Katharine's Writer's Block

This post is publishing on the cusp of back-to-school season in the U.S.! If furthering your education or developing your skills in the...

Avoid apostrophe catastrophes with these Lessons & Advice! In many relationships, possessions end up either under new ownership or co-ownership. A favorite hoodie belonging to my husband became mine after we got serious in dating. Good blankets we once had to ourselves are now under mutual claim. My car is his or our car (There are few vehicles between us now, actually). Of course, we share a bed (or at least try to!), a house, and some bills. But food leftovers are often any

Most know that the United States celebrates a day of national pride on July fourth. Something that most may not know is that thirteen of the fifty states (as of this writing) express their regional pride by celebrating the days they were admitted to the union. For those curious, those states are West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Ohio. Much like school pride or social pride, statehood days celebrat

One of my aims with Writing Lessons & Advice is to give you plenty of direction on what to do  in and with your writing. In this post, I’m aiming for a different approach by trying to discuss what not  to do. Here are twelve common writing errors (in no particular order) according to several highly-regarded writing sources. Error: incorrect or missing words   Incorrect word errors typically occur with easily confused words , be it with homophones, homonyms, homographs or more

In the United States, late May through August is embraced as the prime time for leisure tourism, or summer vacation in simpler terms. Throughout this timeframe, most schools complete regular instruction, summer officially starts, and many worthwhile holidays take place. So families often undertake some kind of getaway from their daily grind for a little bit of fun, celebration, and refreshment.  Depending on plans and preferences, summer vacation also takes and blends a handf

On the heels of commemorating my anniversary, some of my family members are about to celebrate their own significant life milestones this year (if they haven’t already by the time of this publishing)! That’s all I’ll say out of respect for their privacy, but I can almost guarantee the impending events will entail them writing thank you notes. If you’re in a similar boat, here are some helpful things to know. Thank you notes are a customary response to formal or even professio

My anniversary inspiration this year took me in a nostalgic direction! My husband and I met through the Bumble dating app in the summer of 2020. He was passing through my area while on a truck-driving job so we ended up on each other’s feeds. We swiped right, made plans to meet up, and the rest is history of course! One thing I remember about his profile is that his bio claimed something to the effect of his photos not doing justice to his blue eyes. They certainly didn’t; ho

Different types of story conflicts Since Christmas 2024, I started crafting my dream novel with the Tome Writing Toolkit! As it guided me into creating my story arc, I was encouraged to think about story conflict: the combination of what the protagonist wants and what makes the achievement difficult. Here is a bit about what the toolkit offered and the common types of conflicts identified across literature. As plot and conflict are intertwined, many of the conflicts will conn

Several years ago, I was big on Doctor Who ! (If you haven't noticed before, I’ve made nods to the show in other posts.) A college friend introduced me around the fiftieth anniversary. In turn, I introduced it to an ex-boyfriend and then my husband. So I’ve watched the nearly two-decade span of the “revival era” a few times over.  For those unfamiliar, Doctor Who  is a long-running British sci-fi/fantasy show centered on a human-looking alien who calls themself The Doctor, tr

Bonus content is an awesome feature of most DVDs and Blu-ray discs! While the movie or show is the main content of the medium, of course, most supplementary material is for fans of the property or of film in general. Good bonus content entails a combination of bloopers, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, commentary, games, trailers, alternate or extended cuts, and so much more! They ultimately give viewers a deeper connection to the main content itself. You find that