Having to count your words while writing can be annoying at best, and intimidating at worst. Professional writers have to deal with this conundrum on a regular basis and it is annoying. However, it doesn’t have to be a stumbling block and I hope it doesn’t discourage you from wanting to contribute to What Were We Thinking? Parents Confess Their Biggest Mistakes so You Can Avoid Them. Forget about counting words and just write your story. Also, don’t worry about grammar, punctuation or even if it makes sense. Just get your thoughts down. This will give you a structure that you can build on later. Many of us have had these stories in the back of our minds for years; now is the time to let them out. By the way, you just read 124 words. Good stories have a beginning, middle and end. Set the scene – the age of your child, the circumstances that led to the situation and what happened. Describe why you regret the decision you made or the action you took. This can be very painful and hard to write. I had difficulty writing about what happened to my son. For my story about my daughter, I started with her high school graduation. Then I described how we limited our options for choosing a school, failed to communicate effectively with her about her options, and described her choices after she left school that we ultimately accepted and even celebrated. There is a very easy way to count your words if you are working in Microsoft Word. Click on “tools” at the very top of the page and select “word count” in the drop down menu. My next blog will have more tips on writing – stand by . . .
1 Comment
Walt Haddock
4/6/2017 02:42:24 pm
Good start by getting your thoughts down on paper. But REWRITE is essential. I learned the hard way. Great article in today's Star-News. Good grammar and all. You learned it before the decline of our education system, as did I. You made a very valid point about civics in school, but there's more to your commentary than just its message. Composition; communication. Sure, diagramming, constitution, and history taught by "people who lived when it happened" is boring, but CAN be taught in an interesting manner if teachers learn how instead of having to "teach to the test". (Yes, the period intentionally comes after the last quote mark as what is in quotes is properly set off from the sentence as a whole. Hmmm. When the final quotation mark comes at the end of the sentence, not every punctuation mark apples to what is within the marks. (That's how I learned in in the fourth or fifth grade.) And "pleaded"? (You didn't do this.) How about using "pled" instead. "Pleaded" is not in my Webster's dictionary, but it says "pled" is the "vi, vt, pt, and pp of plead." (And, yes, the period inside the quote marks here because it ends the sentence.) So often misused in print and electronic media. and the Star-News is especially bad about this. Leave a Reply. |
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