Category: The Writer’s Craft

The Art of #Writing: #Editing~Where Your Worst Fears Are Confirmed

December 16, 2016
You suck. As a writer. No really. That’s what you are thinking as you contemplate the editing of your work. It is where you confront your worst fears as you embark on the most dreaded of writer’s chores. Sometimes my first draft is so utterly cringe worthy, I can...

The #Writing Craft: #Write Like A Best Selling #Author

March 31, 2016
In which I examine Pro-Writing Aid recommendations against the efforts of published best-sellers. In the previous three articles in this series we’ve looked at the findings of a group of researchers at Stony Brook University that linked lexical density to a book’s success, at lexical density compared to writing...

#Howtoblog: Use #keywords to build your #author blog’s reach

February 28, 2016
Pagerank seems to be one of those little things that many writer-bloggers ignore. Maybe it’s because Google keeps changing the game rules, maybe because so few authors understand pagerank, or maybe because in the hectic life of a writer (must put down words, no time for anything else) it...

The Craft of Writing: 200 Most Common Words As Parts of Speech

February 10, 2016
(Beth Turnage Blog) It’s been nigh many years since the nuns at my Catholic grammar school made me memorize parts of speech at the age of seven and had me parse sentences at the tender age of ten. The funny thing is that my children never had to struggle...

The Craft of Writing: 200 Most Common Words As Parts of Speech

February 10, 2016
Two hundred words are said to comprise eighty percent of all English sentences. Here is the list broken down into parts of speech. Why? Because you should know what weapons you are hurling at an unsuspecting public. It’s been nigh many years when the nuns at my Catholic grammar...

The Craft of #Writing: Lexical Density Compared to Writing Rules

January 20, 2016
I took some creative license in the title because we all know there aren’t any rules in writing. There is just some incredibly strong advice. The “rules” vary widely from writer to writer and even from genre to genre. But there do seem to be a few general “rules”...

Scrivener’s Shot Gun Wedding With Pro-Writing Aid

September 27, 2015
My most useful writing tools are Scrivener and Pro-Writing Aid. Most writers have heard of Scrivener, a powerful word processing program that orders and organizes the screaming voices in your writer’s head, helping you to pump out your stories. There are too many features in this program to write...

Scrivener’s Shot Gun Wedding With Pro-Writing Aid

September 27, 2015
My most useful writing tools are Scrivener and Pro-Writing Aid. Most writers have heard of Scrivener, a powerful word processing program that orders and organizes the screaming voices in your writer’s head, helping you to pump out your stories. There are too many features in this program to write...

The Art of #Writing: How To Finish a Book

June 2, 2015
Now, not to disparage those writers that have spent the last four decades polishing their magnum opus, but there comes a time to finish a book. Like a relationship gone bad, it’s a bit ripe and it’s time to move on already. Aren’t there other stories you want to...

The Craft of Writing: One Story Telling Error in The Water Diviner

May 13, 2015
Recently, I shuffled out of my writer’s cave and went with a friend to see Russell Crowe’s debut directorial effort, The Water Diviner. The critics are split on how well he did: It’s clear that Russell Crowe has poured his heart and soul into the historical romance The Water...