Author: Cathryn Free
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5 Ways Create a Culture of Literacy in Your Home
“I just don’t like reading.” “I’m not a big reader.” “Reading is boring.” “Reading is hard.” The number of times I’ve heard this from both students and adults is staggering. Quite frankly, it’s terrifying. Reading is one of the single greatest skills you can give to a child to help them succeed. It improves everything…
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11 Places to Publish Your Short Fiction for Children
One of the hardest roadblocks I hit as I try and put my work out there is finding places to build writing credits. If you’re someone who wants to take themselves seriously as a writer, and plans to pursue this as a career or calling, you need to start building writing credits. My first writing…
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Free Writer’s Workshop Wednesday: Brainstorming
Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. – Orson Scott Where do your ideas come from? Writer’s often get asked that question as if they have a magical pool that provides them with limitless ideas…
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5 Steps to Get Your First Writing Credit
That first writing credit is like the first summit of miles and miles of a mountainous trek. It seems so daunting and yet so promising because without the first summit, you can’t go anywhere. I will admit, when I first started submitting pieces to magazines I only shot for the best of the best. If…
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You Are not in Control
I don’t know about you, but I had big plans for these quarantined days at home. I was going to work on my writing, including writing a first draft of a middle grade novel, submit numerous pieces to magazines, revise first drafts, get really consistent with my blog, start a YouTube channel for lesson in…
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Writer's Workshop Wednesday: Object Complements
Today’s workshop takes a look at object complements and how to identify them within a sentence. (Just in case Direct Objects and Indirect Objects weren’t confusing enough.) What is it? An object complement is a noun or adjective that occurs after the direct object. It renames or modifies the object How is it used? The…
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Free Writer's Workshop Wednesday: Distance Learning
Given the sudden shift in education due to the coronavirus precautions, I’ve decided to implement a new way of sharing information. I’ll will still be hosting my writer’s workshop here on the blog, but I have created a YouTube channel specifically to teach lessons in English Language Arts to offer resources to students and teachers…
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Thoughts and Coronavirus
It’s been about a week since the coronavirus has taken over seemingly everything, and the phrase, “social distancing” entered our vocabulary. The world seems to have lost its mind. Shelves are emptied of toilet paper and flour, people are walking around in masks, and those of us who committed to NEVER teacher our children (points…
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Free Writer’s Workshop Wednesday: Dialogue
Dialogue is a crucial part of any story and moves the plot along in many ways: plot development, character traits, pacing, etc. Yet, if dialogue is so important, why is it often so hard? Tips for Writing Dialogue Listen to How People Talk In order for dialogue to sound real, it should sound how real…
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Five Steps You Need to Take When You’re Serious about Writing
It’s easy to think about writing as just a hobby, and certainly can be a very creative and enjoyable one! But if, like me, you want to actually create a career out of writing, there are certain steps you need to take in order for people to take you seriously. Block Out Time to Write…
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