicing mindfulness meditation, Phillips felt less stressed and more able to handle the challenges of his job and life.;He reported that he 'notices stress but doesn't get sucked into it.'
Eight weeks later, he [went back] for testing. ... They found that he was better at behavioral tasks, even though he showed diminished brain activity. ... [H]is brain had become more energy efficient. ... His memory tests also improved.
His reaction time to unexpected events had been cut by almost half a second. (...)
One of the brain regions the researchers measured the hippocampus, ... and the part of [it] responsible for regulation emotion in other parts of the brain. ... They found that the volume of nerve cells in th[at part of the hippocampus] had increased by 22.8%.
...Such brain reconfiguration is occasionally seen in young people whose brains are still growing, but it is rarely seen in adults. (...)
[There is an] accumulation of a large body of evidence [that has] identified neural growth in 'multiple brain regions...suggesting that the effects of meditation might involve large-scale brain networks.'"

So reading this, I of course totally want to try it out (especially if meditation will allow me to get less angry at, say, loud neighbors that keep me up all night, or help me stay focused on my writing). Despite being terrible at sitting for long periods of time with nothing to do but focus on my breathing and whatnot.

BUT...

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Meditation is a double-edged sword.

Indeed, meditation can exacerbate problems instead of helping us overcome them, particularly if we are already suffering from certain mental or personality conditions.

So instead of calming us down, meditation could instead "trigger anxiety, depressive episodes, or flashbacks to past traumas," and turn one more aggressive. In worse cases, it can truly make you lose your mind entirely, lose yourself and your identity entirely as "the boundaries of [your] ego dissolve," and push you towards suicide.

So, yeah. There's that too.

All of this does prove that meditation changes your brain, but whether it's for the better is not necessarily a given. And with my kind of writer's mind, I think I need to be careful. So for now I think I'll stick to what I know works for me, which is what I like to call "active meditation" or exercise (which I definitely don't do enough of, quite frankly).

Still, it is fascinating to see how much of an influence our thoughts have on our body, is it not?

Additional Sources:
When Mindfulness Goes Wrong
What Mindfulness Gurus Don't Tell You: Meditation Has a Dark Side