Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
Do you repeat redundancies over and over? Find out now! by Kathy Steinemann Hello there. How are you today? Are you ready to test out your redundancy eye? You might ask, “Why should I care about redundancies?” Before we begin, I’ll answer that question. Redundancies are superfluous words or phrases also known as pleonasms: the […]
by Kathy Steinemann ’Tis the season to be thankful. November and December bring with them many opportunities to express gratitude: Veterans Day, World Kindness Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and more. Ziad K. Abdelnour said, “Learn to appreciate what you have, before time makes you appreciate what you had.” Let’s consider a few things we can […]
Don’t make these punctuation blunders. by Kathy Steinemann Are you guilty of these punctuation mistakes that confuse readers and drive editors batty? Someone told me recently that about 90% of writers need the information in this post (no names mentioned, but she runs a popular writers’ blog, the one with the green-on-green color scheme). Are […]
Stronger writing comes from choosing power words. by Kathy Steinemann Wrong word or strong word? Muscle up, wordsters. Weak writing alienates readers. They won’t settle for wussy, so why should you? One path to stronger writing is to pump up the power of single words. This post provides examples that will help you muscle-ize your […]
Filter words act like a veil between the reader and the character by Kathy Steinemann This article provides a list of writing filters, with practical examples of how to replace them. You’ll also find exercises that can double as story prompts. All words exist for a reason. Use them wisely to create engaging narrative. Why […]
