Tag Archives: writing tip

How to be a healthy writer

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The blogosphere is full of tips about how to write better, and full of tips about how to be healthier. But what about being a healthy writer? How can wise food choices help you write better?

I’m no doctor, but here’s what I’ve observed, just through personal experiences, and some amateur nutritional knowledge of my own.

Drink more water. Yes, as writers we live off of caffeine. I mean, how else can you survive NaNoWriMo without guzzling coffee or twelve million energy drinks? But caffeine is actually dehydrating. Just as the body functions better when fully hydrated, so does the brain – which is of course an essential tool for writers. Don’t like plain water? Improve the taste with drink additives (watch out for sugar and chemicals in some brands, though). Or keep it simple by adding a slice of lime or some sprigs of mint to a glass of water.

Take a multivitamin. But not just any multivitamin – you probably won’t get anything from a cheap brand of synthetic vitamin from your local big box store. Invest in your future – your future as a healthy person and a prolific writer – by buying a vitamin made from whole plants, and preferably organic. Even if your diet is full of all the right foods and none of the bad ones, you’re still probably not getting every mineral and piece of nutrition that your body needs to function at top performance. Feed your body the right foods with a plant-based natural multivitamin, and you’ll have long-term energy to keep you writing longer.

Exercise. I know – you’re too busy writing (and working, and just doing regular life) to exercise. But even a few minutes of extra movement every day can add up. Take breaks and move your body. Even mild exercise like going for a walk helps your blood flow better, your joints work better, gives your eyes a break from the computer screen, and can even help your brain work through that next scene that you’re totally stuck on.

Eat regular meals and snacks. Again, something that’s hard for anyone – writer or otherwise – to do. Crazy schedules beget crazy eating schedules. But if at all possible, figure out how to work in several small meals and snacks throughout the day rather than one or two huge meals and binge snacking. Eating smaller amounts frequently helps keep your blood sugar and metabolism steady, which results in less weight gain and better overall health.

Make the time. None of these things have to take much extra time – but they do take extra thought and discipline, at least at first. Make yourself drink some ice water during your after-dinner writing session instead of one more caffeinated drink. Set your vitamins out on the table the night before so you’ll take them with breakfast the next day. Get up from your desk every hour on the hour and take a six-minute walk. Sit down to write with a snack of raw veggies.

Put a sticky note on your desk or set a reminder on your phone – whatever it takes to make these changes into new habits. Your body and your writing will thank you for it.

How to be Annoying on Social Media in Five Easy Steps

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I read a lot of blog posts and articles about how to properly utilize social media to share and promote your content. Since I’m a big user of social media myself (this fabulous blog, my Facebook, my Twitter, etc.), I thought I’d make a contribution to the how-to’s of social media etiquette – with a little twist.

So in no particular order, here are five sure-fire ways to annoy your followers and alienate your readership. If you’re tired of the decent or even excellent success you’ve been having with your social media, then try these tips to make everything worse.

  1. Write in ALL CAPS. All capital text is the type-written form of shouting, and shouting for no good reason drives people away by the hundreds. Why save all caps for only URGENT STUFF when you can confuse and irritate your fans by making EVERYTHING SEEM URGENT?
  2. Post at least once a minute. Posting every fifteen seconds is even more obnoxious, so try that. If your tweets are constantly in your followers’ newsfeed, or your emails filling up their inboxes, they’ll never forget your name – even if they now hate you.
  3. Send direct messages only. Direct or private messages on social media, especially to people you don’t personally know, is what all the best spammers do. No communication gets ignored faster than a DM (direct message) from a stranger on Twitter or YouTube.
  4. Never respond to comments or tweets. This lets all your fans know that you’re much too busy doing important stuff or other sorts of marketing to bother chatting with them in an informal manner.
  5. Never share other people’s content. You’re on social media to promote your product or service, right? Sharing posts from other profiles or websites lets your followers know that you value others’ content and enjoy learning from everybody. Make sure you let everyone know what a self-centered egotist you are by making all your social media posts all about you.

So there you have it – five simple ways to become that person that nobody likes on Facebook or Twitter.

Just remember that if you actually want to gain fans and make positive connections, do the opposite of these and you’ll be soaring high with your social media!

The Nitty-Gritting of Writing: Fewer versus Less

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“Fewer” and “less” – I often see these two words used interchangeably. While they both have to do with amounts and numbers, they should not be sued as exact synonyms of each other. “Fewer” is used for plural nouns, and “less” is for singular nouns.

Here’s what I mean:

Fewer

“The lake was empty today – I saw fewer than ten boats all day.”

Boats is plural, and so the plural modifier of “fewer” should be used.

A way to remember this is to use the word “few” with the noun you’re wanting to modify. Would you say “There are a few boats on the lake today”? Yes – therefore, “fewer” is the correct choice rather than “less.”

Less

“We got less snow this winter than we did last year.”

The word snow, though it can be a collective or mass noun, is singular.

If you were to use “snowflakes,” however, the modifier would be “fewer,” because “snowflakes” is plural.

“Fewer snowflakes fell today than yesterday.”

“Less snow fell today than yesterday.”

In everyday usage, “less” is used for everything. Ever go to a supermarket and see the “10 items or less” express lane? Items is plural, so “fewer” would be the accurate word to use in these signs.

But as I like to remind readers – despite these grammar police posts that I do periodically, I understand that everyday conversational English is not the same as proper written English. If you’re chatting with a friend and you say something about “less emails,” don’t stress about it.

However, if you’re writing an article or a school paper or giving a public speech, check your nouns before you choose your quantitative modifier.

Remember, less is more.

And proofread so you have fewer mistakes.

What Do You Want?

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With this year drawing to a close, I’ve been reflecting about what I’ve done with my blog thus far, and where I’d like to go in the future. And I want your feedback! I have a good number of subscribers and followers of my blog, as well as daily hits from web searches, so I must be writing at least a few interesting things. But I’d like to provide (or keep providing) content that you want to read.

So, if you could, please take a minute and give me your thoughts! You can answer these questions, or make other suggestions, too! Comment here, on Facebook, Twitter, or email.

  • What have been some of your favorite posts? Why?
  • What would you like to see more of in future posts? Music reviews? Writing how-to’s? Travel? Nordic stuff? Something else?
  • I’m thinking about doing some giveaways next year. Until I have published books that I can then discount or give away as prizes for contests or raffles, what are some things you’d like to see as gifts or prizes? And for that matter, what sort of raffle or contest would be fun?
  • What’s your favorite way to follow me or get new posts? Do you subscribe to my blog with your WordPress reader or email? Do you follow me on Facebook or Twitter? Or did you stumble across this post from a link or a Google search?
  • And finally, do you have any questions for me? I do my best to answer quickly, whether it’s here or on social media. Let me know what you’re thinking and where we can all go together for another year of blogging!

Why Spell-Check Should Not be Your Only Editor

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Thank God for spell-check, right? Without it, even the best writers would be spending more time with their dictionaries than actually writing. Or everything that’s published would be so riddled with mistakes that no one could read it. But spell-check isn’t everything.

Spell-check will alert us to simple typos and transposed letters (am I the only one who often types “hte” instead of “the” when I’m in a hurry?) Even the grammar-check that’s part of most word-processing programs is far from infallible. Here are some examples of mistakes that even the best spell-check software won’t catch, and why it never hurts to have another pair of human eyes to look over your work.

Homophone mix-ups

Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Example: My car is parked over their.

It should read: My car is parked over there. (There is a place, their refers to something that belongs to them). In this sentence, “their” is spelled correctly, it’s just the wrong word for this sentence.

Easily Confused Words

These can be homophones, or words that sound sort of similar, or simply a word that the writer isn’t familiar with so he gambles on something he thinks is right.

Example: Please except my apology.

It should read: Please accept my apology.

Except means “excluding,” or sometimes replaces the word “but” in a sentence. Accept means to receive or agree to. Since these words are almost-homophones, they’re often confused. Very different meanings, though – but something that spell-check won’t catch.

Easily mis-typed words

These are words that are spelled correctly, but are simply the wrong word for the sentence.

Example: I’ve loved dogs every since I can remember.

Every is a fine word – but in this case, the word should be ever.

Other correctly-spelled words that can often be mistyped: any instead of and, then instead of than or the other way around, food instead of good. I could go on, but these are some that I’ve mistyped on more than one occasion.

British versus American spellings

This one isn’t so much about typos as it is about consistency. “Colour” and “color” are both correct spellings – you just need to know which one is appropriate to use. My American word processing program puts the red “misspelled word” line under “colour” because that’s not the correct spelling for American English. So if you’re a Canadian writing for an American publication, or an American writing for a European publication, just remember which is the correct spelling for your market, and be consistent.

Example: I love the colour pink, and my favorite ice-cream flavor is strawberry.

As I said, either spelling is correct, but consistency is what is needed. Either have “favourite” and “flavour” match your spelling of “colour,” or change them all to the American standards.

Run-on Sentences

Example: We went shopping, then had lunch and later had ice cream – chocolate, of course – and my sister said that we should get together every weekend and do this and I agreed.

There’s technically nothing ungrammatical here, nor any misspellings. It’s just a simple run-on sentence. It would be easier to read as two sentences. If you’re done with the developmental edits of your work and just need that final polish of copy editing or proofreading, this is the sort of thing that a good editor will catch. Spell-check won’t.

Spelling inconsistencies

This one is sort of like the European vs. American spellings, as in there is no right or wrong. Consistency is what counts here.

Example: Sara vs. Sarah.

If you have a character named Sara, make sure that her name is Sara the entire way through the story. Readers might get confused if her name suddenly changes to Sarah in chapter seven. Again, spell-check and even a high-tech grammar-check won’t catch this.

I’m sure there are plenty of other examples to point out why everyone needs an editor or at least a few sharp-eyed critique partners. And I’m sure that I have provided such examples in many of my blog posts! I’m also not trying to bash spell-check or other automatic editing programs. Let’s just not forget the human element. A trained editor’s eyes and brain will still trump a computer program and help you to put your best writing forward.