Katharine's Writer's Block

Key ingredients of a typical story are setting, characters, plot, and theme. A story’s plot can have unique qualities that ultimately...

Just choosing a topic is one of many essay writing problems. Here's some help on how overcome it! How do I decide what to cook? The things that either I or my husband like are a good place to start. I narrow down the options further based on what ingredients are in my cupboards, what time I have on-hand, or what the occasion might be. For example, on workdays, I usually have just enough time in the mornings to put together some cereal, oatmeal, or eggs. While on Saturdays or

One small task in my full-time job is to review resumes. I do so to make sure potential training staff meet the state’s criteria for...

A study from Stanford University identified the top twenty errors found in undergraduate writing. The number one error is using the wrong word in a certain context. As explained in a previous lesson , the confusion stems from the fact that many words have such close similarities or subtleties that spelling, pronunciation and/or usage are the main ways to tell them apart. A word’s spelling and pronunciation should be self-explanatory. While a word’s usage pertains to one of e

Lately, I’ve been practicing cooking pancakes. I’ve learned that cooking them on my mini-griddle makes them really thick but not done in the middle. I get the slender size and circular shape that I like when I pour right into the middle of a hot, open skillet, but the batter has to be the right amount and consistency as well--not too little and not too runny. There’s a delicate balance to it. Writing with English vocabulary has a similar delicate balance. One wrong word can c

I kept diaries as an adolescent. I imagine them as something like a rite of passage, a tradition practiced during certain stages of life. The teen diary is something popular, yet sacred. On one hand, works like Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl to the Princess Diaries and to Diary of a Wimpy Kid show how literature and entertainment have embraced both the diary-keeping act as well as their contents at times. Yet on the flipside, some diaries are marketed with key locks or

Today’s lesson is loosely based on a Twitter post... The fuller context of this remark is within a growing battle between human- and...

Blog, blogging, blogger...these are commonplace words that have gained traction in society within the last twenty to thirty years. As...

Whether you are writing research into an essay or--like me-- casually blogging about pop culture, some deliberation may be encountered...

Poetry is a blend of art and written or spoken word. It’s often evocative; centered on strong images, memories, or feelings. In the...