Creative Copywriter
Try to abandon, now will you?
Of tight corners and empty
houses – of walls untying
humanity and voices
trembling with
insanity
–
Fail
to remember,
now, will you? Of
water colors and bursting
canvases – of time filling infinity
and those souls wandering serenely
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Rating: 2.5/5
Warning: This review is full of spoilers.
I take ratings quite seriously, which is why, when I looked at the 4.4 stars given to this book, I allowed myself to become excited. However, I felt my hopes dwindle with each succeeding chapter. Such high praise for Lily Bloom’s life left me confused.
I understand that every book has characters who are different — different in behavior, different in their thoughts. But when characters are neither original nor different, you end up disliking the book.
Our main character, Lily Bloom, is a typical YA girl. Her character lacks depth and everything that happens in her life is full of clichés. She befriends a rich girl (Allysa), who not only decides to help her with her business, but also happens to have an extremely hot brother (Ryle). He also happens to be the handsome surgeon Lily randomly met on a rooftop. And he also happens to be a brooding rich guy who hates commitment.
In the first half of the book, Lily and Allysa continue to squeal, hug and share cringe-worthy experiences. They come up with an idea, they squeal. Lily decides to marry Ryle, they hug. Those chapters were extremely difficult to read — when has the sexy, mysterious boy not given up his single life for a sweet and innocent girl.
I was equally annoyed with the I-can’t-help-but-notice-how-cute-he-is scenes and I-can-feel-his-voice-in-all-of-my-body-parts-one-by-one feelings.
In the second half of the book, Lily finds out that Ryle isn’t the perfect guy after all (which truly wasn’t shocking). It seemed to me that Colleen wrote a story on domestic abuse, and then filled the gaps with a childish love story.
Don’t get me wrong, I admire Colleen for dealing sensibly with a sensitive topic which, in turn, makes the book bearable. The question domestic abuse victims constantly hear is “why don’t you leave your partner?” And Hoover, through Lily’s indecision and reluctant realization, shows us that it is not as simple as it seems. We see that Lily eventually steps up, allows Ryle to become a part of their baby’s life, and leaves him and her past behind.
This is the only part that I liked. A mature decision made by our protagonist who failed to show signs of rationality earlier in the book.
But let me end this review on a lighter note: I like to think that in an alternate world, Hoover changed her characters and improved their storylines, and everyone lived happily ever after.
What did you think of the book? Which character did you like/hate the most? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
I love taking pictures.
I love capturing moments in a photograph so that I can look at them in the future.
When my family bought a DSLR camera, I went through the awkward phase of zooming in on plants and thinking that the pictures were breathtaking.
However, later I turned my focus towards humans, and covered bridal showers, engagements and a family wedding. I remember dressing up and trying to take pictures of the bride and groom from different angles.
That day I thought to myself: I could become a professional photographer.
Unfortunately, engineering took over my life. It was only a year after graduation that I came across Shutterstock. I knew you could submit pictures on the website, however, I personally thought I would never get approved.
But I had told myself that I would try everything that I liked. So, I created an account as a contributor and spent the next six months forgetting that I did.
I wasted a great deal of time thinking about the various things I could add to my portfolio. However, one look at the top-rated Shutterstock pictures made me re-consider all my options.
Taking pictures of flowers, landscapes and rocks meant nothing. The website had plenty of such beautiful pictures. I knew I had to find a category that was still in its infancy.
Now, I was already writing articles and news pieces on blockchain and cryptocurrency. I always found it difficult to find exact images for these topics. After all, the concept exists on the internet and has no physical form.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head.
Cryptocurrency!
I had finally found my main subject.
Then, I ordered three cryptocurrency collectibles: two Bitcoins and one Ether. Unfortunately, the process took more than two months, and I lost my motivation during that time.
I was as tired of myself as you are after reading my continuous failure to follow my plan.
After a horrible case of writer’s block, I sat down and had a talk with myself.
It was now or never.
The pep talk surprisingly worked and I wrote a list of areas I needed to visit in order to take pictures. I went to my local cafe and the beach at night. I also created a mini photo studio for the rest of the pictures.
After a week of working hard on my ideas, I sat down and uploaded the best pictures on Shutterstock.
The road to acceptance was going to be difficult, they said.
And it was.
I got rejected the first time because I accidentally put the pictures in the wrong category. All ten of my pictures were rejected within two days!
Thankfully, my second attempt bore fruit and I could finally sit back and earn.
Wrong, again.
Two months later, I realized that absolutely no one was going to buy my pictures.
However, it would have been nice to see that someone thought my pictures deserved a home on their website.
After a long month of looking at $0, I stopped checking my contributor account. I put my collectibles and my mini studio in a cupboard.
Until now!
On July 17, I opened my account because Shutterstock had sent an automatic email regarding the tax form. And there I saw that the number had changed from $0 to $1.15!
The figure was infinitely small but at least someone had bought my picture!
I could hear the exclamation marks in my head!
I, then, rolled up my sleeves and went online to find out the article which had used the picture.
I was slightly disappointed by the money, but then I saw Forbes and I saw an article with the picture on top of it.
I couldn’t believe it.
My first ever picture was uploaded on Forbes! I kept staring at it for a while and bookmarked it as my first successful attempt at Shutterstock-ing.
So, what now?
This is the question I keep asking myself. I didn’t find it difficult to take pictures. But I also don’t think I’d be one of those Shutterstock photographers who earn $500 every week.
The reason why I took up the challenge was to see what would happen if I gave photography my best shot.
In the time that I wrote this article, another one of my picture was sold. So, my answer to my own question would be to push myself a bit harder.
How was your experience with Shutterstock? Where did your first picture end up? Let me know in the comments section below.
Habiba Tahir 