Or should we have said 813? Towards the end of the year, I did something crazy. I dusted and rearranged the books in my bookcase. This gave them the maintenance they hadn't had in a long time and allowed me to rearrange them, creating a new visual appeal. It definitely changed the whole atmosphere of the room. However, as I began, I asked myself a question that everyone has asked themselves several times: “How should I arrange these?” Once I had found an order that made sense

From Here to There: What has been written, read and produced? As the end of the year approaches, we turn to statistics. Reflecting on the year helps us to relive those moments and experience the associated emotions again, which is valuable. Moreover, examining our work both before and after provides us with the opportunity to give more informed feedback and evaluations, which will hopefully motivate us for the new period. As I write regularly, I wanted to review my work this

Are the things we read and write getting shorter and shorter? Or is that just our imagination? Our daily consumption certainly seems to be accelerating. This is evident in the entertainment tools we use and the activities we choose in our spare time. Take the songs we listen to, for example. Many are produced to be short or to have repetitive choruses. Fast, energetic genres such as rap and hip-hop are becoming increasingly popular. I won't discuss scrolling through videos on

The Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award... Each is a prestigious award given in a different field. The process by which most of them are awarded remains shrouded in mystery. Yet these tangible symbols of success undoubtedly give their recipients a significant advantage. In literature, for example... They make authors more recognisable, sought-after and famous. Interview requests come one after another, and dates are set for b

2026 Public Domain Arrivals January 1st is approaching! No, I'm not talking about New Year's Day, but World Public Domain Day! As I did last year, I have researched which works will become freely available to everyone in 2026. Which films, books, comic book characters and pieces of music will now be available for public use? Those who want detailed information can find the link to last year's article here . I invite you to take a look. I have tried to explain the process conc

Silent Heroes We enjoy using metaphors and similes to make comparisons in our narratives. Like proverbs and idioms, they have set meanings and can be used instead of long sentences. Moreover, our similes often have a charming quality. We usually construct them around living beings. The meanings we attribute to animals can become part of our everyday language and define people. Conversely, the characters in stories can also influence the narrative itself. So today, let's talk

Consume peacefully. We recognise that the world is changing rapidly, as are people. We prefer quick and convenient meals, and we pursue profits by any means necessary. The songs we listen to are getting faster, and we try to complete our tasks as quickly as possible. We want to move quickly and consume relentlessly. This applies to every aspect of life, whether positive or negative. We ask ourselves, “What's all this rush and hurry, mate?”, yet we are all part of it. It's not

Having written about it for the past two years, I was curious about the 2025 Word of the Year, so I did some research. Let's take a look at the words chosen by various organisations, why they were chosen, and what they mean. This will give us a general idea of the direction in which the world is heading and the prevailing mindset. You can read my articles on the words of 2023 and 2024  if you would like to find out more. As the final months of the year approach, I have been

The Author's Shadow in Characters and Events Whether we are aware of it or not, all of us who write stories project aspects of ourselves onto our characters. Sometimes it takes time to realise this, and sometimes it becomes apparent through readers' comments. This is also true of accomplished writers. This is why, when reading a novel, it is important to consider the author's perspective. So, which well-known works bear autobiographical traces? When creating a character or ev

Transforming Literature into Rational Games Poetry is a literary form that enables people to express their emotions. It serves as a tunnel for all positive or negative feelings. Words flow through it, ultimately sprinkling a bit of relief on the heart. But do poems always urge us to act on our emotions? Can't we make it more logical, rational, and mathematical? On the other hand, would this strip away what makes poetry poetry? These days, I focus on poetry more than any other

The Eerie Evolution of Halloween Have you ever wondered how the festival celebrated by the Celts hundreds of years ago became associated with writers such as Poe, Shelley and Stoker? How did it become so significant in the context of horror and Gothic literature? The Celts, particularly those living in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, celebrated a festival called Samhain on 31 October. The word “ Samhain ” means “November” in Irish and symbolises the autumn and winter harvests o

Last week, I wrote an article about balancing consumption with production when it comes to hobbies and artwork. Now, I would like to address the latter aspect in more detail. I have been pondering the consumption of clichéd and popular literary works. Any popular work that we dislike or have no desire to engage with can haunt us. Works that we are constantly exposed to through advertising can put us off, even if we bear no grudge against their authors. Rather than piquing our

Let's give some thought to a subject that we all think about, some of us engage in, and which nobody can deny. I hope you will also take the time to consider what is going on in your own life. I would like to share my current thoughts on our personal consumption and production. As a child, I didn't play many games, and there were probably others who played more than I did. Nevertheless, I mostly played physical and digital games on my own. Each time, I realised how enjoyable

To counteract the potential lethargy of autumn and winter, I am setting myself a challenge. In the hope that this goal will warm your hearts as much as a cup of ginger, honey, clove and cinnamon-infused herbal tea can warm you on a cold day, I invite you to join me on this journey. My aim is to embark on a journey of renewal. I hope this article serves as a signal flare to encourage others to take action alongside me. Although I love the beauty of the upcoming seasons, I am a

We all complain about how time-consuming social media is, yet we can't seem to break free from it. While we all have our own reasons for this, the digital landscape also exerts certain pressures on us. To satisfy my curiosity, I conducted a quick analysis of three different accounts and made some simple observations. In this short piece, I will talk about what I did, the results and the visible outcomes. Ultimately, I won't be giving simplistic advice such as “quit” or “join

We use all kinds of methods to choose what to read next. Sometimes we start with a friend's recommendation; sometimes we turn to the most well-known books in our favourite genre; sometimes we look for a short novel to finish quickly; and sometimes we just dive right into whatever book happens to be in our hands. Our book choices are as varied as our personalities. That's why, today, I want to recommend books to you based on your personality. Have you ever taken a personality

On World Letter Writing Day on 1 September, I'm not going to tell you to grab a pen and paper and start writing a letter. Instead, I want to talk about how this enjoyable and important activity features in literature. An epistolary novel is a type of novel in which the story is told through documents such as letters, diaries and newspaper clippings — or, in modern versions, emails. Other recorded texts can also fall into this category. These texts may be based on real-life ex

In Bradbury’s Pages, Memory Endures 22 August 2025 marked what would have been Ray Bradbury's 105th birthday. He was a giant in the worlds of science fiction and literature. This year, I wanted to commemorate the author who inspired my passion for reading and writing. On this occasion, I would like to touch upon an experience we all frequently encounter: forgetting. Bradbury powerfully conveyed that books and stories mirror the human soul and that burning or forgetting them c

In today's world, concepts are becoming increasingly blurred, and words and titles can lose their meaning over time. On social media, for example, anyone can describe themselves as a “writer”. But what does this mean? The fact that new concepts have not yet been fully developed while the meanings of old ones are changing is causing increasing confusion. This not only causes words to change, but also the values they represent, which may diminish them in the process. So, who ca

Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) was a pioneer of science fiction and a visionary of the future, passing away on 13 August. Despite 79 years having passed since his death, he inspired large audiences with his writing more than a century ago and made powerful predictions in the fields of science and technology. Through his dystopian and utopian narratives, as well as his speculations about the future, we will explore the concept of “the future” in the human mind. We refer to t