Category Archives for Writing
To Be Wordy or Concise, That is the Question
There is something to be said for writing that is concise and to the point, but I have learned that brevity isn’t always better. Sometimes, being specific or adding additional details can provide more understanding of the subject matter and create the full picture for the reader. On the other hand, including too many details can overwhelm the reader and the information will not be retained.
Finding that balance is key. Yet how do you know which approach to take?
I’ve always had difficulty deciding whether to be brief or to elaborate. However, over the years, I have collected several tips and tricks that have helped me get the biggest impact out of my writing without comprising meaning.
In this post, I’ll share these tips and tricks with you. We’ll take a look at different writing formats, context, constraints, how personal is too personal, and getting feedback. This will help you decide whether to be brief or elaborate when writing, depending on your individual needs.
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How to Manage Your Writing Career While Parenting A Toddler
Whenever I tell people that I am a writer and a single mom to my three-year-old son, it’s common that I hear questions about how I do it. It’s either that or them saying how amazing it is that I get to do it all on my own.
To be honest, I love hearing the compliments but sometimes, I want to tell them that I actually just want to take a break because the daily struggle is exhausting.
Despite these occasional feelings of being overwhelmed, I know I am privileged to be able to witness all my son’s milestones and have a career that allows me to support us both.
As a single parent, there are really only two ways to go about earning enough money for you and your kid/s. You either work a full-time job and hire babysitters or nannies (or have family close by and willing to manage childcare) to take care of them while you’re at work, or you find a career that allows you to be a parent and a provider at the same time.
Here’s how I learned to be both a writer and a single mom and how you can do the same thing.
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How to Take Your Writing From Bland to a Magical Piece
You’ve just finished typing the last sentence of your article. You close your laptop and take a break. You feel excited that, at least, your first project of the day is in the books. You brew a cup of coffee and take your dog for a walk.
A few hours later, you get back to your piece. A couple of your sentences sound dull. Heck, the whole piece sucks. But, before you close your laptop again and ditch your article, do you think you are a horrible writer? Of course, you are not.
So how can you add a sparkle to your dull sentences? How can you hook your readers and glue them to your article?
To be honest, there is no silver bullet to that. And while you could go back and rewrite your piece, there are also some easy things you can do to spice up your writing from the first moment you put your fingers to the keyboard. From this article, I’ll share with you some of the tips that you can implement to make your writing sound brilliant.
Let’s check them out, shall we?
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How to Prevent Writer’s Block Before You Start Writing
Alongside the self-doubt, the lack of motivation, and the absence of time, one of the main hurdles that stop aspiring authors from actually writing and finishing their book is the infamous writer’s block.
Writers rightly complain about this common obstacle, and many of them often ask me as a book editor how to get past it. Some even give up for months on end, only to return to their unfinished story and struggle even more.
The length of time away from their project and the distance created only makes their writer’s block worse, which often causes writers to abandon their novel and start a new one only to repeat the cycle.
Too many writers now believe that struggling with writer’s block is a natural part of the writing process. However, this frustrating barrier is unnecessary and preventable, and many more writers would actually finish their novels much faster if they knew how to avert writer’s block from the start.
But you don’t have to be writing a novel to face writer’s block. You can struggle with it while writing blog posts, ad copy, news or magazine articles, and marketing emails. If your job requires you to put words onto a blank page, writer’s block can strike you at any time.
Fortunately, the solution is the same. In this post, I’ll share with you the two crucial tasks I’ve learned to prevent writer’s block before it has the chance to start and develop.
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