The Write Practice: The Online Writing Workbook

5 Sneaky Ways to Steal Time to Write

by Sue Weems | 47 Comments

Every morning, my alarm rings, and I launch into the day, getting four kids off to three different schools before heading to my campus for a full day teaching high school. What do I write? Fourteen restroom passes.

In the evenings, between dinner and soccer practice, I argue with at least two children about homework or chores, and check that I didn’t forget to pay the bills online. What do I write? a grocery list and my signature on reading logs or permission slips.

All the while, the ideas in my creative writing journals sit simmering, waiting to be told. Sometimes I get twitchy thinking about the stories I haven’t told yet. I think about my drawer of stories waiting to be finished. There just isn’t enough time in my day to get it all done and write. Right?

Wrong.

4 Essentials for Writing Memoir That Resonates With Readers

by Guest Blogger | 30 Comments

How do you write memoir and tell a story that is compelling to you, but might not be to your reader?

Boredom is death for a writer and must be avoided at all cost. When writing memoir, the facts of a person’s life will fall short if that’s all you have to offer. You need something more if you want the story to come to life in the heart, mind, and imagination of the reader.

Why You Should Keep Writing When You Want to Quit

by Ruthanne Reid | 22 Comments

I’ve tackled why we write before. Having an answer to that question is crucial, but it’s only the first question. The second is just as important: why should you keep writing?

On those days when we lose writing contests and can’t finish our stories and forget why we were writing the darn things in the first place, we need more than the reason why we chose to write. We need straight-up cussed orneriness.

9 Simple Tips for Writing With Clarity

by Monica M. Clark | 32 Comments

It’s tempting to write fancy language and complicated sentences, but writing clearly is one of the best things you can do for your readers.

Luckily, tightening up one’s writing is one of the easiest skills for a writer to develop. Here are nine practical ways you can tighten your work.

A Killer Reading Strategy That Will Make You a Better Writer

by Guest Blogger | 43 Comments

In his classic memoir On Writing, Stephen King writes, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” The latter is, of course, what this blog is all about (writing a lot). But I’m convinced that most writers ignore the former: reading a lot. (Or at the very least, they don’t read thoughtfully.)

If you’re like most people, you bounce from book to book haphazardly. What you read from month to month and year to year is simply not something you carefully consider.

But if you call yourself a writer and your goal is to become a better one, you do yourself a great disservice by not reading voraciously and thoughtfully.

Which Famous Classic Writer Are You?

by Kellie McGann | 178 Comments

Today on the blog we’ve decided to have a little fun. We created a quiz that will determine which classic writer you are most like. These writers set the standards high for us, and we as a community aspire to reach those together. Figuring out which writer we are most like might help us improve and hone our skills a little more.

3 Tips for Writing Brilliant Dialogue

by Pamela Fernuik | 14 Comments

We talk to tell someone we want them to pass the salt. We talk to ask questions, share feelings, and ask for directions when we are lost. We talk to ourselves in our thoughts, and we speak out loud.

In our stories, our characters talk, too. It is not quite as easy to write dialogue for our characters as it is to have conversations in real life. But if you take time to learn how dialogue works and practice writing it, you will be able to write brilliant conversations that sound natural and move your story forward.

How I Write Through Distractions With Freedom

by Sue Weems | 26 Comments

You’ve set your intentions with Kellie and planned and plotted with Monica. Now it’s time to write. Ready, set, . . . get distracted.

As writers, we lament our lack of time, but how often do we let distractions steal the little time we do have? In this post, I’ll show you how I use Freedom, along with a few other tricks, to keep me focused, even when life is crazy.

How to Write a Fight Scene Readers Will Love

by Guest Blogger | 19 Comments

If your story involves one or more fight scenes, you have a great opportunity. You can thrill your audience, change the course of the plot, and reveal new depths to your characters . . . or you can bore your viewers to tears, and make them wish that the battle would please just end already.

I’m going to give you six tips for writing better fight scenes, so you can keep your audience on the edge of their seats while giving a whole new level of depth to your story and cast.