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Sharp Your Writing Skills

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To help you get your writing on track, here are twenty-one tips to prevent you from getting to the point where you have what I affectionately call blank-screen-syndrome. Create a list of articles you want to write but don’t have the time . I find that it’s easy to get inspired to write pieces about other topics when the pressure’s on to write a specific topic. There’s nothing like a deadline to make anything else seem exciting. Feed your mind . Read a book and/or other sources of insight such as blogs and news sites to get ideas. This isn’t an excuse to get a snack or other indulgence. Develop a story around a trending topic, even if it’s not in your area of focus . The objective is to stretch yourself to find a way to write about the hot topics. This can be useful for bloggers and company content where you need to keep your content relevant. Keep a swipe file . Sign up for a wide range of newsletters focused on your main topics to see what other writers and bloggers are co

Writer's Style

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Raymond Chandler The accomplished American novelist and screenwriter, admitted: “ The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time. ” The term “ style ” stems from the Latin word “ stilus .” The “stilus” represented a tool for writing on the waxen tablets of the Romans; it had a pointy end for producing the imprint on the wax, and a rounded end for erasing. We use the term “ style ” more freely now to imply any form of self-expression. In the literary context, it suggests “thoughtful, creative purpose.” Our purpose in writing a story (either fiction or non-fiction) is to trigger certain ideas to emerge in the readers’ minds. If our words trigger the right pictures and emotions in the readers’ minds  at the right time ,  in the right places , we then know that we have strung our words together in the most ideal way—that is, we have placed the proper words in their proper places. An aspiring writer may b

Types Of Writing Styles

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Writing styles are basically another way of saying the form or type of written work you are creating. Think of it as a classification for being able to identify what kind of writing you are creating. For example, if you are writing a cookbook, that is a completely different style of writing than if you were writing a steamy romance novel! Each writing style has a different purpose – and therefore, different characteristics are present when you are writing each type of different work. Now that we understand what a writing style is – let’s talk about the 4 main writing styles which are commonly talked about amongst writers and literary educator The 4 Main Writing Styles & What They Mean The four main writing styles which are commonly recognized are  expository ,  descriptive ,  narrative , and  persuasive . Style #1: Expository The definition of expository is this: “intended to explain or describe something.” Most types of written work that fall into this categ