10 words to cut from your writing:

Useful information.

http://www.moreyearbooks.com/2015/08/10-words-to-cut-from-your-writing.html

Oooh I’ve GOT to remember number 10! 😛

10 words to cut from your writing

By Shanna Mallon |
As Mark Twain famously wrote, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” His point? Strong writing is lean writing.

When you want to make your writing more powerful, cut out words you don’t need—such as the 10 included in this post:

1. Just: The word “just” is a filler word that weakens your writing. Removing it rarely affects meaning, but rather, the deletion tightens a sentence.

2. Really: Using the word “really” is an example of writing the way you talk. It’s a verbal emphasis that doesn’t translate perfectly into text. In conversation, people use the word frequently, but in written content it’s unnecessary. Think about the difference between saying a rock is “hard” and “really hard,” for example. What does…

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7 Steps to the Perfect Story – Infographic…

Good infographic.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

To visit the originating site, click on the link or Infographic below:

seven-steps-to-the-perfect-story

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Waste no more time

WAITING FOR SAILS

 

Photo Copyright: Sandra Crook

Here we are again, another week. This time we’re sitting on virtual beach chairs on a virtual beach in West Bay, Dorset. Our hostess for this gathering is the gracious and talented artist and author, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. We’re the Friday Fictioneers, and the challenge this week, and every week, is for each of us to write an original story with no more than 100 words. It’s supposed to have a beginning, middle, end, and follow the picture prompt provided for the week. This week’s prompt was provided by Sandra Crook. Thanks, Sandra.

To read the other stories from group members, just click on the link given below, then on the little blue frog in the blue box. The link for the other stories this week is as follows:

https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2015/11/27-november-2015/

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving Day has a great one.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100 Words

WAITING FOR SAILS By P.S. Joshi

We had moved to West Bay in Dorset, a beautiful location.

I soon noticed a middle aged woman climbing to the top of the cliff almost every day the weather permitted.

At first I thought she was just getting exercise, but then became curious. I asked about it in the village.

“Oh, the storekeeper said, “That’s Mrs. Bicton. Her husband went sailing and hasn’t come back. She watches for the sails of his boat to appear.”

“How long ago did he go sailing?” I asked.

“Well,” a clerk said, “It’s been about twenty years now, give or take a few.”

A Thought for Thanksgiving

This is all about kindness.

Myths of the Mirror

 
Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest…

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Dhobi VC

This is a story that should teach us all what love of neighbor is all about.

Have We Had Help?

So many returned service men and women suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, often unable to cope with society because of it. This short story is a tribute to them…

***

I walked into the autopsy room at the beginning of the day to find a body awaiting my undivided attention which had been found in the woods above the neighbouring village where I grew up. I was equally shocked and saddened. It was my childhood friend Dhobi.

Back then most of the kids in our village were merciless towards him, throwing stones and shouting obscenities. None of them knew the simple gentle man hidden beneath the grime the way I did. I was the only kid who didn’t pick on him. To me there was something very special about this loner who had shunned society for the woods. Never once did I wonder why he lived the way he did…

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To Memoir or Not to Memoir

I’m writing a memoir and find this to be true.

Writing on the Pages of Life

A memoir is a series of moments.
In order to bring these moments to life,
it is necessary to create scenes that capture and communicate
the physical reality of the chosen moments.

• — Mark Matousek

The online memoir class I attended ended a few weeks ago. Thankfully though, the teacher listened to our pleas and have set up a check-in webinar.

I enrolled in the memoir class because the nagging book project has not materialized at all. A couple of years ago, I heard the call to write a book.  I told our teacher that I was literally dragging myself to memoir class because honestly, things are good in my life now and I see no need nor purpose to write a book. If I could just silence this calling…

I was fortunate to have a very patient and astute teacher. Inspite of my reluctance, I am one of those…

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Interview with Author Charles E Yallowitz | Sacha Black

All about Charles E. Yallowitz and his writing method.

writerchristophfischer

I have come across Charles on social media so often, his books are on my ever growing tbr pile. So for now, I thought I introduce you to his well received work via this reblog. Source: Interview with Author Charles E Yallowitz | Sacha Black

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR CHARLES E YALLOWITZ

My author interviews are drawing to a close, we have less than a month left of these posts and I’m not sure yet what I will do about replacing them. But, to this week, I am thrilled to have Charles E Yallowitz as my author interview. Charles is a huge supporter of fellow authors, please do go check him out. You can find him on his blog: Legends of Windermere, his website Charles E. Yallowitz, his amazon author page Amazon Author Page, Facebook and finally Twitter.

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Coming Soon: Horrid Little Things

Adam’s New Book

Adam Ickes

100 stories.
100 words each.
Tiny snippets of terror
for your consumption.

Do not fear the dark.
The dark cannot harm you.

Instead, fear the horrid things that hide
in the shadows waiting to pounce,
the people with hearts blacker than coal,
and the evil that permeates a world running
out of control.

Fear the things under the stairs and
under the bed, the things living in closets
and inside your head.

Fear all of these things,
but fear not the dark.
The dark cannot harm you.

COMING IN DECEMBER!
Stay tuned for more details!

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How Long Should Your Story Be?

Good infographic. Just click on Jo’s photo.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

To read this informative post and see the infographic,

click on the photo of Author Jo Linsdell or link below:

how-long-should-your-story-be

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