Thursday 31 December 2020

Books I read in 2020. And I dearly recommend them.

2020 was not an easy year. But we coped, arming ourselves with beautiful things. Books always bring me joy and I love to discover new authors or new styles in authors I am already familiar with.

If you are in search of good books to read, please find below my list.

Should you be curious to read my books, you can find some of them here, here, and here.

The list of good books I read in 2020 is as follows:

10 minutes 38 seconds in This Strange World - Elif Shafak

Into the Water - Paula Hawkins

The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

Bottled Goods - Sophie van Llewyn 

Anxious People - Fredrik Backman

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

The Portable Veblen - Elizabeth McKenzie

Every Thing is Fucked - Mark Manson

A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle

An Oath for Senselessness - Ana Barton

Tehomir - Horatiu Malaele

World Cup Wishes - Eshkol Nevo

The Palace of Dreams - Ismail Kadare

Blowing the Bloody Doors Off and Other Lessons in Life - Michael Caine

The Ten-Year Nap - Meg Wolitzer

Parents - Diana Badica

The Temptation to be Happy - Lorenzo Marone

God Help the Child - Toni Morrison

The Adults: A Novel - Caroline Hulse

Mila 23 - Dan Ivan

A Hard to Please Girl's journal - Jeni Acterian

The Girl that played God - Dan Lungu

How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division - Elif Shafak

The Woman in the Window - A. J. Finn


And you? What's you list of good books to read in 2020?

Monday 28 December 2020

Mom said so

When one is born in a family such is mine, where every member is a skilled storyteller, one has innumerous stories to tell. I reckon there are almost no occurrences that cannot be related to one of our stories.

Today, I am going to narrate the one about ‘Mom said so!’. This reply is used, within our family, as argument from authority (besides ‘Na!’, of course). Any small whinge is annulled by ‘Mom said so!’.

Its story goes like this. In the apartment building where my parents live, in Tulcea, there once lived a family with a lot of kids. The parents, working in shifts, did not have the time to cook their meals. So they would leave them money in order to buy some snacks. The eldest brother had the task of buying and distributing the snacks. On the night in question (when it happened that this expression entered our family vocabulary), the eldest was distributing a biscuit pack to each of his brothers.

One, a whimsy-whamsy, refused to take it. The eldest tried to give him again the pack, and since he was refused once more, he uttered:

‘Mom said so!’

And so the little brother immediately took the pack, and started eating. While us, have been honoring this saying ever since.

If you’re good, next time I’ll tell you about 'Ma friend, go la noi la unitate' (a mixture of Romanian and English meaning to express ‘My friend, go to our unit’). Though it’s very clear to me that I will not be able to live up to the way my cousin tells it. Maybe that it is why I can’t get enough of him telling this story.

Tuesday 22 December 2020

How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division– Elif Shafak

For certain reasons, it seems to me that this year draws a perfect circle. A thing that also applies to wonderful reading. I started and finished this year by reading something that Elif Shafak wrote.

Fury, anxiety, suffering, sadness and loneliness are the main characters of this book. All, actually, have one common goal – to hold up a mirror to our faces. Let us look at us in this mirror and realize our feelings and not give in to them. Just like Elif Shafak writes, we are all emotional creatures and, whether we admit it or not, we act according to our emotions. And this is where we must pay attention, for our actions may start things we do not want for us or the generations to come.

Identity is another theme of this book. What defines us? The country we were born in, the one we live in, our gender, aspirations or the organizations we belong to?

‘Put me together with an author from Greece, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Albania or Romania and you will be surprised to see how much we have in common.’

It soothed me and will keep as token the following:

‘Do not be afraid of complexity. But do fear those that promise you a shortcut to simplicity.’

Friday 11 December 2020

The power of ‘No’

Recently, I received a ‘No’ and it was a good moment to stop and analyze my feelings.

I do not know about you, but I have received a lot of ‘No’ replies in my life. To the point that it was high time I gave everything up for not being good enough. I never was and never will be the kind of person that if faced with a closed door tries to enter through the window. But I am persevering, I tell you that. Well, a shy persevering. I taught myself to use my hurt feelings for the best and try to find other solutions in order to achieve my goal.

 

It’s hard. I’m not going to lie to you about this, and I am not going to show myself as a superhero. It’s very hard to receive refusals and to keep the faith in your project. Inevitably, one starts to think if one should insist on it, given that people keep saying that one's proposal is not in fashion and it cannot bring too many interested parties to the table.

 

At the end, I think that if one finds even a faint sense or meaning, one should continue. My meaning? Well, if I succeed in making people smile and if, after reading what I wrote, they find themselves closer to other people, other people’s experiences and emotions, my meaning does exist. Maybe in more ways that I could ever imagine.

Thursday 10 December 2020

Reinvention

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Challenging times can only make us more creative.

And this is the case for my dearest artist, Iuliana. See below some reinventions.

You can see more of her work here -  https://www.facebook.com/MaraAlinaIuliana .





And yes, the painting in the background is also painted by her. And as a matter of fact, she also is the artist that made the cover for my novel.

Monday 7 December 2020

By the Fireside

It’s colder and colder outside and the yearning to remain inside keeps growing. And so is the appetite for reading. I have recorded some videos, reading from some of my published books.

The videos below are in Romanian, but you can read their English translations under each video.

‘Aventuri de excursionist/ Adventures of tourists’

‘….

‘That sucks! It’s not the first time I hear about thefts in buses.’

‘Yeah, I don’t get it why people steal.’

‘Well’ Radu said, ‘some have reasons, even though I don’t take their side. But others…’

‘They should work, not steal’ and Cosmin’s voice started to coarsen.

‘Work is not easy at all. Look at us, waiters, we work hard and most treat us like slaves, but you’ll learn to ignore them. They can’t go beyond that! Well, market economy isn’t what it used to be. Now we have to work even more in order to afford what we easily afforded once’ Radu sighed.

‘You know, actually, it’s the other way around’ Cosmin said.

‘Oh, really! Who says that?’

‘Bertrand Russell does.’

‘Never heard of him. Who’s he?’

‘He was a great philosopher, among other things’ Cosmin answered.

‘Oh, no! I don’t want to hear about philosophers. They talk crazy things, with no life experience at all.’

‘No, this one really knew what he was saying’ Cosmin firmly replied. ‘Russell believed that modern techniques could be used in order to considerably diminish the number of working hours, for example from eight to four hours a day.’

‘Aha’ and Radu’s interest started to grow. ‘And how could we do that?’

‘He said that if we tried to reduce the number of working hours, there would be enough resources for everybody, and more, unemployment would not exist because those that work extra hours would give from their surplus to those without work places. And thus, it would be a balance for all of us. And people would have more time to spend with their families, to develop or acquire skills, and to learn new things.’

‘Aha, your idea isn’t bad.’

‘It’s not mine’ Cosmin smiled. ‘It’s Russell’s.

……’

‘I am a Veteran!’

‘….

Being so amused by the faces she made, I didn’t realize she was shaking the beer bottle for a while now. She was just like a speaker at the desk, utterly lost within emotions. She opened the bottle and foam began to flow. Since she was really ashamed, she quickly pulled a glass closer and started to pour into it. Now, on the table, there was a glass full of foam. I didn’t say anything, that would have made me really insensible to the problems she mentioned earlier. And I was in no mood to scold her; a few minutes and the foam would vanish. Actually, five minutes, to say the least. I was always intrigued and amused by her and Oana; they would ignite so fast. Exactly like their mother.

”What is this, Elena? What does your grandfather have in his glass?” Ana entered the room.

”Beer, why?” Elena serenely asked.

”Then what type of beer is this? You only poured foam in this glass. Oh, dear! You must have agitated that bottle! You did buy another bottle, right? Please, give me that, otherwise we’ll be waiting here forever until this foam goes away. Well, father, if you didn’t know, here in Tulcea, people drink beer foam instead of beer” laughed Ana, taking her right hand to her right cheek and shaking her head. Well, she had to take after her mother, too.

”Hey, it’s nothing. We were so involved in our talk that we didn’t notice.”

”Oh! And what were you talking about?” asked Ana.

”Eh, nothing important. We were talking about flowers.” Elena’s eyes were burning with gratitude. I think this is the advantage grandparents have over parents. There’s a complicity between grandparents and grandchildren that parents can never have with their children. And maybe they couldn’t even understand it, being so over their heads in their duties as parents. Ana looked at me, trying to grasp the gravity of the discussed issues, and not sensing anything alarming in my eyes, she turned over to Elena.

….’



‘Sugu the squirrel and the dog Hapciu’

‘Sugu the squirrel lived in a small forest on the outskirts of a mountain town. The tallest chestnut tree was his home. From the top of Rur (that’s how Sugu named the chestnut tree), one could enjoy the view of the town. But what Sugu loved most was to climb the tree at sunset and wait for stars to appear in the sky. He found it wonderful the way the stars light up in the sky, as if an invisible magician would flutter his magic rod. Three very luminous stars and almost perfectly aligned were his favorites. He had heard from Raf the owl, the wise of the forest, that these stars were called Orion’s Belt. How lucky was this Orion! Sugu the squirrel would have loved to own such belt.

Every morning, Sugu would exercise. He jumped from one branch to the other and loved to race against Viju the rabbit. Sometimes, Sugu would win and this made him very happy because it was a real victory, knowing that Viju would never pretend. As it happened, sugu loved entertaining. Having those two front teeth, animals would always think he was smiling. He was, but he also tried to do something more.

....’

Friday 27 November 2020

Two good things


A couple of days ago, I was talking about the year that is slowly coming to an end. I focused on the positive things, a manufacturing flaw.

Space

I like the fact that I can make the queue at a store without being jostled by a buyer behind me. Well, this custom has not totally vanished because I still see people doing it, and even though they wear masks, insist on leaving no personal space between you and them for fear of people cutting in front of them. There was a time when I believed this was a reminiscence of making the queue during the Communist era, but it is not. I see there are also young people doing it, and they look far younger to even have been born on the days of the Revolution (end of December 1989).

Time

I have time. Yes, you have read it correctly. The two hours spent on the way to and back from the office have been given to me. Thus, in a working week, I can do what my heart desires with ten hours. I’ve been given the gift of time, as Ross would say.

Let’s also think happy thoughts!

Wednesday 25 November 2020

The case of motivation at a job interview

I recently read a post on LinkedIn about a certain question usually asked at a job interview and I laughed.

The picture of the post presented a simple dialogue:

‘Why do you want this job?’

‘I’ve always been passionate about not starving to death.’

 

Sometimes it’s a real slog to go to interviews. People expect highly motivated explanations to why one wishes to occupy a certain job. Sure, motivation should be there. Otherwise, there would be no applicants. But the thing is, some applicants find it hard to manifest euphoria in front of strangers. Others, like me, are characterized by a terse style. I do think that those who applied without even looking at the job post could be easily discovered (I know this is the issue). Yeah, I really do think that!

 

Inevitably, it reminded me of a question I’ve been asked at a couple of interviews:

 ‘But if you write books and you are a published author, and you are so creative, why do you want to work in a company?’


My motivation is the same as it has always been: I need to be with people. To build and gather stories around them. But even so, artists cannot live off their creation. Or, at least, only a few of them can.

Inspiration has been kind to me these past few years. Starting from 2015, when Sugu the squirrel gave me a slick smile and inspired me to write that children’s story. It seems he came to me accompanied by other ideas, and thus the novella, the short stories collection, and the novel emerged.

Long live my books!

Monday 9 November 2020

How to lower stress levels

 


Studies show that watching a beaver eat cabbage lowers stress by 17%. But what about if you were acting like a beaver?! 

I read this headline and watched the video of a beaver eating cabbage, and I laughed. It all took me back in time. Me and my sis were sharing the same bedroom (to the comfort thesis that I see implemented by parents, I tell you – there are no shared memories if brothers or sisters have different rooms). It was an autumn night, and after switching off the TV, I found myself not being able to go to sleep and somehow… craving for cabbage.

Well, I guess I was not good at leaving things for the next day back then, either. So I went out of bed and went to the hall and opened the fridge. I took a couple of cabbage leaves and closed the fridge. But I did not go in the kitchen or anywhere else in the apartment to enjoy them. Instead, I returned to bed and started eating them. The crunching and munching wake my sister up, and she asked me to leave the bedroom and finish eating.

I guess my sister owes me a lot for reducing her stress. It seems I was quite the expert back then and I had no clue about it.

So watch a beaver or be a beaver, whatever suits you best. But make sure to lower your stress. It does wonders for your health.

Wednesday 4 November 2020

Mistakes in communications

We all do it. There is no communicator out there that has not made a mistake. But everybody makes mistakes, and everybody must learn from them. Do remember: you need a plan. If you do not have a plan, please refer to this article to better understand its importance.

Here below is a list of the mistakes I encountered so far regarding internal/ external communications, and the interactions between employees:

         Length

Sure, there are two issues when drafting a message. It’s either too long or too short. Thus, one must always consider the means. Should you post it on LinkedIn, make sure that the post is no longer than two-three sentences (short sentences, by the way). Otherwise, it will be ignored. And this applies to emails, press releases, and newsletters – always consider the length and adjust it according to the channels and audience.

         The audience

One must always consider the public. I’ve seen tendencies to post on LinkedIn in the same manner as on Facebook. Just remember: for pictures of cats and dogs, cookies and flowers, there is always Instagram and Facebook. Professional must be kept professional.

         Less is more.

Well, yes. If you think that sending three newsletters a week and another two every month is good for keeping an engaged communication with your employees, you are in a pickle. People have jobs, tasks, targets, agendas filled with meetings and conference calls, they do not have time to dedicate to easy-reading. Not whilst being at work, anyway. What you’ll succeed indeed by doing this is to make them filter your emails directly to the trash file. You don’t want to do that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?! It’s the same in communications. 

         Hiring the right people

If a company used its resources (time, people) to find the right candidate to fill in an opening, the most sensitive thing about this should be that she/ he would be permitted to do the job. How many of you feel this is not the case?! I know it’s a question of control (letting go, that is). I keep receiving examples of this, when is clearly a case of not trusting the others. And yes, I agree, trust is something one gains during a period of time and when one sees results.

It is fairly frustrating for those who have been hired for the job and are hindered from doing it. And frustration leads to unsatisfied employees. Unsatisfied employees make unsatisfied clients.

         Feedback

Since the day I first heard somebody mentioned this word, the organizational culture has not been the same. Don’t get me wrong, I value and encourage receiving feedback. But I am starting to feel that there only are two ways for it.

One – too much feedback.

Yes, you read this right. Some, not able to make decisions, have settled on solving issues with feedback. Thus, for every mere situation, feedback has to be collected from a considerate number of people. While, this could be seen as a democratic gesture, it is not. And more so, it’s a waste of time. For example, if we should let the people of a country vote for any proposal, the role of the main institutions would perish and so would the country. Sure, we need the people to give us direction, but there are certain institutions that have their proper roles and that should not be denied to them.

So it is with those that use feedback to mask their insecurities. Decisions must be promptly made (according to the situation, as well) and feedback must be considerately asked or given.

Two – ignoring the feedback.

Well, it’s no point in constantly asking feedback if one always chooses to ignore it. This is exactly as in the story with the boy that cried wolf. People will give you feedback, until one day when they will realize that it is in vain and they will decide to never do it again.

         Kind reminder

Well, all the apps we’ve got constantly remind us that we are too busy. So much, that they even created an app to tell us it’s high time to move, to drink water and to take some steps.

The same for kind reminder emails. They are constantly used to remind a certain person the need of a reply still exists in the sender. While I don’t blame people who do not reply at the first ‘kind reminder’, I do do it when a fourth one is sent.

         WACAMA

One of my husband’s former boss taught him this. And it strikes me as wonderful advice, too.

WACAMA stands for walk, call and email. Thus, in matters of emergency, we must firstly, walk and have a face-to-face discussion, and then call and send emails. One can’t always get to the office of the person one needs to clarify things with, but sending emails has grown upon us and, somehow, we fail to connect and keep a professional relationship with others. Just by sending emails, we think we have done our jobs and all we have to do now is to wait for the reply.

Keep in mind – when it is an emergency, don’t just send an email. You have two other steps before doing that.

Friday 30 October 2020

The Peak of Luxury during Weekends

To wake up and read a couple of pages from a book, or to watch a movie or an episode from your favorite series.

And then, to go back to sleep.

Wednesday 28 October 2020

The Peak of Luxury

 

Morning. I look out of the window to the haze so dense that it could almost be spread on bread, like the cheese in the famous TV spot. I squinted my eyes, trying to see if it started raining.

And that’s when the realization dawned on me. The peak of luxury is to be able to sit at home while outside is raining.

Saturday 24 October 2020

Adventures … at the Romanian Post Office

You know me, I am the one with the adventures. I keep gathering and gathering them, and sometimes I even put them in writing.

A few months ago, a friend of mine wrote about how she made the decision of never using again the services of the Romanian Post Office. And I agreed with her on that. Mostly, in hindsight of what had happened to me a few weeks before her post.

Last summer, I was on holiday through the country (needless to mention that I have gathered enough material for the continuation of the Adventures of tourists). We arrived in Timisoara and we were enchanted to see it looked more beautiful than it did nine years ago.

I wanted to buy some postcards with main sights from Timisoara and to send them in Romania and abroad. Every souvenirs shop or bookshop I entered, that sold postcards, did not also sell stamps. Everyone directed me to the Romanian Post Office. So I did not buy postcards and decided that I would buy them all, postcards and stamps, from a post office. I must admit that I must have got this idea (of buying from the same place stamps and postcards) from my trips abroad where I was able to do it (even though not even today did the Romanian Post Office delivered to Cluj-Napoca a postcard that I had sent last year from Madrid).

Finally, I was able to find a post office, and the queue outside was not that long. Two girls were in front of me so I waited patiently for my turn. Another girl made the queue behind me and no sooner than one client exited the office that she went for it and cut the queue and entered the office. Probably, because all of us were wearing masks, she thought no one would dare to open their mouths. I did not. That’s also because the two girls in front of me took the situation in their own hands and went after her and pulled her out. When she exited, accompanied by the two girls, there was a certain smile on her face, like she had just received flowers. That got me thinking that this was not her first attempt to cutting a queue.

When it was my turn, I entered and went straight to the office to my right, where I saw from the outside that everyone stopped. I asked for stamps, but the lady there brutally intervened and sent me to another office, mentioning that she was very busy and that all the people standing outside should know better than to keep disturbing her. I wanted to make a suggestion and tell her that she could place a note in front of her office and thus making it easier for her and the clients, but I reckoned from the tone she used that she knew better.

I advanced towards the other office and asked for stamps for Romania and France. A picture hang next to the office, showing a POS and encouraging payment by card. That’s good, I told myself. I also asked for postcards of Timisoara. The lady looked at me confused and told me that they do not sell such things. I took out the card to make the payment but she told me that stamps cannot be paid by card, only cash. Probably is the mobility feature that stands in the way, I told myself. So, here I was, leaving Timisoara with no postcards, but with stamps.

Wednesday 21 October 2020

The ugly truth



I am committed to telling things as they are. You already know that about me, having read this blog.

Now, you’ll find few people mention this. But I think it’s a rather sore point and it should be dealt with. Fact: some people will set you back.

Oh, I’ve been there. And it is so frustrating – especially to me, since I’m proactive by nature and tend to plan ahead and consider milestones and possible situations that may set me back and how to address them so that my deadline is kept.

It’s true some people do not get the importance of deadline. You could explain and explain and they still could not get it. Some lack empathy and thus no matter how well you state your reasons, you won’t get that reaction from them – to send the information you need before the deadline is done.

Others simply believe there’s no importance to observing a deadline. So what if you’re past it?! At least you have delivered something.

Well, I can tell from my experience, dealing with this kind of people will demotivate you, stress you out and make you lose confidence in you and the success of your project. The ideal situation would be to not work with them.

But when you have no choice, you have to find solutions in order to make it work.

Here’s how I made it work.

I had this collaborator and it was absolutely a nightmare to work with. She would call me daily and have her monologues and excuses thrown at me, to no end result.

I am a really pragmatic person and I do not like to sit around and chat just for the sake of it. Conclusions must be drawn and actions planned, and never-ending meetings and calls without these are absolutely futile. 

Anyway, after a certain point I realized that she would never change and I was the one in charge if I wanted things to turn out differently with the project. One day she had called me 3 times and when I calculated the time that I spent listening (because I almost never got the chance to speak), I saw that I wasted three hours from my working day listening to a senseless monologue.

So I started dodging her calls and insisting on the fact that she should only call me if there was something urgent.

It was hard at first, but she finally got it. But that was not enough, of course, to finish the project in time. Thus, I talked with the other collaborators to the project and agreed upon the following action: since she was the only one not complying with the deadline, while the rest of us did, there was only one solution – to set a different deadline for her. And we did. Her deadline would be a week before ours. And it worked. And even though she usually sent the information after the expiration of her deadline, we would always manage to finish our project in time.

Well, some may judge the fairness of this trick. But it’s just it, a trick to help deliver a project. The thing is to always make sure your collaborators know about the special deadline so that they won’t give you away and compromise the delivery of the project.

Friday 9 October 2020

The holiday spirit

When I go on holiday, I like to buy tea, sweets and books. This way, I get to keep the holiday spirit even when I am back.

It’s the case for this book that I bought this summer from the town of Drobeta Turnu Severin in a small but full of books bookshop. When I look at it now it reminds of a particular moment I shared with the shop assistant.

(The Psychology of Stupidity)

I took it from the shelf and went to the counter.

The shop assistant: Oh. It’s quite expensive this book. But then again, stupidity has its heavy price, too.

And so we started laughing.



Wednesday 7 October 2020

Yes, that’s right.

 

Simple words, but so, oh, so powerful. They embody acceptance and motivate the speaker to continue with one’s narration. When one feels understood, one is getting closer to learning about what is happening, what one feels, how one feels and even to realize what should be done next.

If you do not believe me, try taking a step back from your emotions on the day you feel you’ve been wrongfully treated and still have the chance to tell somebody about it. You will notice the healing effect of those three words.

Monday 5 October 2020

Traditions

They say that creative people easily develop obsessions. And this could be noticed in their quirks, routines, in the way they organize their desks (to the right the things to do and to the left the things that were already solved – yep, it would be funny to see me in action, fluttering pieces of paper from one side to the other) or the drinks they have (tea, coffee, rum, sangria, wine, cider, beer) and at what time.

If it was not clear enough, the text above was meant to confirm it. Yes, we develop obsessions. For example, one such obsession of mine is popcorn. No matter where life took me (within Romania, Germany or Russia), the craving for popcorn was always on the priorities list.  

Being the traditions keeper that I am, especially when it comes to popcorn, that was not always an easy task – finding the corn kernels because I like my popcorn made in the tin kettle. So you must know that I was really pleased with my recent discovery on the box of a brand of corn kernels the recipe to making the traditional popcorn.


Sometimes I wonder how many people are there left in the world making their popcorn in the tin kettle. And I do like to believe that if corn kernels are still for sale in shops, then not everyone has turned to microwave for their popcorn.

Well, this is to you, my friends! And to properly celebrate you, I am going to make popcorn in my tin kettle.

Crunch-Crunch

Saturday 26 September 2020

Dad is right

My dad is a fan of Anthony Quinn. He has his reasons, no doubt, but I think he likes him because he reminds him of a dear one (in my family, we’re into the habit of matching famous actors to one of the members of our family – that’s how I got to assigning the looks of Mel Gibson to my nephew).

Thus, it was from my father that I learned recently that Anthony Quinn had played the role of a Romanian peasant. I went straight to IMDB to check. Ever since I learned that I do not know it all, I first go and check before contradicting him. And so I found that Anthony Quinn did play the role of a Romanian peasant in the movie The 25th Hour, based on the novel of the same name by the writer C. Virgil Gheorghiu.

I searched it and saw it online. It is really a good movie, and the script is really good, too. The actors performed wonderfully and I can assure you that you won’t lose your time seeing it.

The movie impressed me from the beginning, I must say. It swirled me away with the Romanian music and the picture on the wall inside the house of one of our dear Romanian writers (Ion Creangă).

Johann Moritz, played by Anthony Quinn, is a Romanian peasant from Transylvania. In 1939, Johann is denounced as Jew and is sent to a Romanian concentration camp. Then, mistakenly, he is enrolled in the SS army and appears on the covers of German magazines and books. Brought at Nuremberg trials for war crimes, Johann is acquitted due to a letter written by his wife, Suzanna.

Another interesting character is the writer Traian Koruga. Here below is an excerpt of a moving dialogue between Traian and Johann:

‘I do not want to see anymore, I’ve seen enough.’

‘But, Traian, there are so many good things to look at’.

‘I’ve looked at the sky, sea, mountains, and men… Men who think, but so many mad men!’


The final scene of the movie, the one with the smile, is by far the most staggering. ‘C’mon, you can do better than this’, says a photographer trying to encourage Johann to smile at the time of his encounter with his lost family. That encouragement to give a ‘big smile’ made me think of the question asked by the old ladies at the end of the ‘Silent wedding’ movie by HoraÈ›iu Mălăele: ‘What else do you want to take from us?’.

Smile as torture, that’s what this scene made me think of.

So please do watch this movie. My father recommends. And so do I.

Friday 18 September 2020

The importance of a communications plan


(Photo credit: Trey Gibson - unsplash.com)

Effective communication occurs when the message is understood as the sender intended to.

This is a sentence I read somewhere, and it stuck with me, mostly because I consider it to be true.

Practice makes perfect, and it is in practice that I developed my organizing skills. And I do think that no improvement can be seen without making sure things are well organized. That applies, too, in communications. Those who think that storytelling is the only skill needed for efficient communication are terribly wrong.

The need of a plan is far more necessary in communications, in making sure the message is received and understood as intended.

Main reasons why you need a communications plan:

         To have your goals and objectives clear as daylight.

         To establish audiences, messages, channels, activities, and materials.

         To clarify roles of the communications team.

         To have a better understanding of your resources and to be able to plan ahead for those you’ll be needing on the way.

         To consider possible obstacles and emergency scenarios.

An important thing to know about a communications plan is that it evolves. It is drafted when the goals of the company are set, but it may suffer changes and it should do so. Keep in mind how the COVID-2019 pandemic changed how companies function. We all had to adapt on the way. Nobody knew how to respond to the crisis, but we adapted to the challenge.

Personally, I think each company must have a yearly communications plan. Preferably, drafted at the start of the year and updated according to the needs that may occur during the unfolding of the year. A communications plan will never include all possible happenings throughout a year, but it will highlight main challenges and activities to be considered.

When drafting a communications plan, it would be useful to use the template of the year before and to insert what other wishes/ changes the management would want seen in the coming year. This sounds easier read than done, but with the right people and all the necessary information it can be achieved.