My Blessed Boy on the Streets…and my Teacher of all Things Good

My Blessed Boy on the Streets and my Teacher of all Things Good

Previously Published in U.S. Catholic.  A sometimes lonely leftover phone booth stands on a street corner in Portland, Oregon. When a street person feels so inclined, he or she can use the one-time pay phone, now free of charge, to call friends and/or family anywhere in the world. And inside the phone booth, profound words…

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Interview: Barbara Henning Discusses “Prompt Book” and Finding the Inspiration to Write

prompt book barbara henning

If you’re a writer looking for prompts, inspiration, or lessons on literary movements, then writers.com instructor Barbara Henning‘s new book Prompt Book (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, 2021) is your solution. Naturally, we were curious about how an author goes about collecting and publishing a book of prompts. Below is our full interview with Barbara on Prompt Book…

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Prose vs. Poetry: Their Differences and Overlaps

poetry vs prose

The difference between prose and poetry seems easy to explain: one has blocks of text and fully-fleshed characters, the other has line breaks and pretty words. That’s it, right? Despite their visual quirks, prose and poetry share many similarities: prose can be musical, poetry can have plots and characters, and both are millennia-old traditions. As…

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How to Avoid Clichés in Writing

how to avoid writing cliches

I hope this isn’t unoriginal, but reading clichés in writing make me feel like I’ve woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Really, clichés in writing are a dime a dozen. It’s language that, quite frankly, is dead as a doornail. I hope I’m not beating a dead horse. Clichés are everywhere. They’re common parts of the…

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How to Write a Compelling Story

originality in writing | calder mobile

What makes a story interesting? Hasn’t every original idea already been taken? Trying to write an interesting story seems impossible when so many books have been written, and if you’re at the start of your literary career (or trying to start your next book!), you might be daunted by the task of originality. In other…

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Creative Nonfiction Writing Classes Online: 8 Things to Know

creative nonfiction writing classes online

A great way to improve your writing, or even just to hold yourself accountable to writing creative nonfiction, is to take creative nonfiction writing classes online. If you haven’t taken creative nonfiction writing classes online before, though, it can be difficult to know if a particular creative nonfiction writing class is the right fit for…

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How to Read Prose: Close Reading Strategies for Prose Writers

close reading strategies how to read prose

In this article, we’ll give you strategies to begin reading prose like a writer. We’ll discuss applying close reading strategies to prose: that is, to anything that isn’t written in verse, from short stories to novels to memoirs and more. This article is third in our series on how to read like a writer—in other…

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Concise Writing: How to Omit Needless Words

how to write concisely

This article is all about concise writing, summed up in the timeless phrase “Omit needless words.” We’ll examine some of the best advice on writing concisely, define what concise writing is and isn’t, and describe 11 writing habits that encourage concision. “Omit Needless Words” and The Elements of Style In 1920, William Strunk Jr. published…

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Common Writing Mistakes: Creative Writing Tips for Beginners

common writing mistakes

Creative writing mistakes are nothing to feel down about. All good creative writing is not just writing: it’s writing, revising, editing, and proofreading—not only to polish the beauty of our language, but to work with common creative writing mistakes that pop up for all of us. Today, we’ll be looking at eight common writing mistakes,…

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10 Important Literary Devices in Prose: Examples & Analysis

literary devices in prose

Any writer looking to master the art of storytelling will want to learn the literary devices in prose. Fiction and nonfiction writers rely on these devices to bring their stories to life, impact their readers, and uncover the core truths of life. You can, too, with mastery over the different literary devices!  If you’re not…

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