Neha's Notebook

Time and time again, people have wondered what love is. Sometimes we think that love is romance, sometimes we think that love is devotion and loyalty and faith. Sometimes we think love is sacrifice while sometimes we think love is eroticism. Everyone has a different definition of love.   Sometimes we believe that love is about our relationship with another person and sometimes we believe that love is about befriending ourselves and our deepest shadows.   In my opinion, love is like a butterfly that flies from flower to flower. These flowers are our thoughts and butterfly is our point of attention. Our point of attention travels from thought to thought throughout the day and all the time.   Love is also what causes the butterfly to fly from flower to flower, what causes it to select a flower and then move on to another flower and so on.   Just like a butterfly is born from the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, love is born out of a series of metamorphosis processes. A cate

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner As I closed the book after reading it, the book left me with a lonely feeling. The world presented in the book was so immersive and intriguing that it had such an effect on me. I did not want to leave this world once dived into it. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a bestselling historical fiction novel based in the setting of London. It is a story of 3 women, and countless other women who desired to take control of their lives. The novel presents the story of three protagonist women character named Nella, Eliza and Caroline. While Nella is a 17th century apothecary, Caroline is a present-day aspiring historical researcher. Nella has a shop in which she secretly sells poisons to the women who want to get rid of the men who have betrayed or wronged them. She works hard to brew every poison working day and night in the disguised corner of her shop. She has only two rules – that her poisons will never be used against any woman

AUTUMN COFFEE   Its October. Autumn is brewing… Leaves are falling down from the trees like flakes of gold. It is that time of the year when you want to slip in a cosy blanket and read a fiction book while sipping a hot cup of coffee and eating fresh cookies. In addition to this feeling of cosiness, autumn brings with it a set of lessons that we can learn from this season. First and foremost, autumn teaches us to let go. It is like a last lovely smile that trees display before letting go of the leaves from their branches. Before summer goes to sleep into the winter season, we can also let go of the past – the hurts, the failures, the regrets, the mistakes, and all before settling into a season of stillness and peace. Autumn is also the season of homecoming and nurturing the energy of presence. Just like leaves return to the soil from where they were first born, autumn teaches us to heal our emotions and return to the home of our hearts where there is an eternal bliss

TAUTOLOGY The saying of the same thing twice over in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style; a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words; a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form. Derived from the Greek word tautologos which means  ‘repeating what has been said’, from tauto- (same) + -logy (explanation, account., narrative). Examples : I personally crafted this painting for you.  The hot summer sun was scorching.  Single bachelor  "Discovered by Pooh, Pooh found it ." - Winnie the Pooh "To be or not to be, that is the question." - Hamlet In my opinion, I think he is wrong. She started her speech with a short summary.  He is always making predictions about the future I heard it with my own ears. Walk carefully because there is frozen ice on the road. She cautioned her son against slipping.  The evening sunset was beautiful. Either the fox is brown or the fox is not b

THE BLACK CRAYON   Once upon a time there was a girl named Gold. Her eyes like bright sapphires her cheeks like blossoms red and bold.   Gold had a box of crayons. With which she painted dusks and dawns. Colouring mornings bright golden with crayon yellow and with green crayons sketching blades of grass, soothing mellow…   With her box of crayons Gold coloured the sky and the bluebells, Lost in the sketchbook of her life Gold carved herself a sparkling rainbow shell, Reds of roses, and pinks of sunsets, orange of marigolds, and creamy white of jasmines, Oceans of emerald blues dripping from her dance As she played with winds, fire, moon and earth’s skin With a palette full of sparkles and colours, She painted her laughter and playfulness   Until one day,   when she came across a crayon the black crayon,   As she picked it up, and scrubbed it against her sketchbook’s paper, her laughter turned to dismay, a look of terro

17 Writing Prompts from Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down The Bones   #1 Tell about the quality of light coming in through your window. Jump in and write. Don’t worry if it is night and your curtains are closed – just write. Go for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half hour. #2 Begin with “I remember”. Write lots of small memories. If you fall into one large memory, write that. Just keep going. Don’t be concerned if the memory happened five seconds ago or five years ago. Everything that isn’t this moment is memory coming alive again as you write. If you get stuck, just repeat the phrase “I remember” again and keep going. #3 Take something you feel strongly about, whether it is positive or negative, and write about it as though you love it. Go as far as you can, writing as though as you love it, then flip over and write about the same thing as though you hate it. Then write about it perfectly neutral. #4 Choose a colour – for instance, pink – and take a fifteen minute walk.

FEELSTORA = A story that revolves around and reflects the feelings and emotional states that the writer has at the time of writing it! www.nehasnotebook.com

Story Alchemy: The Search for the Philosopher's Stone of Storytelling by David Sheppard Story Alchemy is a book that delves deep into the depths of the mechanism behind storytelling. With ideas like Plot Pentagon and Iris of Time, it digs deep into what makes up the fabric of a story. In this review, I share some insights I highlighted from the book. Insights about storytelling  #1 All storytelling is an imitation of life #2 By staying on the right path to good storytelling, you become worthy #3 the idea comes from the "chaos" of one's internal psychic state. It may be triggered by an external event or just pop into one's mind out of nowhere #4 The way to come into closer contact with your idea is to close your eyes and see it as an image #5 Conflict has many facets, and the storyteller should be student of the art of opposing wills. #6 Any aspect of human nature and social interaction, when used properly, can be valuable and may even be ind