Caution: Busy Week Alert

I’m just popping online to say that this weekend will be hectic so updates will be slow for the next week.  I’m still alive and haven’t forgotten about you all – life’s just doing its best to get in the way of blogging again.  Keep writing and I’ll be back before you notice I was ever gone....

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Generating Ideas: Freewriting

Freewriting (also called stream-of-consciousness writing) is the activity of writing everything that pops into your mind when you think about a certain topic.  If you can’t think of anything to write about the topic, then you literally write “I can’t think of anything to write” over and over until you an idea eventually comes to you.   Sometimes, freewriting...

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Organizing Your Thoughts: Mind Mapping

Putting your thoughts down on paper is an activity easier said than done.  I’d like someone to take a peek into my mind and just TRY to get the mess of ideas I have tumbling around in there onto a piece of paper in a coherent, organized fashion.  If you too have so many ideas bouncing around in your head that you can’t manage to focus on just one, having the...

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It’s All in the Details

It’s not often something I read is so funny it causes me to choke on my drink.   This posting on Craigslist did just that.  The author could’ve just posted a picture of an opossum, typed the words “Free Kitty,” and called it a day.  It would still be amusing, but it would be nowhere near as funny as it is the way it’s written now.  So what is...

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Types of Titles

  I’ve written about titles before, but writing a good one is a complex enough task that it merits more discussion.  For example, not many people know that there are different types of titles. Descriptive Titles A descriptive title announces the topic of the work clearly and succinctly.  It’s the “obvious” title and generally lacks flair.  Despite...

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Ambiguity: Avoid It

The Houston Chronicle ran this article today in the Business section.  What you won’t see if you read the article online is a subheading that was included in the print version of the paper.  It read: It depends on whether group is deemed liable for 2004 deaths Take a minute or two to figure out how that headline could be interpreted.  Yeah, that’s exactly how I read it too when I opened up the paper.  The first thought that crossed my mind was “Holy cow! 2004 people died?” and my eyes were glued to the article as I read...

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Life and Lost Dogs

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging and this past week has been no exception.  My mom just had surgery and I’m taking on more of the responsibilities around the house while she recovers.  The real time-sink this past week had nothing to do with my mother, though. I found a lost dog and boy, was she cute. Finding her original owner(s) was a task that,...

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