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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31503526462557546932019-10-18T03:44:19.361-07:00Write.BestWhy Write Well, When You Can Write Best?Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-85400695253183969052019-02-19T17:27:00.002-08:002019-02-19T17:27:43.849-08:0014 Grammar Myths Your English Teacher Lied to You About

I Start with And, But and So:

Anderson likes butter.
Butter never satisfied Sophie.
Sophie never had a choice.

by Juliana LaBianca

Myth #1:

No conjuctions to begin sentences.

According to the grammar experts at the Chicago Manual of Style, you don't have to do mental gymnastics to avoid starting a sentence with a conjunction. "There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but, or so," they write. "In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice." These are the 51 more facts you've always believed that are actually false.

Myth #2:

Never start with "Because."

When you're just learning to write, starting a sentence with the word "because" can often lead to a sentence fragment. That's why you probably learned to avoid doing so at all costs. As long as your sentence has at least one independent clause, you're good to go.

Correct: Because I missed the bus, I couldn't see my dad.

Correct: I couldn't see my dad because I missed the bus.

Incorrect: I couldn't see my dad. Because I missed the bus.

Myth #3:

Use "a" not "an" before consonants.

You'll also want to use the word "an" before words that start with vowel sounds.

Correct: I'm thinking of starting an herb garden

Correct: The Knicks are an NBA team.

Myth #4:

Never end sentences with prepositions.

Many students are taught it's unacceptable to end a sentence with a preposition—words like "on," "from," "for," "by," above," "over"—but that rule is a myth. As Grammar Girl writes, there are some cases where ending a sentence with a preposition is necessary. For example: "I want to know where he came from" could be written, "I want to know from where he came"—but no one talks like that. Here are 10 more grammar rules you can probably ignore.

Myth #5:

Always use "who" when refering to people.

You might've been taught you shouldn't refer to people with the word "that." But this isn't a strict grammar rule. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, saying something like "kids that are late for school will miss math class," is perfectly acceptable.

Myth #6:

Never use "who" when refering to animals.

The authorities on proper grammar agree it can be weird to refer to a beloved pet as an "it." According to the AP Stylebook, you can call an animal "him," "her," or "who," as long as the animal has a name or you know its sex.

Myth #7:

"Such as" is the only way to list examples.

You might've heard that "such as" is the only proper way to introduce a list of examples. But actually, it depends on what you're trying to convey.

Correct: I love active dates like fishing, skydiving, and hiking.

Correct: I love active dates such as fishing, skydiving, and hiking.

Both are correct, but the first one implies a comparison. When you say you enjoy "dates like fishing," you're implying that you might also enjoy a date that someone might classify as being in a similar genre as fishing.

Myth #8:

Never end a sentence with a conjuction.

Oxford Dictionaries says this is another grammar myth you can safely ignore. They also note that in some cases, "trying to avoid a stranded preposition could lead you to get your linguistic knickers in a terrible twist."

Correct: The baby has no one to play with.

Correct: The baby enjoys being fussed over.

Myth #9:

Never split infinitives.

This "rule" states that you should never put an adverb in the middle of an infinitive. Think of the Star Trek quote, "to boldly go where no one has gone before." "To go" is the infinitive, and "boldly" splits it. In fact, there's no formal evidence that splitting infinitives is incorrect. "The only logical reason to avoid splitting infinitives is that there are still a lot of people who mistakenly think it is wrong," writes Grammar Girl.

Myth #10:

Passive voice is always wrong

While active voice is generally preferred, passive voice is almost never incorrect. In some cases, it even comes in handy. As writeathome.com points out, if you're trying to encourage sympathy for your subject, you might prefer to use passive voice. It's the difference between "Grandma got run over by a reindeer," and "A reindeer ran over Grandma."

Myth #11:

i.e. and e.g. mean the same thing.

I.e. and e.g. are both Latin abbreviations, but they don't mean the same thing. E.g. stands for exempli gratia and means "for example." I.e. stands for id est and means "in other words."

Myth #12:

Double negatives are always bad.

In most cases, using a double negative can make your sentence clunky and confusing. But according to Oxford Dictionaries, there's one case where they're acceptable: when they're used to make a statement subtler. The example Oxford uses is the sentence "I am not unconvinced." "The use of not together with unconvinced suggests that the speaker has a few mental reservations about the argument," they write. "The double negative creates a nuance of meaning that would not be present had the speaker just said: I am convinced by his argument." Only word nerds will understand these 20 grammar jokes.

Myth #13:

A run-on sentence is a really long sentence.

In grade school, you might've learned that any long sentence is a run-on sentence. But that's not always true, and in reality, it's possible for a sentence to be both long and structurally sound. A true run-on is when you put two complete sentences together in one sentence without separating them properly.

Myth #14:

There's only one corect apostrophe "s"

Everyone knows at least one so-called grammar expert who claims there's only one way to add an apostrophe to a word that ends in "s." But according to the experts, it's merely a matter of style.

Correct: The Harris's cat is in their yard.

Correct: The Harris' cat is in their yard.

from HERE

Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-22709756323847993852019-02-19T17:16:00.000-08:002019-02-19T17:16:17.530-08:00Wat a wonderful day
If this isn't genius storytelling, I don't know what is!

Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-24050770160754553022019-02-18T19:01:00.002-08:002019-02-18T19:01:42.140-08:00On Writing: Why I Don't Listen to Stephen King

by Erica Verrillo

Normally, I don't like to give people advice about writing. I prefer to offer advice on how to get your writing published, how to deal with the publishing world, how to be a success. I leave the writing instruction manual to other less qualified people – by which I mean famous writers.

These are the people who get big bucks to tell other people how to write. Their publishers figure, "Hey, the guy's famous. People will want to hear how he got there." That much is true; people do want to hear how Stephen King, for example, became a writer. But do famous writers really know anything about writing?

After reading Stephen King's memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, I have to conclude that famous writers don't know jack. That's because they are writing intuitively. They have a gift, and the substance of that gift cannot be transferred. They can only say, "This is how I write."

The section of his book in which Stephen King chronicled his career as a writer (starting in grade school) was wonderful. It was funny, and scary, and very down-to-earth - just like his novels. Unfortunately, he spends most of his book telling us not how he wrote his novels, but how we should write ours. No doubt, if you follow his advice, you will probably end up sounding a lot like Stephen King.

The question is, do you want to?

Stephen King's Rule #1: Don't use passive voice

Active voice is great if you want to produce a driving passage, filled with energy and momentum. But what if you want to convey something else – mystery, suspense? Here is an example of passive voice:

The body was hanging in the hall. It had been hung there some time in the night, when we were sleeping. As we made our way down to breakfast, we all stepped around it. Nobody looked up.

We all knew who it was.

Would this passage have worked as well using active voice: "Somebody had hung it in the night"? Absolutely not. The focus here is on the body. Using passive voice increases the tension and forces us to wonder, "Who hung it there?"

Stephen King's Rule #2: Don't use adverbs

The overuse of adverbs (anything ending in -ly) can be clumsy. However, the adverb, like any other part of speech, fulfills a purpose. Sometimes you need to describe how someone is performing an action, without a lengthy descriptive phrase.

Gently, oh so gently, they lifted my body out of the river. They placed it on the bank and arranged my tattered clothing to cover what remained of my flesh. Then they stood around me, in perfect silence, their hats in their hands.

If only they had shown me such respect when I was alive.

That passage could have begun without the "gently." But the impact of the (dead) narrator's voice would have been compromised, and the force of the final line would have been diminished.

Stephen King's Rule #3: Don't use a long word when you can use a short one

English, a gloriously complex language, is a mashup of Germanic and Latin roots (among other things). The Germanic lexicon is agglomerative: get up, get down. Latin roots are inflected: ascend, descend. Academic writing favors Latin roots, while colloquial speech prefers the Germanic. If you want to sound like Hemingway, or Stephen King, stick to the Germanic roots. But, if you are after a more scholarly effect, go for the Latin.

As the waiter stared at the coin in his hand, a slow flush spread across his cheeks.

The time traveler leaned back in his chair, adopting a stern demeanor. "My good man," he said, "I trust the generosity of my emolument will not tempt you into drink."

The waiter threw the dime on the floor. "Next time you can get your own damn burger and fries!"

I'll admit I've cheated. In dialogue anything is permissible. But, placed well, those five-dollar words can accomplish much more than their one-syllable equivalents. Here is the last phrase of Camus' The Stranger, taken from two different translations:

… and that they greet me with cries of hate.

… and that they greet me with howls of execration.

Which version do you think you will remember?

The real rules of writing

There is only one rule for writers. So pay attention. I will not repeat it.

You can do anything, provided that you can pull it off.

That second clause is the key. If you can pull it off, whatever it is, you will have written a masterpiece. If you can't, you will have produced a piece of trash. Being able to do something successfully is what is important, not whether you follow the rules.

from HERE

Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-9075683225825180072019-02-18T18:17:00.001-08:002019-02-18T18:17:37.126-08:00How to Bang Your Head Instead of Writing Your Book

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-15367874156303182542019-02-17T17:56:00.001-08:002019-02-17T17:56:52.625-08:00What's Happening When Writing Is Fun?
Writing can be and should be fun.

By John Warner

I've long believed that if we want students to improve as writers, it makes sense to make writing as fun as possible.

Ask students how often they experience school-related writing as fun and expect a lot of silence. It's not unheard of when it comes to the students I've worked with, but it's pretty rare, and I think that's a problem.

Fun isn't synonymous with frivolous, though. As it turns out, I had an uncommon amount of fun writing one of last week's blog posts, my review of/response to the new book, The Coddling of The American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. For the four or so days I worked on it, I was wholly absorbed in the process, spending many hours on task, and even thinking about it during my otherwise "off" hours.

Waking up at 3am because a felicitous turn of phrase popped into your head may not sound like fun, but it really can be. Figuring out what I wanted to say and the best way to say it became something of an obsession, and seeing the ideas develop as I was writing was, dare I say it, fun.

This is what comes to mind when I think about what matters when it comes to making writing fun, followed by the questions regarding pedagogy and assignment design that arise when I think about each condition for making writing fun.

1. Freedom of choice

From the moment I started reading The Coddling of the American Mind, I knew that I had something to say about it, even as I wasn't sure what that something was. It touched on subjects of personal importance (my concerns about rising incidences of student anxiety and depression), as well as personal knowledge and even expertise.

I felt equipped to be able to say something substantive in response to the original text. This had a big impact on my fun.

How often do I give students the freedom to write in response to something which provokes them the way I was provoked by this book?

2. Freedom of form

I started the post with a different purpose in mind, covering the book for my weekly column at the Chicago Tribune. Fairly quickly, though, I realized that what I had to say would reach well beyond my 600-word limit for that space.

Being able to switch to a blog post which generally runs 1000 words allowed me to keep following the thread of my thinking as it developed through the writing itself.

Which of course led to me blowing well past my usual length and resulted in a post that's well over 2000 words, too long for a typical blog post, but as the kids say, whatever. My brain wanted to follow the thread of my own thinking to its end. I ended up cutting around 1200 words from what I drafted because they represented arguments tangential to my main point, but even the stuff that hit the cutting room floor was fun.

How often do I give students the freedom to range into length or forms I may not have anticipated or prescribed?

3. Freedom of time

My obsession coincided with a weekend where I didn't have much of anything scheduled, and when I wasn't faced with any other deadline. The decks were clear to dedicate 100% of my mental bandwidth to this particular writing challenge.

How common is it for students to be able to dedicate an extended period of time to a single school-related task?

4. Freedom to discover

One of my mantras for my own writing is that I should be discovering something for myself during the process of writing. I can't start without some notion of what I want to say, but if no discoveries have been made during the saying, I probably have not maximized my fun.

Do my assignments ask students to demonstrate mastery of material which I've exposed them to, or does it require them to create some new bit of knowledge for themselves?

5. Freedom to roam and the payoff of curiosity

By my count I cited or referenced 15 different sources, most of which I've run across in other contexts in the last year. It's hard to describe what this feels like, but it's almost as though I'm doing a puzzle where I don't even know what picture I'm trying to replicate, but a subconscious part of my brain is bringing pieces up from the depths for me to inspect to see if they fit.

It's the act of making sense of the world, threading these different elements into a cohesive whole that hangs together.

It's a little mysterious, but a lot fun.

How often do my assignments allow my students to feel smarter than they previously believed themselves to be?

6. Not having complete freedom

While I think freedom is a necessary element to making writing fun and engaging, without some measure of accountability, it's difficult for all those elements to come together in a satisfying whole. Yes, the writing should matter to the writer, and intrinsic motivation is important, but know that there would be an audience at the end of the process played a role in increasing the engagement, and the fun.

All along, I carried a small measure of anxiety about the post. It would be aiming criticism at figures significantly above me on the academic/public writer hierarchy. I did not fear retribution from the authors personally, but they have fans and followers. The book is a best seller. If I was going to be critical, it had to be criticism worth expressing, and I had to do my best to express it well.

For most blog posts, given the nature of the medium and genre, I'm happy to allow some of my thinking to be provisional, a work in progress, but I knew that post would need to be as tight as I could muster.

How do I balance both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in a way that gets students wanting to maximize their potential on a particular piece of writing?[1]

Over time, as these questions became the foundation for the values I'd bring to designing assignments it became easier to engender these experiences for students, but even with them front of mind, it isn't easy.

When it clicks, though, it really is magic.
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-70434498546725163002019-02-16T20:31:00.006-08:002019-02-16T20:31:59.952-08:003 Steps for Writing a Glowing Letter of Recommendation
by ASHLEY COBERT

When you're approached to write a letter of recommendation, you should be flattered and hopefully excited to help your co-worker or old colleague. However, this scenario can also be nerve-wracking—after all, you're helping decide someone's future! How can you fit all of her great qualities onto one tiny page? What if you don't say the right thing?

Pause and take a breath. Writing a letter isn't rocket science, especially if you feel positively about the person you're recommending. I've written a lot of letters of rec in my day, even ghostwriting them for CEOs of many different companies (yes, executives delegate this task), and along the way, I've learned a few things that simplify the process. Follow these steps to write a letter that'll help your colleague get hired.

1. Do Your Background Research
Letters of recommendation can be requested for a whole slew of reasons—a job application, award nomination, acceptance into a school or board, and more. So, even if you know everything there is to know about the candidate's current situation, work ethic, and past successes, you still don't have all the information you need. Find out why the recommendee is asking you for a letter and what her readers are going to be looking for in it.

Before you start writing, be sure to ask the following:

What can you tell me about the position or company you're applying for?
Is there a specific time, project, or trait you'd like me to feature?
Who should the letter be addressed to and what can you tell me about this person?
Why did you think of me for this letter?
These questions will help guide the content of your letter and will ensure that you're positioning the candidate for the job or award in the best way possible.

2. Follow the Formula
Letters of recommendation should address three things: your relationship with the candidate, your evaluation of her work, and how she compares to others you've worked with in similar positions (a.k.a., why she stands out). So, as you're writing, structure the letter around those areas:

Explain Your Relationship
First, explain the nature of your work with the candidate, toward the beginning of the letter. This can be a simple statement detailing when you worked with her, for how long, and in what capacity. For example: "Jane was an account executive at my company from 2010 to 2013, where she was responsible for planning, developing, and executing marketing strategy for five of our largest clients. As her manager, I witnessed… "

Evaluate the Candidate
After explaining your relationship, evaluating your colleague's work is the next priority. This should be the meat of your letter, though the exact content will vary based on what you're recommending her for. For example, if you know the position she is applying for is in management, you may want to focus on how well she worked within your team and her natural ability to be a great leader. If the position she is applying for is more of a technical position, or maybe a writing position, focus on her ability to juggle several projects at one time while delivering results.

In any case, you'll want to explain what you saw in her work, and point to tangible results she produced. Remember that it's always better to show, not tell. If you say she is able to develop and implement sophisticated marketing strategy, point to things like the total marketing budget she managed and the percentage increase the sales team saw during her tenure. Any numbers or stats you can reference will help paint a strong picture of what, exactly, she achieved.

Make a Comparison to Seal the Deal
Comparing the candidate to other people you've worked with can be a powerful way to offer a strong recommendation. You might say someone is "the most effective project manager I've ever worked with," or "one of the top three employees I've ever managed." Of course, only use statements you truly believe!

This can also be a way to assuage any concerns a hiring manager might have. For example, if you're recommending a candidate who's young or who doesn't have much experience, saying that she shows "maturity and strategic thinking well beyond her years and experience level" can go a long way.

If possible, use a story or anecdote to demonstrate one of the above areas. It's easy to read through a letter and see that a candidate has strong characteristics, but in the end toss it aside because there wasn't something remarkable or tangible to remember her by. On the other hand, it's hard to forget someone who's made an obvious impact on and a true connection with her former colleagues.

3. Put in the Final Touches
Now the logistics: First, the person collecting and reading letters of recommendation is likely busy and has plenty of other pages to read through. In order to make the most impact, quickly, keep your letter short (no more than one page) and to the point. In terms of tone, you want to be formal and professional, but also enthusiastic. A lukewarm recommendation might as well be a bad one, so make sure you're conveying how much you like the candidate.

Use your company's letterhead and include your signature and contact information at the bottom. Include a date, address the recipient by name (if possible), and end with a statement about your willingness to discuss the candidate further, such as, "If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call me."

Letters are only the beginning of the different types of recommendations you may be asked to do, but these steps can help you through any form. Whether you're serving as a former employee's reference over the phone or recommending a colleague on LinkedIn, do your research, follow the format, and stay enthusiastic. You (and your colleague) should be good to go!

Finally, remember that if a colleague asks you for a recommendation, you've made an impact on her and she will be forever grateful if you assist on her path to success. The letter-writing process may seem stressful, but it's really an honor.

from HERE
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-22588512089173095252019-02-15T15:50:00.000-08:002019-02-15T15:50:18.408-08:00Writing better paragraphs
What is a paragraph?
Paragraphs are the building blocks of papers. Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc. In reality, though, the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences is what constitutes a paragraph. A paragraph is defined as "a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit" (Lunsford and Connors 116). Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long. Ultimately, a paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea. In this handout, we will refer to this as the "controlling idea," because it controls what happens in the rest of the paragraph.

How do I decide what to put in a paragraph?
Before you can begin to determine what the composition of a particular paragraph will be, you must first decide on an argument and a working thesis statement for your paper. What is the most important idea that you are trying to convey to your reader? The information in each paragraph must be related to that idea. In other words, your paragraphs should remind your reader that there is a recurrent relationship between your thesis and the information in each paragraph. A working thesis functions like a seed from which your paper, and your ideas, will grow. The whole process is an organic one—a natural progression from a seed to a full-blown paper where there are direct, familial relationships between all of the ideas in the paper.

The decision about what to put into your paragraphs begins with the germination of a seed of ideas; this "germination process" is better known as brainstorming. There are many techniques for brainstorming; whichever one you choose, this stage of paragraph development cannot be skipped. Building paragraphs can be like building a skyscraper: there must be a well-planned foundation that supports what you are building. Any cracks, inconsistencies, or other corruptions of the foundation can cause your whole paper to crumble.

So, let's suppose that you have done some brainstorming to develop your thesis. What else should you keep in mind as you begin to create paragraphs? Every paragraph in a paper should be:

Unified: All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a single controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the paragraph).
Clearly related to the thesis: The sentences should all refer to the central idea, or thesis, of the paper (Rosen and Behrens 119).
Coherent: The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development (Rosen and Behrens 119).
Well-developed: Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph's controlling idea (Rosen and Behrens 119).
How do I organize a paragraph?
There are many different ways to organize a paragraph. The organization you choose will depend on the controlling idea of the paragraph. Below are a few possibilities for organization, with links to brief examples:

Narration: Tell a story. Go chronologically, from start to finish. (See an example.)
Description: Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic. (See an example.)
Process: Explain how something works, step by step. Perhaps follow a sequence—first, second, third. (See an example.)
Classification: Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic. (See an example.)
Illustration: Give examples and explain how those examples prove your point. (See the detailed example in the next section of this handout.)
5-step process to paragraph development
Let's walk through a 5-step process for building a paragraph. For each step there is an explanation and example. Our example paragraph will be about slave spirituals, the original songs that African Americans created during slavery. The model paragraph uses illustration (giving examples) to prove its point.

Step 1. Decide on a controlling idea and create a topic sentence
Paragraph development begins with the formulation of the controlling idea. This idea directs the paragraph's development. Often, the controlling idea of a paragraph will appear in the form of a topic sentence. In some cases, you may need more than one sentence to express a paragraph's controlling idea. Here is the controlling idea for our "model paragraph," expressed in a topic sentence:

Model controlling idea and topic sentence — Slave spirituals often had hidden double meanings.
Step 2. Explain the controlling idea
Paragraph development continues with an expression of the rationale or the explanation that the writer gives for how the reader should interpret the information presented in the idea statement or topic sentence of the paragraph. The writer explains his/her thinking about the main topic, idea, or focus of the paragraph. Here's the sentence that would follow the controlling idea about slave spirituals:

Model explanation — On one level, spirituals referenced heaven, Jesus, and the soul; but on another level, the songs spoke about slave resistance.
Step 3. Give an example (or multiple examples)
Paragraph development progresses with the expression of some type of support or evidence for the idea and the explanation that came before it. The example serves as a sign or representation of the relationship established in the idea and explanation portions of the paragraph. Here are two examples that we could use to illustrate the double meanings in slave spirituals:

Model example A — For example, according to Frederick Douglass, the song "O Canaan, Sweet Canaan" spoke of slaves' longing for heaven, but it also expressed their desire to escape to the North. Careful listeners heard this second meaning in the following lyrics: "I don't expect to stay / Much longer here. / Run to Jesus, shun the danger. / I don't expect to stay."
Model example B — Slaves even used songs like "Steal Away to Jesus (at midnight)" to announce to other slaves the time and place of secret, forbidden meetings.
Step 4. Explain the example(s)
The next movement in paragraph development is an explanation of each example and its relevance to the topic sentence and rationale that were stated at the beginning of the paragraph. This explanation shows readers why you chose to use this/or these particular examples as evidence to support the major claim, or focus, in your paragraph.

Continue the pattern of giving examples and explaining them until all points/examples that the writer deems necessary have been made and explained. NONE of your examples should be left unexplained. You might be able to explain the relationship between the example and the topic sentence in the same sentence which introduced the example. More often, however, you will need to explain that relationship in a separate sentence. Look at these explanations for the two examples in the slave spirituals paragraph:

Model explanation for example A — When slaves sang this song, they could have been speaking of their departure from this life and their arrival in heaven; however, they also could have been describing their plans to leave the South and run, not to Jesus, but to the North.
Model explanation for example B — [The relationship between example B and the main idea of the paragraph's controlling idea is clear enough without adding another sentence to explain it.]
Step 5. Complete the paragraph's idea or transition into the next paragraph
The final movement in paragraph development involves tying up the loose ends of the paragraph and reminding the reader of the relevance of the information in this paragraph to the main or controlling idea of the paper. At this point, you can remind your reader about the relevance of the information that you just discussed in the paragraph. You might feel more comfortable, however, simply transitioning your reader to the next development in the next paragraph. Here's an example of a sentence that completes the slave spirituals paragraph:

Model sentence for completing a paragraph — What whites heard as merely spiritual songs, slaves discerned as detailed messages. The hidden meanings in spirituals allowed slaves to sing what they could not say.
Notice that the example and explanation steps of this 5-step process (steps 3 and 4) can be repeated as needed. The idea is that you continue to use this pattern until you have completely developed the main idea of the paragraph.

Here is a look at the completed "model" paragraph:
Slave spirituals often had hidden double meanings. On one level, spirituals referenced heaven, Jesus, and the soul, but on another level, the songs spoke about slave resistance. For example, according to Frederick Douglass, the song "O Canaan, Sweet Canaan" spoke of slaves' longing for heaven, but it also expressed their desire to escape to the North. Careful listeners heard this second meaning in the following lyrics: "I don't expect to stay / Much longer here. / Run to Jesus, shun the danger. / I don't expect to stay." When slaves sang this song, they could have been speaking of their departure from this life and their arrival in heaven; however, they also could have been describing their plans to leave the South and run, not to Jesus, but to the North. Slaves even used songs like "Steal Away to Jesus (at midnight)" to announce to other slaves the time and place of secret, forbidden meetings. What whites heard as merely spiritual songs, slaves discerned as detailed messages. The hidden meanings in spirituals allowed slaves to sing what they could not say.
Troubleshooting paragraphs
Problem: the paragraph has no topic sentence
Imagine each paragraph as a sandwich. The real content of the sandwich—the meat or other filling—is in the middle. It includes all the evidence you need to make the point. But it gets kind of messy to eat a sandwich without any bread. Your readers don't know what to do with all the evidence you've given them. So, the top slice of bread (the first sentence of the paragraph) explains the topic (or controlling idea) of the paragraph. And, the bottom slice (the last sentence of the paragraph) tells the reader how the paragraph relates to the broader argument. In the original and revised paragraphs below, notice how a topic sentence expressing the controlling idea tells the reader the point of all the evidence.

Original paragraph
Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won't bite humans.
Revised paragraph
Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won't bite humans.
Once you have mastered the use of topic sentences, you may decide that the topic sentence for a particular paragraph really shouldn't be the first sentence of the paragraph. This is fine—the topic sentence can actually go at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph; what's important is that it is in there somewhere so that readers know what the main idea of the paragraph is and how it relates back to the thesis of your paper. Suppose that we wanted to start the piranha paragraph with a transition sentence—something that reminds the reader of what happened in the previous paragraph—rather than with the topic sentence. Let's suppose that the previous paragraph was about all kinds of animals that people are afraid of, like sharks, snakes, and spiders. Our paragraph might look like this (the topic sentence is bold):

Like sharks, snakes, and spiders, pirahnas are widely feared. Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won't bite humans.
Problem: the paragraph has more than one controlling idea
If a paragraph has more than one main idea, consider eliminating sentences that relate to the second idea, or split the paragraph into two or more paragraphs, each with only one main idea. Watch our short video on reverse outlining to learn a quick way to test whether your paragraphs are unified. In the following paragraph, the final two sentences branch off into a different topic; so, the revised paragraph eliminates them and concludes with a sentence that reminds the reader of the paragraph's main idea.

Original paragraph

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. A number of South American groups eat piranhas. They fry or grill the fish and then serve them with coconut milk or tucupi, a sauce made from fermented manioc juices.
Revised paragraph

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won't bite humans.
Problem: transitions are needed within the paragraph
You are probably familiar with the idea that transitions may be needed between paragraphs or sections in a paper (see our handout on transitions). Sometimes they are also helpful within the body of a single paragraph. Within a paragraph, transitions are often single words or short phrases that help to establish relationships between ideas and to create a logical progression of those ideas in a paragraph. This is especially likely to be true within paragraphs that discuss multiple examples. Let's take a look at a version of our piranha paragraph that uses transitions to orient the reader:

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, except in two main situations, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas' instinct is to flee, not attack. But there are two situations in which a piranha bite is likely. The first is when a frightened piranha is lifted out of the water—for example, if it has been caught in a fishing net. The second is when the water level in pools where piranhas are living falls too low. A large number of fish may be trapped in a single pool, and if they are hungry, they may attack anything that enters the water.
In this example, you can see how the phrases "the first" and "the second" help the reader follow the organization of the ideas in the paragraph.

from HERE
Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-84700820208088560032019-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:002019-02-14T14:20:02.381-08:00Writing Your Way Through Emotional Pain
Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Journaling is a tried-and-true way of tuning into your feelings and helping yourself make the changes that you desire. It's a very simple process and one that you can do totally on your own, but it's surprising how few people take advantage of this wonderful healing technique.

There are as many types of journals as there are people out there journaling, and it is totally okay for you to have your own style and way of using journaling to make your life a better place to be.

Some people choose to write every day. Author Julia Cameron, who wrote "The Artist's Way," recommends something she calls "morning pages," where you write (a lot) longhand every morning. This isn't going to work for everyone—and, truth be told, I think she meant this to be mostly for writers—but we all can benefit from the exercise.

If writing daily is helpful to you, then give yourself every opportunity to allow it to happen. I have even given up other things, so I could write. It is a priority for me and not just a professional one. I find writing to be emotionally calming.

Another less intense journaling technique is keeping a gratitude journal. The process is quite simple. Every night, before you go to bed, you write down three to five things for which you are grateful. The trick is that you can't use the same ideas every day, so you have to search your soul for what gives you gratitude and then write it down.

This exercise may seem small, but because you do it before you sleep and the gratitude goes into your subconscious, it is actually quite powerful. Within a couple of weeks of keeping a gratitude journal, many people feel more positive about their lives. It can do wonders for your emotional pain, as you feel more confident about yourself and your life. It will also allow you to bring in more positive feelings from those around you.

The gratitude journal is really a great healer for those of us who deal with emotional difficulties. It allows us to share our feelings privately and then heal the thoughts that make us retreat from others and the world, as we gently change the way we think about ourselves and how we respond to situations that used to make us uncomfortable.

There are numerous ways to approach journaling, and it doesn't matter which method you use. In fact, I know several people who keep several different kinds of journals. Whatever you choose will help you heal your pain.

Now go to the stationary store and buy yourself a nice blank book to fill with your thoughts. Alternatively, if you'd rather type up your thoughts, that's fine too. The point here is to get those feelings of fear and those of gratitude down on paper. This helps release the fear and pain from your personality while helping you feel the warmth you have coming to you.

Journaling will make you stronger and give you some insights into where you really want to be in life. Your emotional pain does not have to stop you any longer.

from HERE

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-41011380498991739622019-02-13T15:24:00.003-08:002019-02-13T15:24:46.889-08:00Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well
BY AMANDA CHRISTY BROWN AND KATHERINE SCHULTEN

Rule 1: Listen to the Voice Inside Your Head

In a post for Draft, Verilyn Klinkenborg notes that he is often asked what his "writing process" is. "My answer is simple: I think patiently, trying out sentences in my head," he writes.

He advises student writers to do the same, in contrast to school-writing, in which students are "asked repeatedly to write papers that are inherently insincere exercises in rearranging things they've read or been told." (Or, we have to add, are school exercises masquerading as sincere personal essays, such as the one spoofed in this Onion classic.)

Mr. Klinkenborg advises, "Before you learn to write well, to trust yourself as a writer, you will have to learn to be patient in the presence of your own thoughts."

You almost surely have a voice inside your head. At present, it's an untrained voice. It natters along quite happily, constructing delayed ripostes and hypothetical conversations. Why not give it something useful to do? Memorize some poetry or prose, nothing too arcane. A rhythmic kind of writing works best, something that sounds almost spoken. Then play those passages over and over again in your memory.

Try Mr. Klinkenborg's suggestions and see what happens. And if you'd like to record the voice in your head, or some of the sentences you begin to experiment with, try keeping a journal. The Personal Tech section of The Times reports this week that you can now do that via phone apps, without the "inconvenience of paper."

Rule 2: Learn From the Masters

A classic Times series, "Writers on Writing," asked contemporary writers from André Aciman to Hilma Wolitzer to talk about their work.

Glean insight from authors like Jamaica Kinkaid on why she writes; Allegra Goodman on calming the inner critic; and Carl Hiaasen on scrounging for material in newspaper headlines.

What are your favorite bits of advice? Copy them out for future inspiration.

Rule 3: Read Like Writers

To learn "How to Write Great," immerse yourself in great literature, which, according to writer Roger Rosenblatt, can be anything from "Harold and the Purple Crayon" ("the lessons of the 'Odyssey,' minus the sex") to "The Great Gatsby" ("Jay Gatsby, who stood straight and sober in the drunken Twenties, and who, nutty as his yearnings may have been, really was great").

What books do you admire most? Why? As Mr. Rosenblatt does in this essay, you might try writing a paragraph describing what you find important and enduring about a book or author, whether your choice is an official classic on everyone's list or an overlooked gem you think others should read.

Rule 4: Review the Rules

In his hilarious "How To Write," Colson Whitehead plays with shopworn advice that will be familiar to many student-writers. For instance:

Rule No. 1: Show and Tell. Most people say, "Show, don't tell," but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they're like kids bringing their broken unicorns and chewed-up teddy bears into class in the sad hope that someone else will love them as much as they do. "And what do you have for us today, Marcy?" "A penetrating psychological study of a young med student who receives disturbing news from a former lover." "How marvelous! Timmy, what are you holding there?" "It's a Calvinoesque romp through an unnamed metropolis much like New York, narrated by an armadillo." "Such imagination!" Show and Tell, followed by a good nap.

Before you read the rest of Mr. Whitehead's rules, you might brainstorm, alone or in a group, your own "Rules for Writing" — derived from what you've learned in school, from "real" writers, from your own experience, or from anywhere else. When you're finished, consider:

Is there a difference between the rules you've learned in school and those you've learned about writing on your own?
Which rules seem most sound to you?
Do we need rules for writing?
Then, read the rest of Mr. Whitehead's essay, and compare the two lists. What did you learn about writing from his piece that you didn't know before?

Or, use his list as a model, and create a list of rules that spoof the advice on, or the clichés about, a topic you know well.

Rule 5: Study Sentences

In "My Life's Sentences," Jhumpa Lahiri writes:

In college, I used to underline sentences that struck me, that made me look up from the page. They were not necessarily the same sentences the professors pointed out, which would turn up for further explication on an exam. I noted them for their clarity, their rhythm, their beauty and their enchantment. For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.

Sentences matter. In fact, Constance Hale notes that sentences can even act as miniature narratives. As Hale does, you might collect your own examples of great sentences that are mini-narratives.

Ms. Hale also explores the "Sentences of the Masters" to demonstrate the different effects of short and long sentences:

Gabriel García Márquez writes unhurried sentences that almost defy parsing. William Faulkner wrote a nearly 1,300-word sentence that ended up in Guinness World Records, but he used the five words "My mother is a fish" as a complete chapter of a book. Joan Didion can stop us short with simple truths, and she can take us on strolls down labyrinthine corridors.

Look for examples of interesting sentence structure and sentence variety in a work you are studying or reading, then write your own "copy-change" versions, in which you borrow another author's structure and use it to create your own piece.

You might also consider excerpts from children's book to review sound literary devices and explore the music that sentences make.

Rule 6: Write With Non-Zombie Nouns and Verbs

Delve into Strunk and White's fourth style reminder "Write with nouns and verbs" by reading about what Helen Sword calls "Zombie Nouns":

Nouns formed from other parts of speech are called nominalizations. Academics love them; so do lawyers, bureaucrats and business writers. I call them "zombie nouns" because they cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives and substitute abstract entities for human beings.

Fight those nasty zombie nouns with vivacious verbs.

And to consider tricky questions like "Do verbs have to be in the active voice?" and "When is the passive voice useful?" use the rules and examples in this post by Constance Hale.

Rule 7: Punctuate That Thought

In a post on exclamation points, Ben Yagoda writes

Habitual e-mailers, texters and posters convey quite precise nuances through punctuation, which is after all one of the points of punctuation. A friend's 12-year-old daughter once said that in her view, a single exclamation point is fine, as is three, but never two. My friend asked her where this rule came from and the girl said, "Nowhere. It's just something you learn."

Look through e-mails and texts you've sent for examples of "precise nuances" you've conveyed through punctuation. What "rules," like the exclamation-point rule cited above, do you think govern the use of punctuation in forms of communication like texts and I.M.'s?

How might an older generation less fluent in these methods get the unwritten rules wrong? (Teachers: sites like When Parents Text might be useful here, but please consider whether they are appropriate for your students first.)

Here are some punctuation marks to consider:

Exclamation points

Use Mr. Yagoda's post to examine and appreciate the role of the exclamation point in a sentence, then track exclamation points you see in "the wild"— in texts, e-mail, advertising, literature, or anywhere else. How do audience and purpose help determine when and why an exclamation point might be necessary or desirable?

Periods

Mr. Yagoda's post also alludes to the use of the period in the Obama "Forward." Slogan and what it suggests. What, exactly, does that period tell readers? What about the period the band Fun. has in its name?

Semicolons

Semicolons mystify many. In Semicolons: A Love Story Ben Dolnick recalls

When I was a teenager, newly fixated on becoming a writer, I came across a piece of advice from Kurt Vonnegut that affected me like an ice cube down the back of my shirt. "Do not use semicolons," he said. "They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."

While Vonnegut's admonition may be harsh, Mr. Dolnick offers a good primer to using semicolons sparingly and eloquently, helping them understand the comma-period hybrid as writers and readers, which is useful, as one never knows where one might pop up.

Commas

Correct comma placement matters. Just ask Grandma:
Let's eat, Grandma!
Let's eat Grandma!

Use the Draft post "Fanfare for the Comma Man" as a jumping off point to examine comma use in a book you are currently reading. Copy sentences which include commas and use them to deduce the rules for proper comma use.

Then, turn to this post to check the accuracy of the comma rules you've come up with and check that your writers are following the rules.

Rule 8: Nobody's Perfect

Yes, Times writers and editors do make mistakes and the in-house feature "After Deadline," which the public can view, too, takes them to task by highlighting and correcting errors in grammar, usage and style that appear in print.

Use this blog to understand grammatical points, like subject verb agreement. Then, become a better editor of your own work by taking the After Deadline Quiz.

Rule 9: Fail

Learn from your mistakes and failures, a topic Augusten Burroughs tackles in
"How to Write How-To":

… to pass along the knowledge of how to succeed, first you must know how to fail. A great deal, if possible. This is essential because it's far more common (and easier) to make mistakes than to enjoy success. Being aware of potential points of derailment helps to better and more accurately navigate your readers past your own missteps so they can succeed where perhaps you first failed quite miserably.

Value mistakes, and the successes that grow from them, by keeping a portfolio of your work, including revisions and editing exercises. You might even reflect in writing on how your writing has progressed, or create a timeline of your development as a writer to see, laid out chronologically, how you've grown from as a writer over time.

from HERE
Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-7854925137918170952019-02-12T15:01:00.002-08:002019-02-12T15:01:44.078-08:00How to 'just write'
by Dorothea Brooke

This is not about how to write well. If you've come here for expert advice on how to refine your art and create beautiful, engaging prose that scintillates and inspires, I'm sorry. You're clearly in the wrong place — I just used the word scintillates, for Heaven's sake, and I'm about to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction. But if you want to know how to knuckle down and write any damn thing, this post is for you.

There is plenty of advice out there on how to write well. Before there is even the ghost of possibility of writing well, one first needs to know how to just write. Not just at the basic level of acquiring the literacy skill required to know how to put together a grammatically correct sentence (although, obviously, there's that), but how to actually do that on a practical level, in sustained stretches, regularly. Daily, even.

There isn't so much advice out there on how to make writing part of your life, other than just do it. So here are my suggestions on how to just write.

Write any old drivel. For a lot of would-be writers, writing is more than just a hobby; it's a calling, a latent but significant aspect of their deepest authentic self, which when finally given the time and opportunity to develop into its potential will be the complete expression of their identity and place in this world. That's a lot of pressure to put on a talent that you haven't really practised since that 3 chapter novella about dinosaurs eating chocolate you laboured over in third grade. The link between perfectionism and procrastination might be overstated but I know that waiting to write when I'm ready to really be a writer held me back from actually writing.

Start by writing some trashy fan-fiction, terribly derivative fantasy stories, or travel blog monologues about your nothing-new spiritual awakening in India. Whatever gets you actually writing. I started by writing terrible erotica that was never meant to be a full expression of my real writing talent. there was no pressure for it to be good. I also started journaling. Building a daily journaling habit has been hard, but the immediate value for my mental well being was a motivating force. Journaling is still a valued part of my personal development and self care routines, and my journal is fertile ground in which to allow vague notions to grow into actual, usable ideas.

Start with a word-count goal first, then progress to project goals. By project goals, I mean aiming to complete a whole text — something like, 'write How to Just Write for Medium'. The problem with project goals is that they are as long as a piece of string. If it's the kind of thing you've never done before, it could be short and achievable, but also, it could potentially be very long, approaching infinite, with revisions and reworking and deleting then adding, deleting then adding.

So, there is a high chance of failure and discouragement as you realise that this writing thing isn't as easy as it should be, you're not as full of untapped talent that just needed an opportunity to gush forth as you thought you were. Clearly, you don't know what you're doing, and now that feeling of creative genius ready to flow from your speedily tapping fingers feels like some swelling mass inside of you that you don't have the strength to be free of. Or so I've heard.

So, project goals are not the best way to start small and build up gradually. A word count keeps it confined and measurable. I started with the meagre goal of 400 words a day. A pittance, something possible to hack out on a google doc on my phone during my lunch break at work. Yet even that was hard at first. I managed 4 days in a row, then got a miserable 272 words on a day where I just didn't have time.

There's the lie. 'I don't have time.' Actually, I just didn't make time. Making time for writing is the hardest stumbling block for a lot of people. You have time to read this blog, so you have time to write. Stop reading now, go pump out 400 words. Write any old drivel. Come back when you're done, I'll still be here.

Track your progress.

You can track your increase in word count, and this will motivate you to keep pushing that number up. Another thing you can track is your words per minute. Measure yourself and celebrate your improvements. Motivation snow balls as you see your successes.

Make specific appointments with your writing. Schedule it in. Start in small blocks of time at first.

My schedule varies every day and changes completely every 8 weeks, so I don't write at a routine time. I schedule it in when I schedule in my weekly activities (if you want to know more about how I tabulate the heck out of my life, I wrote about it here).

Get the conditions as right as possible, but work with what you've got. Absolute silence, nil distractions, a large screen computer with keyboard letters that make a delicate click like a little pebble in a jar with every letter added, a firm but comfortable chair that swivels and adjusts, ample time due to lack of other employment, bright but warm lighting, a cool but delicate breeze, a window onto natural scenery and the absence of concerns about money, freedom, health, parenting, or housekeeping: these are the conditions under which I would write my perfect novel.

In the meantime, I write short stories and flawed blog posts on a second hand laptop in a quiet-ish corner of the library on my lunch break. I sometimes add a little here and there on my phone screen using Google docs (I'm doing this right now, in fact, at the front of a classroom because I'm early to my morning lesson and my students don't share my enthusiasm to get started).

Some things that I've done to make conditions not perfect but as conducive to writing as possible are:

Writing in the library or other focused-feeling space.

Using a laptop which I use for little else than writing — — I don't dick around on the internet on this laptop so it would feel weird to just open social media in another tab and just do a 'quick check'.

Making a big, awkwardly overfull cup of tea to keep me planted on my seat for at least the first 15 minutes if I'm writing at home.

Removing myself from the company of other people. I don't write well when I'm conscious if people looking over my shoulder, but I can focus if I put a few metres between us.

Get an audience for your writing. The three main ways that building a readership for your writing helps (even if you're not yet brilliant) are encouragement, accountability and feedback.

Whether that audience is your mum, the blog readers of Medium, a social media following, other writers in collectives like this one or real live writer's groups, etc., the important thing is that you have someone else look at your work. Writing is an act of communication. It is incomplete without being shared.

Overwhelmingly, feedback on my writing efforts has been supportive, positive, constructive and genuinely helpful. Writing on my blog and website has forced me into the regular habit of writing because I know I have to keep writing regularly to build an audience.

And I know I can't just write half baked rubbish, because someone out there in the real world is going to read it. Thanks.

Writing is like any other skill— it is achieved by regular, consistent and mindful practice. Did you get out those 400 words?

from HERE

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-40605011642496216072019-02-11T18:59:00.003-08:002019-02-11T18:59:51.244-08:00Warning: Writing Like This Will Make Your Readers Cry
BY JEFF GOINS WRITING

This is a guest post by Brandon Clements. Brandon is a pastor and author from Columbia, SC. You can connect with him on his blog, Twitter, or Facebook. Check out his novel, Every Bush Is Burning.

Can I ask you a question? Since I can't really hear you, I'm going to, anyway: Why do you write?

To inspire? To critique, teach, or motivate? To remember (or forget)? For self-expression? Because you have a fire burning in your bones, and you simply must?

Out of all the perfectly legitimate reasons that you could write, I imagine you don't do it to merely entertain. No, you want to touch your readers, move them in some way. Even cause them to cry.

Shattering the frozen sea

Frank Kafka once said, "A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us."

Be honest. You dream about your writing having that affect on someone, don't you? Because words have had that affect on you.

The frozen sea inside of you has been shattered by stories, truths, ideas, and turns of phrase so astounding that you had no words to respond or even tell someone what it meant to you. Isn't that why you want to write?

So, how do you write words that will move people, and potentially even play a part in breaking the frozen sea inside of them? It's actually quite simple:

You write what moves you.

Except that part is not always easy. Because in order to write what moves you, you will have to visit your pain. Your fear. Your weaknesses. Your nightmares and demons. The skeletons in your closet and the horrific possibility of self-disclosure, even if veiled in stories and themes.

Because, as you well know, that's where the frozen sea inside of you is. If you are ever going to crack the ice of another person's soul, you have to be brave enough to go first. To be a witness. A testimony. An example.

You have to go first
If you love your reader, you will go first. You have to lead them on this journey. To show them how and why it's important.

There is enough fluffy, meaningless drivel on paper to fill the Marianas Trench. So don't add to it. Write something that matters. And write it with conviction:

Write about the truths and ideas that are so astonishing you can hardly believe them.
Write the story that keeps you awake, tossing and turning at night because it echoes the ache in your soul.
Write that memoir, and include the parts that you are terrified of putting on paper, because it will remind you they are real. (Some may no doubt need the support of a friend, therapist, or pastor for this.)
Whatever it is, write about those things that punch you in the throat and stir your insides.

Because if it moves you — if it raises a lump in your throat as you type, it will move someone else.

It might just give them the hope that you've been given by other writers, with their words and stories that have inspired and reminded you that you are not alone. Aren't you glad they went first?

As I was writing my first novel, there were many times where tissues had to guard my keyboard from falling tears. The story I was writing moved me and, thankfully, it has gone on to move others.

Such is the inexplicable magic of words, and I am in awe of the weight they can carry.

This is not just for the reader
Oh, and one more thing: Don't believe that going first is only a gift to your reader.

It is first a gift for you — and a very meaningful one at that.

We all need to go to our frozen sea, because seas were not meant to be frozen. They are meant to thrash about with life.

So, what are you waiting for? Go find your ax. And get to work.

from HERE
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-31332560135452561982019-02-11T06:25:00.002-08:002019-02-11T06:25:58.567-08:00Writing Tips 40 Experts Wish They'd Known as Beginners
By Jerry Jenkins

How I wish I had known as a teenager what I know now!

At 19 I worked full-time as a sportswriter for a daily newspaper.

I loved my job, but I was ambitious and wanted to see if I could sell a story to the Features editor. I worked hard on one, on my own time, and submitted it with photos.

The editor's response crushed me.

In red pencil at the top of the first page, he'd scribbled:

"Great pictures. Bad story."

Humiliated, I forced myself to approach his desk.

"Sir," I said, "could you tell me what's wrong with this so I can fix it?"

"Sure, Jenkins," he said. "It's sh–."

I staggered back to my boss, the Sports Editor, and told her what had happened.

"Did you have any misgivings about the piece?" she said.

I mentioned several things I could have done better.

"There you go. Anything you thought you should have done is what you ought to do."

I rewrote the piece that night and resubmitted it the next day. The Features editor immediately accepted it.

My mistake? I had submitted a piece of writing that was less than my best, and I knew it. I vowed to never do that again.

The thought of being able to tell my younger self what I know now prompted me to ask 39 of the best authors, writing coaches, and publishing experts I know:

"If you could go back to the beginning of your writing career and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?"

And I added one of my own to make it 40.

Crucial Writing Advice for Beginners
1. Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story

I'd tell myself that what grabs readers isn't beautiful writing, a rip-roaring plot, or surface drama; what grabs readers is what gives those things their meaning and power: the story itself.

And so first you have to create the story, which doesn't start on page one, but long before it. Because the story is not about an external plot-level change. The story is about an internal change — a change that the protagonist enters the story already needing to make. Thus the protagonist walks onto the first page with a long standing driving desire — an agenda — that she hasn't been able to achieve because an equally long standing misbelief (about human nature) stands in her way.

And here's the last thing I wish I'd known: backstory is the most fundamental, present, and meaningful foundation of the story. Or as Faulkner said, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past."

2. Jane Friedman, writing and publishing coach/blogger

Establish a reading habit that matches roughly what you hope to write and publish. Make it as important as anything else you schedule in your day, and never allow busyness to crowd out the time you devote to consuming other good works.

It's fine not to finish books or to abandon authors you don't like, but never stop consuming the genre you want become known in. It raises your writerly IQ and ultimately lays the foundation for better literary citizenship and networking with other authors, editors, and agents. A non-reader is soon outed and left behind in this business.

3. Joe Bunting, founder of The Write Practice

Always be learning.

You think you're pretty talented. You think you're pretty smart. And you are. But the best way to fail at being a writer is to spend all your time proving you know what you're doing rather than learning from the people and resources around you.

Stop posturing. Start practicing. And have fun.

4. Dave Chesson, founder of Kindlepreneur

Start your email list as soon as you can. I spent a couple of years not doing an email list and I can't help but wonder how many thousands of readers I lost the ability to reach out to because I didn't start it sooner.

There is no greater book marketing kickstart than sending a new book launch email to your already raving fans.

They'll buy it, and even leave those crucial reviews. So, if you decide you're going to write more than one book, setting up your email list as soon as possible is key to growing your success with each book you write.

5. Bridget McNulty, co-founder of Now Novel

Getting published is really exciting, but it's not the point of writing.

The actual writing is what it's all about — the daily joy in sitting down to a blank page and crafting something beautiful or funny or heartwrenching or even just blah (depending on the day).

While getting a book (and articles, and stories) published is a great ego boost, the real meaning in writing comes from the words flowing out of your fingertips — and the sense of achievement in a finished project.

6. Randy Ingermanson, novelist and creator of The Snowflake Method of plotting

You get good at writing by following these three simple steps:

1) Write a lot. The more you write, the more you'll tune in to your unique voice and the better you'll get.

2) Get critiqued occasionally. You should never pay any attention to what your mother says about your writing, or what anyone who loves you says about your writing, because all those people are liars. You should pay attention only to people who know what good writing is and who also know how to critique bad writing. Many who know good writing don't have any idea how to critique bad writing and will not be able to help you.

Also be aware that many people who know how to critique bad writing would not recognize good writing if it stabbed them in the eye. This is tragic, but deal with it. You are looking for somebody who has both of these skills, and those people are rare.

You need to be told when your writing is bad and why it's bad, because when you start writing, your work will be awful and you will imagine it's brilliant. You also need to be told when your writing is brilliant, because by the time your writing is brilliant, you will have been told so many times that your writing is bad that you'll imagine you are the worst writer who ever lived.

It's just a fact that all bad writers think they are amazing and all great writers think they are terrible. And that's why you need to be critiqued occasionally. Don't do this every day. It hurts too much. A little critique goes a long way.

3) Study the craft of writing in books, lectures, or wherever else you can learn it. You most especially need to do this after getting critiqued.

You can't figure it out on your own. Find a book that explains in clear words how to do right what you are doing wrong. When you finish the book, you will again believe in yourself enough to go back to step 1 and write a bunch more.

And have fun!

Need help fine-tuning your writing? Click here to download my free self-editing checklist.
7. K.M. Weiland, novelist and writing coach
K.M. Weiland
I would want my younger self to realize that as wonderful as publication is, it isn't the point of the writing process.

It's just a stop along the road. Writing is more about the journey than the destination. As award-winning author Anne Lamott points out, "Being published isn't all it's cracked up to be. Writing is." So don't let your non-published status get you down. Just enjoy where you are right now.

8. Bryan Collins, writing coach

I'd say start publishing your work online and showing it to people even if it's not ready or perfect.

I spent years writing short stories and trying to get my sentences just right. I rarely showed them to anyone and I didn't get the feedback I needed to improve as a writer. Instead, I stuffed my drafts in a drawer.

It was only after I started writing online that I discovered I'm better at — and prefer — writing non-fiction. If I'd learnt that lesson ten years ago, I would have saved myself a lot of time.

Still, sometimes you have to make mistakes to fall forward.

9. Rachelle Gardner, literary agent

Take your time.

There's no rush to get published.

The more time you spend writing, reading, and learning to be a better writer, the better things will go for you.

Don't try to hurry it along.

10. Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes

I'd tell myself that the best writing serves the reader — not the writer.

Our job as writers is to make more sense of the world, to paraphrase Anne Lamott and E.B. White and a million other writers.

So even when you're writing about your own life and your own experiences from your own point of view, you're nonetheless exposing something real and true and universal.

So make each sentence (and every word in that sentence) earn its keep: Is this sentence indulgent? Or does it help the reader? Does it explain, elucidate, or elevate the truth?

Get out of your head and into your reader's.

11. Joanna Penn, novelist and writing coach
Joanna Penn
Schedule time to write, show up for that meeting with yourself, and put words onto the page.

It doesn't matter if those words aren't very good — they probably won't be, but that's OK because you can make them better when you edit them later.

But you can't edit a blank page, so get your butt into the chair and write!

Need help with time management? Click here to download my free guide: How to Maximize Your Writing Time.
12. Gabriela Pereira, author and founder of DIY MFA
Gabriela Pereira
I would say: "Dream big, execute small."

These words of wisdom are not my own but they have become a mantra for me.

Creative success requires both a big vision and small, deliberate steps.

Audacious goals aren't reached without persistent action.

13. Joel Friedlander, founder of The Book Designer

Getting into the habit of sitting down and writing every day is essential.

A writer is someone who writes, and the only path to improving your craft and finding both satisfaction and success in your writing is to keep doing it.

Try to write at the same time each day, and don't worry too much about whether what your writing is good or not — just keep writing.

14. Lisa Tener, book development coach

Develop your spiritual practices.

They are the greatest support for your writing and your creativity.

With them, you will write with greater ease, break through blocks more easily, and have the stamina to write consistently and from your heart.

15. Carol Tice, founder of Make a Living Writing

Dive in and be scared later.

Simply take action and don't overthink where this might end up.

Think of something scarier than writing your piece, and it'll be a breeze by comparison.

Instead of feeling scared to take action, think of everything you do as a writer like it's a science experiment. "I'll write this and send it off and see what happens, mwahaha." Then, learn from that and do better.

16. C.S. Lakin, author and writing coach
C.S. Lakin
I would say to myself: "You are way too cocky.

You think you know how to write a novel because you've read thousands of them. You need to stop trying to publish your terrible manuscript and spend time learning the craft.

There is actually a thing called structure, and you don't know it.

Get every good book there is on writing craft, attend workshops and retreats, and, for God's sake, be humble! Take advice. Be teachable."

17. Tara Lazar, children's author
Tara Lazar
Stop being in such a rush. Slow down and work on your craft.

I wanted the agent and the deal to happen immediately. Yesterday.

Read. Write. Learn.

It will happen for you if you take the time to master your craft.

18. James Scott Bell, novelist and writing coach

Don't be so impatient!

It takes time to develop your craft.

You spent your 20s believing what so many told you, that you can't learn to write. But then you tried, and you discovered you CAN learn.

Keep learning. Keep writing.

Want to write a book but don't know where to start? Click here to download my free guide: How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps.
19. Debbie Ohi, children's author

Don't use your introversion as an excuse.

Yes, you may prefer to hide out in your creative cave, dreading learning to network and talk to people you don't know. If you get out and starting practicing now, then your path will be that much smoother.

Start by joining the writers groups and getting to know others in the community.

It may be terrifying at first but it will get easier, and you'll be surprised at how much fun you'll have, the friends you'll make.

20. Jennie Nash, founder of Author Accelerator

I would tell my younger self to listen to the wise elders who told me that I could make a career in the writing world.

I spent so long doubting myself, and making excuses, and waiting for someone to roll out a red carpet, and circling around the actual writing by doing jobs that were "writing adjacent." All that delay and doubt cost me.

I recently launched a book coaching company, and we inspire writers to believe they can actually do it, and help them take the steps toward making their dreams a reality.

It feels like I've come full circle.

21. Chris Fabry, novelist and radio host, author of Under a Cloudless Sky

I would actually go back to my childhood and encourage myself to pay more attention to details.

Listen and observe more closely.

You think sitting at your grandmother's kitchen table and listening to your uncles tell stories is fun.

These are seeds being sown into your soul. Soak up everything. You will use all you're hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling.

When you're an author you will draw from these holy moments. All great storytelling begins in childhood.

[Chris's blog on how to make it as a writer.]

22. Les Edgerton, novelist and writing coach

In Jim Harrison's words:

"Read the whole of western literature for the past 400 years.

If time allows, read the whole of eastern literature for the same time period.

For, if one cannot tell what passed for good in the past, one cannot tell what passes for good now."

23. DiAnn Mills, novelist and writing coach

I would tell myself that my writing career isn't about me.

True success can never be about the writer.

Fulfilling the calling is about reaching readers with an excellent story that entertains, inspires, and encourages.

Writing is about putting reader needs first, which means constantly educating myself in the craft, social media, and the publishing industry.

24. Angela Hunt, author and writing coach

The experts don't always know best.

You can build a readership of people who like to read in different genres.

You have to stop writing sometimes to have a life that will fuel your writing. Other avocations can scratch a different creative itch and fuel your writing as well.

Fast writing might be sloppy writing, but it ends with a result that can be cleaned up and rewritten as many times as necessary. Go at your own pace, but go!

Writing is hard.

Anyone can string words together, but imbuing those words with the power to touch a heart and change a life — that takes work, talent, and skill. And perseverance. Most of all, perseverance.

25. Steve Laube, literary agent

There is no such thing as an instant book.

A book can be published quickly, but that is the exception, not the rule.

26. Philip Yancey, author

"Do not attempt this act alone."

Yes, writing is a solitary act, performed in isolation. But the editing process needs different sets of eyes to help clarify the writer's vision and meaning.

The grouchiest curmudgeons make the best editors; praise feels good, but only criticism helps me improve.

27. Gloria Kempton, author and writing coach

My advice to my new writing self would be the mythologist, Joseph Campbell's, words, Follow your bliss: "Gloria, rather than following publishing trends or dictates of the Christian publishing industry, stay close to your personal truth as it comes to you when you sit down to write. Listen, not to the many publishing 'experts' about how to craft your message, and how to sneak that message into everything you write.

Instead, explore the questions that rise within your soul that will lead you to a more meaningful writing path, one of integrity and passion for the truth that is uniquely yours as a child of God.

When you sit down to write, assume you know nothing. Become curious. Investigate. Inquire. Your mission is not to tell readers who they are and what they should believe; your mission is to ask the important questions and give readers the opportunity to explore those for themselves."

Need help fine-tuning your writing? Click here to download my free self-editing checklist.
28. Allen Arnold, author, speaker, former publisher

I would tell my younger self that no great art was ever created without great heart.

In the creative process, the heart of the storyteller takes priority over everything else including formulas, word count, social media, and productivity.

So, first live well; then write well.

Allow God to awaken your own hearts before you ask your art to stir the hearts of others. That will infuse your stories with an eternal spark that transcends you and transforms others.

29. Saundra Dalton-Smith, author, speaker, physician

Focus on establishing a relationship with potential readers before you consider writing a book.

Blog, share on YouTube, participate in social media, or even have an email newsletter list.

Start building your tribe years before writing the first book proposal.

Your unique story will draw your tribe to you. The more your readers feel they are part of your story the more likely they are to share with others.

30. Becca Puglisi, author of The Emotion Thesaurus
Becca Puglisi
Don't be afraid to say Yes.

The journey to becoming a writer can be daunting. There's so much to do and learn, and it's easy to look at other opportunities as distractions, particularly if you're not totally comfortable doing them. Step out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself.

New challenges will grow you as a author and take you farther than you imagined possible. Saying Yes might be the first step in mastering a difficult area of the craft, expanding your writing options, meeting other authors who will be integral to your growth, becoming an international speaker, or selling way more books than you ever thought possible.

So when an opportunity presents itself that might seem scary or even impossible, don't dismiss it outright. Instead, consider what it might offer. Will it teach you a worthwhile skill, give you a chance to try something new, or require you to do something that makes you nervous? If so, it might be a good idea after all.

31. William Noble, author and writing coach, attorney

Don't assume you must follow a predetermined writer's path, that you will be a novelist or a poet or a playwright or a journalist, and you will concentrate on this form of writing only.

Try all forms of writing, don't pre-type yourself, produce fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, playscripts, essays, profiles, humor, memoir, and biography.

Eventually, the shape of your talent will emerge from how you have tested yourself.

32. Steven James, author and speaker

I would confirm to my younger self that story always trumps structure.

Numerous books tell how to plot and structure a story; however, these can end up derailing the story.

It's tempting to utilize them instead of following the organic process of story shaping, but it's vital that you let the story inform the direction of your writing. Fear will always drive you back to an outline.

Part of the artistic process is learning to channel that fear into creativity and not confine yourself because of it.

33. Michele Cushatt, author, speaker, emcee

Write for the love of writing itself, not what writing might afford you.

The writers who endure are those who can't not write, the ones for whom contracts and publication are secondary rewards.

Rather than aiming at recognition, they chase understanding. They lean into the struggle, learn to marvel at the untangling of complexities and the transcendence of unforgettable stories.

Writing holds the power to transform you and the way you see the world in a way few other human experiences can. This is the real reward, the one that lasts long after the lights go out.

34. Marion Roach Smith, memoir writing coach

"Discipline."

The clear, hard, cold fact is that without discipline all the inspiration and rituals, lucky pencils, good views out the window, and all those other things you think you have to have before you write, won't bring you anything of value. They simply will not sustain you the way discipline will.

I'd tell myself that with humor and grace, however, and not a bit sternly.

No young writer should be spoken to with the least amount of stern admonition, but rather with enormous encouragement and support.

Need help with time management? Click here to download my free guide: How to Maximize Your Writing Time.
35. Patricia Raybon, author, writer, teacher
Patricia Raybon
Write daily. But not just for productivity. Write to discover yourself, getting reintroduced to the human being you're blessed to be — that person indwelled with something of value to offer the world.

Don't publish daily. Rather, publish regularly — fine-tuning what you want to say to the world and how to say it.

Bluster, brawling and bravado? No. Kindness, motivation and encouragement. Yes.

Even as I write this reflection for author friend Jerry Jenkins, I'm reminded why daily writing matters. It's a bonus tool — helping unearth your brand, purpose, message, values, and audience. Therefore, write. In journals. In letters. On the grocery list taped to your refrigerator. Write something down. Today. You'll grow as a writer. Even better? You'll grow as a person. Your readers and your career will thank you.

36. Brandilyn Collins, novelist and writing teacher
Brandilyn Collins
Brandilyn, you're embarking on a very difficult journey.

You'll have some highs and lots of lows. The writing business/industry will be all over the map, and no matter what you sell, you're likely to always want more.

Remember — this is not about you. Your writing for the Christian market — writing novels that portray God's grace and power — is for Him.

God will do with these books as He chooses. God will use the words you write to change people's lives for eternity. And that's something no price tag could ever cover.

Follow His will for your writing. Continue to work hard on your craft. Work hard on marketing. Give God your best. Then leave the results to Him.

37. Julie Duffy, founder of Story a Day

Don't wait to write until you're older/wiser/invited to the party.

Don't wait until you have something "important" to say. You are living now, and you'll never be able to recapture the feeling of being 15, 22, 36…not really. The things that matter to you now, won't matter in the same way when you're older, and the things that matter to you when you're older won't necessarily be more important. You might know more, but that won't make you more interesting or important. Write now.

Don't wait, because when you do have something important to say, you won't want your writing to be rusty. Your writing will change and evolve, and when you get stuck you will seek out the mentors and teachers you need to move you to the next stage.

Don't wait, because the best ideas come when you're writing. You will never, never run out of ideas, as long as you keep writing.

Don't wait for anyone to tell you to write. Whether or not anyone ever pays you to write, or asks you to contribute, or gives you permission to sneak off and steal an hour or two to tell stories on paper, writing is a part of you. You are more fully yourself when you accept and embrace that. You're easier to live with when you're writing, so claim the time you need, and don't wait. Make it a priority to do the writing, rather than to worry about whether you'll ever make a career of it. Don't put the cart before the horse, my girl!

Oh, and you're going to love this thing called the Internet.

38. Randy Alcorn, inspirational author

Write only those books you are absolutely convinced God wants you to. Not just books that are good ideas, but ideas that you're personally passionate about and fit your heart, convictions, wiring, and style, not someone else's.

It's great to listen to publishers and others, hear their ideas, and modify yours as long as you can retain a sense of ownership so it really remains your book. Never write a book you can't pour yourself into 100%. Even 90% isn't enough, because when you hit the rough spots, your heart needs to be totally in it.

39. Jessica Strawser, author and editor-at-large, Writer's Digest

Having since learned the power of tapping into networks of fellow writers — through genre-based organizations, conferences, Facebook groups, in-person groups, any way you can — my advice would be to find and grow your tribe as early and as well as you're able.

Their support will buoy you at every stage, and through giving as good as you get, you'll stay connected to the joy of the craft even when you're feeling the heat beyond the page.

40. Jerry Jenkins, novelist and biographer, owner, Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild

Before submitting anything, be sure you're happy with every word.

Become an aggressive, even ferocious self-editor.

From HERE
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-88667234327364034872019-02-09T07:40:00.002-08:002019-02-09T07:40:58.359-08:00How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes
How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes

By Mary Jaksch

Do you worry whether your writing is good enough?

I can see you nodding your head.

You are not alone. Every writer has doubts about his or her writing.

The good thing is that writing is a journey. Every sentence you write is a step along the road and makes you a better writer.

On this journey, you can either travel the long road – or use shortcuts.

Using shortcuts means learning to spot and fix mistakes in order to write better.

Here are seven instant fixes that will improve your writing.

But … what is good writing?

Inexperienced writers think that 'good' writing is elaborate.

No, good writing is simple.

1: The art of natural

Check out an example of elaborate writing below (I've sourced examples of writing from free Kindle books chosen at random).

This is from a story about a young girl who is at home with her young brother when a thunderstorm strikes. The lights go out. Here's how the writer describes the scene:

An ebony abyss claimed the den.

I take this to mean, "The room went dark."

Maybe the author consulted a Thesaurus to create a sentence with special words. But all she achieved was to throw the reader out of the story.

If you want to keep the reader immersed in your story or article, you need to write as simply as possible.

Avoid writing that calls attention to itself.

Your words should sound natural. Just imagine answering your neighbor's question about last night's power-cut with: "An ebony abyss claimed the den."

I reckon you'd get a strange look …

The fix:

Read each sentence aloud to see if it sounds natural or contrived.

2: Is it obvious?
When you start editing your piece of writing, cut out everything that's already implicit. Look at the following sentence:

The only luminescence came in the form of the full moon which shone down from a starry sky.

I imagine the writer was trying to say something like: "The only light came from the full moon."

In general, the moon shines from above, agreed? So, when the author writes, "…which shone down from a starry sky", he's stating what is already obvious.

The fix

Grab your word-knife and cut out what is redundant.

3: Tight is good
Take a look at this excerpt from a suspense novel that reads like a Real Estate ad:

The late afternoon sun streamed through the balcony-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows.

By the time the reader has stumbled through the words 'balcony-facing' and 'floor-to-ceiling', any suspense has long evaporated.

To keep your readers' attention, you need to shake loose and discard unnecessary words.

The fix

Cut out all adjectives and adverbs and re-insert only those that are absolutely necessary.

4: Deliver in small doses

Do you sometimes throw a lot of information at your readers all at once?

Careful!

Take a look at this example:

Ron was the spoiled, playboy son of a local multi-millionaire home improvement chain-store owner.

 It looks like the author wanted to squeeze a lot of information into one sentence. Here's the information she wanted to convey:

Ron was spoiled

He was a playboy

He lived in the same town as his father

His father was a multi-millionaire

His father ran a home-improvement business

The store his father owned was part of a chain.

That's a lot of information crammed into one sentence!

If you need to give background information, make sure you do it in small doses.

The fix

Look for all sentences that contain more than two or three pieces of information about a person or a place. Use additional sentences to drip-feed the background information.

5: Become a killer (of clichés)

Take a look at the following clichés:

"The rosy fingers of dawn touched the distant hills."

"I smiled at him as I told my little white lie and he took it hook, line, and sinker."

Clichés are predictable and cheapen your writing.

The fix:

Hunt down and kill any clichés. Be ruthless.

6: Make color count
New writers love eye-popping colors:

The emerald river wound its way through the dusty hills which were dirty off-white tinged with streaks of brownish yellow.

I'm sure you agree that there is too much color in the sentence above. Make color count by using it sparingly.

The fix

Delete superfluous colors in your descriptions.

7: Unpack sentences

A simple guide to better writing is to focus on one idea per sentence. Long sentences make reading a drag. Here is an example:

The lawyer, now that his client had pleaded guilty, was faced with the problem of concealing his own part in the criminal act, a mistake in judgment that, while it was done with the best of intentions, was nonetheless a violation of his oath as an attorney, a violation that might conceivably result in his indictment, and even a prison term.

There are so many ideas in this sentence that it's difficult to follow.

Here is a simple rule about length: sentences should not contain more than twenty to thirty words. (Of course, rules like this one beg to be broken – but break them with care).

The fix

Hunt for your long sentences and work on them as follows:

Get rid of unnecessary words.
Where there is a comma, check if it could be a full stop.
Where you see the word 'which', see if you could start a new sentence.
Reword and rephrase.
As you can see from these seven fixes, it's easy to improve your writing. Once you know which mistakes to look for in your writing, you can correct and avoid them.

Warning: in all of this lies a danger.
If you focus on mistakes when you are in the flow of writing, you'll cramp your creativity. Apply the fixes only after you've created something. Here is contrary advice for your first drafts:

Let your writing be full, wild, and bad: the badder, the better.

Put what you've written aside. Wait for at least one day. Then apply the seven instant fixes above – and transform your writing into a thing of beauty.

If you are wondering how to write better – follow these tips and you will be amazed how your writing improves.
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-85993015767114743592019-02-07T16:51:00.003-08:002019-02-07T17:09:41.786-08:00Who we are

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-57259937590309292442019-02-06T14:28:00.002-08:002019-02-06T14:28:26.902-08:0011 Ways to Write Better
By Joshua Fields Millburn

We are all writers now. Whether you write books, blogposts, emails, tweets, or text messages, you are a writer. No matter your preferred medium, here are a few tips to help you write more effectively:

Treat text messages like prose. Before hitting the send button, look over your text: check spelling, content, punctuation. Ask yourself: What am I attempting to communicate? What am I attempting to express? Be more deliberate with your most common form of casual writing, and you'll automatically become more deliberate in other mediums.

Words are tools. Expand your vocabulary to make your writing more precise. There's no need to use a ten-dollar word when a ten-cent word will suffice, but having more tools in your toolbox will allow you to select the most appropriate tool for the job. Because sometimes you need an ax, sometimes you need a scalpel. So pick one new word each day, and then use it at least 21 times in your conversations with others that day. The most useful words will stick, and your vocabulary will expand over time.

Do it daily. If you want to improve your writing, write every day—make it a daily habit. Writing is a muscle: if you don't use it, you lose it. For me, the best way to guarantee consistent writing was to start a blog. (Related article: How to Start a Successful Blog Today.)

Punctuation. Is. Pace. To add variety, velocity, and cadence to your writing, play around with different punctuation: periods, commas, em dashes, colons, semicolons. Short sentences communicate tension. Longer run-on sentences, on the other hand, help establish a frantic, hurried rhythm—a feeling that the pace is picking up as the words tumble onto the page.

Avoid throat-clearing. Blogs, books, and social media posts are littered with unnecessary intros, solipsistic digressions, and avoidable drivel. Ditch the nonsense and state your points. When in doubt, delete your first two paragraphs and see whether the writing improves.

Don't waste the reader's time. Our time and our attention are two of our most precious resources. It is selfish to force a reader to spend fifteen minutes reading something you could've and should've communicated in 90 seconds. If you want to earn your reader's trust, don't waste her time.

30% composition, 70% editing. For every hour you spend writing, spend three hours editing, shaping your work into something more concise, more powerful—more beautiful. Writing truly is rewriting.

Narrative urgency. Every sentence must serve a purpose: Your first sentence must make the reader want to read the second. The second sentence must propel the reader to the third. So forth and so on until the very end. If a sentence doesn't move the narrative forward—if it doesn't make the writing more urgent—then it must hit the cuttingroom floor, no matter how clever or precious it seems.

Avoid too many adverbs. A sure sign of amateur writing is the overuse of adverbs, especially -ly adverbs. A woman in a story isn't incredibly pretty—she's beautiful; the sky isn't very blue—it's azure. Find the right words to avoid using adverbs as crutches.

Follow the rules, and then unfollow the rules. Learn the rules so you can break them effectively. I recommend two books to my writing students to help them understand the guidelines of good writing: Grammatically Correct and Garner's Modern Usage.

From HERE
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-78969693939536112492019-02-05T15:27:00.003-08:002019-02-05T18:16:26.768-08:00Writing Tips to Make You Better
By Jeff Goins

If you want to become a better writer, get ready to do some work. Because it won't happen overnight, and not just because you want it to. You're going to have to practice.

On this page, you'll find some of my best tips, articles, and resources to help you get started as a writer — to get better not only at the craft of writing, but also at the art of communicating.

Why am I sharing this? Because I believe you have a story to tell — we all do — and the world needs to hear it. So let's dig in.

So… you want to be a writer?
This all begins with believing you already are a writer. So let's start there. My own journey of becoming a writer was an awakening of sorts — to who I already was. Maybe yours will be similar.

A writer is a writer when he says he is.
—Steven Pressfield

Anyone who writes is a writer, but that doesn't mean they're a very good one. So let's talk about how to become a better writer. We'll begin with the basics — here are seven key lessons (with links to important articles about each):

Writing is simple, but not easy.
Before you get a larger audience, you have to get better.
Practice makes you better; it's the repetitions that make it effortless.
Until you put your work out there, you're only screwing around. Write for real.
You can't practice without discipline. Keep showing up and persevering.
There will always be resistance; type through it, anyway.
Get over your excuses and do the work.
Before getting started
Before you begin writing, ask yourself these important questions:

Why do I want to write?
Who am I writing for?
What's my message?
Have I found my voice yet?
What am I willing to sacrifice for my craft?
What won't I give up?
Once you count the cost and make the decision to begin, it's time to start writing.

Tips for when you begin
I've coached and trained other writers for years. I've built a powerful personal brand and platform and used it to publish my work. I've experimented and seen as much failure as success. Through all of it, I want to use what I've learned to help other people.

So my hope this blog serves you in your writing journey in some way. I've written hundreds of articles here, which is a lot to sort through. Here is a list of 10 essential tips on writing:

Write every day.
Make sure your writing is effective.
Don't be lazy; do your best to avoid sounding stupid.
Stay focused! Distraction is the enemy of all great art.
Stop worrying about being a good writer; just write.
Forget about fame; write what's worth writing.
Get over your perfectionist tendencies.
Don't write to get published.
Write with conviction.
Read.
Build your platform
Although writers need to write first for the craft, it's not a bad thing to want to get published. But that's a byproduct, not a goal (For the real writer, anyway).

Look. This isn't just something that happens accidentally. You have to work at it. So how do you create work that earns you the attention of publishers, exactly? You build a platform.

These days, a lot of writers use blogs and the power of the Internet to get their writing discovered. There's no reason you can't do the same. Here are 10 basic tips on blogging and building an audience that will help you get published:

In order to get noticed, you've got to be intentional.
Narrow your focus to broaden your audience.
Learn from copywriters, and write for scanners.
Engage with readers (get more comments on your blog).
Be intentional about growing your blog traffic.
Build an email list (like, yesterday).
Use guest posting to tap into new audiences.
Write great content, but don't stop there; build relationships, too.
Expect haters.
Help people.

from HERE
Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-14719387273581352662019-02-04T16:43:00.000-08:002019-02-04T16:43:11.608-08:00How To Write Well: 10 Essential Self-Editing Tips

"How To Write Well"

By C.S. Lakin

Do you want to write well?

The easiest way to write well is to edit your writing.

The best person to edit a manuscript, article or blog post is the author herself.

Sure, writers can — and should, when necessary — hire a professional copyeditor to correct a manuscript before it is sent off to an agent or book designer for self-publishing. But the writer knows her material better than anyone else, so she's the best person for the job.

Learning to self-edit is a lesson in awareness. It's all about understanding the common mistakes writers make, and how to fix those mistakes.

You want to know how to write well, but you might not want to spend hours studying grammar books. On the other hand, you wouldn't want to waste time struggling over sentences that would be easy to fix if you knew the rules.

So it might be worthwhile for you to learn a few basic rules, if only to have more time to spend with your family, or whatever it is you'd rather be doing.

Here are ten easy tips to get you started.

#1. Give it a rest.
Leave your writing alone for a while — an hour, a day, a week. Pick it up again when your brain is rested.

Pay attention to what jumps out at you as awkward. Trust that feeling. It's almost always right.

#2. Read aloud what you wrote.
Or have your computer read to you using a software program. You'll catch clunky sentences, missing and repetitive words, and misspellings.

#3. Search and destroy weasel words.
Weasel words are the words you use out of habit. Often, they are pesky adverbs like very and just. Or phrases like began to or started to.

Make a list of your most common offenders. Then search for those words and see if you can take them out without altering your intended meaning.

#4. Trim sentences.
Take a look at each sentence and see how many words you can cut out.

Often a phrase of three or more words can be rewritten with only one. Less is more — and almost always better.

#5. You need commas.
Check to make sure you put commas before direct address in dialog. There's a big difference between "Let's eat Dad" and "Let's eat, Dad."

Speaker tags always use commas: John said, "I hate grammar." Don't be deceived into thinking little bits of punctuation don't matter. They do.

You don't want characters eating other characters unintentionally, right? Unless you're writing about zombies.

#6. Don't overdo the punctuation.
Writers sometimes use excessive punctuation. Avoid using a lot of exclamation marks or pairing them with question marks to tell the reader something is important.

Let the context and word choice communicate the importance of a particular sentence.

#7. Pay attention to verb conjugations.
If you write "I lied on the couch after the man drug me across the floor," your reader might think you're writing some weird espionage novel.

You probably want to say "I lay on the couch after the man dragged me across the floor."

The most mutilated verbs are lay, sink, drag, swim, and shine. Watch out for them!

#8. Ditch extraneous tags when writing dialog.
If the reader knows who's speaking, you don't need to tell them over and over — especially in a scene with only two characters.

Flowery verbs such as quizzed, extrapolated, exclaimed, and interjected, stick out. Instead, use said and asked, with an occasional replied or answered.

#9. Avoid passive construction.
When sentences begin with "it was" and "there were," readers are left wondering exactly what "it" is. These words are vague.

"It was hot today" can easily be replaced with "the sun baked his shoulders," which paints a clearer picture. Think: strong nouns and verbs.

#10. Check those tenses.
All too often, writers shift into past tense when writing present tense, or vice versa.

Even more common is the use of the wrong form of past tense. "I was sleeping badly for a week" should be rewritten as "I had been sleeping badly for a week." If the action was a continuous one for a time in the past, you need the "had been."

Self-editing needn't be either hard or painful. The more you apply yourself to learning the "rules," the easier it will be to write well.

Good writing has more to do with good self-editing than anything else. Take pride in your writing by learning ways to improve your self-editing technique.

From HERE
Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-13568904026412442972019-02-02T20:15:00.000-08:002019-02-02T20:15:15.232-08:00I before E

"I before E, except after C."

The familiar grade school mnemonic is a "supreme, and for many people solitary, spelling rule," linguist Edward Carney wrote in "A survey of English spelling." Its primacy has been acknowledged in English grammar textbooks from 1866 (James Stuart Laurie's "Manual of English Spelling,") until the present day (Bryan Garner's "Modern English Usage").

But like many, many other rules in the English language, it turns out this one is built on a foundation of lies.

A University of Warwick statistician named Nathan Cunningham recently decided to put the i-before-e rule to the test. So he plugged a list of 350,000 English words into a statistical program to see if the math checked out.

The first order of business is to check the ratio of "ie" to "ei" spellings — does i usually come before e? The good news is that it does — in roughly three quarters of all words with either an "ie" or an "ei" pair, the proper spelling is "ie," as the rule would have you believe.

Think of words like "relief," "grief," "niece" or "believe." The thief was up to a piece of brief mischief in the field, according to the chief.

"So far, the rule is serving its purpose," Cunningham writes. "If you're struggling to order an 'ei'/'ie' pair in a word, there's an approximately three to one chance that the 'i' will go first."

All good so far! Unfortunately, it's all downhill from here.

On to the second part — "except after c." Cunningham selected all words in his data set with either a "cei" or "cie" spelling. If the rule were as accurate as we'd been lead to believe, you'd expect the "cei" spellings to greatly outnumber the "cie" ones, right?

In fact, the opposite is true: "cie" words outnumber "cei" ones by about three to one. The ratio of "ie" to "ei" is exactly the same for the after-c words as it is for all words in general.

"This addendum to the rule completely useless," Cunningham writes. "You still have roughly three to one odds that the 'i' goes first."

As it turns out, for every "ceiling" there's a "concierge," a "conscience" and some "celibacies." For every "deceit," there are "deficiencies," "delicacies" and a "dicier." The iciest glaciers make idiocies out of the conceit of "except after c."

Cunningham is far from the first to question the i-before-e orthodoxy. Back in 1932, an article in the Elementary School Journal noted the many exceptions to the rule and concluded that "if it were not for the fact that the jingle of the rule makes it easy to remember (although not necessarily easy to apply), the writer would recommend that the rule be reduced to 'I usually comes before e,' or that it be discarded entirely."

But over the decades, defenders of the rule have attempted to salvage it by proposing various amendments. "I before e, except after c when the sound is 'ee,'" as one formulation would have it. Or, "I before e except after c, or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh."

But these formulations, too, have their exceptions. "Species" or "financier" for the former, for example, or "being" or "counterfeit" for the latter.

Merriam-Webster once facetiously tried to account for all exceptions with the following jingle:

I before e, except after c
Or when sounded as 'a' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'
Unless the 'c' is part of a 'sh' sound as in 'glacier'
Or it appears in comparatives and superlatives like 'fancier'
And also except when the vowels are sounded as 'e' as in 'seize'
Or 'i' as in 'height'
Or also in '-ing' inflections ending in '-e' as in 'cueing'
Or in compound words as in 'albeit'
Or occasionally in technical words with strong etymological links to their parent languages as in 'cuneiform'
Or in other numerous and random exceptions such as 'science', 'forfeit', and 'weird'.

But good luck teaching that to a third-grader.

Or, as an enterprising Redditor recently put it:

I before E...except in a zeitgeist of feisty counterfeit heifer protein freight heists reining in weird deified beige beings and their veiny and eidetic atheist foreign schlockmeister neighbors, either aweigh with feigned absenteeism, seized by heightened heirloom forfeitures (albeit deigned under a kaleidoscope ceiling weighted by seismic geisha keister sleighs) or leisurely reimbursing sovereign receipt or surveillance of eight veiled and neighing Rottweilers, herein referred to as their caffeinated sheik's Weimaraner poltergeist wieners from the Pleiades.

Beyond that, Wikipedia helpfully points out that there are a handful of words (albeit obscure ones) that break both the "i before e" and "except after c" formulations at once, including cheiromancies, cleidomancies, eigenfrequencies and oneiromancies.

For kicks, Cunningham went ahead and ran the "except after" analysis on every other letter too, to see if there were a more accurate exception statement. And it turns out, there is: the letter W.

With words like weird, weight and Rottweiler, it appears that "i before e, except after w" is a more accurate rule than the one we all know.

In the end, there is only one truly infallible rule in the English language:

See Original Post

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-56169701584308190982019-02-01T16:22:00.002-08:002019-02-01T16:22:25.322-08:00"Thoughts on Writing" by Charles Millhouse

"Thoughts on Writing"
Charles Millhouse
2/1/2019

As the cold tightens its angry grip around the mid-west, I sat down at my computer in my drafty study to write this guest blog, deciding what I wanted my topic to be. I fought with the idea of introducing myself to potential readers who might find my work appealing. But why, I wondered. Would anyone want to know me? Would they care who I am, and what I do? So, I figured it might be best to tell you, if anyone reading this is interested of course, how I came to write this blog post.<o:p></o:p>

I first published twenty years ago, a three musketeer in space adventure, that, to this authors relief is no longer in print. The idea was sound, but the execution was a mess. My prose in those days was, shall we say not as strong as it could have been. When I say not as strong, I mean it was a wreck. You see, as any writer will tell you, story telling is as much an art as a painter or sculptor. It takes time, practice and a lot of patience. In 1999, I was young, well, younger than I am now, and I didn't understand story structure at all. My POV was all over the place and... ok, I think by now you realize that I wasn't good at my craft then. Few writers are when they start out, but I wasn't going to admit that, especially to myself.<o:p></o:p>

Writing is hard. You sit down in front of that computer screen, and you realize you're all by yourself. There is no one there but you. But after a while something amazing happens. You find you're not as alone as you might think, when the characters of your story join you on this amazing adventure of storytelling. Suddenly you're not alone, and you begin this journey, a journey of adventure, intrigue, or even murder.<o:p></o:p>

Then something else happens, the story you thought you were going to tell goes off on its own, a course you didn't set. You type furiously because you have to know what's going to happen, then it hits you, you're no longer in control and the story is alive. All you have to do, is make sure you don't screw it up. Writing a story is a lot like writing this blog post... it took off on its own, it went in a direction I didn't set. How can that be you ask? Aren't you the writer? You ask. Yeah, but if I knew the outcome, why bother to write in the first place? I ask you, as a reader, wouldn't you rather discover the story, instead of figuring it out before you get to the end.<o:p></o:p>

An author constantly changes and evolves. Their writing style becomes second nature. They see the world differently than non-writers. I love being a writer – I love the constant change, the discovery, the wonderment. I craft stories I want to read. Hi-adventure, strong characters and fantastic worlds. I write for myself, but having someone read my work, and like my work, and tell me they are waiting for the next book to come out does my soul good. I have fans, I have readers, I have people wanting to read my stuff and after twenty years, it was well-worth the time and effort perfecting my craft.<o:p></o:p>

I am Charles F. Millhouse, an independent writer of eighteen books in the science fiction/new pulp/supernatural genres. Including the Captain Hawklin Adventures, the New Kingdom Trilogy and the upcoming Serena Darkwood series.<o:p></o:p>

You can find me at www.stormgatepress.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theCFM, at www.twitter.com/writermillhouse, and at www.instagram.com/writermillhouse. <o:p></o:p>

Happy Reading.
Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-62341374863399345802019-02-01T06:54:00.001-08:002019-02-01T06:54:29.172-08:00So you want to write a novel?

Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-52299952848691704782019-02-01T06:43:00.000-08:002019-02-01T06:45:51.954-08:00Contributing to Write.Best
Hey There!

We've been hard at work at http://Write.Best

Tracy Rosa, Brian K Morris and I have teamed up, and started a writers website designed to help writers write better, write more, write well, and to train others how to write!

We really need more writers.

We need you.

What is Write.Best?

It connects writers who need their books moved to the audience that will read them. The industry needs Write.Best. Hundreds of thousands of searches on Amazon go unfulfilled and are chock full of buyers remorse because of bad predictive analytics. We will give you information. Basically, we've given a computer charge of our choice.

There information to be shared.

Getting in on the ground floor happens now.

And we need is what you've already put out there yourself.

Your Press Kit should include

1) Publicity shot
2) Small blurb about yourself
3) Your best article
4) Any publicity or press you may feel like sharing

Send them to me in a .PDF format or .docx formatted file, ready to go.

You will get your own page on the website (it's first come, first serve, at the moment).

I am cordially inviting you to participate in this opportunity to share your wisdom with the world, at no cost, because I deeply believe in the power of the written word, and I believe in you.

What you get:

What we are providing you is this: Your name, your words, your ads, and all excitement that comes along with a powerful web name and web presence. The more content you add, the more associated you will become with Write.Best, the more you will become part of the idea of what it means to be a good writer.

I'm a web-maven, .best is just starting, and i got it Write.Best for a pretty sweet deal. And now that we have the "Lamborghini" name, we need to hire the mechanics.

What we get:

Your face, your name, your winning writing style. Your credibility to the idea that "Writers Are Successful."

We aim to have this website be EVERYTHING ANYONE NEEDS TO KNOW about writing. What does that look like? The answer is probably: "Yes."

Write.Best is going to explode... With or without you.

What's your preference?

-Quite possibly your favorite writer,

Pauly Hart

Send your press kit to firstname.lastname@example.com
Pauly Harthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-86641926814899725792019-01-31T17:02:00.001-08:002019-01-31T17:02:48.860-08:00How to let your story write itselfHere's a great little video I did a while back with Brian, Cookie, and Tracy present:

Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3150352646255754693.post-12871829950260967452019-01-30T20:26:00.002-08:002019-01-30T20:26:45.129-08:00Writing is birthing

It may be blue and ugly, but it's yours. You made it. It needs you. Never leave it alone. Never entrust it to a stranger. This is your book.

Pauly Harthttp://email@example.com