In a rough way the short story writer is to the novelist as a cabinetmaker is to a house carpenter.” ~ Annie Proulx In this post, I am going to share an awesome short story recipe with you. Don’t worry, it’s not too difficult—there are only five ingredients. Warning: manufactured in a facility where puns abound; […]
3 Writing Rules You Didn’t Know You Needed
Writing rules are important. And not just William Safire’s hilarious list of self-contradictory writing rules, but also the grammatical basics—the obvious and the obscure. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.” ~ William Safire, Self-Contradicting Rule #13 Today, we discuss […]
3 Ways to Make Your Academic Writing Creative
Today we address the most exciting, earth-shatteringly-amazing, raise-your-hands-and-rejoice writing topic ever: academic writing. Wait, what? Exciting? Don’t you mean boring? You’re right—academic writing (think nonfiction, research, educational) is easily stiff and formal, and what’s so exciting about that? Well, here’s the thing. It may be formal, but it doesn’t have to be boring. If we […]
The Greatest Writing Rule of All Time
It’s time to tackle the greatest writing rule of all time. Can you guess what it is from the quote below? Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ~ Anton Chekhov “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken […]
Travel Writing: I Can Show You the World
The backstreet cafe in Casablanca was for me a place of mystery, a place with a soul, a place with danger. There was a sense that the safety nets had been cut away, that each citizen walked upon the high wire of this, the real world. I longed not merely to travel through it, but […]
