As you discover your voice, you notice you like to write things a certain way. You use certain words a lot. You employ similar grammatical structures again and again. You regularly write from one point of view. Recently, I've noticed I'm falling into first person...
Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!
At The Write Practice, we publish a new article each day designed to help writers tackle one part of their writing journey, from generating ideas to grammar to writing and publishing your first book. Each article has a short practice exercise at the end to help you immediately put your learning to use.
Check out the latest articles below or find ones that match your interest in the sidebar.
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How to Find a Unifying Theme For Your Blog
Everyone from Copyblogger to my friend Jeff Goins says that one of the best way for your blog to be successful is to find a unifying theme to write about. For example, this blog focuses on how to improve your creative writing. Pioneer Woman's blog is about how to be...
Out of Place
I don't know if it was the black eyes of the people watching me or the way everything looked dark and overused in that city, but I was ill at ease, as if restlessness could be defined by a leg that wouldn't stop bouncing under the table and an imagination that...
How to Be Creative When You Are Busy
I received an email recently from a reader who said, "I want my writing to be a way of crystallizing reality, not making a new one." It reminded me of something Sir Ken Robinson said, something I've found to be true of my own experience: "The arts especially address...
Lady Gaga and How to Create A Persona
There are two things that work, you can be overwhelmingly honest. Or you can create some kind of persona to write from. It's the difference between Joni Mitchell (or Jewel or even someone like Colby Caillat) and Lady Gaga. Joni was being honest. Lady Gaga is a...
Birds
The window in my living room opens out to a wide field that ends in a line of trees. The birds live in the trees and in the mornings they fly out over the field. There's something about birds. Sometimes you see a yellow one or a blue one. Mostly, though, they are...
The Myth of Perfection
Perfect is no place for a writer. Listen to me: you will never write a perfect novel, short story, essay, blog post, sentence. Everything you write will be criticized. If it's not, then it has been ignored. Your job is not to write perfect sentences. Stop thinking it...
Writer’s Block: How You Got It and How to Get Unblocked
I spent most of this morning trying to figure out what to write. I had four or five different ideas for posts, all of which I threw out. I'm blocked. The three reasons I am blocked: Recently, someone I respect criticized this blog. Shortly after, I didn't get a...
It Doesn’t Matter What You Write
What should you be writing? A blog post? A short story? A novel? A poem? A guest post for another blog? I believe in focused goals. To build a career in writing (if that is what you're going for), you need them. You have to write long pieces of work, books usually,...
How to Revise Your Writing: Quality Inspection
"I try to distinguish between a poem I like because it reminds me of a particular experience," said Paul Willis, "and a poem that works as a poem that anyone would like." How do you quality inspect your writing? I like to think of Paul in his clean room outfit—white...
