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Ten Things I Learned From My Writing Degree That Worked

Ten Things I Learned From My Writing Degree That Worked

My first year of university was filled with all sorts of disasters, ranging from too much pride over my own very self-made-up vocabulary, my inability to share work, all the way to my keen love of every adjective and adverb and other-than-said word and punctuation mark I could ever find and use. When I'd click onto blog titles like mine, I'd be given the usual facts (like, write a lot, that sort of thing). Sometimes I'd get the tips that actually helped, and even some tips I

How To Create A Publication Plan

How To Create A Publication Plan

Much like a football game, you need a strategy to win with publishing. Without a plan, you lack focus, and you create loose threads that could've been avoided with a written-down approach. Even so, if you want to sell, your plan should be impeccable with detail. Here's how to start... Your Communication Strategy First should be your communication strategy, as this determines the overall proposed delivery of the work. It is integral to your writing that you make these decision

Some Thoughts on Coffee

Some Thoughts on Coffee

Have you ever ordered a coffee so good that the millisecond your hand grips pen and hits paper, whatever you write is brilliant? The correlation is weird, that between coffee and good wits, one seems to produce the other. My thoughts, is it myth? Is it a false sense of confidence gathered from all the Greats blasting through coffee like some would as a raging alcoholic? Is it just the bitter taste that makes it feel as though it out-weighs tea in producing a mental spark? Or,

Creating Relevant & Relatable Anecdotes: Choosing Your Anecdote and Making it Work

Creating Relevant & Relatable Anecdotes: Choosing Your Anecdote and Making it Work

Think of how bland personal essays and feature stories would be without anecdotes. Just facts, more facts and stats. Getting readers interested in what you have to say, and getting them to learn from it, takes more than just a spew of information — actually, it takes a gentle balance in between. If you’ve done it right, your anecdote can encourage the reader to read on, perhaps also with a little more personal investment latched on to the side. Do it wrong, however, and you’v

Coffee: A Writer's Muse

Coffee: A Writer's Muse

Have you ever ordered a coffee so good that the millisecond your hand grips pen and hits paper, whatever you write is brilliant? The correlation is weird, that between coffee and good wits, one seems to produce the other. My thoughts, is it myth? Is it a false sense of confidence gathered from all the Greats blasting through coffee like some would as a raging alcoholic? Is it just the bitter taste that makes it feel as though it out-weighs tea in producing a mental spark? Or,

My Secret Tip For How To Write Drunk When Wine Kind-Of Sucks

My Secret Tip For How To Write Drunk When Wine Kind-Of Sucks

You know the saying, 'write drunk; edit sober'? It comes by for a few reasons. Namely, I believe, because when you write drunk you lose that all-too-familiar caution. You're suddenly very willing to write your guts out, ichor and all. Restraint is replaced with a drunk, cocky need to share your thoughts onto paper. But, when alcohol just really isn't your forte, here is a different tip I'd like to share... Anyone that knows me well, or even briefly, will know I really can't

How To Create A Publication Plan

How To Create A Publication Plan

Much like a football game, you need a strategy to win with publishing. Without a plan, you lack focus, and you create loose threads that could've been avoided with a written-down approach. Even so, if you want to sell, your plan should be impeccable with detail. Here's how to start... Your Communication Strategy First should be your communication strategy, as this determines the overall proposed delivery of the work. It is integral to your writing that you make these decision

Ten Ways to Turn a Trashy Introduction Into Gold

Ten Ways to Turn a Trashy Introduction Into Gold

Sometimes it’s tough to get started on a writing project. Much like an artist, the hardest part can often be stating what you want to say and not scrapping every idea into the dustpan. I used to love drawing, and when it came to starting new projects I was particularly devout. Every idea was a good one, and every false line became a source of inspiration to turn my ''destroyed'' creation into something else. In writing's case, I remain reluctant. That's why I want to do up a

The Stomach Cramp in the Writing Pantry

The Stomach Cramp in the Writing Pantry

There is nothing quite as equally distasteful as it is loved like the semicolon. Traditionally, it's used to separate items on a list, to connect two closely related sentences, and, most importantly, to be used fervently by every inexperienced writer there is. The semicolon reminds me of my first year of university back when I saw God every time I used an adjective in a sentence. Adjectives are such a vivid type of word that using them just screams evocative writing. However,