That. It's nearly an enemy to an editor. When we talk, we use "that" as a transition word to help us keep our thoughts flowing while we talk. It gives us a chance to pause and think while we are speaking. "That" keeps a listener engaged because it lends anticipation to our speech, whether used in a conversation or a formal speech. It's true for any level of speech and perfectly acceptable. The opposite is true when writing. "That" is by far the word I delete most often. It's totally unnecessary in most writings and should be eliminated 90% of the time. The remaining 10% tells you it shouldn't be completely eliminated from all writings. Using it sparingly is key. Here's a relevant example. In the sentence above, I said,  "The remaining 10% tells you it shouldn't be completely eliminated from all writings."  The vast majority of people would write,  "The remaining 10% tells you that it shouldn't...

My 20-year-old son, a graduate of our home school, is in college and he recently turned in a first draft paper to one professor, the final draft being due the following week. He expected a vast number of notes and things he had to change before his final draft. Instead, the professor suggested he move a few sentences around, made no corrections and told my son it was basically ready to be the final draft. My son was stunned. I gave him a fist bump and said, "You're welcome!" He looked at me curiously and I explained, "I made you diagram sentences in middle school, remember? This is the pay off. You're welcome." He went on to say that when he's writing his papers for school, he's constantly analyzing his sentences, almost automatically. I told him, "This is memory muscle. It was ingrained in you, through diagramming sentences, to analyze and weigh each word and how it fits into your writing." Folks, make your kids diagram sentenc...

Everyone writes, every day. Whether it's a Facebook status update, a tweet on twitter, a blog, a thank-you note, a recipe or a list, everyone I know writes and they do it daily. Did you know that writing for publication is different than any of this other writing? Writing for publication is different because you are suddenly writing for someone else, not just yourself. You switch from simply getting your point across or your information shared to making it sell, and that's an entirely different ball game. Learn how to write for publication with my e-book , Write, Then Publish. Today . You will learn why writing for publication is different and the steps you can take to make your writing appealing to publishers or e-readers. Click here to download the book today! Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

Write daily. Publish if you want, but write regardless of whether you publish or not. I write daily. I publish periodically. Whether you write a chapter to a novel or a clever tweet on Twitter, it's important to write daily. Writing daily keeps your mind fresh. Writing daily helps ideas flow. Writing daily helps your writer's focus. Writing daily is fun. Writing daily is good discipline. So, write. Daily. See what happens. ~Tricia

These are wise words: You have to write it. I was recently reading this article by Ellen Rohr about starting a business and her first words of advice are, "You have to write it." She was referring to people who attempt to start a business but have all their plans in their head. She says that writing it down makes it real. I have been giving this advice to my writing students for years! When you write it down, it changes it. Writing it down makes it official. Picture yourself being chosen for a committee. You love what the committee is about and you pour your time and energy coming up with a plan for the committee. At your first committee meeting, you pass your plans out to the others...the plans you have written down. Because it's highly unlikely anyone else wrote down a plan, it's equally likely that your plan will be used. Why? Because it was written down. Official looking. Official sounding. Written down. Writing it down helps you be objective because you ...

I write. I am a writer. I write all the time, daily actually. Most of what I write does not get published, but I write anyway. Sometimes I write and find it therapeutic, as is the case with my book, Victory Over Violence . Sometimes I write because something so deeply touched me that I have to put it down on paper, as with my book, Tears in a Bottle . Other times, I write because I have information that I think others will find helpful, like in my book, How to Not Potty Train Your Kids . I write for many reasons. When stuff happens in my life, I write about it. When stuff happens around me, I write about it. When I feel passionate about something, I write about it. When I feel silly, I write. I've written songs, poems, books, short stories, Bible studies, a memoir, silliness, doctrine and kids' stories. I don't publish all my writings, but I write them just the same. I mostly write non-fiction, but am working on a few fiction projects and finding it interesting to...

Writing is a process as much as it is a creative action. Those of us who write for publication know that this process, while we are drawn to it without reason, is not always easy. Writing involves a process. Part two of my series of classes on Writing for Publication focuses on this process and breaks it down into manageable steps. Today, I'd like to share some content from that class, which will be available in an e-book later on this spring or early summer. My first e-book from this set of classes is already available and you can find it here . John Steinbeck said, "I have written a great many stories and I still don't know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances." John Steinbeck knew that the writing process is not magical. You basically just have to do it; just write. This is not a "how-to," it's more of an attempt to help you know the process so that none of this process will catch you off guard and you will know what to e...

Revision is a necessary tool for successful writing. We write, we edit, we revise. Then, we revise again. And again. And again. Sometimes, our content needs less revision than our title, however. This was the case with my new e-book, Writing for Publication .  I wrote, edited, revised, had an outside editor look at it, revised again, rewrote part of it and updated other parts. After all that was done, I created a title page, using my own photography as I always do on my e-books, and uploaded the project to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing . I waited a couple of days, then did a search for my e-book. Clicking through to page five in the list of books on writing, mine simply did not show up. I gave it another day. Nothing. My e-book still did not show up in any searches! So, I had to rethink my project and revise once again.  This time, revision involved my title and book cover. I spent a little time searching for writing e-books and made notes on what was showing up in sea...

My new book, Writing for Publication (Book 1) will be available via Kindle and Kindle apps by the end of this week! I'm excited to have made this much progress since we're in the process of moving. Here's an excerpt from the book, a teaser: There are specific keys to overcoming the inevitable failure of being a writer. These few ideas can have a huge impact on your writing, and on your success as a writer.           Appreciate your own talent. If you know you are a good writer and you have something valid to say, appreciate that in yourself. Self appreciation comes across to others as confidence. Appreciating and having confidence in your talent is not boastful or prideful, it’s honest and real.          Don’t let rejection slow you down. Realize and accept that rejection is part of the job of writing for publication. If you accept this, it will not surprise you when it happens. It’s a given, par for the course. It truly...

This is a guest post of sorts.  The author of this article , 20 Redundant Phrases to Eliminate from Your Writing , has no idea I'm posting their article, but I found it so relevant and helpful I thought it deserved a spot in my blog.  Thank you Mickie Kennedy for this timely and well-written piece. Read and learn, writers. Redundancy can end today! ~Tricia

How do you organize your writing projects? I like to think of myself as organized, but to someone looking in, I would not appear very organized  at all.  Life is busy. Organization takes work.  I get lazy.  Stuff piles up.  You get the picture.  But, right now, I have a big writing project in the works and I'm actively working to get this project organized to help it go more smoothly, and to help it be successful.  I'm in the process of creating different computer files, organized into one folder with the project title as the folder name. As I look to the future and writing full-time, I'm experimenting with different systems to find which works best for me.  For now, I'm excited about the new folder/file system and am determined to stay as organized as I start out being. I may combine several systems into one new system. This is not my normal method, so I'm really excited about the challenge this presents.  Normally, I think about a writi...

The power of the written word.  As writers, we already know the power of the written word, hence, we write. When we write something down, it changes it. The changes are remarkable when you stop to analyze them. My students have already heard this, but perhaps a reader out there hasn't.  Let me tell you a little story. Picture yourself as a committee member.  You are asked to serve on a committee for something you are very passionate about.  Actually, you might have been asked to serve because of your passion.   So, the committee chairman calls a meeting and in anticipation of that meeting, you write out some ideas you've had for the committee.  As the meeting day approaches, you decide to share those ideas with the other committee members, so you type them up and make copies. When meeting time comes, you are eager to share your ideas, and other committee members are eager to hear and share ideas, as well.  You will find that if no one else took ...