M.A. Kropp: Writer, Blogger, GeekGirl. My Life. My Words. My Way.
A debate often comes up in writing discussions about the way the American English language is changing, and is it a good or bad thing. A lot of people tend to get defensive about additions, deletions, and changes in usage that seem to keep coming up every year. New words are added to dictionaries, old … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Evolving Language
Last week, I talked a bit about losing some momentum after a couple weeks of stress and illness. I compared it to a runner who has to build back up to full distance after an injury. That brought me to something we as writers hear a lot (or at least, I do) and that is: … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Something is Better than Nothing
If you read Monday's post, you know that I have been kind of down and out as far as writing goes for the last two weeks. Either I had too little time or was too sick to worry about word counts. Naturally, I fell behind. I expected that. What I didn't expect was finding that … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Training- and Retraining- Your Writing Muscles
I am currently working on the third installment of the series-that-wasn't-supposed-to-be-a-series and I have hit that point. That point where I know where the story is going in a broad sense, but I need to fill in the bits and pieces that get us from the start through to the end. I am a planster … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Oooh! Shiny!
You have a brilliant idea for a story. You know your characters- their virtues, their failings, what they think, feel, do. You know where, when, and why. Now, it's time to write that Great American Novel (or Short Story or Novella), right? Well, maybe. I mean, yes, once you have figured out all of the … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Drafting- A Word about Mechanics
Many people will give you the advice that you must write every day to be or become a writer. For the most part, that is very good advice, because if you don't develop the habit of writing, you will never finish or even start anything. But is it really necessary to be sitting at your … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Sometimes, It’s Good to Just Walk Away
This is a legitimate question, I think. Here's what I was pointed to by another writer: The Beginning of the End for Patreon? A few caveats: I do not use Patreon personally, but I know a lot of people do. I am not a lawyer and I don't pretend to understand all the ins and … Continue reading Thursday Thoughts: Is Patreon Going to Steal Your Stuff?
Of course they do. It's all the little things that make a story come alive for a reader. As a writer, my job is to not only tell a good story, but to make my readers feel as if the story is real. That often means adding all sorts of detail along with the main … Continue reading Wednesday On Writing: Details Matter, Right?
Nothing really major to report. The world is moving along, the days are longer, and we are having some very Spring-like weather. I have some garden plants starting in the basement on the new heat mats. They seem to be doing their job. It's been about a week and I have a few seedlings poking … Continue reading Monday Musings: A Bit of This, A Dash of That
A lot of people are not big fans of the grammar check function in word processors. Many wish they could turn it off, but many times, it's tied to the spell check function and that one is useful. Usually. I will confess that I don't absolutely hate grammar check software. I don't think I'd miss … Continue reading Wednesday on Writing: Why Do Word Processors Even Have Grammar Check?
And So On... 