Writer's Journey

  Nonfiction is a literary genre that has a strong field of books and talented authors that have captivated readers since the beginning of publishing. Nonfiction can be a form of historical or academic writing, but it is also so much more than that. The genre encompasses a wide variety of educational writings, historical research, and coverage of current events and thoughts. But beyond just recording history or teaching people, many nonfiction writers also write to entertain the reader and draw you into their book through the stories that can flow as beautifully as a well-written work of fiction.  Many nonfiction writers use literary devices that are common in fictional pieces. For example, writers of both fiction and nonfiction use the idea of “show, but don’t tell” to engage the senses of the readers and give them a deeper connection to the story being told. The authors use recurrent imagery, dialogue, and vivid descriptions of the setting including textures and smells to co...

 Greetings! Ready to write yourself into a story? My dog Mitz has a challenge for you:  Write about yourself as though you were in a television show based on your life. In 500 words or less, answer the following questions, adding some details that are fictional, but would be interesting to the story: 1. What would the title of the TV show be? 2. What type of setting would your character live in? 3. What would your signature clothing be? A leather jacket? Jeans? A bonnet? Rainbow high tops? A Minecraft hoodie?  4. How would the show always end? With music you play? With your favorite quote? With a joke? With a phrase you say daily? 5. What two things should we know about your character in the show? If you have trouble answering these questions, think of TV shows that have been popular and entertaining in the past—maybe an older Disney show like Liv and Maddie , Cory in the House , Jessie, or That’s So Raven . You can also think of characters in movies such as Star Wars . ...

 Greetings! Are you ready for another writing challenge? I like to mix up these writing prompts to give you a chance to think outside the box with your creativity. When we always write in the same genre, we get into patterns that repeat sentence structures and word choices. We often don't even realize the habits we have found ourselves stuck in.  Changing genres for writing prompts helps writers refresh our writing styles. We push ourselves to change up our normal sentence structures and vocabulary. This doesn't mean that we have to change what genres we write in for our own writing projects. It does mean that we can approach them with fresh ideas and new options to keep our writing exciting and relatable for our readers.  For students, this applies to nonfiction and academic writing as well. We don't want everything we write to be predictable and lackluster.  The Knitting Snowman Snowballs  Can you guess what genre I am going to ask you to write in today by the...

 Greetings! I hope all of your writing projects are going well! If you need a creativity boost or are struggling with writers block, try this writing prompt to help you put some words down on paper. Sometimes we need a writing challenge to help us break out of our predictable writing patterns and restart our projects with a fresh voice and new energy.  This writing prompt has multiple challenges involving the lake pictured above. Complete as many as you can even if you work on these over several days instead of in one sitting. (And remember, you are just writing a first draft. Don't stress about spelling or grammar with these writing prompts. You can go back and edit later if you decide to use something you wrote in one of your own writing projects or for a writing contest.) Challenge one: In at least 500 words (or try for 1000 minimum), write a short story about two brothers who grow up vacationing on or living near this lake. Tone: positive, lighthearted, joyful. This story ...

  As academic and/or creative writers, we need to strengthen our skills daily. Often we have projects with deadlines that we need meet, so those writing assignments become our priority. When we only focus on one style of writing, however, our work can become predictable and dull. We stop growing as writers. In order to grow, we need challenges that push us to think outside of our normal patterns. Here's a writing prompt to help you challenge yourself a bit:  Write a scene at least 400 words long (longer if possible) that highlights the thoughts of two characters. One character is on a train coming to meet the other character. Both characters' thoughts need to be shared with the reader. You can define how these characters know each other (friends, family, classmates, peers through work or a project).  You can also define their relationship with the tone of their thoughts: are they angry with each other, in love, trying to forgive each other, starting life together, about t...

This writing exercise can be an interesting challenge for writers who need to have a little creative fun or for students hoping to hone their writing skills. The more we write, the better writers we become.  Writing can be fun! Not every student agrees because sometimes we create stress for students by introducing them to academic writing before we teach them to write creatively. We ask them to write academic paragraphs that have perfect grammar and spelling on the first draft. Any mistakes bring down their grade. Instead, build writing skills with fun writing exercises that can be edited the next day (or the next week) without any negativity associated with the editing process. Even professional writers never produce a perfect first draft.  Here’s a fun exercise:  Finish this sentence: One day, fifty flying fish_________________________________. Now use that sentence as the start of a short story that must be at least two paragraphs long (or six sentences for younger stu...