Inspiration
When Everyone is a Writer
You are not likely to find many who would disagree with an argument suggesting that the overall quality of writing on this website, and others like it, is as good or better than it has ever been. While the quality of writing may be at or near its peak, the quality of reading seems to be at or near an all time low. By this I do not mean the number of people reading, or the number of page views, or whatever happens to be the stat du jour used by the businesspeople running these sites to measure their popularity and therefore their financial value. Those are quantitative measures, what I am talking about is a purely qualitative one. The quality I am referring to is the quality of reading.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Writers
Moldy the Cold-Nosed Reindeer: My first-ever short story
Author’s Note: It took me a bit to determine what even counted as my first-ever piece of writing for this challenge. My writing journey stems all the way back into my childhood and had 2-3 starts and stops before I fully embraced my identity as a writer in high school. Even then, my writing goals, focus, and, most of all, style has changed a good deal since those fledgling days (thank goodness).
By Stephen A. Roddewig3 years ago in Writers
Writing from the Original Position Behind the Veil of Ignorance
I have been thinking and writing about writing a lot these days. Mostly it has been in response to other articles I have come across which suggest various ways you can become a more popular or successful writer. As is my usual m.o., I have taken some of these articles to task with satirical replies that attempt to illustrate with humor just how ridiculous such advice typically is. An example of one of the satirical pieces and one with a (slightly) more serious tone are linked below to give you a sense.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Writers
From Dunn To Done
Being a literal child of the 60's (born 1962) I was not inundated with electronic mediums of entertainment as are today's children. My mother was a stay at home mom, my father a soldier. Mom taught me to read before I ever started kindergarten, for which fact I am eternally grateful. I was a very small child who, at age five, was about the size of most three year olds. Neighbors and friends would wonder and exclaim over this tiny little boy sitting on his mother's lap reading a novel out loud to her. My most shining memory of kindergarten was in the first few days of school when I wrote a paper that my teacher was so enamored of that she had me take it to other classes to read aloud. I was so proud I could burst.
By Andrew C McDonald3 years ago in Writers
THE MONKEYS
Once upon a time, in a lush and enchanting forest known as Misty Grove, lived a lively troop of monkeys. This group of monkeys was unlike any other in the entire jungle. They were known for their boundless energy, quick wits, and their insatiable curiosity, which often led them into all sorts of amusing and sometimes troublesome situations.
By Albertine Onabamiro3 years ago in Writers
Colorado
Being a high school student in the UK is very different from the American experience, I can say with confidence. Apart from our archaic requirements of uniforms and umbrellas (because monsoon season runs all year), there's also the mood. I am not writing from experience of attending an American high school, but this starts because I grew up on American TV shows. Ask any British kid growing up in the 90s, the first accent you learn to replicate is the American one thanks to the likes of Melissa Joan Hart, the Mowry Twins and The Midnight Society.
By Michael Brennan3 years ago in Writers
A Personal Opinion on the Power of Redundancy to Lift Up Your Writing and Deliver a Better End Product
Author's preface: A few years back Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer published an article in which he suggested a list of redundant words which he said we should "delete" from our writing. I took that as a challenge and prepared a short essay using as many of these words as I could squeeze in. Below is the final result of that effort.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Writers
