How To writing ideas from me and a few of my writing friends.
Contests are not for everyone but if you are serious about writing then they are worth a calculated look. Think of them as a tool to further your career. Aside from prizes, entering writing contests are good for three main reasons: Deadlines All contests have deadlines. It will teach you to polish your work in…
A crutch word is simply that: a word we lean on time and time again. Every writer has their own individual crutch words. The problem is when we lean on them too much they end up sticking out like a sore thumb. My personal favorites are: just, that, and and. Two things I discovered while…
Choosing to write or journal is like dieting. You have to decide to do it. Having a plan does not hurt either. Instead of scheduling in meals, you are scheduling in time to write. Unlike dieting your chances of success are greater. Here are seven tips to make more time to write. 1. Make Extra…
New Year Prompts Happy New Year! You cannot get away from it — the celebrations are notorious whether you want to ring in the new year or not. A new year is a good time to reflect on the previous year’s events and contemplate the year ahead. Here are some prompts to jumpstart your journaling…
In relation to writing, whenever I think of setting, I tend to think of it in the most simplest of terms: place; like the ocean or mountains. But setting is so much more than that. Aside from place, it also involves time and can include historic circumstances of the time. For instance if you think…
You have labored for a year (or maybe more) on your book and as soon as you type “The End”, a feeling of relief and accomplishment overwhelms you right before you run to the bookshelf to get your list of literary agents and publishers. But, before you send it off, you may want to check…
With the age of computers upon us the art of letter writing has virtually disappeared. It is easier to send off (or receive) an electronic message then get out some pretty paper and a nice pen to write a well thought out letter to someone we care about. A letter journal can be approached in…
We read a lot of books over our lifetime. It’s not always easy to remember what we did last week let alone the plot of a book we read a few years ago. Not every book moves to an easily embedded memory. Keeping a reading journal helps with memory retention and gives you a reference…