Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jan 31, 2012, 12:30 pm
Groundhog’s Day is coming up!  In celebration, Flash Fiction Friday’s prompt for this week asks for a story that takes place around February 2nd.  Just to keep things interesting, it also must include the word “salad.”  I couldn’t wait to start writing because Groundhog’s day, wit...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jan 29, 2012, 1:29 pm
On my way to a bookstore yesterday, I walked by a furniture store and decided to take a look inside.  The pieces it housed were almost all rustic, old, and handmade – furniture with a soul.  Running my fingers along the intricate yet imperfect carvings of some of the works reminded me of just ho...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jan 2, 2012, 12:27 pm
There is a myth pervading America, sabotaging the efforts of students and professionals alike. That myth is the myth that spell check and grammar check work well.  People everywhere are relying on them as their sole source of editing, much to the detriment of their writing.  To understand just...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Dec 12, 2011, 11:44 am
Goodness, so much has happened this past month to keep me away from blogging! NaNoWriMo was a thrill to participate in for the first time.  It was everything I thought it would be and more.  The community of people involved (both locally and online) was so welcoming and enthusiastic, it really mad...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Nov 1, 2011, 11:09 pm
It’s a good thing I can’t get disqualified from Flash Fiction Friday for not following instructions.  It turns out I’m quite bad at it! I’ve gone 250 words over the word limit again and failed to use two of the required words in my story.  My writing always takes me where it will, though, ...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Nov 1, 2011, 11:52 am
This year I am finally going to be taking part in NaNoWriMo instead of just watching from the sidelines.  For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. November of every year since the event began in 1999, tends of thousands of people around the world participate in...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Oct 27, 2011, 11:37 am
I ran across this image a while back and it has stuck with me.  I remember learning about the maturation process in my psychology classes and this image is dead-on.  If I were still in the classroom, I’d blow it up and hang it on the wall. I’m glad age ranges weren’t added to the graphic as ...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Oct 19, 2011, 7:42 pm
This prompt for Flash Fiction Friday was one of the most difficult for me, especially since I used a very loose interpretation of what an antagonist is.  I chose to write a science-fiction story and I never realized how much you have to keep track of: ranks, ship layouts, and command procedures (to...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Oct 11, 2011, 9:15 pm
Flash Fiction Friday has come up with another prompt for this week and I’m as excited about this short story as I was about the last prompt I participated in. I still have trouble sticking to the word limit (I’m 300 words over after extensive editing), but I can feel myself improving with each s...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Oct 10, 2011, 5:45 pm
I enjoy reading Seth Godin’s blog because of how concisely he articulates everyday truths that we all know, but few of us practice. His posts are little nuggets of wisdom that seem so obvious only after reading them.  His recent post titled “Talker’s Bock” is a new favorite of mine. I parti...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Oct 4, 2011, 12:28 pm
If commas were edible, no one need ever go hungry. You don’t necessarily see them everywhere in professional writing, but trust me when I say that less seasoned writers’ writing is teeming with  commas.  People feel an overwhelming need to stick them anywhere and everywhere when writing withou...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Sep 27, 2011, 9:10 pm
Yes, I know it’s Tuesday today, not Friday.  I’ve been following the blog Flash Fiction Friday for the last several weeks and I’m excited that I finally had enough free time this week to participate.  Flash Fiction Friday is a community writing project that invites people to write a short st...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Sep 21, 2011, 2:29 pm
While at the Town & Country HCC campus, I was in a hurry to use the restroom during a quick break between teaching classes.  I rushed into the nearest open stall, did my business, and was just about to flush the toilet and step out when I was confronted by this sign on the wall: DO NOT FLUSH!!...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Sep 16, 2011, 8:37 pm
While watching television the other night, I was taken aback when I saw this commercial: The commercial was going so well until the ending when these words are read: "More power. More style. More technology. Less doors" (emphasis added). Less doors?! It's fewer doors. Not everyone is a gramma...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Sep 13, 2011, 2:26 pm
I purchased The Maze Runner by James Dashner because it is a young adult novel and I wanted to provide a wide range of reading material for my students.  The beautiful cover art captured my attention and the dust jacket’s promise of a story full of mysterious characters, a dangerous setting, and ...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Sep 7, 2011, 7:39 pm
Editing is as important as writing a first draft.  It’s the reason people are willing to pay for copy editors and proof-readers to scour their work looking for errors.  Unless you’re Shakespeare, who was rumored to never change a single word once he wrote it, your unedited work will be a diamo...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Aug 29, 2011, 2:29 pm
The APA in APA style stands for American Psychological Association.  Although the American Psychological Association created it, it is a citation style widely used in all of the sciences.  Do not let the fact that APA style is used for science intimidate you.  The fact is, it isn’t that much di...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Aug 22, 2011, 3:30 pm
I have had several people e-mail me to ask me about the projects I alluded to in an earlier post.  They’ve been keeping me busy and, as a result, I haven’t posted on this blog as much as I would have liked to.  Let me tell you about one of those projects, the one that is not only the dearest t...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Aug 19, 2011, 11:53 am
There’s a story I read that was so haunting in its description, I felt compelled to share it with students and friends.  When it was removed from the Internet, I hunted down the author online and begged for a copy of it.  I’d pay to read it again, I wrote, just name your price.  Chris Ruz wro...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Aug 13, 2011, 11:49 pm
While I work on a couple of longer blog posts, here’s a quick link to a work of art I found online that attempts to illustrate the creative process.  I think it succeeds marvelously.  As you meander your way through the intricate little details of Winston Rowntree’s image, hopefully you too wi...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Aug 2, 2011, 11:51 am
Those who know me in person know that I have a penchant for bringing home lost animals.  My calling to help defenseless animals runs so deep that when I was still an undergrad, my professors would get phone calls and e-mails from me notifying them that I’d be late or unable to attend class becaus...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jul 27, 2011, 9:09 pm
About a month ago, I promised to follow up my blog post about informal outlines with one about formal outlines.  It’s taken me a while but here is that subsequent blog post.  Never let it be said I am not a woman of my word! When a teacher or supervisor asks you for a formal outline, she or h...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jul 15, 2011, 10:31 pm
I found it!!! I’ve been searching for this piece of flash fiction for a while now and I’ve finally found it.  Really good fiction stays with you long after you’ve lost the paper it was printed on or the hyperlink to its webpage.  (Really BAD fiction also tends to linger in the mind.)  This ...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jul 11, 2011, 4:32 pm
Recently, someone left a comment on my post “Titles: When to Italicize, Underline, or Use Quotation Marks” asking about what to do in cases where italicizing a title is impossible, as in the case of Facebook posts. When writing in a text box where an editing menu (pictured above) is abs...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jun 29, 2011, 12:03 pm
This might come as a surprise to you, but the hardest part of writing an essay is not the actual writing of it; it’s the coming up with ideas for what you write.  I’ve already discussed ways to generate ideas using freewriting and mindmapping, but I’ve yet to mention my personal favorite meth...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jun 23, 2011, 1:47 pm
My last post highlighted the need everyone has for character development and I thought this would be a great opportunity to call attention to several online charities that allow you to donate to great causes at no cost to you. Every night before I go to sleep, I make sure to get my daily click i...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jun 20, 2011, 10:38 pm
Teaching at-risk high school students for the past year was a learning experience for me.  Being faced with difficult circumstances (sometimes outright hostile ones) helped me to grow both as a person and as a writing instructor.  While I won’t disclose the particulars of my students and my inte...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jun 17, 2011, 3:18 pm
Several months ago I saw this graph on BoingBoing and fell in love with how true to life it is.  Created by Ed Yong, a science blogger for Discover magazine, it maps out Mr. Yong’s writing process from article conception to pseudo-end.  You see, no author ever actually finishes  working on a wr...
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Carmen S. posted an article on Writing Simplified - Jun 7, 2011, 2:07 pm
Summer is here! Summer’s arrival brings with it beaches, swimsuits, ice-cream, barbeques….and summer school.  Summer school is a great way to get ahead educationally and complete credits you wouldn’t normally have time to take.  But as great as summer school is for your transcript, be aw...
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