Most students turn green in the face when they hear the words “book review”. In reality, however, there really isn’t much to fear when it comes to writing a book review.  The two words say it all: you just read a book, process it and then write down what you think about it.
That’s what you do when you review a book.
But then teachers start mentioning these guidelines that include terms like synopsis, exposition, plot, structure and students start going wild with fear.  What should’ve been a simple and straightforward opinion …

Decades ago, when I was a little girl listening intently in class, my teachers would often exhort us to keep journals, so that we might be able to improve our writing. These journals weren’t really specific; they were diary of sorts that we had to write in everyday. It wasn’t voluntary. We had to submit the journals by the end of the week so that our teachers might grade them.
I was sort of lazy then (as I am now), so I often wrote all my entries Friday …

Ah, the freelance writer.
Most people assume that freelancing is one of the most laid-back and easiest career paths ever to happen to man. True: there’s no need to go suit-and-tie every morning, no rush hour commute, no boss to drive you up the wall every single day.
What most people don’t realize, however, is that freelancing means you’re on your own. Literally. There’s no company to handle your tax payments, bills, client invoices, HMO, etc. More importantly, you don’t get to have a legal pit bull that’ll …

I’ve been out of touch this past weekend thanks to a combination of back pain and the installation of the entire Sims 2 collection on my Mac. It took me weeks to finally get the installation done (thanks to a random list of things I’d rather not discuss), and back pain had rendered me completely immobile for days.
Anyway, I’ll leave you with this strip from xkcd.com to think about. I’ve said time and again that writing is not a science. There’s no point forcing it to conform …

People always leave.
Yes, they leave right after reading a few sentences in your opening paragraph. That is, if they don’t find anything worthwhile.
This is a fast-paced world; if you don’t have them by the first line of your book or article, it’s over. You could have the best ideas in the world but it would be useless. Readers do not have time to read every article or book every written; they can only read so much. Unless you’re an established author with a serious fan base, you have to …

One of the biggest things that most people ask me to teach them is how to write.
It’s not that I don’t want to teach people; it’s just that there really is no powerful secret method or sure-fire process to improve one’s writing skills. I’ve never really figured out how I learned to write. In fact, I just remember studying grammar in school and somehow getting the hang of things. I didn’t take any special lessons and had no additional courses. There’s no magic bullet.
Which is why …

In a writing seminar I once attended (actually, it was the only one I ever attended), the speaker noted how some writers had the tendency to “over-describe”. When presenting readers with the story at hand, they tend to mistake “exaggerated” for “detailed”.
It’s not that you should be stingy when it comes to presenting your story.
A detailed story with enough meat and bones to satisfy readers is always good. You want your readers to find something they can sink their teeth into. I suppose you’ve come across articles …

I’m a little bored today and I’m not exactly in the mood to write, so I decided to surf around the net for a nice meme on writing for a change. As I told you previously, a meme can be quite helpful when you’re running out of ideas. Here’s something I found on Writing Wrongs. Lovely site, and the posts are insightful. Anyway, here’s the meme with my answers:
What’s Your Writing Style?

Top 5 Picks
About Writing
Miss Write - “Rethink These Writing Myths”
Gargantua Stormcaller - “Ten Pitfalls of Fanfiction”
Tammy Searles - “Writers who are also photographers”

Fiction
Jenn - “An Unexpected Independence Day Celebration”

Poetry
Matthew S. Urdan - “Circles”
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PLOTDOG PRESS FEATURING:
A Novel Approach Series - DRAFT NOVEL - Intervention Chapter 1

Writers can be a rather frumpy lot. We tend to hold on to things we believe are “correct” or “appropriate”, in the same way that the Grammar Nazi believe modernizing the Queen’s language is sacrilege. We hold on to things that we learned from our teachers, mentors, literary idols. We tend to find solace in age old practices, thinking that we can never go wrong as long as we stay true to these time-tested adages.
Unfortunately, that’s not quite true. Here are some myths we might have …