Logic within Language

I know I wrote earlier about my different languages and how one language might have expressions for things another doesn’t. Now, I feel I have to write a little more about them since it’s not only on the level of words where the culture is reflected:  this time, I’m thinking about the internal logic of...

The Best of Both Worlds

This week I got introduced with: ”This is Johanna, a writer”.  I almost corrected them: “No, I’m Johanna, the psychologist.” I’m glad I didn’t. Trying to balance out two careers I love in a way that works is not easy. But I enjoy both of them too much to be willing to sacrifice either one...

The Myth of Being Born an Artist

“She is so gifted.” “We all knew immediately there was something special about him, he was simply born an artist.” We’ve all heard these statements. And yes, we all have our specific sets of skills and talents. Some artistic tendencies we are born with. But it’s not too many decades ago when the skill of...

The Significance of Writer Friends

I know I wrote about the social life of writers before but I felt that writer friends deserved their very own blog entry, because they’re so valuable to all of us writers. Throughout the years, I’ve been blessed with some amazing writer friends. They have all been very different from one another, and each one...

The Many Faces of Writer’s Block

I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced the stereotypical writer’s block: I can’t remember sitting in front of a blank page, attempting to force out an incredible piece of fiction. This is probably the case because, for me, writing has always been about saying something I feel worth saying or writing stories I enjoy venturing...

The Emotional Balance and Well-being of a Writer

I have pondered in my blog already, how psychology is applicable to developing characters and understanding one’s personal perspective to writing. But it is also more widely applicable to being a writer. How could we support our emotional and psychological well-being? How is psychology related to the way we think and take care of ourselves?...

Recurring Expressions and Ideas

My writing tends to go in phases. I have certain phrases that I overuse for a couple of months –just to find a new pet peeve to take its place. There have been quite a few – some, like, whilst, sort of, thing, that – just to name a few from throughout the years.  Usually,...

Knowing Myself?

I originally began blogging to ponder how psychology has affected my writing. When studying psychology, I learned very early on that it is important to know yourself. Later, when working, I soon saw this principle in practice: it’s impossible to help other people with their emotions if you can’t even separate what their emotional reaction...

The Social Side of Writing

We humans have been called social animals more than once – for a reason. Even the most solitary ones of us need contact with others to thrive. From a psychological point of view, I couldn’t help wondering, what the social aspects of writing are? There must be some social relevance to what we are doing,...

Bonus post: A Positively Partial Book Review of “Fallible Justice” by Laura Laakso

This post was supposed to be a book review. Apparently, that means a rant of what I think of a book. But since reviewing books is not the focus of this blog, I decided to make this a bonus entry between my regular weekly posts. Here we go. I have to start with a disclaimer:...