Guest Post – A.L. Maddix – You are Always Free to Change Your Mind; or, the Most Valuable Lesson I’ve Learned

You are Always Free to Change Your Mind; or, the Most Valuable Lesson I’ve Learned

A.L. Maddix

 

I’ve been expressly prohibited from directly quoting my current fiction workshop professor, but suffice to say I’ve learned more in his class than I have in any other class in the history of my education. In a class that focuses more on theory than on the nitty-gritty craft of writing, it’s sometimes tough to figure out how it transfers over when you sit down with a blank page and a vague idea, but the theoretical study of writing does have its plus sides. You start seeing the theory behind everything, even if it was subconsciously put there, and it’s been quite useful in impressing my literature professor. And in two years of being a creative writing major, if there’s one thing that’s been branded on my brain, it’s that reading and recognizing what makes literature work is the best way to become a better writer; and this class has taught me how to see things I never saw before.

Bribery Works

It’s five in the morning and you’re sleeping soundly when the alarm goes off. Rolling onto the floor, you struggle to kick yourself out of the sheets while the alarm gets louder and more shrill. Groggy and annoyed, you crawl to the nightstand and feel around until you find the clock, slapping it until it goes off. Settling back onto the carpet, you realize that you have an entire day ahead of  you, and you can’t even muster the willpower to turn on the coffeepot.

Sometimes, sitting down to write feels a lot like this.

What do you do when you feel so mentally and creatively exhausted? You bribe yourself. I’ve made it through the last two years of NaNoWriMo on the promise of a chocolate bar and a pretty poster. The power of bribery is amazing. When you feel drained and don’t want to write anymore, promise yourself something. If you make it to five pages, you get a bite sized Snickers. Ten pages is a cookie. Give yourself permission to buy that new book only after you finish that script you’ve been working on forever. The idea is that you can’t get something for nothing. The Pomodoro technique works a lot like this, promising breaks for every 25 minutes you work.

A word of warning: don’t do this all the time. I usually do it during the writing marathons of April and November. Do it too much and writing, instead of being fun, becomes a chore or a punishment that you have to get compensated for. Bribery works for days when you don’t feel like you have the will to keep writing. Use it too often and it loses its incentive. And when trying to motivate yourself, switch it up! You get a cookie one day, but the next day try planning a word war with your friends. Whatever you do, writing should be fun, invigorating and yes, a bit challenging.

Happy writing!

Shakespeare 101

What’s in a play? A whole lot of confusion if you’re not familiar with The Bard. But what seems like a baffling mess of Elizabethan drama is actually a lot of fun, wit and philosophy if you know how to read it right.

In a Followup to our Lab Report Post…

While Wordsmiths is primarily a writing blog, we certainly aren’t opposed to the pursuit of education in all its forms. Having trouble learning concepts for your science report? Check out these sites for help:

• Physics Abridged – a wonderful site set up by some fellow classmates, Physics Abridged is dedicated to giving you a quick, easy to use resource for learning, studying, and reviewing physics.
• Khan Academy – This site features over 3,000 videos teaching you anything from macroeconomics to biology. All of the videos are immensely helpful, and are great resources.
• Clear Science! – Clear Science! is a great tumblog that explains difficult scientific concepts with enthusiasm and clarity. I highly recommend it – especially for tumblr fans.
• Fake Science! – An academic source? No. A great reminder that science has a funny side? Absolutely.

Helpful Resources – Procrastination Edition

For those of you who suffer from terminal I’ll-do-it-later-itis, here’s a few resources to nip that procrastination in the bud:

1. StayFocusd – an extension on the Google Chrome web browser that you can set up to block you from wasting time on certain sites for too long. You can also customize it according to day, time, and site. Very helpful extension – and very dedicated to making sure that you get your work done.
2. LeechBlock – a very similar tool for the Firefox web browser.
3. Antiprocrastinator – a great site to help you gather your thoughts before starting that next daunting task.
4. Strict Pomodoro – a Chrome app that enforces the Pomodoro technique by not allowing you to go onto distracting websites while in use.

Physics Abridged: Writing a Lab Report

On behalf of our good friends over at Physics Abridged, we’re taking a break from our essay writing series to talk to you about something that, in my experience, many people struggle with: writing good lab reports.

For whatever reason, many struggle with writing clear, effective lab reports. Still others think that science writing is “boring” or “dry”. While science writing is often much less prose-like than, say, history writing, it makes up for its bluntness in creativity and a clear expression of ideas. Science writing is about communicating knowledge in the most straight-forward way possible – and this means that while many of the common conventions of other types of writing are not involved, science writing is still at its heart a skill that must be learned.

Regardless, writing a good lab can often be difficult. While most people have experience writing literature and history essays from grade school, lab reports are assigned much less often. It can also be difficult to figure out how to embed both the scientific and mathematical aspects of a subject into a lab report. However, with these few tips, writing labs should be a breeze:

Power Point – Writing Essays for the APUSH Test

Here’s a nifty power point for people taking the AP United State’s History test! Also good for regular history classes about using documents, putting things in context, etc.

Senior Institute Essay Writing APUSH

Essay Writing Series: Embedding Quotes

It’s that time of year again – like Spring, Tax Day, and the end of the school year, exam season is upon us. We all know what exams mean – essays. Nothing can be more infuriating than writing a good timed essay, but with a little practice essay writing can become much less painful. However, one of the most frustrating aspects of writing a timed essay comes from that racing-against-the-clock feeling that overrides almost all rational thought. With that in mind, we at Wordsmiths have decided to start a series aimed at helping you tackle the daunting task of writing a timed essay.

One of the most confusing aspects of writing essays is embedding quotes properly. Many people have no idea what embedding really means – and others have an idea but struggle to embed quotes properly. Essays with poorly embedded quotes are often difficult to read through; a poorly embedded quote can interrupt the flow of thought in an essay and confuse both graders and readers. However, embedding quotes is not difficult when you keep the following in mind:

PowerPoint – Writing Essays for IB Psychology SL

Click on the link below to download the PowerPoint we presented in Mrs. Savoia’s class last week.

Writing Essays for IB Psychology SL

Essay Writing Series: Using Academic Register

It’s that time of year again – like Spring, Tax Day, and the end of the school year, exam season is upon us. We all know what exams mean – essays. Nothing can be more infuriating than writing a good timed essay, but with a little practice essay writing can become much less painful. However, one of the most frustrating aspects of writing a timed essay comes from that racing-against-the-clock feeling that overrides almost all rational thought. With that in mind, we at Wordsmiths have decided to start a series aimed at helping you tackle the daunting task of writing a timed essay.

Another problem we often encounter when grading (and writing!) essays involves writing with an academic register. Many encounter problems when they have to write academically for papers, partially because they aren’t entirely certain what writing with an academic register really involves. Here are a few guidelines: