Practice Results in Unblocking
By Annette Rey
I tell you writer’s block is an imagination. It’s not real. It has no substance. If you open your mind to such thinking, you will follow advice, go along, and see unblocking results in your own work. I promote doing writing exercises. Once you do them, you will find blocking either goes away in your life or can never exist as long as you keep your pen moving.
In that vein, I am practicing what I preach.
By Annette Rey
On occasion, I have used the following sites as I create my work. The first three are sites to help you correct your work. The last one is a one-stop idea/information site to flesh out your work. Give these sites a try and rest easier that your efforts are going out with fewer errors and a lot more punch.
http://classroom.synonym.com/ – This site can hardly be described – there is so much to see and learn. I found it by checking on a grammar issue. It has info on psychological tests, how to write a weather report, how to search for a Canadian address, how to find people in Russia. Under the category College, I found information on special collections at libraries that have rare books and archives and special manuscripts. I found an article How to Find Good Resources for Writing an Essay, by Jen Saunders. The article has very concrete info on where and how to start a credible essay, add opposing views and challenge a theory, and more. Anyone can find something of value on this site, especially writers.
http://www.k12reader.com/ – This site is not just for children. It boasts thousands of free, printable reading and writing worksheets that cover spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, writing, and more. Every writer has some area in which he lacks knowledge. So, bite the bullet and rake in what you need to make your written work stand out from the others.
http://www.titlecapitalization.com/ – This site is a simple page with a box. Just start plugging in the title of your piece and the program automatically capitalizes the appropriate words. You can choose AP style, Chicago Manual of Style, or capitalize words with five or more letters. So, your first line, your title, will be sure to impress.
http://www.worldatlas.com/ – Have you found yourself writing a flash fiction or another work and, unplanned by you, a thought enters your head to include something about an unfamiliar location? Perhaps, it’s Canada, or Winnipeg in particular, or something about native plants in Canada, or population of its cities, names of its airports, rivers, territories, etc. Or you may want to include something about islands in the Pacific, but you don’t know where to start. At this site, all you have to do is click on the category continents, and it seems a list of every island in the world comes up. Click on one of them to reveal individual facts. For a writer, here is more fodder than meets the eye. Article titles could trip a chord with you and off you go with a new idea and a new writing project. Who wants to believe in writer’s block?
Conversation Is Story.
By Annette Rey
Are you – short on ideas – stumped on character development – unable to complete dialogue – at a loss on detailing scene? Answers for these areas are a car trip away.
Include These Lessons in Your Writer’s Library
By Annette Rey
Would you like your writing to flow? If it doesn’t, you could use some help. All of us have developed bad habits over the years where it concerns our writing. Whether you are a new writer or have been at it a long time, you can improve your knowledge of the rules of writing, and how to use the English language.
Take a look with me at what The Great Courses has to offer.
A Useful Tool
By Annette Rey
A book I support for writers and for just any person who wants to increase their vocabulary is: The Penquin Rhyming Dictionary. On first glance, a person who is not a poet might think this book has no use for them. But this is a great source for expanding your knowledge of words.
A Trip to the Telephone Museum
By Annette Rey
It shouldn’t get boring to hear, “There is no such thing as writer’s block.” That should be good news to those of you who find it difficult to populate your screen with words.
One of the techniques to fill that screen is to change your physical environment and seek out resources with subject matter about which to write. The subject does not have to be an unusual one, but when you find one, pounce!
A trip to the Telephone Museum filled that bill.
By Annette Rey
A myriad of grammar guides exist and I have half a dozen of them. The one I find most extensive and simply written is Who’s (oops) Whose Grammar Book Is This Anyway? By C. Edward Good. This book was originally published as A Grammar Book for You and I (oops! Me). This is my go-to resource for sentence construction.
A Writers’ Need
By Annette Rey
Did You Know…?
A writer’s information resource often overlooked is your public library.
The library is not just about books anymore?
Your library is equipped with a check-out system you can access from your home computer. Isn’t that great when you are snowed in? That feature is a real plus for writers who don’t want to leave their lair. And what about the money you save when you don’t have to purchase a necessary product?
Let’s crack the surface and see all the things your library has to offer.
Writer's Block No More 