Here's a tip: keep some sheep leather and blue gauls handy... Yesterday we brought you the recipes to two authors' favorite meals, so today I give you the recipe to one authoress' writing success: a good leather bound book and a batch of homemade ink. For those Austen enthusiasts feeling particularly crafty, here is the…
Tag: Writing
The Best Laid Plans of Novelists
Ever wondered how some of your favorite authors tackled the crazy job of putting pen to paper and creating those stories you loved to read? Well, we're here to tell you it's not all magical. As you can see from these intricate spreadsheets and notes, crafting a novel takes a whole lot of careful planning.…
The Writer’s Diet: Is a Trim Essay a Good Essay?
WARNING: your writing may be headed for a coronary. No, this is not an indictment of your eating habits. (Believe me--these days I can hardly put fingers to keyboard without a sugary coffee and half a bag of Cadbury's mini eggs in me. I am intimately familiar with the ailment that is "writer's bum." Ergo,…
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Having a Ball at the MOTH
Last week I caught a live show called "The Moth." Perhaps you've heard of it? It's a little like a live version of This American Life--ordinary people (some aspiring writers and performers, many not) headline a show in which they each have five minutes to tell a true story on a theme. On the night I was…

Why College Students Today Can’t Write
Today's post is brought to you by Braintrack.com, an online resource for university, college, and career searches. You can check out their blog here! College professors have been bemoaning the lack of solid writing skills in their students for decades (see this article from 1974 for proof), but statistics gathered over the past few years suggest that student…
What Are You Doing for the Next 30 Days? NaNoWriMo, That’s What
All you fellow writers out there know... tell anyone, anyone at all... the taxi driver, a sales clerk, your grandfather, what you do for a living and 50% of the time you will get a version of the following: "A writer, huh? You know, I always thought I had a novel in me." The other…
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Through the Ira Glass: Advice on Storytelling From the Host of This American Life
Ira Glass shares advice on how to tell your story across any medium. Ira Glass of NPR's This American Life recorded a session about storytelling with Current TV back in 2009. The videos just popped up on my radar again recently, courtesy of the wonderfully animated version of one portion below, which inspired me to…
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New Essay Help! A Round-Up of the Week’s Best Q&A
Hey eNoters! Do you have papers coming up? Would you like some help with that? (You're all nodding your heads, aren't you?) Well, hey presto, you're in luck! We've just added twenty recommended questions to our Essay Lab topic that are sure to help you conquer that tough persuasive essay or that seemingly insurmountable research…
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