Writing reminder!

You know the drill by now, don't you? Whatever you're working on, work on it. Even if it's just a little bit, make it your goal today to write.

Five grammar and syntax tips

Hey all! Thought I'd share some writing tips to help make your pieces stronger. These tend to apply more to narratives, but there's some good information in here for other writing too.

Please note that original sources may be impossible to find, so for sourced tips, I reference who I heard it from.

1: Remember TIP TOP when you think you should start a new paragraph- make a new one if you changed
Time
Place
Topic
Person
(Tumblr user sp00kyjames)

2: Don't use epithets unless the audience/character doesn't know the person's name.
(Suggested by Tumblr user martainducreff)

3: It's hard to overuse words like he/she, the, and I. We read them so often they disappear, and don't pull readers out of the story.

4: Unless you are trying to make a point, don't start all your sentences the same way. Don't start all your paragraphs the same way. Don't start all your pieces the same way. It gets boring fast.

5: Double check your use of homophones. Nothing makes a piece seem immature or pulls a reader out of a story quite like mixing up "there" and "their".

I'm leaving!

Sorry for the off topic post, but I want to explain why there aren't going to be any posts for the rest of the month, and what's going on.

I'm going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, which means that for the next two weeks, I'm going to be incommunicado. I had a post ready for you guys, but it accidentally got deleted (really frustrating, by the way), so it's going to have to wait until April.

In the meantime, you can rest easy knowing that I have some really great things planned for next month, so be sure to check back soon!