10 Small Things to Improve Your Writing

1) Use a word processor that has the spell check function. If said word processor also checks your grammar that is awesome. Neither of these things will complete replace the need for education, but they can help train you so that you don’t make the mistakes as well as they can catch things that a human misses during a read through of the pieces. Just remember that the program cannot adjust for new words and nonstandard turns of phrase. It is a machine. It is not capable of abstract thought.
2) Locate a Dictionary. In fact, find a few. A writer uses words as a painter does color. Utilizing a word processor that has spell check is great, but the dictionary it uses is never complete. The dictionary is a multitasking tool. Not only can a writer look up words of which he is uncertain, but he may also use it to verify that he did use an actual word and that he spelled it correctly. Before you start complaining about the cost, listen to this: both the Merriam-Webster and the Oxford dictionaries are online and accessible for no charge.
3) Locate a Thesaurus. Repetition of words is boring. That’s where a thesaurus comes in handy. They give you other possibilities to say essentially the same thing. Just be sure to double check the definition with a dictionary or you may end up implying something that you may not have intended.
4) Locate a Grammar text. A grammar text is a supplement to a normal course book for college English classes. It is a comprehensive book that has all the punctuation rules, sentence structures, essay structures, citation rules, and formatting standards. The best way to find one of these is to ask your local college or university for the required books for English 101. The grammar text is usually the smaller one of the two books to which you are referred. Yes, this can get a bit pricey. However, the investment is always worth it.
5) Read. This rule used to be read everything, but the popularity of Facebook,
Twitter, and blogging have murdered that idea. It was a triple homicide with the other victims being grammar and spelling. Now it has been amended with the word well. A good rule of thumb is reading professionally published pieces such as books, newspapers, and magazines. If the piece was published professionally, then it is usually a good assumption that it has gone through an editor at some
point. That being said, even bad writing can provide helpful insight into what you are doing wrong in your own writing. Proceed with caution.
6) Do a cold read of your work. Every writer should know by now to proofread their work. This will catch a lot of mistakes that get made in the primary draft. A cold read is coming back to the piece at a later time, after your brain has had time to release its concept of what is being conveyed so that it can see what is actually being said.
7) Read your work aloud. I don't know how many times I have found missing words, sentences that didn't agree with each other, or other places where things just didn't make sense. I wouldn't have found those things if I hadn't read the piece aloud. Sometimes, it's a case of something just not sounding right. This is also useful for finding where you want to put an inflection and for writing accents.
8) Find a secondary reader. This person can be anyone. They don't even have to be good at spelling or grammar, though that would definitely be a big help. The second pair of eyes looking through your piece will help. No matter how many times you read through it, there are always those things that you will miss. Writers are still human and humans make mistakes. It is a fact. This secondary reader also serves another purpose: they can help you identify those places where the story lags or where the description didn't come across clearly.
9) Learn effective research tactics. No matter how knowledgeable you are on your chosen topic, there will always be something to look up for your piece. It could be verifying the spelling of wristwatch or it could be the process to remove gunshot residue from skin and clothing. Research will be needed. Knowing how to find what you are looking for efficiently will reduce the amount of time spent on research, thus increasing the amount of time spent on actually writing.
10) Write. The old adage about practice makes perfect is very accurate when it comes to writing. The more you write, the better your writing will be. Writing is one of those things that you learn best by doing. There are plenty of sites that offer writing prompts and exercises if you are lacking in ideas at first.

Noticing

There are certain things that one does not realize about one's family until one has lived on their own and then returns. These things are not usually obvious things. They are little, probably insignificant.

My mother doesn't like coffee. Oh, she drinks it, at least, on occasion. However, she only drinks it for the caffeine that it contains, not for the rich flavor or soothing warmth. To her, it is merely a means to an end.

Thus when I start talking about how I like dark roasts over the lighter roasts, I get a roll of the eyes and a patronizing "whatever" as if my mother was fourteen rather than nearly forty-five. I cannot discuss the virtues of creamers with her nor can I discuss how using brown sugar affects the flavor. She doesn't care.

Another thing that I have noticed is my mother doesn't care about tea. It is sun tea season here in the Midwest. I love making up a pitcher full of the delicious liquid. I have passed on this tradition to my girls as well.

My older daughter especially likes to pick out the tea that we will brew from my collection. We never truly have the same combination, I think. One time we would have a minty wild berry zinger with extra blueberry; another time we would have a ginger "dragon" tea that zaps tension. Then we put it out in the sun for just the right amount of time. My girls  like watching the tea as it brews. It is rather cool, I will admit.

My mother, however, doesn't pay attention to her brewing tea. She leaves it out for hours, wanting to make it as dark as she can make it. The result is often bitter and tastes very strongly of tannins. She has exactly one kind of tea, standard black. Her exact words were "why does anyone need more than that?" when I mentioned it to her.

Yes, these are little things. Yes, they probably don't matter in the grand scheme of things. It still stands that they are something that I had gotten used to that I do not have any longer.

I really want David to get this job so that our family can be reunited.

Pouring Rain

While we were packing, both mine and Alex's computers suffered malfunctions in the power supplies. Alex assures me that he can fix Meredith (his computer), but my E-Machine is a wash. We managed to save all the files for my writing, but not any of my picture files from Charon (my computer).

So I have my writings, but not my situational maps. This makes it difficult to figure out blocking, so I will have to redo them. Blocking is very important, and if I've learned anything from my gaming it's that maps are a vital part of that process.

Luckily, Alex transferred my files onto his laptop which he left with me. So I have my writings and a dedicated computer. Internet is a bit iffy due to the fact that my mother's does not have wi-fi. The ether net cord that connected the laptop (it really needs a name, doesn't it?) to the wired network died unexpectedly. That might be for the best though, as I'm prone to being distracted by online activities such as reading or cruising Facebook. Cor, my favorite dictionaries are all online, so not being connected to the internet is a double-edged blade.

I need to get back in the habit of writing every day. With the chaos of the last month, I've been dealing with stress more than writing. The stress of trying to maintain my own household is over, for now, but unfortunately, I now have the stress of living with my mother and youngest sister.

That's a whole different kettle of fish.