So, you’re ready to write something…

With the fall, and children returning to school – many of us are starting new projects – WHAT are you going to write?

Advice from Professional Writers (3)

Over the past four years or so, I’ve been collecting bits and pieces of advice given from writers who have made their mark in the writing world. Today, I’d like to share suggestions for self-editing. I know that not everyone can afford to take editing classes, but you can develop a routine to polish your

Advice from Professional Writers (2)

Over the past four years, I’ve been collecting bits and pieces of advice from writers whose work impacts the writing world. Over the next few posts, I’d like to share these with you. While every rule or suggestion might not apply to you and your writing – you, like me, should discover some gems. Here

Common Errors in Writing

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been blogging about the Parts of Speech, but I feel I need to change direction for a bit. As submissions for my latest Anthology came in, and I read and evaluated stories, I found a lot of common errors – and so, I will be addressing those over the

Parts of Speech: The Adverb

My favorite author, Stephen King, discusses the use of adverbs in his book, ‘On Writing.’ He says, and I quote, ‘Adverbs are not your friends.’ He goes on to say that the use of adverbs is for lazy writers. Too many adverbs will weaken your sentences and have you falling into passive voice. (We will

Parts of Speech: The Verb

All About Verbs I think that most of us are more than aware that ‘Verbs are ‘doing’ words.’ They show action, a state of being, or express time. We have present, past, and future tense. For most of us, we covered the basics in our grammar classes. He eats. (Present tense) He ate. (Past tense)

Parts of Speech: The Adjective

First, let’s cover an adjective the way most of us learned it in school. All About Adjectives An adjective is a word that describes a noun. There are two kinds of adjectives: attributive and predicative. Attributive The attributive stands next to a noun and describes it.  The usual place of the adjective is in front of the

Parts of Speech: the Pronoun

Here is the definition we were given back in the 5th Grade: Pronouns are substitutes for nouns, taking the place of nouns that precede or follow them.Examples: I, hers, myself, who. Now, that we are using these words in our writing, we need to have a deeper understanding. There are four types of pronouns: Personal pronouns indicate a person

Parts of Speech: The Noun

All About Nouns Most of us can remember the basic definition we learned in early Grammar classes. A noun is a naming word. It identifies people, places, or things. However, we may not always remember that there are four types of nouns: 1.   Common Nouns Common nouns are names given to ordinary objects.They can be

Grammar and Your Writing

During the three years I’ve been blogging, I’ve written several items on Grammar, but I’d like to start from scratch with this new series. I’d like to go out on a limb and venture to say that many of us begin writing stories when we’re young. We move through school learning the basics of language