The Unseen Connection of Reading to Writing

I am an English teacher by trade, and once in a while I make an observation about my students that could be the basis for a study about writing students everywhere. In an article entitled I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read Francine Prose posits that the reason that students have an aversion to reading or simply

Happy National Grammar Day

On National Grammar Day I would like to list the top five grammar mistakes that I see as a teacher of English.  I have seen many mistakes over the years but the following five are the most common. 1.  Comma Faults – This error not only includes the comma splice which consists of two complete

Writing Believable Dialogue

One of the most important keys to writing an engaging novel is dialogue.  However, some writers are able to write it well, and some writers have trouble.  Today I thought I would discuss four pitfalls that writers often find themselves and some ways to combat this nasty issue. Problem #1: Stilted Dialogue Stilted dialogue is

How to Use Slang When Writing Dialogue

I wrote 5000 words like a boss yesterday and it only took me two hours to bang it out! The U.S. of After, the first part of my new novel This Broken Earth arrives in digital book stores on August 1st, and I’m nearing the completion of the first draft.  Each chapter of the novel is