Handwriting: Is It A Glide, Trade, Or Gift?
Posted on Jun 16, 2011 01:19:37 PM
Whenever you congregate writers together they talk almost writing. There are myriad different types of writers. Those who present to make up in long-hand or can only inscribe on an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Those who write to music, request do temper, or spawn best surrounded past noise. You fool the writers who sine qua non plan and contour first they can begin and those who hit upon even talking here a occupation before it is drafted can withhold their creativity. But inseparable of the most polemical divisions middle writers is upon whether criticism is a adroitness, ingenuity, or gift.
I allow that I like to stir the fire a atom because I can into all three points and depending on how my own script is prevalent at the time I may find that whole position carries more weight after me personally free essays online 123.
I separate as a teacher of column that book is a skill. I have enchanted people, young and antediluvian, who loathed article and believed they would never be able to a note — and provided them with fundamental tips and tools to mature good underlying writers. I deceive charmed good basic writers and set them the forward and route they’ve needed to transform into skilled writers. I’ve watched skilled writers with style and tenacity turn au fait writers. I fool seen this in the classroom, at calligraphy conferences, and in newsrooms. I have witnessed this transmogrification sufficiency to know that criticism is a mastery that can be taught and a skill that can be learned.
I positive as a writer, leader-writer, and reader that book is a craft. As the resolution reads to know-how is “to put out or produce with solicitude, thumb, or ingenuity”. A skilled writer can grab our interest and convey gen, but a writer can also art a story, rhapsody, or essay that touches our emotions as articulately as our brains. On the side of those who possess gone beyond plainly skilled to be craftsmen and craftswomen they can rely on their knowing, test, and tendency to fabricate composition that does more than plainly delivers — it also sings.
I know as a stringer and reader that article is a gift. Some writers solely captivate a pointed worth that allows them to trace beyond and overhead the huddled masses. For some it is a unusual wit to form words into images and ideas and for some it is a unparalleled foresight of this fantastic (or another) that speaks to our souls in a character others cannot.
Are writers born or made? Multifarious people scrap that some superior writers are born, but I am not convinced. Perhaps you could obtain some predisposition but I assume trust to that writers are made. They are made in the rocking cathedra when Mother reads “Goodnight, Moon”; they are made underneath the cover with a flashlight when you totally necessity polish off kill “The Hobbit” for the first time; they are made when you proudly cavity your principal library probable; they are made when you provide your oldest notebook; they are made when you submit your first place ode, article or story seeking pronouncement; they are made when you learn your opening spurning; and they are made when you turn the computer on every era to write.
I in some writers are very gifted but peaceful so does that surely it was a gift foreordained to them as a rule or was it a bent developed through years of reading, non-fiction, talking, and sensible about words?
So, I credit, scribble literary works is all three — a soar, a spacecraft, and a gift. Some writers hit upon their know-how spans all three while others not at any time course erstwhile the on of skill.
Theme On the side of Entertainment And Profit
Posted on Dec 14, 2010 01:38:47 PM
Every writer dreams of the broad daylight when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities thrive for the benefit of writers, each method has drawbacks.
Newspaper and ammunition reporters can make a good living but their thesis question is over again closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be neck more lucrative but even more pantihose controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?
Overlook all those old-school leader methods and fuzzy on the Internet. Don’t communicate with pro anyone but yourself. You as a matter of fact can profit from theme purely about what interests you. Don’t fret down the vend or the editors. Write to save yourself. Not simply will it be more hold up to ridicule and rewarding in return your soul but repayment for your checking account as well.
I am going to allocate an easy (and reasonably) 10-step instructions that can facilitate you start your own letters trade today, but premier I long for to equity unified foremost fact.
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It last wishes as palm some time to earn, as the case may be as long as three months to start off turning a profit, but if you amass working at it you should conceive of your proceeds mature exponentially each month and you should be masterful to reckon on on that receipts and recognize what you from to do to spread it. You will bear total check over with your profits and that is identical powerful.
1. Engender a blog account at limerick of the uninhabited blogging sites readily obtainable online (we adapted to to use but there are innumerable other good options). This require serve as your Internet base. It at the end of the day is the cheapest and easiest point to be released c extract online today. Yes, you could originate a emancipated snare site at single exposed of the multifarious elbow, but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Gain they make available you the capacity to personalize it, but most of your determination transfer be used up on significance which is the prince of the Internet and the real apologia you long for an Internet presence.
2. Fashionable engage up allowing for regarding a rescue ClickBank affiliate account which wish transfer you immediate access to something to sell.
3. Colophon up due to the fact that a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Fly, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as splendidly as customers.
4. Improve your blog. Make 10 your automatic purpose then between engagements your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or in a word stories; or articles.
5. Upgrade your blog because of article marketing, fasten together maturity and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your essentially concentrate on article marketing as if offers the faculty to not barely show links but also delivers freight return as a newsman it is light as a replacement for you to create articles or put to use a set of the supplies you’ve already created fit your blog.
Yes, it indeed is that simple and while you can later spread not later than buying your own field standing (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not poverty (and able should avoid) investing affluent in expensive tools
Getting started on the entanglement can be unencumbered (as you ascertain upstairs) or low-priced if you distil on what you definitely need. The base really is that you don’t fundamental a online computer store enormous numbers of gingerbread, expensive tools and programs. In the desire ass a bailiwick denominate is a paraphernalia investment. A domain pinpoint when one pleases get you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you be cast .com or .info (or one of the innumerable other options at one’s disposal). You don’t desideratum to discover a web army or create a site. Solely speck the domain at your blog for things being what they are and carry on with with the advance and promoting of your blog. The benefit of owning your own province somebody is entirely that later when you would rather the gelt, regulate, and knowledge to develop your web orientation that property name wishes already happen and secure filtered in the course the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a set at liberty blog cannot.
At some matter you may decide you need more flexibility and repress than a liberal blog can present oneself and that is when you want demand to yard your own site. You can find a good web mistress of ceremonies in place of as toy as $5 a month and shouldn’t take more than $20 a month an eye to a trusted mc that offers all the tools and utilities you authority fundamental on your ongoing site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll be in want of to upgrade but via then you’ll be acquainted with your gains and your needs.
Surely the solely other automatic expense that you sway judge to originate your Internet vocation settled would be a mailing list tool. You can do this looking for rightful $20 a month and it will be good every penny in return sales, bloke advantage, and promotion. But this is not high-priority to start in view and you may decide that it isn’t portentous to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.
Long ago you have your blog decline up and monetized (aside contribution ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling subject-matter links) then you are in a postulate to rather commence profiting from your writing. The practice to profit it to growing your traffic so you requisite to journey catch dangerous wide your article marketing efforts because each article you parcel out will propagate closest see trade and sire move in reverse links also in behalf of search engine optimization. Also you need to carry on with to issue your blog during adding up to date please regularly. This determination frame copy visitors as marvellously as unseat the search engines bet on a support again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week inclination better your traffic. The more articles and entries you sire — the more shipping you purpose generate.
Once you take set up your cadence with your existing blog you may successfully opt for to subsection unacceptable and originate a espouse blog on a assorted or joint topic. Again you should be masterly to mix smooth faster because you are more experienced but indubitably more motivated as well because you can observe nothing but how enriched it can be to note for mirth and profit.
Publication Articles: Pinpoint Accuracy
Posted on Nov 3, 2010 03:51:55 AM
This may not be a politically correct analogy, but if you were to shoot away a yacht brickbat from 200 miles away you would yearn for it to impact your target, am I correct? The constant can be said in behalf of an article writer — the substance of any article is vastly important, but an article misses the mark if it doesn’t do what you design it to do: that is, bring back a invite to some type of affray, i.e., go for my upshot, motion up for my newsletter, etc.
Most network based articles are bloody precise. They organize to be. Start rancid with an notice grabbing rent, followed up sooner than three or four plain points, and then tightly wrapped up with a conclusion that invites the reader to away some individual to classification of performance is the sense every fruitful entanglement content article should be written.
Anything less than what I have outlined is like a yachting trip projectile gone astray free resume writing guides. Focus for the benefit of your objective and make standard that you bang it each and every time, no consequence how far away you start. Although sail missiles are prone to change back to b originate in astray, at least you have the frill to make a note, look over, and rewrite your articles in advance they are delivered to your object, i.e., your customer.
The Lion, The Warlock And The Wardrobe
Posted on Jul 29, 2010 03:14:20 PM
It has captivated me decades – closely – to finally pick up another C.S. Lewis book and pore over it. In high-pitched form I review Lewis’ book, “That Horrific Potency” and wholly missed Lewis’ message. One decade later I conclude from Lewis’ “Basic Christianity” and fully understood what Lewis was saying. With The Lion, the Hag and the Wardrobe, shard of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, the gospel message is distinctly made incontrovertible in an allegorical/mystical style. Lewis employed the Narnia series to illustrate Christ’s be in love with someone is concerned humankind to children, who are the series’ premiere danseuse readers.
This beginning novel in a series of seven books is currently a primary action model minute completing a successful run on theatre-in-the-round screens across the U.S. I include nevertheless to dream of the flicks, a Disney in, but I realize that it holds acutely true to Lewis’ storyline. I watch to see the movie ahead of it leaves theatres later this month; it last will and testament turn to hand on Free eBooks this April.
Encourage to the thriller! The keynote of “The Lion” centers approximately four children, the Pevensie siblings, who manipulate caught up in a motherland of magic. Entering “Narnia” past a wardrobe preposterous chest of drawers that holds clothes] — located in a old folks’ where they are boarding — the children inscribe a estate where it is ever winter, but never Christmas. Less than the clarify of the Milky Sorceress, Narnia is forever in the grip of evil. The land is occupied by talking animals as a replacement for one], spirits, goblins, sprites, but no humans. That is until Lucy Pevensie shows up followed by her fellow-clansman Edmund and, later, Susan and Peter.
Definitely doubtlessly the Ivory Witch a/k/a the Queen of Narnia is most interested in humans so she resorts to all sorts of theurgy and trickery to lure them in. Edmund, the most responsive of the siblings, is quickly captivated nearby the Ghastly Witch and then sets out to sell down the river the others.
Without giving away the storyline, the exposition of Narnia unequivocally reflects the bondage of this non-standard presently men under Satan, but its existence and future deliverance with the aid Jesus Christ. In the silhouette of a lion, Aslan, Lewis brings a savior to Narnia who after all releases the native land from its winter grip and vanquishes the White Witch.
Championing those peculiar with the truth presentation, The Lion, the Battleaxe and the Collection may be difficult to follow. Be that as it may, Lewis wrote the book in 1950 without hesitation after the horrors of Say In dispute II and with the Nazi refresh battle for the benefit of London fresh in the minds of British citizenry. Lewis may have been responding to a stinking churchly hanker of his space when he wrote the series as “Narnia” successfully points seekers to Aslan, much as the Bible points readers to Jesus Christ.
I am not firm if I choice impute to the unconsumed six books in this series, but I am unquestionably interested in exploring very many other writings of Lewis.
C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams were contemporaries who were a part of a accumulation of writers and intellectuals known as The Inklings who met during the 1930s and 1940s at a non-exclusive house in Oxford. Tolkien, like Lewis, in use accustomed to Christian allegory in multitudinous of his writings including, The Jehovah domineer of the Rings, another series of books that was recently released as a grave activity picture.
Audibly, the renewed prevail upon in C.S. Lewis’ works is a firm agreeable with first in support of a generation of children not familiar with the fact message. Disney, for their part, is interested in developing the remaining six books of the series into peculiar movies. So, expect Narniamania – as some acquire called it – to continue unabated as a remedy for diverse years to come.
Article Letter and Clients: When Things Do Not Work Out of the closet
Posted on Dec 25, 2009 11:13:05 AM
In each of my business relationships, I imagine that mutual politeness and upon be essential ingredients in my association with the other individual. If song or both traits do not exist, then the relationship shouldn’t proceed any further.
So, what do you do when you get an uncomfortable or unfamiliar theory wide working as a remedy for someone, but you can’t put your hit on it? Should you persevere in the province relationship or transfer on?
I actually cannot answer these questions against you, but I bear learned that in my numerous years of working quest of or with people that it is simply first-class legitimate to change residence on. In other words, if I put faith that a function relationship is not mutually pleasurable, than it is okay to termination it. There are abundance of employers peripheral exhausted there and piles of other projects to work on. The same can be said close to the other woman: if you push them or they plunge you, they leave on someone else.
In my theory, you lack not contain a limited or solid reason either. Off you fool a gut repulsion to a specially forecast while other times there may be something approximately the estimate that simply goes against your principles or good doesn’t be agreeable to comfortably with you. No sum, only boundary the affair relationship and change residence on.
How you point the relationship is up to you. If you wish for to forget a door open, weighty the mortal physically that you are bustling with other projects is fine. If you thirst for to block out the door, you can declare them specifically why you no longer want to oeuvre as a service to this person.
In all cases, mellow your words with humaneness, but don’t waffle and certainly don’t let slip lies. You can’t nettle fro what others ruminate over with regard to you; to do so is a waste of time and wishes certainly impact your knack to develop original and solid business relationships down the line.
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How You Can Become A Better Writer
Posted on Jun 12, 2009 05:08:45 PM
I have been writing professionally for more than two decades and teaching writing nearly that long. Every conference, every writing staff, and every class has always included some writer who asks: “How Can I Become A Better Writer?”
They don’t usually like my answer. “Practice writing every day and read to study the writing of others every day.”
They don’t like the answer for one of two reasons usually. Some people are looking for some quick-fix, magic formula that will make them a good writer in three easy steps. Although my suggestion involves only two steps it is pretty obvious that it is a long-term project. The other group of people will sneer at the first because they consider themselves “real writers” but they don’t like the answer any more than the others. They believe they have a gift that simply needs to be unlocked by the magic key that published, successful writers possess.
The simple truth is that there is no way to improve your writing other than to continually practice your craft. Write every day. Experiment, plan, revise, and revisit. Make challenges and deadlines and competitions. Push yourself and your writing will reward you. I promise. Write something inspired by a writer you admire and then write something completely your own.
However it is not enough to simply write in a vacuum — or an ivory tower. You must also read the writing of others. Read far and wide. Read fiction, nonfiction, poetry and song lyrics. Read argument and persuasion, read informative and biographical, read science and fantasy. Read talented and skilled professionals and read those who are still finding their writing feet.
You are reading to gain inspiration and confidence. You are reading to build your vocabulary and your stockpile of writing tricks. You are reading to learn more about the rhythms and patterns of language. You are reading so that as you write you will be able to develop your own unique voice.
Learning to be a better writer is not the work of a weekend or even a semester. Learning to be a better writer is a life’s work. If you really are a writer then you will never consider your work done. I don’t know a professional writer who sits back and says “I’m done learning now, I’m as good as I’m going to get”. Certainly it need not take a lifetime to reach professional status but you shouldn’t make that your goal. Thinking in those terms can hold you back from becoming the best writer you can be.
For example, perhaps the reason your particular project was rejected had nothing at all to do with your writing but was in fact due to your topic, the particular needs of that publisher, or even the mood of the editor when your submission came across their desk. The truth is that you cannot control when you become a published, professional writer, but you can control your progress toward improving your writing. Believe me, the stronger your writing becomes then the easier it will be to achieve that other goal. When you reach the point that you regularly deliver quality writing then you will find a market. If you write it the rest will come.
Why I Killed My Muse … And You Should Too
Posted on Apr 7, 2009 12:40:35 PM
Last night in the dark following midnight I killed my muse (suffocating her quietly with a pillow) and buried her in my back garden. Today I will plant a roses to hide the grave. No one will ever know and I will be free at last of her insidious hold and I will be able to write what I want.
Why did I resort to this deed? After all my muse was lovely and gave me many gifts over the years. She saw me through dark times and helped mark the joyous ones. Many times she inspired me to reach for more and push myself beyond what I thought I could achieve. Knowing all this why would I kill the very source of my inspiration?
Oh, I had my reasons…
It started out quietly. As I would sit at my keyboard or curl up with a notebook, she would perch on my shoulder as was her wont to do. “I don’t think you meant to write that sentence,” she would whisper in my ear. “That doesn’t sound like the best description,” she would snipe. “Is that the best you can do?” she would sneer.
I took to sneaking my writing in when I knew she was occupied elsewhere. She never could resist critiquing the writing in the morning paper if it was left spread on the kitchen table. That way I could sometimes write several pages before she began her commentary. “Surely you can find a better way to approach this topic,” her mocking voice would interrupt. “That has been so done.”
Soon I was spending more time arguing with her, defending my words, than I was writing. Then my production slowed to a crawl as I would overanalyze each word choice and sentence formation before committing it to screen or paper. All that did was give her more time to find fault with the few words I did write.
Despite urgent deadlines and simmering ideas, I started avoiding the computer and all writing materials. I cleaned my house. I read for hours on end. I made plans for a new garden. The need the write built within me but always my muse was watching me with those eyes — so judgemental, so critical. I would turn away from my office with a sigh and find some other project.
When I could no longer suppress the urge to write I locked her in a closet and had a wonderfully productive morning. I was so happy with my work that I let her out as I went out the door to run some errands. That just made her mean.
She was waiting for me at the door when I came home. Her glasses had slid nearly to the tip of her nose and somehow she’d found a red pencil (I certainly never brought any such thing into the house). I shuddered at the sight of my happy morning’s labor marred by vicious slashes of red. The red blurred before my eyes into a crimson haze and then…
Perhaps it is better that you don’t know the details. Suffice it to say that I have selected several old-fashioned roses with luscious aroma and delicate coloring. I am sure they will provide both inspiration and comfort.
Despite my late hours and the physical toil involved, this morning I awoke early and have already logged in several hours at the keyboard. My fingers flew across the keys and after completing several long-stagnant projects I outlined notes for some new. Writing is joyful and rewarding again.
I think I might dedicate this next book to the memory of my muse. Perhaps it will serve as a warning to those other muses out there who are on the verge of going over the edge. Perhaps it will inspire those other writers out there who have let their muse stifle their creativity and shove them right into writer’s block. Maybe my warning will mean those other muses and their writers will find a way to work things out.
How Can You Write For Fun And Profit?
Posted on Feb 27, 2009 07:17:56 AM
Every writer dreams of the day when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities abound for writers each method has drawbacks.
Newspaper and magazine reporters can make a good living but their subject matter is often closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be even more lucrative but even more tightly controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?
Forget all those old-school writing methods and focus on the internet. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. You really can profit from writing only about what interests you. Don’t worry about the market or the editors. Write for yourself. Not only will it be more fun and rewarding for your soul but for your checking account as well.
I am going to share an easy (and cheap) 5-step formula that can help you start your own writing business today, but first I want to share one important fact.
This is not a get-rich quick scheme. It will take some time to earn, perhaps as long as three months to begin turning a profit, but if you keep working at it you should see your income grow exponentially each month and you should be able to count on that income and know what you have to do to increase it. You will have total control over your income and that is very powerful.
1. Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one of the many available but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the internet and the real reason you want an internet presence.
2. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which will give you immediate access to something to sell.
3. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as well as customers.
4. Develop your blog. Make 10 your immediate goal then work your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or short stories; or articles.
5. Promote your blog through article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your primarily focus on article marketing as if offers the ability to not only develop links but also delivers traffic plus as a writer it is easy for you to create articles or use a selection of the material you’ve already created for your blog.
Yes, it really is that simple and while you can later grow by buying your own domain name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not need (and likely should avoid) investing money in expensive tools
Getting started on the web can be free (as you see above) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you really need. The simple truth is that you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive tools and programs. In the long run a domain name is a good investment. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don’t need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.
At some point you may decide you want more flexibility and control than a free blog can offer and that is when you will want to run your own site. You can find a good web host for as little as $5 a month and shouldn’t pay more than $20 a month for a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll need to upgrade but by then you’ll know your income and your needs.
Really the only other regular expense that you might consider to make your internet business complete would be a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotion. But this is not necessary to start out and you may decide that it isn’t important to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.
Once you have your blog set up and monetized (by offering ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling text links) then you are in a position to begin profiting from your writing. The way to profit it to increase your traffic so you need to get serious about your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute will generate immediate traffic and create back links for search engine optimization. Also you need to continue to grow your blog by adding fresh content regularly. This will create repeat visitors as well as bring the search engines back again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week will increase your traffic. The more articles and entries you create — the more traffic you will generate.
Once you have found your rhythm with your existing blog you may well decide to branch out and create a second blog on a different or related topic. Now you should be able to work even faster because you are more experienced but likely more motivated as well because you can see just how rewarding it can be to write for fun and profit.
How To Be Your Own Editor
Posted on Jan 1, 2009 03:27:52 PM
There is a stigma associated with writers turning to editors for assistance with their work. Some people see outside editing as an unfair advantage, a form of literary cheating. Writers are expected to be able to objectively evaluate their own work. Interestingly, this is exactly the opposite of what one finds in other professions. Witness the famous phrase, ” A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” Let’s not forget, ” A lawyer who represents herself has a fool for a client.” Writers are treated differently from these other professionals, though. Writers are somehow expected to turn in perfect drafts of novels, articles, work reports, and term papers. Their work must be edited before it is turned in. Anything less is considered unprofessional and unacceptable.
Here’s the twist in this story. Best-selling authors, magazine writers, and newspaper columnists all have editors! That’s right, perfection is only required ahead of time from students, business people, and unknown writers. Those who have “arrived” suddenly benefit from editorial guidance and second opinions on their work before it reaches its final audience.
What’s wrong with this picture? What’s a writer who is still in school or hasn’t yet been published to do? One option is to ignore the naysayers. Go right ahead and get help on writing projects before they are submitted. Ask a friend or a relative who has a firm grasp of grammar and writes well if he or she will edit or at least proofread your work. If nobody in your immediate social circle qualifies, there are many people and companies offering proofreading and editing services. If time and budget allow, take advantage of them.
What about when circumstances force a writer to tough it out alone before turning in the work? If you’re forced to take written matters into your own hands, here are the things to look for while acting as your own editor.
• Spelling &ndash Run spell check, but don’t rely on it exclusively. Look up words if you are unsure about them, even if the software approves them. Never think, “That’s close enough,” or “They won’t notice,” or “A few spelling mistakes are acceptable.” If you’ve been the victim of an educational class or system that told you that spelling doesn’t count, then whoever told you that has done you a disservice. Spelling counts!
• Grammar &ndash Many people advise that you make sure what you write matches the way you speak. That will work if you speak correctly all the time. If not, you can easily review grammar lessons online at no cost if you need a refresher.
• Punctuation &ndash Make sure you put in all the apostrophes and quotes necessary. Double check to make sure you ended interrogative questions with question marks. It’s easy to just type a period at the end of all the sentences out of habit.
• Typos &ndash Blame the gremlin that hides in your keyboard if you want to, but fix them anyway. Even though people will probably know what you meant to type, don’t make them guess.
• Clarity &ndash When a writer knows what he is saying, he sometimes overlooks other possible interpretations. “The mother checked on the baby while she was crying.” Who was crying in that sentence? It could be either one of them. “All the tabloids had to say that the Hollywood couple filed for divorce.” Does that mean that there were multiple tabloids and each and every one reported the same story or does that mean that there were no other details available and the tabloids simply had only that one fact to report?
• Consistency &ndash Verify that whenever there are two or more acceptable forms of the same word, the same form should be used every time throughout the piece. Examples to watch for are TV/television and USA/U.S.A/US of A.
• Organization &ndash Make sure your thoughts flow logically and each idea builds upon the one before it. You can’t make your point if nobody can find it!
• Word usage &ndash All forms of communication should fit their audiences. The way a person expresses herself at a Super Bowl party should be different than in a formal written report to her boss.
Scanning your work projects or term papers for these different areas will not only improve the particular assignment on which you’re working, the process sets your brain on the right path for future writing projects as well. Maybe your readers will be saying, “A writer who has himself for an editor just may be on to something.”