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• Life Passed Me By

  2118 readersSometimes the placement of a word makes all the difference in meaning.Like this article? Then you'll love our book: 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid. It lists 100 common spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage mistakes. You can buy it today with a 50% discount! Original Post: Life Passed Me By Your eBook: Click here to download the

• Focus vs. Locus

  3964 readersWhat’s the difference between a focus and a locus — is it all just hocus-pocus? — and where does nexus fit in? The technical meaning of focus is “a point of convergence or divergence, or seeming divergence,” in terms of particles of matter. It also refers to adjustment for clear vision as well as the field

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  The Difference Between “Shade” and “Shadow”

  2052 readersBoth words derive from the same OE source, but they are not often used interchangeably. Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. Original Post: The Difference Between “Shade” and “Shadow”

• Writing the Question

  2852 readersMy writing room is like a shadow box. It contains all the elements of story, collected as I go, until every available surface is covered. The walls of my shadow box are lined with old National Geographic maps. Many of the countries have been renamed or...

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  The 10-Minute Technique to Becoming a More Productive Writer

  5868 readers Late last year, when I interviewed Brian Clark about his approach to productive blogging, he said something that really struck me as a writer. Brian’s big on vision — he told me that he believed his vision for his online business was pretty much the key to his success as both a blogger and business owner. As

• So you want to be a professional writer

  2935 readersWhat does that fantasy look like to you? How does it look when you project the image of your professional writer self into the future five years, or ten? Before I cracked the ranks, I’m not sure what I thought about what my actual life would look lik...

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  6 Keys to Revising Your Fiction

  3340 readersThe two dirtiest words in this writer’s vocabulary both start with the letter “R”. The first, and worst, is rejection. Having spent more than two years on my agent search, I have loads of experience in the rejection arena. I wrote three manuscripts and sent out over two hundred queries before I landed that first call with an agent.

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  Do You Have a Blog Mission Statement?

  3262 readersAs we close out a year that has been so economically unstable, I am looking toward the new year with hope and dreams, larger then life! While pondering those things I can and should do differently, my mind kept returning to the words Mission. Statement. Essentially, the starting point of every great idea or endeavor

• Interview with Dashka Slater, part 2

  2477 readersIf you missed part 1 of my interview with Dashka Slater, where we discussed her lyrical, fascinating and comic novel of magical realism, The Wishing Box, click HERE, then come back. Today, Dashka tells us about her other writerly hats–children’s book author, poet, short story writer, teacher–and lets us in on a few of her

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  The Editor Before the Editor

  1391 readersBook Sculptures by Mike Stilkey Guest post by Sheri Hunter That first novel needs to be treated like a patient where the respiratory, pulmonary, and circulatory systems are compromised. Depending on writing ability, the novel may ne...