That Was Easy!

Dear Friend,

Wow! I cannot believe how long it has been since we saw each other last. In your previous letter, you wrote quite eloquently and used all the proper grammatical mechanics. As a friend and mentor, I was impressed by your advanced and powerful writing techniques. Although your experienced writing is admirable, there are still some guidelines you should follow to truly flourish in your gifts.

1. Never stop learning. Although it is easy to become content with your writing skills, you should continue learning about the minor details of grammar and reasons behind such mechanics. If you take the time to dive deeper into the whys, you might begin to realize errors in your thoughts. You will no longer reply to grammatical inquiries with, “because that’s just the way it is.” Instead, you can produce concrete, valid answers to properly explain the grammatical situation at hand.
2. Teach others about writing mechanics. When you begin to teach the material, you will discover gaps in your understanding as well as specific areas of improvement. If you realize that you do not understand a specific comma usage, then investigate it. The more you know about writing, the more you will be able to help others in their pursuits of knowledge.
3. Avoid editing for other people. As mentioned earlier, teaching benefits both you and your friend. If you simply edit papers, the original authors are not learning the reasons behind the edits. They are simply making the changes and moving forward without a second thought. Although you might feel like you are helping them, you are actually hindering them. You are taking away opportunities for them to learn and grow as writers. By teaching them, they will understand new elements of writing and flourish in their new knowledge.
4. Learn another language. This step might seem confusing and out of the ordinary, but it is important. Not only will this allow you to connect and communicate with more people, but it will also help you learn more about your first language. Before learning another language, it helps to have a strong understanding of the mechanics in your first language. Because you are an experienced writer, you enter this learning process with more tools. Then, as you learn more information about other cultures and their languages, you can begin connecting the dots and discovering new elements of your first language. For example, did you know there are different rules pertaining to syllables in English? I did not until I started learning about grammatical concepts in Spanish!
5. Never stop writing. Perhaps you are writing for academic, creative, or leisurely purposes. Regardless of your reason, it is crucial that you never cease. Not only does writing more often allow you to become a better writer, but it also allows you to express yourself concisely. As you continually gain experience, you will learn how to make your writing more effective and efficient. You are no longer confined to the people with whom you interact physically; you can express your ideas and thoughts to the world. 

Employers are always looking for people with advanced writing skills because of the value they add to any company or project. Learning how to write properly can be difficult, but with dedication and practice, you can become one of the best writers. Never give up, friend.

See you soon,

A Fellow Experienced Writer

Written by Trisha

Image Credit

Veterans Day Deals

Veterans Day is November 11th, and it is just around the corner! While it is a pretty well-known American holiday, many people are unaware of the retail and restaurant opportunities for discounts. Through the help of Military.com, I have compiled a list of deals (and some freebies) that you can use to celebrate a veteran. Most of these deals are for November 11th and for veterans and active-duty military members. If the dates extend beyond November 11th, or if other people are included, it is stated in the section.  Veterans, today is your day, so please treat yourselves!

Restaurants

Applebee’s:  Get a free meal from a special menu.

54th Street Grill:  Get a free entrée up to $12 value.

California Pizza Kitchen: Get a free meal from a special menu.

On the Border: Get a free meal from a select menu at participating locations.

Zoёs Kitchen: Receive a free entrée with the purchase of another entrée.

Stores

Bed Bath & Beyond: Get 25% off an entire purchase November 9-11. Spouses are included!

Great Clips : Get a free haircut or free haircut card to use on a later date at Great Clips. Customers who are non-military can purchase a service and receive a free haircut card to give to a veteran. Haircuts are redeemable until Dec. 31.

Kohl’s: Get 30% off an in-store purchase November 7-11. Immediate family of veterans and military personnel are included!

Staples: Active-duty military personnel, reservists, retired or disabled veterans, and their immediate families can get a 25% discount November 10-16.

Stargazer Cast Iron: Get a 30% military discount from November 8-11.

Entertainment

AMC Theatres: Active-duty military and veterans who purchase a ticket using their AMC Stubs membership can enjoy a free large popcorn November 8-11.

Main Event: Get 30 minutes of game play and a free entrée from a special menu.

Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA): Receive free rides on November 11th!

La Quinta by Wyndham: Any active or retired military personnel, veterans, and their families who book and stay at La Quinta hotels in the U.S. and Canada can receive a 15% military discount October 22-December 5.

Planet Fitness — Veterans and active-duty military can work out for free from November 8-15. They are also invited to enjoy full access of club services, to bring a workout buddy at no additional charge, and to relax after the work out with free HydroMassage and chair massages.

Ultimately, Veterans Day is about honoring those who have fought or are currently fighting for our country. Though I’m sure a veteran would enjoy any of these deals, I encourage you to show appreciation for our soldiers and their service in other ways such as writing them a card or buying them a gift. If you know a veteran, make sure to thank them for all they do!

Written by Deneen

Image Credit

Sources:

https://www.military.com/veterans-day/restaurants-veterans-day-military-discounts.html

Letter to the Slow Writer

Dearest Slow Writer,

You’ve been staring at the blank document for hours by now. Your fingers have done no typing for quite a while, for nothing worth typing has entered your brain. The silence, both physically and mentally, has been pulsating for what seems like days until finally, a stream of inspiration cascades from the heavens. Your brain grows thrice in size, and the ideas flowing to your fingertips are abundant. You ascend into intellectual heights no human has dared yet soar before. 

You are unstoppable, for you have finally put a heading on your paper.

“Yeah, that’s probably enough for today.”

Perhaps what I’ve just laid out is a painfully accurate description of your writing process. You may have just undergone that exact sequence of events last month, last week, or even a few days ago. In my case, I’ve been experiencing this on a regular basis for years. Writing is an arduous task by itself, but for writers like us with a slower building process, writing can develop into a nearly impossible achievement. However, there is hope. I cannot promise that we will suddenly transform into the speediest writers in town, but I have found that these steps have made my very slow, gritty writing process much easier to handle. I do hope they are helpful to you, as well.

Get Out of Your Head

One of the worst habits a writer can have is constantly circling through ideas in their head without getting them onto paper. When you mentally labor over what to write without writing it down, your battle remains abstract, as you’re wrestling with things you can’t actually see. When you put your ideas onto paper, it makes your ideas more concrete and visible. It is far easier to rearrange ideas on your paper than in your head. Now, this is a habit all writers generally have trouble with, but for us slow writers, the struggle intensifies immensely. If ideas are slow to arrive, it will take much longer for them to appear on paper, meaning more time will be spent agonizing over ideas. The faster you can get out of your head, the faster your writing process will be.

Don’t Be Afraid to Mess Up

As a slow writer, my biggest struggle is editing myself as I write and trying to write the perfect sentence on the first try. This is not a good practice, as there is no such thing as a perfect sentence. Even if there was, it definitely wouldn’t be possible to achieve on the first try. However, it’s a mental block I must wrestle with every time I want to write something meaningful. The biggest thing that helps me overcome this habit is knowing that writing is a process. In order to get your ideas exactly the way you want, there are going to be missteps and redirections. Things will take time and that’s okay! Messing up is a part of the process; don’t be afraid to embrace it.

Don’t Limit Yourself to Linearity

Another unhealthy habit I have as a slow writer is always trying to write everything in the order that it will appear in my paper. While it isn’t inherently flawed, committing to linearity can significantly stall the writing process because your ideas don’t necessarily come to you in the order they appear in the paper. If you stick to linearity, it is easier to get stuck in your head, which we’ve established is a bad thing for us slow writers. It may seem unnatural at first, but abandoning linearity gives your writing process much more fluidity and freedom. You can write whatever comes to your mind and reorganize later. When you give yourself more flexibility while writing, the chances of you getting mentally stuck will drastically decrease.

Step Away If You Need To

Now, as college students, I know we often find ourselves frantically trying to piece together an essay late at night, and this creates an environment where we feel like we can’t take a break. On the other hand, we may be staring at a document for hours with absolutely no ideas coming to us. In both cases: take a break! It is okay to not be working yourself to death constantly. Breaks can renew your focus and allow for a much clearer writing process, as opposed to glazing through your paper with messy, 3 AM clarity.

Stay Confident

Alright, whether you’re in public or by yourself, say this next sentence aloud: Slow writers are not bad writers! The speed of your writing does not dictate its value. Don’t get down on yourself just because your writing may take more time than others’. There is no such thing as a perfect writing process, so don’t stress yourself out by trying to achieve that. Your writing is a reflection of yourself, and you are someone to be confident in!

I hope you find these tips helpful. Remember, you are reading the words of an incredibly slow writer (that’s me!), so don’t feel like this characteristic is specific to you. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been talking to myself this entire time, so I certainly share your struggle. However, our struggles do not define us, nor do they define our writing. Keep your head high even amidst the lowest trenches, for you are capable and equipped! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stare at a blank document for four hours while my big dumb brain functions at a snail’s pace.

Best wishes,

Ryan

Written by Ryan

Image Credit