Struggling through a first draft of a story or novel? Here are some of the best tips and quotes on first drafts from writers who have been there.
It's hard to stay positive and motivated when life gets you down. Check out these 40 profound quotes of encouragement from famous authors, philosophers, and inspirational speakers and allow their words to lift your spirits.
Love Writing? Maybe you’d love to be a blogger? Here are some thoughts on why I love being a blogger and let me be clear on the first one:
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National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
America is not the whole world. Now I have nothing against Americans or even America as a whole but you have to admit, there are a lot of stories that make it a not so safe place for anyone who does not bleed red and blue. I am not saying all Americans are like this
What are the minimum and maximum word limits for different types of stories? What are the word limits by genre, and how can writers stay within those limits? Find out here with this easy list.
NaNoWriMo is the highlight of the year for me. But how to get through this intense month of writing? Make a survival kit!
Write for elephant, change the world, get rich!* 15 years ago, the public paid for media. Media, in turn, paid writers. And advertisers advertised. Now, advertisers spend money sponsoring cool videos, most of us expect to read for free online, and Craigslist killed...
What are your favorite motivational sayings that get you writing? Here are some of my favorites that I'll use whenever I'm in a funk or need a lift.
The pen is the tongue of the mind. Miguel de Cervantes
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
Each of us wants to be better. It's a unifying desire in all of us: we all want to live a fuller, sweeter life than we did yesterday.
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Do you agree? Are you crazy to dream of writing the next “Great Novel”? Or are you crazy not to get those words out of your head, those characters onto the page, to share with someone, …
Because mistakes are the portals of discovery.
If you grew up with Harry Potter, chances are that you know the basic outline of J.K. Rowling's life story. She was a struggling single mother writing in coffee shops. Her manuscript was rejected, again and again. At long last, someone decided to…
I want to quit writing and give it up for good. Here's why.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
"Don't quit."
Hello, friends! Thank you for stopping by today. I'd like to share something I tried this week that was a super huge motivator for my student writers -- writing WITH them. I'm also linking up with the super amazing Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching. (Joanne and I bonded immediately over our shared love of the exclamation point!) I have been doing Writing Circles with my two writing classes for the past four weeks. What are Writing Cirlces? Here's a quick tutorial or you can click on my Writing Circles link to the right: Put students into groups of about four writers. Each group chooses a topic to write about. (This week's topics ranged from "dogs" to "the future" to "memories.") Each student writes a draft on their group's topic. The genre they write in is the choice of each individual writer. Drafting takes about two days. Groups come back together to share their drafts and to receive feedback from their group members. Groups choose a new topic and the process repeats. After about four to six drafts, students each choose one of their drafts to revise and publish. This week, I decided to join one of the Writing Circles in each of my 4th grade writing classes. (My two group's topics are "the future" and "end of the world." They could be seen as similar topics that only require one piece of writing from me, but I am writing a separate draft for each topic.) As my student writers worked on their drafts, I wrote along with them. They got to see me go through the same processes and struggles that they go through. It gave value to what they are doing because they knew that if I was doing the writing as well, it was something to be taken seriously. Source: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b0/2b/5f/b02b5f227f04399d5185a286e76b36eb.jpg Then on the second day of drafting, I asked my students if I could have their help. I was having difficulty with developing the problem for my "end of the world" piece. I read the piece out loud to the class and asked students to volunteer ideas on what I could do next. Their ideas were AMAZING and gave me some inspiration for what I want to include in the rest of my story. My students? They felt their opinions and ideas were valued because they were helping the teacher. They felt a part of a real writing community. Since I've been writing with my students, the quality and amount of writing has definitely increased in my classroom. It was so quiet one day, we could actually hear the heat come on in the room! The students are looking forward to Monday where they can share their drafts with their groups and hear the rest of my story. I'm looking forward to it too because I also feel like we have become a writing community in our tiny classroom. How about you? Do you write with your students? How does your class build it's writing community? I'm going to check out more motivating ideas at Joanne's blog. Hope to see you there and also back here tomorrow for my weekly A Peek at My Week linky party. :) Have a great day!
The best way to become a better writer is to write, but it doesn't hurt to get advice from the best. Here are 50+ writing quotes with wisdom from the best.
Teachers are there to teach us. Not to berate us when we ask questions that are not considered 'smart'. I never understood the reason why teachers get annoyed when a student asks too many questions. I mean doesn't it mean the student is participating and trying to learn? Why is it a bad thing? However,
Struggling through a first draft of a story or novel? Here are some of the best tips and quotes on first drafts from writers who have been there.
Because mistakes are the portals of discovery.
Even if you're writing with no experience, this novel writing course turns your story idea into a full novel you can share with everyone.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
This article will explain how to use concept mapping to write an in-depth, thought-provoking literature review or essay.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
Are you in search of a little motivation? Right pick up motivation might be the thing that you are looking for to get right back on track if you were feeling a little down. Be
I'm The One Who Loves To Write
“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that I can later build sandcastles.”-Shannon Hale Here is one of my favorite wri…
Oftentimes when people grimace at the thought of “English class,” it’s because of their haunting memories of failed writing assignments. Here are five apps to help support struggling writers to succeed with writing workshop and the writing process of essay writing.
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Travel introvert - after 8 years on the road, here are my thoughts about what it really is like to travel as an introvert.
Now that the year is more than half over (gulp), I’m realizing that I haven’t done much with my One Little Word yet. My word for this year is STORY. I’ve definitely thought about it throughout the year and it has been a positive influence in my life, but I want to take more action around this wor
When life hands us situations that hurt, we sometimes want to push it away, hide it in a closet. It's too hard to bring it forth and try to deal with the misfortune. There are so many events in our life that create deep wounds and leave scars--the death of a spouse, losing a child, being in a terrible accident, losing a home to fire or a tornado, a difficult romance and break-up. The list could go on and on. I believe that writing about whatever happened has benefits. It is cathartic for the writer and can be a help to readers who have gone through a similar situation. You're a double winner if you aid both yourself and those readers who have been through something similar. It's definitely not easy to write about a tragedy in your life. It cannot always be done immediately after the event. For me, it took almost 30 years before I could write about the loss of two infants born three years apart. I wanted to but the time was not right for me to do that. When I finally was able to write about those two difficult times in my life, and my husband's, it seemed that a dam opened and I wrote one story after another. Did it help me? I think it finally brought the peace I had sought and not found all those earlier years. It also made me feel good that I brought something to others who had gone through a similar tragedy. I would not advise waiting such a long time to write, however. Hemingway's advice in our poster today is pretty direct but also wise. When you're writing about something that has hurt you deeply, it's best to address it head first. Some writers will tip-toe around whatever happened and perhaps infer but not really explain. That's not fair to you or your readers. If you decide to write about that deep hurt, do it the way the quote says--write hard and clear. Give the facts of what occurred but also reach into your mind for your feelings, your attitude, the way you dealt with it. This kind of writing is filled with emotion and should be. For you, the writer, it can be a blessed release. Occasionally, what you write will surprise you. You're not aware of some the buried thoughts you have. There are writers who can't or won't write about a hard time they experienced because they feel it is too personal to share with others. That's showing the difference in people and personalities. If you can't write about a hard time to share with others, do it for yourself. Write the story and how it affected you and put it away in a drawer or a safe deposit box or a computer file--somewhere that is just for you to see and read. There's nothing wrong in not sharing with others. The main thing is that writing about whatever hurt you will be of some help to you. If nothing else, you can realize exactly how the situation did affect you or how it may have changed you, Whether you write about tragedies in your life for yourself only or for others, as well, do write. It can't hurt and it certainly might help.
What should I ask myself when I’m wondering, “what should I write about?” It is that fateful moment again. You have gotten out of bed. Brushed your teeth and...
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John Green, author of beloved YA novels such as The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, once described writing as “a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while doing it. While amusing, the quote points to an overwhelming belief that writing is something you do alone, without anyone else. In some ways this is true, and it’s part of the beauty of writing: you get to create your own world and your own characters, and then make them into real, live ink-filled things. But writing is far from a solitary pursuit. Of course you have editors and agents and publishers as the process gets farther along, but even before that, it’s important to have a community built up around you. A writing and editing group Okay, this is probably the most obvious one. It’s important to have a group of other writers you can meet with regularly, preferably in person. I found one through the website Meet Up, and spend every other Saturday morning writing with them and discussing our writing. The other writers vary widely in genre, stage of the process, writing style, and just about every other aspect of writing, but all are welcome, and we all learn from each other. I suggest using Meet Up to find a group, or checking at your local library to see if they host a group. If you can’t find one that exists, then make one! You can create a group on Meet Up, or talk to people at school, church, work—wherever you think there might be other people interested in meeting regularly, and just go for it. Critique partner and confidant This may grow out of the writing group, but you need somebody who is your trusted “writing person.” If you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan, you know that your “person” is who you’d call if you murdered somebody and needed help hiding the body. Your “writing person” is who you call when you might as well have murdered your story with the terrible draft you just wrote, or you want to murder your story because nothing seems to be working…you get the idea. They won’t let you get away with bad writing, but they’ll be gentle about it. They’re a writer also, and you help each other by swapping drafts and editing, by bouncing ideas off each other, and by encouraging each other when the going gets tough. It can take a while to build up to this, but it’s worth it. Online community This is wide ranging, and depends on your level of internet interaction. For some people this means Twitter and other social media, and I definitely use that. It’s encouraging to follow other authors who are farther along in the process than me, and know that it can be done. I also pay to be a part of the Young Writers’ Workshop, for writers under 30. In addition to lessons, workshops, and interviews with published authors, there’s a community website that’s a little like Facebook, but only for members. We ask questions, get edits, share quotes, and make friends. It’s honestly one of the best things that’s happened for my writing life in a long time. The internet means you’re no longer limited to your geographical area in terms of finding a group, and that’s a wonderful thing. Reach out to people, discover new perspectives, and get inspired. Your mentor Having a mentor is incredibly important, but also a little scary. They should be someone who is farther along in the writing process than you, and can help you when you have questions, whether it’s about crafting your story or the publishing process. For this reason, they should also ideally be writing in a genre similar to what you write. Again, the internet is a wonderful thing, so they don’t necessarily need to live near you. They just have to be willing to communicate regularly, maybe via email, phone, or Skype, so you can ask questions and get their feedback. Your circle of friends and family Finally, the non-writers in your community: friends and family. Bless these people, who are willing to put up with you stopping mid-sentence to write down a thought for a new story and staying up at weird hours because you got into the groove of writing and you can’t stop or it’ll never come back. They put up with a lot from you, so never ever think they’re not a crucial part of your community. If your spouse, parents, or other significant person in your life doesn’t support your writing career, that needs to change. It’s important to sit down with them and discuss why you are truly passionate about writing, and why you want to make a career out of it. If you’re new to it, it may take some time to show you are actually dedicated to sticking with it, but it will happen. We need these people around to encourage us when we’re convinced we’re the worst, keep us grounded when we’re full of ourselves, and eventually to pop the champagne when we sign our first book contract! Never underestimate those people, and when you can manage to take your head out of the clouds long enough, be sure to thank them a million times for supporting you. Building a community takes time, so don’t expect it to happen overnight. Take advantage of the resources around you to find people you work well with. You could write a book just by locking yourself away until it’s finished, but I promise you it’s a lot harder, and a lot less fun. As writers, your book feels like your baby, and so it follows that it takes a village to raise it. Where did you find your community? How has it affected your writing life? Let me know in the comments! [caption id=attachment_409 align=aligncenter width=461] If you liked this post, pin it to share and save for later![/caption]
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.