The importance of poetry

The story of a race of warrior women first appeared in Greek mythology, but excavations across the north and east of the Black Sea region revealed that worrier women like the Amazons really existed.

• In December 2019, the graves of four female warriors from the 4th Century BC Sarmatian region were found in the village of Devitsa - now Western Russia.
• Excavations within the modern borders of Iran have revealed the existence of female warriors.
• Experts have identified depictions of women in battle with Greek men on vases and other ceramics.
• By the 470s, the Greeks began to refer to representations of the Persians as the Amazons.

According to Herodotus, a 5th-Century Greek writer and geographer, the Amazons maintained an idyllic all-female existence in modern-day Turkey. The women pillaged the Persian Empire and procreated with neighbouring tribes, raising the baby girls.

They met their fate in a battle against the Greeks in Thermodon. The Amazons eventually entered Scythia near the Black Sea and joined forces. Their descendants are the Sarmatians.

11. Edit your writing, solo or with a professional

12. Clarify and condense your meaning

13. Consider your reader

14. Study story structure and literary devices

15. Sign up for a writing class or course

17. Make friends with other writers

18. Be persistent and consistent

19. Stay humble

20. Embrace failure and rejection

Some serious benefits:

• You’ll get to know your own writing habits better
• You’ll develop writerly discipline
• You’ll stick around long enough for new ideas to occur to you