Phobias that stymie writers

What fears are keeping you from doing your best work? William Shakespeare was reportedly afraid of dogs. Ray Bradbury had a fear of flying. Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of being buried alive. Stephen King’s list of fears include spiders, closed-in spaces and writer’s block. Yet these phobias didn’t stop these authors from writing. After all, “You have to be a little nuts to be a writer,” King once said. Let’s take a look at the types of fears that could impede your progress as a writer. You may not get very far if you don’t confront these...

Quiz: Find the errors in these sentences

Make your editor proud. Identify the grammar and style errors in the sentences below. Check your answers by scrolling to the bottom. Quiz We play all the hits from the 70’s and 80’s. I’ll need to get cash from the ATM machine before we go out. We need to reign in the efforts by HR to require all staff to read Corporate Magick. They met face-to-face for the first time in 15 years. Let’s learn about Medicare! As you may or may not be aware, performance reviews start next week. The information on the website is meant to compliment class lectures. Irregardless of what...

4 ways to start a writing habit

“Forget about inspiration and get into the habit of writing every day. Habit has written far more books than inspiration has. If you want the Muse to visit you, she needs to know where you are: so stay at your desk.” — Sir Philip Pullman, author of “His Dark Materials” For PR Daily readers—who spend their working lives crafting messages for companies, clients, leaders, co-workers or employees—this advice is tough to take on. The last thing you want to do at the end of the day is work on your memoirs. Yet, you can motivate yourself by creating writing...

How to nail subject-verb agreement

About half of all grammatical errors are mistakes in the use of verbs. As professional writers and editors, we sometimes focus so much on choosing the right verbs that we forget the basics of these powerful and sometimes troublesome parts of speech. Here’s a brief look at two problem areas involving subject-verb agreement.   Collective nouns Collective nouns define more than one person, place or thing (e.g., team, class, audience, panel, staff). These nouns take either singular or plural verbs, depending on whether the word refers to the group as a unit or to its...

Do you believe in “old writer̵...

If you spend your life writing, you know that much of your time is spent staring at the page or screen trying to think of what to write next. Maybe you know what to write next, you just can’t land on the right words. Maybe you found the right words, but self-doubt has crept in and you want to start over. This may be why writers have so many quirks, odd habits and superstitions. Dr. Seuss wore a hat when he felt stuck. Isabel Allende begins writing all her books on January 8. Charles Dickens always slept facing north, believing it made him more creative. Since it’s...

10 post-holiday gift ideas

Didn’t get exactly what you wanted for the holidays? Want to pick up a little something for yourself? Start with these great gifts for writers and readers: 1. The Qwerkywriter S keyboard This is truly one of the best gifts I have ever received. This keyboard has the feel of a vintage typewriter (with loudly clicking keys, scrolling knobs, and a return bar) and the function of a modern keyboard (with Bluetooth, function keys and a command Windows/Apply key). With keys engineered to feel and sound like a mechanical typewriter, you’ll be looking for reasons to write with...