In this post are five reasons I don’t like giving (or receiving) writing advice.
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In this post are five reasons I don’t like giving (or receiving) writing advice.
(more…)Reading about, writing about, relating to, discrediting, and mocking MBTI personality types is all the rage these days. There’s even a Geico commercial out right now mocking them. –You know the commercial that has a woman in a diner telling the gecko that she is an introvert, which is rare (*cue the intended sarcasm*)?– Regardless, I have a theory about writers when it comes to personality types…
(more…)The below excerpt is from my current work in progress (W.I.P.). I’m not sure if it will stay in the final version of the novel but am sharing it today because it’s related to one of the daily writing prompts from this past week. Somehow I worked what I wrote for the writing prompt into my current novel. Have you ever done that before?
(more…)When we learn to write essays or anything that’s not fiction, we’re instructed to write in the third person, matter-of-factly. We’re taught to substantiate any claims or opinions we include in our writing with expert evidence or resources written by experts. We are more or less instructed to practice assertiveness in our writing. Nowadays, however, it seems writers are conflating and confusing assertiveness with aggression when they write– especially writers who publish their work online. Why some writers do this may not be confusing. But understanding how writers conflate and confuse assertiveness and aggression in their writing might be. Alas, it’s important to pause for a moment and reflect on assertiveness vs aggression in writing.
(more…)It’s Monday, the beginning of a new week! Use today’s photo writing prompt to start off the week writing something great. And stay motivated to keep writing for the rest of the week by clicking on the red button to access daily writing prompts. Today’s writing theme is summer serenity.
(more…)I’m still processing the fact that Roe v Wade was overturned yesterday by the US Supreme Court. No, I’m not surprised–we did have fair warning after all– just processing everything. I’m going to “write it out” as I figure out what to do next, if you will, and you should too. It’s time to channel anger into practical and formidable action. And writing offers the best medium in which to do this.
(more…)Our society runs on caffeine and adrenaline and speed and immediate action– to the point where those who are more intentional and deliberate (or try to be) are often ridiculed. And having machines and algorithms and devices process information (especially language) for us has only exacerbated the problem of making us all busy bodies who do things, a lot of things, quickly… but not necessarily very well or with a long-term human-oriented view. Most people in our society don’t think critically about what they do anymore. I believe this problem has to do with the fact that intentional reading and processing of language doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should anymore. And I believe that reading everything slower can improve your critical thinking skills. In fact, I don’t think it’s possible to have critical thinking skills if you aren’t intentionally processing language when you come across it.
(more…)Procrastinating online at some point is inevitable if you’re a writer in the twenty-first century–especially if you use online resources throughout your writing process. But who says your bouts of procrastination have to be a bad thing or deter you completely from writing? There is, I have recently discovered, a tool that can help you procrastinate more efficiently.
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