All Coaching and Workshops are FREE from NOW ON

I did not come to this decision lightly. I sought advice, both through prayer and Bible Study. I am no longer going to charge for any workshop I present or any writing coach services I am asked to provide. 

I have a great gift to give writers and why should it only be for the writers who can "afford" it? All writers deserve to learn how to hone their writing skills and seek assistance.

I will serve my God by serving others, and I will help you be the best writer you can be.

As I continue to update this blog, I will eliminate all reference to costs. Please bear with me. In the meantime, let me know if you would like to talk writing!

If you desire, I will help you achieve your writing goals!

Have a blessed day.

Vicki

Friday Five Minute Exercise - Dreams

1. Set your clocks/timers for Five (5) Minutes.

2. Write about Dreams. Decipher your "visual soul", your dreams. Keep a notepad by your bed and each morning, try to record the details of your dreams as quickly as possible. Later, during your writing time, use the writing process to discover possible symbolisms. Try to analyze the visuals that surface while your soul is abundant and free.

Get into as much detail as you can for the next five minutes.

3. Ready?

4. Go.

5. Finished? Review and be amazed.

I hope you had fun. Come back next Friday for a new writing prompt.

Was this exercise helpful?

Did you succeed with this writing exercise? Was it helpful? Did you dream? Were you able to capture your dream on a notepad you kept beside the bed? What symbols did you identify? Was this exercise helpful? Did you enjoy it?

Why or Why Not?

Grammarly - A Review & Giveaway

"Grammarly is an online tool that corrects and explains those pesky grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes that are bound to find their way into your first draft. Think of us as that second pair of eyes that can spare you the frustrating cost of hiring a proofreader. Our algorithm catches around ten times more errors than leading word processing software and is trusted by three million users."

Using Grammarly is simple enough. You open your account. Paste your text into the blank document. Then, select a paper type or it defaults to "creative". Next, you press the "Start Review" button and it begins processing your text. Depending on the length of the text you pasted into the document it could return with a report in less than a minute or a few minutes. 

It highlights each section of your document with the "incorrect" text and returns with an explanation (short or long) with examples of use or misuse and sometimes an option to fix the text with the suggested correction. Once you've resolved that issue or ignored it you can click "Next" to continue through your document. 

If you have questions about a suggested fix to your text, you have the opportunity to ask a community of other Grammarly users.

The application will tell you how many issues were found and give you a score out of 100. It tracks this information in the "Dashboard" section of your account. 

There is a summary you can review and you can save and or print your report. 

I used Grammarly to test it on a recent short story I wrote that I submitted to a contest. It didn't win, unfortunately, but using Grammarly told me that there were at least 5 issues with my story and how to fix them. Maybe if I had used Grammarly before submitting, I might have had different results with the contest.

This application really gets to the nitty gritty of proofreading. I'd suggest you take a look at it and see if it would work for you.

I'd like to give you the opportunity to try Grammarly yourself for free. The first five people to comment receive a FREE 3-month premium account of Grammarly.

Friday Five Minute Exercise - Liberation

1. Set your clocks/timers for Five (5) Minutes.

2. Write about Liberation. Write about your definition of liberation and how it relates to your purpose as a person and as a writer.

Webster's Dictionary defines liberation and liberality in the following ways:

- The quality of being liberal
- Generosity
- Broad-mindedness
- A gift - donation
- To set free, as from bondage
- To free from oppression or from conventions considered oppressive
- A political and social movement formed to promote the interests of a group regarded as the object of unfair discrimination or bas: Women's liberation
- The stare of being free in action or thought from the domination of others or from restricting circumstances; freedom
- A particular permission, right, or privilege
- Free, unconfined

Do these definitions of liberation rouse emotions in you as a writer? Get into as much detail as you can for the next five minutes.

3. Ready?

4. Go.

5. Finished? Review and be amazed.

I hope you had fun. Come back next Friday for a new writing prompt.

Was this exercise helpful?

Did you succeed with this writing exercise? Was it helpful? Were you able to find and write about your own liberations and how they relate to you as a writer? Were you able to define how liberation and integrity and the ability to achieve success relate?

Why or Why Not?