Why We Need Creative Writing

Here's why:

A Good Writing Day

Embrace the NOW when you are writing: that's all that matters! Here's a cartoon from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at inkygirl.com to inspire you, and check out her Four Stages of Writing also. :-)

Resource: Caps Lockness Monster

Beware the Nessie in your keyboard: the Caps Lockness Monster!

Writer's Block

I think you all know this feeling! Writer's block... visualized:

69 Rules of Punctuation

What an amazing infographic! It's from Curtis Newbold, The Visual Communication Guy. Click on this image for a large view, or use the detail snippets below.

Detail snippets:

Word Count Humor

And here they are on Letterman in 1989:

Apostrophe Humor

You can never have too much apostrophe humor...! :-)

She texted me, "Your adorable."

I replied, "No. YOU'RE adorable."

Now she thinks I like her.

All I did was point out her typo.

Why I Write

Resharing this post upon hearing the news of Elie Wiesel's death. Requiescat in pace. The world will miss him.

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I saw this quote as Jon Winokur's Twitter. You can find out more about Elie Wiesel at Wikipedia.

I write to understand as much as to be understood.

Here is the quote in context, Elie Wiesel's essay, "Why I Write."

While writing, I question them as I question myself. I believe I said it before, elsewhere: I write to understand as much as to be understood. Will I succeed one day? Wherever one starts from one reaches darkness. God? He remains the God of darkness. Man? Source of Darkness. the killers' sneers, their victim's tears, the onlookers' indifference, their complicity and complacency, the divine role in all that: I do not understand. A million children massacred: I shall never understand. 

Jewish children: they haunt my writings. I see them again and again. I shall always see them. hounded, humiliated, bent like old men who surround them as they to protect them, unable to do so. They are thirsty, the children, and there is no one to give them water. They are hungry, the children, but there is no one to give them a crust of bread. They are afraid, and there is no one to reassure them.

Humor: Active and Passive

Just when you thought you were getting used to the whole active versus passive thing, this cartoon by Mark Anderson comes along and messes with your mind!

Word Art: LIFE

I thought this animated gif was a lovely example of "word art" ... animated! I'm not sure who the creator is; it was making the rounds at Google+ in early August, which is where I saw it. If you have the patience to make the individual graphics with PhotoShop or something similar, this kind of animated gif would not be all that hard to create! Just create the graphics by adding one word at a time, and then turn it into an animated gif. :-)

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs.

I adapted this from Jon Winokur's Twitter, using a Stephen King portrait made out of book covers. To find out more about just why Stephen King is so against adverbs, check out this blog post by Maria Popova with extensive quotes from King: Stephen King on Writing, Fear, and the Atrocity of Adverbs.

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs. Stephen King.

Putting the Creativity in Creative Writing

This wonderful graphic might "free your mind" so that you can indeed connect the dots in new ways — in your own creative ways — when you write. :-)

Starting a Blog

Here's a fun infographic about blogging from Sylvia Duckworth. It's geared towards teachers who start blogging, but this can also apply to lots of kinds of blogging!

Why Starting a Blog Could Change Your Life
1. You'll make new friends.
2. You'll learn things about yourself.
3. It's a great hobby.
4. You'll become a better writer.
5. There may be perks!
6. It could land you a new career.
7. You tend to read and discover more.
8. You tend to look for new tools
9. You inspire by example.
10. You will really "get" social media and leadership in education.

Grammar Cat

You've heard of Grammar Nazis... well, here is a Grammar Cat! :-)

Found at:

It's "National Grammar Day"

by Larry Ferlazzo

Writing and Revision

As you can guess from the way this class works, I put a high value on the revision process, which is something that is often neglected in the writing people do for college classes. As writers, we are lucky to have the opportunity to revise our writing, and then revise it again, and yet again... unlike, say, a brain surgeon!

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. Robert Cormier

Word Mix-Up: HEROIN and HEROINE

HEROIN: The English word "heroin," a powerful opioid drug, is from the German word Heroin, a brand name that was trademarked by Friedrich Bayer & Co. in 1898. The drug was given this name because of the euphoric feeling that it can give its users, making them feel like "heroes," strong, invincible, etc.

HEROINE: The English word "heroine" refers to a female hero.

So, the word "heroin" and the word "heroine" are related, both ultimately being derived from the Greek word "hero," and they share the same pronunciation — but the two words mean very different things!

(heroin image source - heroine image source)

(single image)

Save your money / words.

You know I advocate "short and sweet" writing, so of course I like this graphic. It comes from one of my favorite Oklahoma tweeters: Kenna Griffin. If you are interested in writing tips and related topics, she is a great person to follow: @profkrg.

Put Your Notes Away

Put your notes away before you begin a draft. What you remember is probably what should be remembered; what you forget is probably what should be forgotten. — Donald Murray (Advice to Write)

Image source.

The Earliest Ancient Texts

The use of abbreviations was, in fact, extremely common back in the days when people had to go to the trouble of carving letters into stone, and abbreviations were also very common during the Middle Ages, for example, when writing materials were hard to come by. You can read more about the history of scribal abbreviations in writing at Wikipedia.

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Cartoon by Dan Reynolds

John Cleese on Creativity

Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively

as the fear of making a mistake. — John Cleese

Thanks to Jon Winokur ("Advice for Writers") for the quote! Photo of the Ministry of Silly Walks graffiti in Graz by southtyrolean.