Category: Writing
-
Project NaNoWriMo: Gearing Up!
One more week until NaNoWriMo! I’m super pumped and I’m craving getting back into a story, but I will hold out until November first before I start drafting. In the mean time, I thought I’d just share with you a few recent updates and what I’ve been working on… Book Reviews I’m going to take…
-
What is NaNoWriMo?
If you’ve been following me here or on Instagram, I’ve thrown the term, NaNoWriMo, out there a couple of times. For those who don’t know it stands for National Novel Writing Month. What is National Novel Writing Month? Excellent question, dear friend! It’s been described as many things: writing boot camp, a novel writing celebration,…
-
The Second Draft
As I sit here typing this, my printer (super old, and super crappy printer) is chugging out the pages of the second draft of my YA fantasy novel. And I am both elated and exhausted. It’s done. I did it. Despite my tendency to doubt or think it’s not worth it, I managed to finished…
-
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
You write a piece. After pouring hours of work into drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading a story or article, you’re ready to submit. You research publications to submit to and draft a cover letter, query letter, or pitch. You take the time to follow their specific submission guidelines, and format your manuscript to that publication’s…
-
5 Reasons to Write Nonfiction for Children
When most writers dream about writing for children (or perhaps writing in general) they picture writing fiction. Fun stories about spunky animals or hilarious children. They dream about stories that capture the magic and fairy tale wishes of kids, and you know what? I get that. I did that too. Fiction is wonderful, creative, and…
-
Acceptance and Writing Updates
Do you follow me on Instagram? If you don’t, please do! It’s my favorite place to connect with others and also where I share most of my writing updates and other random shenanigans. Recently, I shared some exciting news I received within these past couple of weeks: my first MAJOR acceptance. Now, I’ve had plenty…
-
8 Resources for Distance Learning
It’s back to school, but this year, school is looking VERY different for many. (That might be the understatement of the year.) Plenty of schools are doing virtual learning or some kind of hybrid version of that, and many parents are deciding to homeschool. Whatever your school year looks like, I want to share with…
-
The Free Writer's Workshop Wednesday: Combining Sentences
As a teacher, I have seen my fair share of essays, stories, and papers. Some are good, some are bad, and some are very, very ugly. But there is one type of paper I find painfully frustrating: the B paper. The B Paper The B paper is easy to spot: very limited punctuation mistakes, adequate…
-
7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Writers
Writers are weird. Now before you go and get offended, please understand that I think weird is perfectly acceptable. Wonderful. Necessary, even. I mean, you don’t create entire worlds, landscapes, and people without some weirdness. And writers have some pretty weird habits. Obsessively drinking coffee. Constantly jumping back and forth between: “this is brilliant!”and “this…
-
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…
cathrynfree.com 