How to kick-start the writing habit Blogging can bring your business exposure, credibility, and whole lot more revenue – so it’s in your best interest to deliver a steady stream of powerful writing. But for a lot of us, that’s a tall order. If you’re finding your creative juices running a little dry, this list of quick and easy tips is sure to get them flowing again. Write nothing but headlines. Keep it rocking Q10 Key features Full-screen. Focus on your work. Even if Mark Pilgrim doesn't like full-screen editors, some of us do. Live text statistics. Word, page and character counts are updated live as you type. Programmable page count formula. Specify what formula to use for page count calculation. Customizable look and paragraph format. Change the colors, line spacing, first line indent, paragraph spacing, font... Perfectly portable. A single self-contained executable file. Easy to use timer alarm. Perfect for timed writing sessions and word wars. Spell checker. You don't make mistakes. Notes. Any paragraph starting with ".." is considered a note. Target count. Displays completed percentage. Partial counts. Keep track of the extension of current chapter or see how much content you've produced in the current writing session. Autocorrections and quick text. Unlimited autocorrection entries to fix on the fly those persistent typing errors. Standard and clean text format. Encoding and line endings agnostic. Free.
The Writer's Almanac Blog Archive » How to Write a Novel in Two Month As someone who has never thought of himself as a fast writer, I had certain trepidations about this Predator novel gig, exacerbated by being sick for a couple of weeks when I’d planned to work on it and unexpected but lovely distractions (like Utopiales in France). The result is that I basically wrote Predator: South China Sea in two months. I had more than six months to work on it, but only spent about eight weeks at the computer and writing longhand. I’m almost hesitant to mention this because I think some readers and writers equate length of time spent on a project with quality. And it’s certainly true that some ideas, some novels, require a long gestation period and an equally long time in which to revise, revisit, re-envision. For example, long-time readers of this blog might recall that it took a decade to put together the stories that comprise City of Saints & Madmen and eight years to work on Shriek: An Afterword on-and-off. So, here’s what I’ve learned. Support Writing-Related
The Writing Practice Where do you get your ideas for your blog? I get this question a lot. Do you? The question is a bit more telling than the answer, I’m afraid. You see, I have more topics and ideas than I have time to write about. I write two or three posts every time I sit down, and lately, I write a bit for a book at the same time, so that I can give you original book content as well as original daily post content. It’s practice. The Spark of an Idea Last night, Kat and I were at Ruby Foos in Manhattan for dinner after a movie. The answer to this should always be no. Instead, if Jenna had said, “We make the most amazing molten chocolate cake here,” I might have raised an eyebrow. There. Sparks are everywhere. From Spark to Fire Having a good idea is one thing. Fires start when you get them in many minds. The Actual Practice of Writing I’m writing this to you while I’m waiting for someone to get some webinar software rebooted. How? Think about pieces to write. Grab paragraphs where you can. Publish often.
How to write a letter without envelopes, cutting or glue Tips for writing a good paper: Common Grammatical Mistakes: Sentence Fragments These are incomplete sentences. Remember that ALL SENTENCES need a subject and a verb.Example: She was an interesting talker. (This is a complete sentence.) A woman who had traveled all over the world and lived in 7 countries. Comma Errors Periods and commas go inside quotation marks.Example: I am consistently amazed by the TV show "The X-Files." Two sentences cannot be separated by a comma. Agreement Errors A subject must agree with or match the verb. But, while these examples are simple, some subject/verb agreements are not so easy to spot. She is one of those people who are never ready on time. In this case, the subject of the sentence is the word people instead of she. Organizational Tips: Methods Of Organizing Your Paper First, narrow down your topic into something manageable. Organizing before you write gives your ideas a structure to cling to; it allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts. The First Draft
Well-Fed Writer 10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online -- Educatio See our list of universities that offer free online writing courses. Learn about what courses are available and what topics they cover to find the course that's right for you. Online Writing Courses for Credit Many schools offer free online courses and materials through OpenCourseWare (OCW) projects. For far less than the cost of enrolling in a traditional class, Education Portal offers hundreds of online courses that allow students to start working their way towards real college credit. Conventions in Writing: Usage - Instructors discuss tips for developing clear sentence structures, good diction and a strong writing style.Parts of an Essay - This chapter covers prewriting strategies and methods for organizing an essay. Free Online Non-Credited Writing Courses Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Writing and Reading the Essay focuses on the essay as a popular literary genre. New Jersey Institute of Technology Technical Writing Open University Purdue University University of Iowa
40+ Most Wanted Wordpress Tricks and Hacks Have you ever came across a WordPress blog, saw something you liked, and questions like ‘how they did that‘, ‘is that a plugin or hack?‘, ‘where can I get those cool mods‘ begin to pop? Well, it’s really pretty normal because most of us did the same thing. For this article we’ve spent time with some 14 WordPress bloggers, finding out what kinda hacks and plugins they are really looking for to enhance their blog in any aspect. While you are at it, here’s few more WordPress related articles we’ve previously written: Display categories in horizontal Drop-Down menuInstead of using your categories in sidebar, you can put them up on the navigation bar, dropping down the sub categories in second-level drop down. Read also: More WordPress Related Articles Author: Hongkiat Lim
Free thank-you note samples Fantasy writing tips, how to write a fantasy novel, creative wri Sign up to my mailing list, and choose a FREE EBOOK as a gift. Join here. A Creative Writing Ebook AVAILABLE NOW from $0.99 Collaborative writing software online with Writeboard. Write, sh Hello, We launched Writeboard back in October of 2005 as a stand-alone service. A few years later we integrated Writeboards into Basecamp Classic and Backpack. As part of refocusing on Basecamp, we’ve decided to retire Writeboard.com. But don’t worry — any Writeboards you already created here at Writeboard.com will continue to work. Thanks to everyone who used Writeboard.com over the years. Onwards, Jason Fried, Founder & CEO, Basecamp
Writing Hacks, Part 1: Starting By Scott Berkun, Aug. 28 2006 (#54) Writing is easy, it’s quality that’s hard. Any idiot who knows 5 words can write a sentence (e.g. For this reason writer’s block is a sham. Consider this: Have you ever been blocked while playing Frisbee? So play. Writing hacks for starting In the grand tradition of lists and books of hacks, writing hacks are clever little actions that give you leverage and put the dynamics in your favor. Start with a word. Write about how it feels not to be able to write. Have a conversation. Read something you hate. Warm up. Make lists. Switch to something harder. Run like hell. Whiskey. Rummage your scrap pile. Smart writers have stockpiles of old ideas to arm themselves against the evils of the blank page. Notes [1] I sometimes write “I have nothing to say” and repeat it on the page. [2] True story. [4] I wrote the novel on and off for 10 years, and finished in 2005 (with draft #5). Further advice: