Writing Articles (Sorted by date)

The speed of the internet has profoundly changed many (or most) people's perceptions of writing and publishing. It has affected our sense of TIME.Everything is accelerated.

So it’s your dream to write novels? Be a freelance writer and make a living off of your articles? Or maybe you nurture an ambition to write and sell enough short fiction to put bread on the table, like those writers of the golden age of the...

Avoid the wimpy verbs—is and be.These “do-little” verbs only occupy space and state that something exists. So don’t write, “There is one simple omission that can transform a sentence from boring to brilliant.” Do...

The idea is the most valuable intellectual property. And the interesting idea requires quality protection from the plagiarism. Before we start discussing why it is not worth plagiarizing, let’s clear up what we mean by plagiarism.

That’s the question lots of people are asking – and the answers are as varied as all the blogs out there in cyberspace. Oh, and in case you don’t know what blogs are, they’re web logs that are updated regularly, sometimes daily,...

Negotiables: These are rules that the experts largely agree can be broken to good effect. In formal writing (such as a doctoral dissertation), the strict rules would still apply.

Following is a compilation of the kinds of mistakes I see most often in writing, often by successfully published writers. This article is adapted from a handout I give my lifewriting students.I base my assertions of what is “right” (or at...

One of my favorite techniques for getting into the head of my characters is, interviewing them. This relies heavily on rapid writing, so be sure you fully understand that concept first.

Great! You finished your piece and now need a headline.Usually headlines are less than ten words and need to beexpressed in short, expressive, active words. This providesquick focus and pull in.

This outline is adapted from a handout I give to my lifewriting students. The points made here apply to writing in general as well as to writing our life stories in particular.I. Why should we write?A. Frank McCourt in Writer’s Digest, Feb.