Writing

Today we’ll uncover 9 bad writing habits that can actually ruin your career as a writer, blogger, reporter, etc. There’s no exact timeframe to eliminate bad habits and clear your mind for inspiration. It can vary from 72 hours to more than 21 days because some long-lasting habits are ingrained at our neural level. They can…

Stephen King and his advice on adverbs is well-known, but are writers now ignoring it? This is Stephen King on adverbs. “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one in your lawn, it looks…

As an author, you want to know how to get people to read your book. But you need to understand today’s publishing market. The latest revolution in the book publishing industry is the ebook, and it is right up there with the printing press. Suddenly, you can get any book you want at a lower…

Creativity has often been linked to depression or a mood disorder. I wrote a short post some time ago about depression and writing. But I didn’t give much thought to the connection. It was only voicing, in a light-hearted way, an episode from my own experience. But I was surprised by how many people read…

Some years ago now, I clearly recall my doctor telling me that there was a definitive link between writing and depression. The only problem with his link was that he had no idea if writers became depressed through writing. Or if living with depression miraculously manufactured the circumstances for people to start writing. So why…

If you are preparing to publish a book, editing and proofreading your manuscript can be a laborious and time-consuming task. But you can make it easier to catch mistakes, such as spelling, punctuation, formatting, and typographical errors, by following a few basic proofreading tips. Grammar apps and tools can do some of the heavy lifting…

Is writters a word? No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t come across it occasionally on social media. So yes, the title of this article should read writers who should have done a free grammar check. But it caught your attention, didn’t it? A grammar checker is an essential tool for any writer because grammar…

Tom Waits’ writing, like all good writers, avoids common collocations and tired clichés. Waits has a way with words. And even though he writes songs, he should inspire writers and authors. His words are memorable for one very simple reason. He never uses a common collocation. Instead, he surprises and sometimes shocks with his choice…

Depending on where you live, there are many calculations to make as you approach retirement at age 62 or age 65. Our life expectancy has increased a lot in the last few decades. So you need to make long-term financial plans. You will need to calculate your anticipated pension and costs. It might be 401 k…

Can you dumb down text so your writing is suitable for an 11-year-old to read and understand? If your writing isn’t scoring a reading grade down at that level, then perhaps you might want to read on. There’s a fine line between dumbing down and opening up your writing to a wider online readership. But…