"Write now is good."

Top 10 lists from the Grammar Home Office

Photo: "pens" by ChrisB in SEA 

Learning to write well is a continual process. When readers ask me about how to become a better writer, I always say, "First, write every day." And I mean it. With writing, the only way to get better at it is to keep at it. Writing doesn't improve just by thinking about it.

Then I give this advice: "When you write, don't worry about misspellings and grammatical errors. That's what editors are for." Writing and editing are completely different skills. Great writers often make spelling and grammar errors, and great editors and/or proofreaders are often better at catching mistakes than creating compelling stories.

When writing for our jobs, however, we must often be both writer and editor extraordinaire. Also, if you are a blogger and don't have anyone else to review your work before you post, then occasionally reviewing lists like these from TechRepublic Senior Editor Jody Gilbert can help you catch your own errors:

"10 wording blunders that make you look stupid"

"10+ tips for keeping your writing sharp and professional"

"10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid"

Here are two simple, additional tips I recommend for self-editing your writing:

1. Read your work aloud. The ear often catches errors that the eye does not.

2. Do spell check. (Seriously. While it doesn't fix words used out of context, it does catch misspellings. Use it!)

Introducing "Matinée Muse", a creativity boost

Matinée Muse, now in its third week, is a blog that presents two weekly creativity prompts based on movie themes. You can participate in this online community by following three steps:

1. Use the Matinée Muse prompts to inspire your creativity. (You don't have to write about the movie, though you may.)
2. Write a poem or a short story, or create some artwork or take a photograph—related to one of the prompts.
3. After you have created your work, post it to your site, and add that post's link to the comments of the Matinée Muse post.

Other MM members will visit your post and comment on your work. If you haven't participated in an online-prompt community before, introduce yourself by commenting on other's posts; many (if not all) of the bloggers you visit will click through to see your work in return.

Participating in online-prompt communities can have many benefits:

-- If you create every week consistently, you get regular practice in your art form and, thus, get better at it.

-- You build a body of work over time. (A year of doing the weekly prompts = 52 new works! What a vibrant, current portfolio that would be.)

-- Seeing other takes on the same prompt expands and challenges your interpretation of the prompt. I consider this healthy artistic and intellectual brain exercise.

-- If you're suffering from a writing or art-making block, switching creative gears for a moment and approaching a prompt with lightness and fun can keep you creating. Keeping creative energy flowing builds your momentum and staves off long creative dry spells which can deplete artistic energy.

-- Regularly commenting on other bloggers' works creates an online creative community and network.

One extra bonus for movie lovers: MM features movie poster images and links to more information about all films mentioned. One of this week's prompts is based on the classic whose poster is shown above.

Be an AWESOME writer

Last month, I wrote a post about a very insightful and funny YouTube video called "Book Launch 2.0". It features Dennis Cass, an accomplished writer and the author of Head Case, conversing with a phone-friend about the pros and cons of using new and social media to launch books.

For those of you who enjoyed Cass's video also, I've got good news: he has created an online community. Its goal: to make creative people more effective and successful at their creative lives and careers. It is called, appropriately, "Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome."

DCWYTBMA is a site full of "advice, jokes and tough love for people who want to make a living making culture." Dennis regularly answers members' questions, providing sound advice on a variety of relevant topics. The community is active, full of creatives commenting with additional viewpoints and examples. Plus, he features an "Awesomizer" to help improve creative endeavors; it has made me look at some pop culture mainstays with a fresh perspective.

I strongly believe that participating in writing/creative groups (even online!) can help their participants grow in their work, get unstuck when creative blocks arise, and provide camaraderie and support when the creative road is nothing but potholes and speed traps. (If you have done anything creative ever in your life, then you know the ride can get bumpy...)

While reading Cass's articles and answers, I have laughed out loud many times. Knowledgeable creative-career guidance + original insights + active community + humor = WIN! And if you sign up, I'll see you there.

Dance! It may improve your writing.

If you're reading this post, you spend some time online. And if you've spent any time online over the past week, you have probably seen the following massively played video.

While I've enjoyed Dancing Matt Harding's joyful, international dance-travel just because it's magical, I've discovered another compelling reason why he is a revolutionary of inspiration. One of today's posts on the Well blog from the New York Times mentions studies which tie dancing to increased brain functioning and healing. An excerpt:

...A telling 2003 New England Journal of Medicine report showed a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who regularly danced during leisure time. But what was so surprising about the report is that other types of physical exercise didn’t affect dementia risk — dancing was the only physical activity that made a difference.

Other studies have shown music plays an important role in depression. Dance therapy has been used to relieve anxiety about taking tests, and researchers are studying the tango to help patients with Parkinson’s. Dance therapy has been shown to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients as well...

I've joked in past posts that I use my writing music mixes for "my pre-writing dance session". Now I see a connection between these fun, solitary dance sessions giving my brain power a boost and, possibly, improving my writing.

So, in honor of inspiring dancer Matt and dancers/writers worldwide, stand up, clear yourself a private dance floor, and improve your writing skills — by dancing. Enjoy.

Oddly inspiring

As a current editor and former grammar teacher, I was stopped in my Web-surfing tracks by this:

Know the rules, and the rules will make you free.
    — Orson Scott Card

The most typically inspiring words to writers focus on growing wings, dreaming big and believing hard enough. This grounding, practical advice stresses working within confines and structure first; the wings follow.

Rules abound in writing—enough for everyone to follow some and ignore others.

What rules do you follow in your writing? How do they help you?

Journal as map, compass and guide

Photo: Morocco Journal 2007 - pg. 45-46 by retro traveler

This post by Steve Osborne at TheWritersBag reminds me why keeping a journal is so worthwhile. An excerpt:

...Journaling is not an act of record-keeping for me, although that is a side benefit. I do it because it is an exercise in self-reflection, and the tech-free process of writing by hand – much slower and more deliberate than entering text on a keyboard – is the perfect preparation for climbing inside myself.

Not only does it force me to think before I lay words indelibly down on paper, it also frees me from the distractions that come with the territory of digital writing tools like computers and PDAs. I don’t have to turn on my paper notebook and wait for it to boot up. It never freezes or crashes...

I hadn't thought of journaling as an antidote to being over-connected in the Digital Age, but Osborne makes a solid case. Whether you are a writer, creative, or knowledge worker, I recommend reading his complete post; in it, you may find your own path to clarity, organization and insight.

On a side note: I searched for "journal" on Flickr Creative Commons, and 36,397 journal-related images appeared. Amongst these are the odd Wall Street Journal photo, but most are well-loved journals full of travels, musings, sketches, found objects — personal records of the maps of our lives in progress. Very enjoyable to look over.

Creative fire, typewriting monkeys, and Twitter (again)

The weekend approaches. Wondering what to do? Spend some quality Internet time with these writing-related links:

1. "Creative Instinct Is Like Fire." The complete text reads:

Controlled fire gives heat, light, and power which runs the factory machinery or the railway train/
Uncontrolled, it is the cause of untold loss and human suffering/
Are you using or wasting your creative powers?/
Humanity needs your energy wisely directed

This image (dated 1922) is from the University of Minnesota's American Social Hygiene Posters collection (seriously!).

2. We bloggers must keep a sense of humor about ourselves. I laughed when I saw the t-shirt which stated quite bluntly, "No one cares about your blog!" I laughed even harder when I saw this t-shirt: "A new theory of the Internet". Obnoxious t-shirts (featuring monkeys using typewriters) won't hold me back — I will continue to blog, undaunted.

3. Twitter is a veritable writing revolution: "Twitter inspires extra-short short stories" — 140 characters, to be exact. From the Los Angeles Times.

4. Always a sound reminder: the 4 simple steps to the writing process, from MIT''s Online Writing and Communications Center

Got any choice writing/creativity/inspiration/media links to share? Leave a comment, and I'll include them in a future post.

Using Twitter to develop editing skills

Many tech tools available online can help writers and editors hone their skills. Twitter is an accidental one. Originally designed as a social network, this microblogging platform helps writers practice precise expression because it restricts wordy output to 140 characters or less per "tweet" (a Twitter message, and this includes spaces and punctuation).

Craig Stoltz at Web 2.0h. . .really? A skeptic's guide to emerging web technologies has written a resourceful post titled "How Twitter Finally Taught Me to be an Editor". Even though he states:

Fact is, it’s tough to convey any substance in 140 characters. You have to carefully weigh every word, letter and space. Even punctuation.

Stoltz does precisely that. Each insightful paragraph is written in 140 characters (or a bit less).

Want to see how it's done by a Tweeting Master? Follow Craig on Twitter here.

Thanks to Shashi Bellamkonda, who highlighted this post via one of his Twitter messages.

Related posts:

— "One full plate: My media diet"
— "Politweets: Political expression, in 140 characters or less"
— "Is 140 the new 5-7-5? Writing, haiku and Twitter"

How do you make your book "social"?

Photo: Writer's block by A river runs through 

Writers love to write, though it's often hard work. Even when intense writer's block pays a dastardly visit, a reward waits on the other side: the sublime satisfaction of having blasted through the block and continuing on with the story.

Tangled plot lines and misbehaving characters keep authors awake at night, as can their own children, pets and other family members. (I know a cat who insists on getting brushed at 4AM...do you?)

Many aspiring writers, active in their quest for novelling greatness, have day jobs. These necessary vocations, often clocking in at 40-plus hours per week, unabashedly devour "free" time designated for writing.

Despite endless obstacles, writers press on.

When it comes to marketing one's own work, however, writers often dig in heels, faint or flee. That's why it is so valuable when a marketing guru turns a daunting process into something accessible, worthwhile, and perhaps fun.

Interested in learning how to market your writing, either right now or in the future? Then read the post "Social Books" by Sean Howard. Howard, who is Director of Strategy and Innovation at Lift Communications, has outlined the necessary basic steps for writers to use social networking tools in developing an online marketing program for their books. Thanks, Sean!

These days, if writers don't work hard to tell a compelling story about their writing, and get their books public attention, then their books won't get bought and read — no matter how great their stories are. Consider marketing as a necessary part of the authorship process; doing so will help insure that your books make it to your readers' hands, minds and hearts. 

Introducing "The Writer's Technology Companion"

The Writer's Technology Companion features practical advice for writers from a technology angle.

If you write in this day and age, you must be very tech literate. From having a blog to knowing how to use the track changes feature in Microsoft Word, tech know-how keeps a writer's skills sharp and helps any writer grow professionally and personally. It also helps in making connections with present work, future job opportunities and other writers.

Here are two recent posts from WTC; both are prime examples of its most useful fare:

° What Should I Write About in My Writer’s Blog?
° Should You Blog on Your Writer’s Website?

Another post worth checking out is 22 Blogs Every Writer Should Read. I'm proud to say that "Write now is good." is listed at #17 on the list. Many thanks for the recognition, WTC, and it's great to make your acquaintance!