Katharine's Writer's Block

Millennials, like me, grew up with some unique cultural experiences. While we indulged in the earliest, if not the best, years of cartoons, video games, internet, and music, we also read books to earn our own pizzas. Millennials, like me, remember this as the Pizza Hut Book It Program (or just the Book It Program). The premise of the Book It Program was simple (and free): reading goals are set between October and March for students between preschool and sixth grade. Goals can

Theme is the heart of the story Many of the necessary story elements have tangible aspects that make them easy to identify or develop....

To the average Joe, the term show-and-tell might conjure up memories from early school days when they or classmates brought special items from home with the purpose of presenting them to peers. The objects on display were anything from favorite toys or trinkets to bizzare, questionable, or adult things kids didn’t fully understand . In a similar vein, writers practice an aptly-named technique of show-and-tell that encourages balance between basic summation and an elaborate de

“What’s in a name, that which we call a rose by any other would smell as sweet?” In this well-known line from Romeo and Juliet , Juliet...

I’ve often thought of myself as a better writer than a public speaker, which I’m sure is interesting considering my previous ambitions for teaching. I have a natural tendency to shyness, introversion, and occasional anxiety and/or attention deficiency. If I had to rise to the occasion, I would, but I would just need ample time and preparation first. I’m definitely not alone and you’re not either if you relate. Studies have shown that around seventy-five percent of people hav

I touched on commas in a general lesson about punctuation , but I feel the topic warrants its own lesson for a better focus.  As...

You have an essay project. You’ve decided on a topic, started some research, taken some notes on your findings, and maybe even have a...

I feel a need to apologize...my pantsing ways have caught up with me. I recently realized that, in my previous lesson about plot and...

In 1979, video killed the radio star . The one-hit wonder reflected on the impending shifts in music and music entertainment at the time. Its music video inaugurated the then-new MTV network. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the song among “oldies” playlists one of these days. It is a little dated, but it's still interesting to keep around. Older forms of writing and communication are the same way. While we have MacBooks and Chromebooks, we still have physical, paper notebook

Which one are you? Writers go by many identities: authors, bloggers, journalists, essayists, novelists, poets, critics, playwrights...but a couple less familiar names might be pantsers and plotters . These terms relate to their approaches to work: A pantser is a writer who works without an outline or much planning on hand, essentially flying--or writing--by the seat of their pants. In contrast, a plotter is a writer who makes extensive use of outlines, plotlines, prewriting,