Monthly Archives: March 2018

Blogs for bloggers 1

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged blogs RSS on by

We writers learn from one another, as well as getting encouragement. Here are some blogs that I can recommend for writers in general and especially for bloggers.

I’ve included the RSS link for each blog. RSS feeds are a great and underutilized way to keep track of interesting content. In case you aren’t familiar with them, they’re a way to subscribe to site updates without filling up your mailbox. You use an RSS aggregator website or application (I use Leaf on the Mac) and check it whenever you like. It will list the latest entries for each site that you’ve subscribed to. To subscribe, you copy the feed link and follow your aggregator’s instructions to add it. If you can’t find the feed link, aggregators can often find it for you if you give them the site URL.
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Finishing what you start 3

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged writer's block writing on by

For some courses of action, the first step is the hardest. Joining the Army. Making a dental appointment. Talking to someone you find attractive. For writing, it’s getting to the finish that’s usually hardest. Whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, getting an idea and writing a few sentences isn’t hard. But somewhere along the way, you’ll often get stuck.

In my case, writing factual pieces, it isn’t writer’s block in the normal sense. It’s usually that there’s something I don’t understand well enough. A lot of times, I write about something that I generally understand but I’m not an expert on. I have to pick up a more complete sense of the topic. What I’ve researched fits together, yet there’s something left unsaid that I need to figure out in order to create a satisfactory article. Sometimes it’s actually an unimportant detail, and eventually I decide I’m just obsessing over it. But usually it’s something central to the topic, and if I don’t understand it, I could be basing my whole article on a false premise.
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Yesterday’s Songs Transformed: Progress Report 1 2

This entry was posted in My writing and tagged books Yesterday's Songs Transformed on by

This weekend I made a big step forward on my book, Yesterday’s Songs Transformed. I took some of the accumulated material and started building chapters out of it. Here’s what I have so far:

  • 1: Living Songs
  • 2: Ancient and Medieval Songs
  • 3: The Child and Grandchild Ballads
  • 4: The Unfortunate Rake
  • 5: Colonial America
  • 6: The American Civil War
  • 7: Approaching the Modern Age

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Let your computer read back to you

This entry was posted in Tools Writing and tagged proofreading text to speech on by

Proofreading is vital to a writer. If you leave a out, it can kill your chances with an an otherwise good article. (Yes, that was intentional.) Last time I talked about the benefits and limitations of Grammarly and mentioned the need to put your own judgment first. Just remember to give your judgment all the help you can.

One technique is to read a piece aloud when you’re done with it. You can catch errors that slip past your eyes this way. But I find that when I do this, I tend to mumble as fast as I can, so it’s not always as helpful as it might be. Recently a colleague on a writers’ forum suggested having your computer read your post back. (That person didn’t give a full name, so I can’t give credit here.) This struck me as an excellent idea, and I’ve started using it.
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