Are you thinking about taking up portrait photography? Or visual journaling? Or calligraphy or hand-lettering? Or even crocheting?

Take a look at Skillshare’s videos on YouTube.

If you’re like me, you’ll be inspired straightaway to delve into something new.

I’m working on making a dried flower bouquet at the moment.

What would you like to try out?

Are you someone who lives in the past? Do you look back and think about past failures, disappointments and unhappy times?

Learn from the past, but don’t hold on to it. It can rob you of the opportunity to enjoy the present.

Yesterday is over.

Enjoy the present as best you can.

And remember … tomorrow is a new day.

I’ve spoken about replacing wordy phrases with one word before. (Take a look here.)

Let’s look at some other phrases:

has the capability = can
in the event of = if
give a description of = describe
provide assistance with = help
at the present time = now
it is necessary that = must
cannot be avoided = must

Can you think of any other phrases that we can shorten?

“Traveller, there is no path,
You make the path by walking.”
Antonio Machado, Spanish Poet

When I started my business years ago, I didn’t think that I would still be working with business professionals 22 years later.

What an exciting journey it’s been!

Full of amazing experiences and surprises. 

But I can’t say I’m following a specific path. 

I’m making the path by moving forward. Learning to accept the unexpected and seeing where the journey takes me.

But that’s exactly what makes my work exciting!

Do you feel the same?

My medium was glass years ago. I was even interviewed by Radio Berg about my hobby. 

My goodness was I nervous. I was mortified to hear all those “Ums” and “Ahs” when I heard myself on the radio later.

But that’s beside the point.

If you’re an artist, you might like to listen to David Bowie’s important advice.

Of course, you don’t need to stop using the word ‘very’.

But good writers avoid it, as it’s often overused and can sound a bit boring.

So what can we do instead?

Expand our vocabulary.

Here are some examples:

very nice = charming
very boring = dreary, tedious
very clean = spotless
very cold = freezing
very deep = bottomless
very difficult = complex
very dirty = filthy

If you need help to find a suitable word, take a look at www.losethevery.com.

Just add a simple adjective and press the Get/Refresh Result button and see what happens.

Or press the Random button to learn new words.

I’d love to know if you find this tool helpful.