Struggling through a first draft of a story or novel? Here are some of the best tips and quotes on first drafts from writers who have been there.
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
The pen is the tongue of the mind. Miguel de Cervantes
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Love Writing? Maybe you’d love to be a blogger? Here are some thoughts on why I love being a blogger and let me be clear on the first one:
National Author's Day is November 1 - so what better day to celebrate your favorite author and the books they write? Look to these funny memes about writing and author quotes from books that perfectly describe what it's like to write for a living.
America is not the whole world. Now I have nothing against Americans or even America as a whole but you have to admit, there are a lot of stories that make it a not so safe place for anyone who does not bleed red and blue. I am not saying all Americans are like this
What are your favorite motivational sayings that get you writing? Here are some of my favorites that I'll use whenever I'm in a funk or need a lift.
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Because mistakes are the portals of discovery.
What are the minimum and maximum word limits for different types of stories? What are the word limits by genre, and how can writers stay within those limits? Find out here with this easy list.
It's hard to stay positive and motivated when life gets you down. Check out these 40 profound quotes of encouragement from famous authors, philosophers, and inspirational speakers and allow their words to lift your spirits.
Struggling through a first draft of a story or novel? Here are some of the best tips and quotes on first drafts from writers who have been there.
The best way to become a better writer is to write, but it doesn't hurt to get advice from the best. Here are 50+ writing quotes with wisdom from the best.
Hello, friends! Thank you for stopping by today. I'd like to share something I tried this week that was a super huge motivator for my student writers -- writing WITH them. I'm also linking up with the super amazing Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching. (Joanne and I bonded immediately over our shared love of the exclamation point!) I have been doing Writing Circles with my two writing classes for the past four weeks. What are Writing Cirlces? Here's a quick tutorial or you can click on my Writing Circles link to the right: Put students into groups of about four writers. Each group chooses a topic to write about. (This week's topics ranged from "dogs" to "the future" to "memories.") Each student writes a draft on their group's topic. The genre they write in is the choice of each individual writer. Drafting takes about two days. Groups come back together to share their drafts and to receive feedback from their group members. Groups choose a new topic and the process repeats. After about four to six drafts, students each choose one of their drafts to revise and publish. This week, I decided to join one of the Writing Circles in each of my 4th grade writing classes. (My two group's topics are "the future" and "end of the world." They could be seen as similar topics that only require one piece of writing from me, but I am writing a separate draft for each topic.) As my student writers worked on their drafts, I wrote along with them. They got to see me go through the same processes and struggles that they go through. It gave value to what they are doing because they knew that if I was doing the writing as well, it was something to be taken seriously. Source: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b0/2b/5f/b02b5f227f04399d5185a286e76b36eb.jpg Then on the second day of drafting, I asked my students if I could have their help. I was having difficulty with developing the problem for my "end of the world" piece. I read the piece out loud to the class and asked students to volunteer ideas on what I could do next. Their ideas were AMAZING and gave me some inspiration for what I want to include in the rest of my story. My students? They felt their opinions and ideas were valued because they were helping the teacher. They felt a part of a real writing community. Since I've been writing with my students, the quality and amount of writing has definitely increased in my classroom. It was so quiet one day, we could actually hear the heat come on in the room! The students are looking forward to Monday where they can share their drafts with their groups and hear the rest of my story. I'm looking forward to it too because I also feel like we have become a writing community in our tiny classroom. How about you? Do you write with your students? How does your class build it's writing community? I'm going to check out more motivating ideas at Joanne's blog. Hope to see you there and also back here tomorrow for my weekly A Peek at My Week linky party. :) Have a great day!
Do you agree? Are you crazy to dream of writing the next “Great Novel”? Or are you crazy not to get those words out of your head, those characters onto the page, to share with someone, …
NaNoWriMo is the highlight of the year for me. But how to get through this intense month of writing? Make a survival kit!
Are you in search of a little motivation? Right pick up motivation might be the thing that you are looking for to get right back on track if you were feeling a little down. Be
If you grew up with Harry Potter, chances are that you know the basic outline of J.K. Rowling's life story. She was a struggling single mother writing in coffee shops. Her manuscript was rejected, again and again. At long last, someone decided to…
This will be a brief post as it has been a long day and I do need to rest. Tonight, when going to write my blog, I was searching in my mind on points to write about. When that wasn’t working…
Teachers are there to teach us. Not to berate us when we ask questions that are not considered 'smart'. I never understood the reason why teachers get annoyed when a student asks too many questions. I mean doesn't it mean the student is participating and trying to learn? Why is it a bad thing? However,
