I’ve met writers who have been insulted when asked to write in plainer language. I can understand that, I suppose – working hard on something only to be told that it is too advanced in terms of reading level can be frustrating.
“Dumbing down” your article, however, doesn’t mean that you have to dumb down the content. You can still create an informative, even technical, article, even if you’re writing for a junior high reading level, rather than for a group of college professors. Here are some tips for making revisions that take your text to an easier reading level without …read more

Today is a day that many Americans spend in a somber mood. I don’t have to talk about why, even if you aren’t from the United States. September, 11, 2001, changed the entire world forever.
As a writer, I rarely find it hard to put my feelings into words. Tough topics, however, get me a little tough tied – or whatever you call the equivalent for writing rather than speaking. I never feel like I say enough, and often I feel like I say too much. Yes, at the same time. Here are a few tips that I use to write …read more

You hear successful fiction writers say it again and again: write what you know. But if writing what you know is your key to fiction that sells, then why are the sci-fi and fantasy genres so successful, while few publishers are interested in memoirs unless you’re famous? Obviously, a book about vampires or unicorns isn’t real. Well, here’s my take on the “write what you know” conflict, and it boils down to a single idea:
Write what you know, but don’t write your story.
At the end of the day, few people have a life interesting enough to sell memoirs or …read more

Writing believable dialogue isn’t easy. However, it is even harder to write an entire story with no dialogue at all. Characters talk; that’s just a fact of life. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to create a conversation that isn’t boring, long-winded, or too dramatic. Here are some tips that I use to create good dialogue:
1. Make your main character “you.”

You don’t have to put yourself in the story if you don’t want to, but whoever talks the most should have your voice, at least, if you want to make the dialogue writing as simple as possible. In fiction, it …read more

I love Grey’s Anatomy. Sue me. I know the show isn’t nearly as good as it used to be. I know that it’s a chick flick turned into a TV show. I know that the actors are a little elitist.
I still love it, and I have since about season two, when my college friends got me hooked.
Why do I bring this up to you all? Well, the Grey’s Anatomy season finale was a few weeks ago, and that episode, along with the rest of the season, have really made me realize that this show has a lot to teach writers. …read more

Do you ever have stage fright when you sit down to write?
Shelley talked about this in her post yesterday, and I bet there isn’t a reader out there who hasn’t experienced that same agonizing blink of the cursor, the glaring white document, and the sound of the clock ticking closer to that deadline.
But I think writer’s stage fright is a little different than writer’s block. Writer’s block is more of a logjam in the brain where you have collected all the information you need to start writing, but somehow you just can’t seem to make it out of the gate. …read more

 
If you missed Jenny’s great post about the Power of 15, or if you don’t remember reading it in December, I highly recommend you give it a second read.
As I prepared to write my post for today, I was struck with an acute case of stage fright. I mean, this is a big job. Bizzia.com is about to revolutionize the blogosphere, Jenny’s regular readers adore her, and then there’s me.
I am talking blank Word doc, staring back at me, blinking with an unsympathetic eye of a cursor. What do I have to say? Who am I to be writing this …read more

Ever get an interesting assignment, land some great interviews, and then struggle for motivation when it’s time to start writing?
A freelancer friend of mine was having a crisis of this sort recently and talked about it in one of the writers forums I belong to. There were a lot of people who empathized. Because I think most of us have been there at one time or another. And you have to remind yourself that it’s normal and it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer.
But it’s certainly frustrating when it happens because if you’re a freelancer, you have to write …read more

You probably have editor’s brain if you’re always writing five words and deleting four, if you automatically critique every word choice (and everyone else’s), and you can pick up a newspaper or read a book and automatically spot the one error on a page.
Editing skills are great to have—in fact, they have helped me earn a steady income for several years now. But the editing process has a time and place. And if the editor brain is too dominant or is always activated, it can really get in the way of the writing process.
I suspect that most writers have a …read more

Few things frustrate me more than having to wait on someone if I’ve set up a meeting, interview, or appointment for a specific time. Worse, if I never get a courtesy call letting me know they’re running behind schedule.
So I was pretty torqued today when I left work early so that I could get to a doctor’s appointment on time (to allow for bad road conditions). And then after all my troubles, I arrived only to find out that the doctor was running an hour and a half behind. Of course, the office staff never bothered to call and tell …read more