Katharine's Writer's Block

A pop cultural debate that surfaces around the end of the year is what makes a movie fall into the Christmas category. Many rightfully fit in because they center on characters, images, or buzzwords connected to the holidays. Others hone in on values or themes like tradition, life, love, joy, peace, charity, and sometimes spirituality. More still, some flicks are considered Christmassy simply for having a scene or plot set on Christmas Eve or Day (Looking at you, Die Hard !).

After the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz got a brain, I wonder how much he relished opportunities like research and essay-writing that challenged his new intellectual chops. We might not always share the same enthusiasm for those activities, but they’re forms of mental exercise as necessary as physical activity is to the rest of the body. Some foundation and regular practice can be helpful in areas of life beyond the class assignments as well.  I hope my Essay Help has been foun

Many of us may have grown up with doses of edutainment, or media that blends amusement and learning. It has adopted various formats that have overlapped throughout the years, but for the most part, current generations find it through social media, digital media, and apps while millennials got a lot of it through video games and computer games. Yet, it was the Gen Xers’ television programming that gave the trend most of its initial steam. They had some cool shows! In fact, sev

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

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

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

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