First Draft to Published

I have a confession to make. I'm a grammar nerd. I love grammar and punctuation and diagramming sentences. I always have since the fifth grade when Sister Mary Brigett (Catholic school) taught grammar. I am thrilled that today is National Punctuation Day.  However, I'm sad to see text messages that shorten words, don't have much punctuation and really seem to dumb down the language. We need to put into use those periods, apostrophes, question marks, colons, semi-colons and exclamation points. What better way to celebrate punctuation than by using it.  write out an error-free email or text using punctuation with full sentences go back through your work in progress (WIP) and look for places where you can add or delete punctuation.  read a classic and identify the different punctuation marks  try using every type of punctuation throughout the day   If you're writing a book you should be aware of all the punctuation marks and how they're used. If you need a refreshe...

Today, is Dear Diary Day.  Do you keep a journal or diary while you write your book?  As a child and teenager I wrote in journals. They chronicled my everyday life, the hopes and dreams of typical young girl. But I never showed them to anyone.  Today, I take a more calculated approach to journaling in between note-taking and free writing, I also use a journal to tracking my book writing progress.  I can hear you saying why would you want to track your book writing progress. The story is already there on paper. However, tracking your progress isn't only about daily timed writing or daily word counts.   Here's some ways that journaling can work for you. Journaling allows you to track how you feel when you're writing, your joys, inspirations, up and downs.  Arguments you might be having with your characters or maybe they're wanting to take over the story. On days when your are feeling less than and you still want to reach your writing goals then write dow...