Writing Tips: Eliminate Redundancies in Your Writing
Writers are human, and sometimes we make mistakes. You’re probably aware of the most common mistakes in writing: comma splices, run-on sentences, mixing up homophones, and a variety of other broken grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. In my coaching work, I’ve noticed another common mistake: redundancy. Sometimes we use repetition effectively, but most of the…Read More
Writing Resources: The Pocket Muse
This post contains affiliate links that earn commissions for this website from qualifying purchases. We writers can’t be inspired every day. Sometimes we get burned out. Other times, our ideas seem unappealing. We find ourselves grappling with an idea that’s incomplete or we might be seeking lots of small ideas for a big project. But…Read More
Philosophical Journal Prompts
What is philosophy? Let’s turn to Wikipedia for a simple, straightforward definition: “Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language…It is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.” Today’s journal…Read More
Storytelling Exercise: Plot Analysis
Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise explores one of the most important elements of any story: plot. It’s called “Plot Analysis.” Enjoy! Plot Analysis Some readers think analyzing a plot takes…Read More
Kill Your Darlings (for Storytellers)
Some writing tips are cryptic. When I first came across writing advice that said, “Kill your darlings,” I thought it meant we should kill off our favorite characters. That seemed ridiculous. I mean, there are situations in which a story calls for characters to die, but to make a sweeping rule that we should default…Read More
How to Read Poetry
Have you ever fallen in love with a song immediately upon hearing it? As soon as it’s over, you whip out your phone to find the song, and then you play it on repeat for the rest of the day until you know every note and lyric. It becomes your current favorite, your latest obsession….Read More
Grammar Rules: Ending a Sentence with a Preposition
A longstanding grammar myth says we’re not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition. For years, this myth has persisted, tying writers up in knots and making their heads spin around sentences that simply must end with a preposition. For example: Which store are you going to? Folks who were taught (and are now…Read More
12 Places to Find Awesome Writing Ideas
Some writers are overwhelmed with inspiration and can’t find enough time to bring every brilliant idea to fruition. The rest of us are always on the lookout for compelling writing ideas to add to our inspiration archives. But writing ideas are not always easy to come by. So we constantly search for inspiration that will keep us happily…Read More
Tips for Better Writing
By now, you’ve probably heard that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything. There’s some debate as to the truth of the 10,000-hour rule, but there is definitely truth to the notion that nobody’s born a master at the craft of writing. It takes time, energy, and practice to become…Read More
How to Write More
Productivity: it’s all been said and done. In fact, you could spend more time learning how to be productive than actually being productive. For us creative types, productivity can be a fleeting thing. We experience highs (a whole month packed with inspiration) and lows (three more months fraught with the ever-annoying writer’s block). It can…Read More
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