Write from your heart or write from your brain? We’ve all heard people tell us to follow our hearts; others instruct us not to follow but to lead them. Which is correct and how does it pertain to writing? I’m going to strike a balance halfway. As an over-thinker, I tend to let my brain go hog wild, sucking the heart—the […]
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 […]
3 Things You Should Remove From Your Writing
If we can plop a reader into a situation and pull him to the edge of his seat, we’ve accomplished something. But slip up one time—whether it’s a patch of choppy prose, a typo, or bland phrasing—and we break the streak. His concentration is interrupted. He’s lost the mood. Taking a reader to that engaged, engrossed place […]
Is They Acceptable?
There is a great debate in the grammarian community. It may not be as heated as the infamous Oxford comma debate or as touchy as the possessive apostrophe debate… But it is a problem. And today we will address it. The question, ladies and gents, is this: Is they acceptable? “They” is the subject of the debate, and here’s […]
