Katharine's Writer's Block

September 8th is World Ampersand Day! This post is all about this writing mark: &   The ampersand is an English symbol that represents the word “and”. Some may call it “the and symbol” but ampersand is its proper name. The symbol has actually been around a long time; at least as far back as the first century AD as a cursive  Roman figure. For a while, it was even recognized as the twenty-seventh letter of the English alphabet! Conversely, its holiday has only been around sinc

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,...

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

Illustration from "Schoolhouse Rock" segment on verbs. Video clip in sources. The insights into living life are a dime a dozen: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill “There is no passion to be found by playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” -Nelson Mandela “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” -Emily Dickenson “The key to immortality is first livi

It seems like every day can be a holiday and every month is one for some kind of recognition, remembrance, or awareness. Many are established by various organizations or special interests, so keeping up can be hard if you’re not affiliated or in-the-know in some way.  Similar organizations and interests of literary culture have managed to get their values recognized with their own various holidays and months. This Lessons & Advice post gives a rundown on several special times

Happy New Year! At the start or end of a year, we often like to take stock of our goals, accomplishments, or other accruements during our previous trek around the sun. For me, my cat has no obvious fleas after I've diligently groomed and treated him throughout the year! I lost--and kept off--around fifteen pounds on a weight loss program I started in 2023! In March 2025, my Lessons & Advice blog will be two years old. This post will be the fifty-sixth to run as of this publi

I recently learned the old show, Mythbusters , is one of my husband’s favorites. He was home more often over the summer for reasons I’ll keep private and discovered it's available on Amazon Prime. So streaming his old favorite show was one of the ways he liked to pass time and how we’d spend some nights together. For those unfamiliar, Mythbusters was a science-oriented program that ran on the Discovery Channel from 2003 to 2016. In each episode, hosts Adam Savage, Jamie Hynem

I got some wonderful kitchen gifts for my bridal shower! Among them were a fully-stocked, sixteen-jar spice rack and a Ninja Foodi grill....

I was listening to a Grammar Girl podcast a while ago, and she discussed how different types of nouns exist. I had not thought about that...