Your writing style is like your fingerprint. And I'm not talking about your handwriting here. Do we still write by hand anyway? I'm talking about your unique way of writing. Your choice of words, the way you formulate your sentences, the use of punctuation. Your language and style errors, or the absence of them. To the point or rather elaborate? Identification based on your writing style DNA is coming closer very quickly and is already being applied in practice, including in forensic analyses. Parts of Shakespeare's works were not written by himself, some stylometrists - writing style analysts - claim. True or not, who knows? Still, the development is moving very fast, driven by AI, artificial intelligence. Do you write under a pseudonym because of your sharp pen? Then you'd better watch out. It is probably only a matter of years before stylometrists, armed with a few Terabytes of AI, will figure out, with razor-sharp precision, who you are, what you write and, just as frighteningly, imitate you almost seamlessly.

The curse of the Powerpoint terror

Public speaking. A dream for some, a nightmare for most. Reality for a ‘happy few’?

On TV it often looks pretty cool, as long as the teleprompter plays the text neatly, and as long as the speaker (m/f/+) is not short-sighted, staring with squinted eyes just next to the camera.

The average professional performs even worse, and torments the audience with a shipload of screens and a tidal wave of texts. The audience will need no more than ten seconds per ‘slide’ to work their way through the porridge of words on screen, but the professional stubbornly continues to speak, reading the texts as if the projection screen has the monopoly on the truth and as if the audience has nothing else to do than to listen to the tsunami of text, which is all on the screen anyway. But hey… the professional is paid handsomely, so it must be good for something, right? And after the speech, the free lunch often awaits, so they just leave it that way. The curse of the PowerPoint terror. The average amateur video on YouTube is better designed, more attractive and more informative.

Yet it is not all that complicated. But it does take effort. Compare it to learning to swim, ride a bike, cook, drive a car. And finally, most important: know, better than anyone, what you are talking about. After all, your audience has come for you.

I always wrote my first stories in the first person. I wrote as ‘I’. I had good reasons for that. I had just started, the writing was still a bit difficult, and I actually started with stories about myself, which simply wrote best in the ‘I’ form. In a later stage, I sometimes converted my story to the third person.

Many writers tend to stick to paths they once chose. You can be successful in this. However, I recommend that you experiment as a writer. Throughout your writing life. No matter at which level, it will give you a lot of satisfaction as a writer.

“Writing seems super to me, but where do I find the time? The inspiration? I have dozens of ideas, my head full of everything I’ve experienced at the office. Not to mention the winged words of my mother-in-law. But I can’t get a single sentence on paper. Let me face reality: this will lead to nothing. Never!”

I don't even remember when it started, but suddenly it was there: the comfort zone. Managers, executives, consultants, psychologists, even writers cursed the comfort zone as the place not to be.

The comfort zone does exist. Play with it and expand it. But stay within it. A rubber band may stretch, not break.

“When I finally have time, I’ll write the work of my life,” the tax inspector said.

Write! Little bits, whenever it suits you. During your lunch break, on the train, while waiting for a meeting that just won't start, a pointless meeting that just won't end, or a soap opera that won't get exciting. Try it, fifteen minutes before going to bed. Or when you can't sleep.