Complete, Concrete, Concise » Writing
How to Write a To-Do List
While this article is specifically for making a “writing to-do” list, the same techniques apply to any other type of to-do list. 1) Write it Down Write it down on a piece of paper and put it somewhere you can see it. If the list is in your head, it is not a to-do list I confess, this is my biggest problem. I tend to keep everything in my head and get less accomplished than when I actually write it down, can see it, and can check it off when I’m done. 2) Be Specific Vague, nebulous, or open-ended things are not doable items. Things like: Start writing book Write some articles for website Do research on castles are vague, open-ended tasks that either waste your time or cause you to procrastinate and avoid your to-do list. A better list would be: Write … Read entire article »
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Writing Quickly
In another post, I had written that writing is hard because we get frustrated that the process of writing is so much slower than our process of creating. Notwithstanding that, we often make the process even harder by writing even slower than we are capable. The medium (the material) that a writer works with is not ideas, it is not pen and paper, nor even keyboard and word processor. The medium a writer works with is words and we have to supply the words. A blank sheet of paper gives us nothing to work with. When a sculptor works some clay into a bust of a person, they don’t start with a small amount and carefully fashion the perfect nose; then fashion an eye and join the two together. No, they start … Read entire article »
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Are you a Writer?
Many people talk about writing, dream about writing, fantasize about writing, wish they were writers. There is nothing wrong with all that – it shows great passion for writing, but … If you want to be a writer, then you must write. Imagine you want to be a gardener: talking about it is good, dreaming about it is good, so is buying packets of seeds, tools, going to gardening shows and workshops, but if you never put seed into soil, if you never try to grow something, then you aren’t a gardener. It doesn’t matter if you have a large plot of land or a window sill with barely enough room for a small flowerpot – to be a gardener you must plant and grow things. Of course, when people think about being a … Read entire article »
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Proofreading Tricks and Tips
The best way to proofread your work is to get someone else to do it. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. The following proofreading techniques are easy and help minimize errors in your documents. Use a spell checker and grammar checker, but DON’T trust them. Spell checkers catch obviously misspelled words (like byt instead of but, but will miss bit if you meant but). Grammar checkers detect simple grammatical mistakes (like repeated words), but give a lot of spurious warnings. Look at the document differently. Change the font or go from single column to two columns. Changing the way the document appears makes it easier to notice errors. Print out the document. Reading hard copy is very different from reading on screen. Read it out loud. Preferably pointing at the words with … Read entire article »
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