Writer's Journey

Nothing gets us in trouble more as a writer than misusing punctuation. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of what we are saying. To help you understand the basic rules, I am going to keep the sample sentences very basic. First rule: Any part of a sentence that can be deleted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence should have commas before and after that word, clause, or phrase. Example:  Oslo, who is my smallest dog, is learning how to sit. Identify the core sentence: Oslo is learning how to sit. The fact that he is my smallest dog is a clause that can be deleted without changing that core sentence. This additional information is just a bonus for the reader. The clause needs to be separated by commas. If the wording being removed changes the meaning of the sentence, no commas are needed. Example:  Dogs who are afraid of water wouldn’t like to swim in my lake. No commas should be put around who are afraid of water because that is key to the sentence. Without t...

I remember discovering the music of the Beach Boys as a middle school student. The group had been around since before I was born, but I had never paid any attention their music until I heard a friend playing "California Girls" one day. I immediately saved up for their Sounds of Summer vinyl. The songs about the beach and surfing made me want to live in a perpetual summer season. Played at the right moment, beach music makes us feel willing to accept the extreme heat of the season so we can have some fun.  Life in the South seemed different in the summer when I was growing up. We could stay outside later, swim in a lake, vacation at the beach, and spend all day in a bathing suit. If things got hot and we couldn't go anywhere, we sprayed each other with the garden hose. If we were lucky, we also had music playing somewhere. Some people had record players. Others had boom boxes and eventually cassette players. My family even had an eight-track cassette player. We all had a s...

While Pencils Move ©Chris Pepple 2013                It’s that time of day again. It’s two o’clock in the afternoon. The laundry smells fresh from the scent of my fabric softener I used this morning. A warm spinach and feta cheese aroma lingers in the kitchen from our pizza we completely devoured. The cats have settled into their comfy spots for an afternoon siesta. My daughters are stretched out in the floor in front of me. One has an open math book. The other one has her history book opened to a section on World War II. She is reading and taking notes.                These moments are times I cherish. I look over my computer screen and watch my daughters learning and growing. I remember when their legs didn't stretch out this far. I also remember when their homework involved mostly coloring or cutting and gluing. Now they thi...

Greetings! Let’s finish the writing semester with some fun writing exercises this month. Complete one of the following exercises. These seem easy, but try to put some thought into them. Think of an intended audience when you write. Also, try to be original and creative in your message. Challenge 1: In 30 words or less for each, create five original greetings for a holiday card. Make at least one card funny. Make at least one card serious, reflecting your religious beliefs around the holiday. (Describe what scene should decorate the card.) Consider making these cards for family and friends.  Challenge 2: Make a snow person come to life. If Frosty can do it, so can your snow creation. In 350 words or less, what two things would this snow person want to do while alive in your part of the world. Consider reading this story to a younger relative during the holidays.  Challenge 3: I am basing this challenge on tales from friends who are missionari...

Welcome back! Today we want to look at a few things we can think about when editing our work. In my opinion, writers should never try to complete a perfect work on the first draft. Drafts are designed for getting thoughts down on paper. In our first (and even second or third) drafts, we need to get a general plot down on paper and have strong characters forming. As we edit, we need to clean up the details and focus on adding or deleting information as needed. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! Editing can be quite challenging. How do you know what needs to be added or deleted? Here are a few tips: What does the reader need to know that we might not have included? In our minds, we may know that the main character has a fear of heights. If we don’t tell the reader, however, a scene may not make sense when a character faces a challenge and backs down because it involves a tall ladder or a steep climb. Make sure you give readers enough information. Does the order of the writing make ...

Welcome back, writers! Hope you enjoy your weekly challenges. We have been working through projects that take you through the process of creative writing. These steps can also be applied to academic writing. We have looked at details to begin the writing process (brainstorming ideas). We have followed that with a few tools to help with writer’s block if you have trouble starting. We have also worked through assignments that help you add details such as descriptive scenes, consistent and strong characters and a setting right for the characters to develop. In academic writing you would include consistent details to support your ideas and strong descriptive language that adds a depth to your work. Guidance can come to us a writer when we stop and listen. Can we hear our characters? Can you hear the author you are writing about for a language arts paper? We know what we believe and what our voice sounds like; but unless we are writing our autobiography, that voice is not enough. For ...