LearnTo Write from A Writers' Workshop

Do you have strong interest in writing? Do you want to make it more than just a hobby and turn it into a business? Or perhaps you’re already writing for pay but you’re feeling uninspired and need a little boost? A writers workshop maybe just the thing you are looking for. There are workshops available for new and experienced writers alike. You can find a workshop that focuses on your particular genre or one that helps you fine tune your grammar, your dialogue, or your plotting techniques.

If you enjoy learning from attending seminars or workshops, you can locate a writers workshop that is in your vicinity. Online searches can provide you with a wide variety of locations. You can find a workshop in a scenic landscape where your imagination can run wild or you may prefer a workshop that is more focused on individual work and simply gives you the solidarity your writing may need with the occasional class thrown in for inspiration. Whichever one is best suited for you, you can find listings of workshops in a variety of price ranges at many of the writing sites online.

If you can check online for a writing workshop online you are also likely to locate some local sessions in your own city. Writers often give classes at universities, libraries, and bookstores. The cost for these are usually much lower than a weekend writers' retreat and require no more than a day or two of your time. These workshops are usually more intense and focus on a particular genre such as fiction writing, writing for magazines, or autobiographical writing. As with the weekend writers workshop, they may also focus on specific areas of writing that will make your writing better. You can learn a lot in a very short time in these intensive workshops.

As a last resort when what you need is time and flexibility, you can also locate a writers workshop online. You may be able to access the lessons through your email or through an online chat session. These online workshops are often facilitated by professional writers who are currently making a living from writing. You can share stories or articles that you are currently writing and obtain valuable feedback from other writers and instructors.

If you are a new writer, attending a writers workshop can add value to you with valuable information on penetrating into the writing business. More experienced writers can share their experience with you and give advice. If you are already writing, taking part in a writers workshop can give you inspiration and support and perhaps teach you a few new tricks.
-

Short Stories begins with Inspiration

Just about anyone can write short stories but few can write good short stories. The craft requires a lot of practice and diligence but with a little time and a lot of imagination you can get your self off to a good start. There are a few things to keep in mind when starting this creative endeavor. Once you get started you will be hooked on the craft of writing.

When you begin your plans in the initial stage it is important to get inspiration. A good writer is a good reader. The two go hand in hand. Take time to read works from famous authors or even from a personal favorite that you know can write short stories well. This person can be a classmate, an instructor or any lesser-known author.

Keep in mind when you write short stories that they are, well, short. Reading “War and Peace” is not necessarily the best practice when gaining inspiration for your own creative endeavor. Read writings that are parallel to your genre and your style and ones that are relatively the same length as your ideal project.

Some writers like to build a story in their heads before heading to the computer. This is good practice for someone who wants to write short stories because your tale will practically tell itself if you have thought it through in collaboration with your inspiration. You may want to take a few notes if you are doing mental organization of the tale.

For example, I recently wrote a mask story. The only requirement the buyer had was that the story revolve around the theme of masks. It could be funny, anecdotal, dramatic or spooky. Since the theme moved me to choose a creepy genre, I looked to a classic author famous for his amazing ability to write short stories.

I chose Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” as my inspiration piece. I read the story a few times and ran the voice of the piece through my mind. I kept a journal next to my bed and wrote a few ideas right before I turned in for the night. I also kept is close to make notes about anything that occurred to me throughout the night. Finally, I added thoughts in the morning.

The general outline rested while I started my day. In order for me to write short stories I have to let the ideas settle a bit. After reviewing the general plot of the story and adding a perspective and voice, I was well on my way. The story practically wrote itself. This non-traditional approach has yielded some good things for me when I write short stories.

-

Write Short Stories As A Start To Be Big Stories

If you are a writer, perhaps on of the best writing exercises you can do is to write short stories. These keep your mind sharp, and allow your creativity to flow. There is a special challenge that comes when you write short stories. You must construct a simple yet interesting story with a beginning and a resolution, and usually the word count is very limited. Even those who wish to write novels will benefit from this exercise, as it helps keep the creative juices flowing. As a bonus, one of your short stories may help you construct an idea for the perfect novel.

If you want to write short stories, but don’t know where to begin, you may be thinking about it too hard. Sit down with a piece of paper, or with an open word processor, and just write whatever pops into your mind. No writer gets it right the first time; so don’t despair if it looks like a garbled mess when you are done typing. Once you have everything written down, you can then go through and fix your story. When you write short stories, thing of it as an expression rather than as a task. That will make it so much easier to get started.

When nothing comes to mind, you have to relax your mind and think of things that have happened to you lately. When you write short stories, quite often the best inspiration comes from the things you see and do. That may sound boring, but some of the most interesting stories are born this way. Sit outside somewhere and watch the people nearby, or the ones walking by. Think about who they are, where they may be going, or where they may just have come from. Each person has a story, even if it’s a story you make up in your own mind.

Once you get the hang of how to write short stories, make sure you don’t stop there. You can find a few places to publish them, and you can enter them into contests. Who knows, you may end up with some money in your pocket for your effort, and may have found a whole new passion to explore. Not everyone is a writer, and not everyone will be able to write short stories that make money, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it for your own amusement. Not only will you feel like you have accomplished something, you may have found a great way to deal with the stresses of everyday life.
-

Learning How to Write Makes A Difference For Children

Children acquire many new skills as they grow. Learning how to write is one of the most challenging of these fresh talents that children face other than teaching them how to read and recognize words. There are strategies used by parents and professionals that can help learning how to write a pleasant educational experience for everyone involved.

Handwriting Without Tears is a great program that can be used at home or in the classroom. This program makes learning how to write a fun process through its innovative approach to the task. Many parents look to programs like Handwriting Without Tears to help their children progress with this challenging skill.

Many children who have pervasive developmental disorders like autism have great difficultly with learning how to write. The process is painfully hard for many of these children who face multiple obstacles in acquiring this skill. In fact, many therapist and autism professional suggest that some children who have pervasive developmental disorders are better off learning how to write on the keyboard rather than by hand.

As an autism therapist, I had the opportunity to work with many children who resisted learning how to write. The task was one of dread for both the client and for me as well. Fortunately, a behavior specialist introduced us to Handwriting Without Tears and the process took a turn for the better.

The first activity we tried in the program involved a small chalkboard with a wooden frame. I would trace a line right next to the frame with a wet sponge. The child loved to trace the wet line with her chalk. As she became more comfortable with using the chalk I moved on to more complex shapes and letters. This was a great strategy for learning how to write for this client.

Not all children are the same. This approach wasn’t well received by some of my clients so we tried a number of different strategies to make learning how to write more enjoyable. One of my favorite ideas introduced to me by an elementary school teacher was to use texture and color to make the letters touchable and enjoyable to look at.

Most of my clients loved learning how to write through the texture method. They got to draw letters in sand and mud. They used glitter and glue to make interesting textures on paper and cardboard. Some children even used pipe cleaners to form letters. Gradually, we had the children trace the letters with their fingers then we moved on to using finger paint, crayons and pencils.

Learning how to write can be challenging but with a little thought and imagination it can be great fun for everyone involved.

Source: http://www.writers-publish.com/learning-how-to-write.html

Learning How to Write

Learning how to write, and to write well, may come naturally to some and may prove harder for others. Even seasoned writers regularly devote their time to reading books by other authors they admire, and consistently work at honing their craft. For writing is a skill like any other, and requires the same care, dedication and adherence to certain rules like any other art form.

People who are learning how to write have many reasons for doing so. There are numerous instances in which writing is necessary and important, such as writing academic papers or drafting a concept paper in a job. Others may wish to be better at penning a letter or writing about their travels to friends. Some kinds of writing are more specific and warrant a certain adeptness of style and form. For example, writing novels, short stories, poetry or journalistic pieces.

All kinds of writing can be learned, and the quality of writing is normally directly proportionate with how much time and effort is put into the piece. Revising and editing are crucial, as is having a clear structure and main thesis of your piece. For a news story, having an angle and a ‘hook’ to your article is critical; for novel fiction writing, having a strong story with vivid characters and an engaging conflict will attract readers; for poetry, the ability to draw up lyrical, universal emotions in a sparse and sensitive style are important. In every instance, successful authors have rarely picked up a pen for the first time, but have gone through the arduous process of learning how to write.

If one is casually looking to improve upon their writing skills, my suggestion is that they devote more time to reading. Reading books that are well written and interesting will increase your vocabulary and give you good examples of writing. Try to avoid the ‘airport trash’ books and look to more respected authors in the genre you are interested in. This is not to say that you should model your style on another author, but their attention to detail and their flare for storytelling may help in learning how to write better.

More serious students may wish to enroll in writing courses. These days, there is no end to writing tutorials offered at community colleges, on the Internet or in creative writing workshops. There are some towns that offer retreats for those learning how to write, where people can learn the craft in a more rustic, inspiring environment. You can do a search for all of these courses online, and some are often advertised in newspapers, posted on kiosks or in college pamphlets. For busier people who do not have time to attend the classes, distance-learning courses offer alternatives for aspiring writers learning how to write.

Learning how to write may not come naturally, but there are plenty of courses and books that are willing to teach you how to do it well. If you persevere, you will find that over time, the writing process becomes easier, less painful and more enjoyable. Like most things, writing becomes more effortless the more energy and enthusiasm you put into it. Only then will you start to reap the benefits.

How To Write An Essay on YouTube

Here is one quick overview of how to write an essay from a YouTube video while I was searching a video on rainbow sightings. The tips are very useful. Listen well to the video.

Benefits Of Helping Your Child Learn To Write Well

The process of helping a child learn to write well has many benefits and advantages as compared to not not starting them early in their development age.

Benefits include:

Practical. Most of us make lists, jot down reminders, and write notes and instructions at least occasionally.

Job-Related. Professional and white-collar workers write frequently--preparing memos, letters, briefing papers, sales reports, articles, research reports, proposals, and the like. Most workers do "some" writing on the job.

Stimulating. Writing helps to provoke thoughts and to organize them logically and concisely.

Social. Most of us write thank-you notes and letters to friends at least now and then.

Therapeutic. It can be helpful to express feelings in writing that cannot be expressed so easily by speaking.

Helping the child to learn to write also allows the child to learn other skills like:

• CLEAR THINKING. Sometimes the child needs to have his/her memory refreshed about a past event in order to write about it.
  
  
• SUFFICIENT TIME. Children may have `stories in their heads' but need time to think them through and write them down. School class periods are often not long enough.
  
  
• READING. Reading can stimulate a child to write about his/her own family or school life. If your child reads good books, (s)he will be a better writer.
  
  
• A MEANINGFUL TASK. A child needs meaningful, not artificial writing tasks. You'll find suggestions for such tasks in the section, "Things To Do."
  
  
• INTEREST. All the time in the world won't help if there is nothing to write, nothing to say. Some of the reasons for writing include: sending messages, keeping records, expressing feelings, or relaying information.
  
  
• PRACTICE. And more practice.
  
  
• REVISING. Students need experience in revising their work-- i.e, seeing what they can do to make it clearer, more descriptive, more concise, etc.

Source: Kidsource

So our mission and role in child development is very important.
Well done. Press on.

Advantages of Getting A Computer For Writing

Getting a computer has many advantages for writing.

(1) You can type and make correction immediately.

(2) You can use it to check for spelling mistakes.

(3) You can save it and store in your hard disk.
(It is safer to keep a back up copy saved in your flash drive)

Certainly there are other great benefits on using the computer for writing. You can read up more from Improving Writing with Your Computer.

There is also this application where you can use it to check your grammar - Computer-Based Grammar Checker.

What Other Resource You Need As You Write

The following can be a list of items needed while we go about the process of writing:

(1) A good set of stationery
(2) A notebook
(3) A good dictionary
(4) A good reference on English Language usage and style

A good reference can be found online like this one from Dictionary.com.
It has the following compiled for quick link.

• Style Guide
• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation - Jane Straus' reference guide and workbook
• The Chicago Manual of Style - A publication of the University of Chicago Press
• Common Errors in English - By Paul Brians. Simple, entertaining explanations of common errors in English
• English-Zone.Com - the BEST English-Learner's site on the 'Net!
• Guide to Grammar and Style - By Jack Lynch
• Sharp Points - Bill Walsh's "vociferous rants" on matters of style
• Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric - A guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric. By Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University
• The Vocabula Review - A society is generally as lax as its language.

Good Books List

It is not difficult to compile a list of favorite books you have as they come to mind very quickly. Just compile them in a notebook and start reflecting on each one on what are some things you can learn on the topic of writing.

If you really cannot think of any good book list, you may start with the Internet and search online for the good or favorite book list of others. Read on their comments and tips and ideas they provide so that they too become good resource for writing.

Post a comment if you have other suggestions and tips.

First Steps To Learning To Write

Read. Read. Read. Learning to write first steps from some writing tips encourage all to first read and read and read. Not just read any thing but read those good books by other authors whom you have your admiration.

So compile a list of books where they become good resource for your reference. In fact, the authors themselves have become your indirect writing-teachers. Learn their styles and learn their use of English.

Any recommendation of good books, please post a comment.

Resources for Writing

Writing. It can be as easy as ABC and can be as challenging as writing a entire book or novel. I am learning to write, beginning from ABC. Give me your comments as you watch this blog.