Blog
Overcoming Obstacles in Writing Part 2 by Carol Harrison
How can we get started? Once we have defined the obstacles we face in our writing journey, whether small bumps or mountains, we need to take time to look at how to get started on overcoming them. In this blog post we will look at a few ideas which may spark some more of your… Read more »
Overcoming Obstacles in Writing by Carol Harrison
What’s stopping you? Recently I attended a workshop on “Overcoming Obstacles in your Writing” by Jennifer Sparks from Saskatoon. It gave me lots to contemplate as I search my own writing life to figure out the obstacles holing me back or stopping me from writing. I’ve been asking myself how I can get unstuck and… Read more »
Writing Strategies from the Masters Part 2: Imitate by Sandi Somers
How many times have you read a book, loved it so much you read and reread it over and over? Have you thought, “I wish I could create such dynamic characters. I wish I could write such vivid details. I wish I could write like that.” Yes, you can “write like that.” Not to become… Read more »
Writing Strategies from the Masters Part 1: To Riff or Not to Riff by Sandi Somers
“What is riffing? Is that even a word?” This is what one member of my InScribe’s local group asked when I suggested she could riff a quote she admired. Yes, “riff” is a word. It comes from jazz and describes how one musician improvises a musical phrase of another. For example, one piece in my… Read more »
Love Your Writing by Brenda J. Wood
Well, here we are in February. Aren’t you surprised? I am … every winter. I drag myself through all of dreary January. I bemoan the absence of sun and the abundance of snow. It seems spring will never show up … and yet it does, every single year! Every year, the birds return from their winter holiday… Read more »
Write Compelling Cozy Mysteries by Steph Beth Nickel
This post originally appeared on the InScribe Writers Online blog earlier this month. Among many others genres, I enjoy reading a compelling cozy mystery. In my mind, these are five of the characteristics that make a story “unputdownable”: “In Medias Res” Opening I want to be plunged into the middle of the action. I’ll figure… Read more »
A Variety of Genres by Steph Beth Nickel
While there are several advantages to writing in only one or two genres, there are successful authors who write in a variety of genres. Authors choose the genre(s) they write in based on a number of factors. Not surprisingly, one of these factors is what they enjoy reading. The following are some of the genres… Read more »
‘Twas the Day Before Christmas by Steph Beth Nickel
Below is a poem I wrote several years ago. Be encouraged! ’Twas the day before Christmas and all through the land,The people were traveling, some hand in hand,No stockings were hung, no chimneys in sight,Just walking – keep walking – until it is night. Some people were nestled all snug in their bedsWhile others had… Read more »
What is the Ladder of Abstraction Part 2 by Sandi Somers
In Part 1 of “What Is the Ladder of Abstraction?”, I covered the basic concepts. Our speaking and writing can be compared to different rungs on a ladder. As your words climb up ladder, you increase the abstract language—concepts, ideas, and meaning. As you climb down to the bottom rungs, your language becomes more concrete—as… Read more »
What is the Ladder of Abstraction? Part 1 by Sandi Somers
When I was teaching, someone pinned on the bulletin board in our staff room this quote by Donald Rumsfeld when he was the US Secretary of Defense. There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t… Read more »