#justkeepwriting

[ms-meredith-caine]

A DAY FROM HELLL 👿

I did mention that I sometimes a crazy woman, didn’t I? Well this is what it looks like! I used to think I was cursed. I would have such bad luck. I would have weird things happen to me. For instance, when I was in the 5th grade, I was in my art class standing at an easel drawing a scenery piece from another piece of framed artwork. I just so happened to be standing right under a ledge that was…

[ladyangelsea]

❄️WEIGHING IT UP❄️ What's one thing you love about writing your current work in progress... and one part you really do not enjoy? Writing a novel is like stepping into a world of endless possibilities. The imagination runs wild and the characters come to life in ways you never thought possible. However, as with any journey, there are bound to be some obstacles along the way. One of the biggest challenges I face as a fantasy author is the dreaded 'middle of the book slump.' It's that point where the excitement of the beginning has worn off and the end is still not in sight. It's easy to lose motivation and wonder if all the time and effort put into the story is worth it. But that's the beauty of writing, it's all a test of perseverance. It's about pushing through the difficult parts and coming out the other side with a story that you're proud of. So, to all my fellow writers out there, keep pushing. Keep writing. Your story is worth it. What do you love and hate about the writing process? Tell me in the comments below! ❤️👇 ❄️❄️❄️ #writingjourney #writingtips #keepwriting #perseverancepaysoff #writingtipsandtricks #writeitout #novelistsofinstagram #perseveranceiskey #authorsoninstagram #writingchallenges #writersclub #amwritingfantasy #writingstruggles #writinglifestyle #justkeepwriting #mywritinglife #biggestchallenge #writingcommunityofinsta #writingmotivations #writingproblems #keepwritingyourstory #motivationalposts #writingadvice #fantasywriters #progressdaily #writerofig #bookwriter #writingmotivation #fellowwriters #perseveranceisthekey (at Naperville, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnDccBvJRT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[samanthamarkle92]

To all my followers in the Modern Warfare fandom:

MY SOAP FIC WILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING I SWEAR!!!! Silently thankful that I’m not a gamer or I’d probably not be able to keep writing! Just gotta get unstuck and know that I’ll be making the fans happy! #JustKeepWriting

[inventingreality]

#amwritingromance #aspiringauthor #writinghelp #amwriting #inventingrealit #justkeepwriting

[arizonacolleen]

Good morning. Oxford requested a copy of my first book. Cambridge too, as well as the National Library of Scotland and Wales. So, I'm feeling very ready for @nanowrimo now (once I stop crying, of course.) Your work in a library, and what a group of libraries! Starting tomorrow, I will be posting a few planning tips I use before my next Nano victory. I hope they help, and be sure to send any questions you might have! #legaldeposit #oxforduniversitylibrary #cambridgeuniversitylibrary #nationallibraryscotland #nationallibrarywales #nanowrimo #minuetneroseries #justkeepwriting #workworkwork #prepwork (at Ireland (country)) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGmzKvSgMwA/?igshid=1oadofbthh5cz

[beverlywrites]

I've hardly posted all pandemic because most days just look like this and writing. Maybe I'll actually share the content I've been making this year. I've got some super queer, totally fantabulous sapphic and sassy goodness in my sandbox. Meanwhile, more coffee, more rainbows, more flower crowns! . . . . . #sapphic #contentcreators #writerlife #doublefisting #coffeebreak #fuelthehustle #cloudmacchiato #yum #fuelyourpassion #passionprojects #queercreators #queergirls #makingstuff #justkeepwriting #pandemiclife https://www.instagram.com/p/CDFVwezHF8X/?igshid=1n777yop4trze

[washingtonwrites]

“The Arbor Out Of Space.”

(I know Lovecraft was racist, but his work, the writing, the horror, is amazing. Plus, he’s dead and I’m not.)

Logline: Driven by a lucid dream of alien abduction, an introverted dendrologist journeys to the peaks of Kilimanjaro in search of a magical tree that appears once every 300 years to develop a cure for a deadly plague.

[kelsieengen]

As I embark on a new short story for an anthology to be released early 2020, I keep thinking of this quote. There might be a lot of unknowns with putting the first words to the page, but also a lot of promise. ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ #amwriting #writing #writethatnovel #author #authors #authorsofinstagram #igauthors #writeordie #writingcommunity #momswhowrite #fiction #justkeepwriting #keepwriting #writeeveryday #wip #workinprogress #novelinprogress #noveling #novel #shortstory #writingiswork #writerslife #indieauthor #authorlife https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XbGSVAdK0/?igshid=njta2h487pmn

[ejmellowbookends]

“The conscious mind is the editor, and the subconscious mind is the writer.” - Steve Martin • Chris reminded me of this quote yesterday and it really clicked. To let go of the judgement of your words, open your mind and free flow accept everything channeling through. I get asked a lot about how to overcome writer’s block and I think a lot of writer’s block is because of the fear of writing something bad, the words not being “good enough”. And you know is what? First drafts *never are*. That’s why they are first drafts. Crafting, working on sentence structure, continuity—leave that to the editing stage. A finished book can’t be a book without a finished first draft. The most important thing is to complete that manuscript, no matter what! I snuffed out any of my own criticality yesterday and came up for air with two new chapters completed! That is a really good day for me 🙂. I chart progress by chapters written not word count and I’m hoping to get through another one today🙌🏻. #justkeepwriting (at Beacon, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqCxyc6AKih/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j03st3qrnoeh

[author-mathomas]

Post prompt of the day. My favourite Disney quote. #authorschallenge2019 #disneyquote #inspirationalphoto #authormathomas #thegirldiaries #justkeepwriting #bookbaby https://www.instagram.com/p/B0MpcJ2AqWj/?igshid=3gezxwjgwxla

[ms-meredith-caine]

I’m a little old school twisted with a little modern day tech in my life.

Sometimes you have to learn how to integrate the old with the new.

MEREDITH WRITES 4 YOU! The Soul is Where it is Born, The Paper is Where it Finds its Home. Today Sadje has asked if we prefer old ways or have we adapted to the new world of technology. Maybe I should start with saying that I am not in anyway technologically savvy. I am severely challenged in this field because I cannot understand the basic steps to do anything more complex than setting an…

[willow-salix]

Perfect Punctuation: The Comma.

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Hi guys, thanks for coming back for the second video of my latest series, this time on perfect punctuation. Now, as I stated in my first video, these are aimed at teaching you the rules and basics of punctuation that you will need when writing fiction, short stories, dialogue and books. It is not a masterclass in all types of punctuation and it’s not claiming to be research for an English degree, this is just an easy to follow guide to basic punctuation with lots of examples to help you understand. I did a lot of research for this series, I spoke to a lot of other writers and asked them what they would have found useful and I’ve tried to include it all as best I can.

Now, onwards to todays topic, the comma. This is one of the most common punctuation symbols. It is used to indicate a pause in a sentence, to form a kind of list within a sentence, to separate information, to add additional information, or before a common conjunction word such as and, but, yet, or, for, so etc.

Commas can get a little confusing, especially when you have to remember all the rules. So lets start with the basics, using the comma to indicate a pause, which is how most people use a comma and would tell you how to use it.

Here is an example of the comma being used to create a pause point in a sentence. “The cat didn’t like chicken, he preferred fish.”

If you are unsure as to where to put your commas you can always read your sentence aloud as this should show you where you would naturally pause.

Believe it or not, there are more than one type of comma and they all have different jobs. So I’m going to go into them separately, and hopefully this will make things a lot easier to understand. Rather than only telling you when to use a comma, I’m going to explain the jobs that they have as I find this makes it easier to remember when and how to use them.

First up is the listing comma.

Just as the name implies, it is used when forming a descriptive list, or to separate items within a sentence. The whole point of a comma, any comma, is to make your writing easier to understand, to make your meaning very clear and to eliminate any confusion.

You would use a listing comma between words, phrases or clauses that appear in a series of 3 or more.

That means that one word is a stand alone: ‘The cat was black.’ There is nothing to add here, so no comma is needed.

Two words are dealt with with the use of the word and, as the second word is an additional piece of information: ‘The cat was black and white.’ Once again, we didn’t need to add a comma.

When we start moving into three or more words, that is when our little comma friend makes his appearance, replacing the word ‘and.’ We do this to make the sentence easier to understand, but also for a visual reason. Technically you could just keep using the word and, but that is a very childish way of writing or speaking.

‘The cat was black and white and ginger.’ It sounds like a young child getting very excited to tell you all about something, and while its cute on a kiddie, its not how us adults speak or write, or at least it really shouldn’t be.

‘The cat was black, white and ginger.’ See how that just looks and sounds so much better?

Now let’s look at comma as a way of separating additional information, or as I like to call it, side note information. It’s a little addition that you need but that doesn’t really fit the original flow of the sentence.

“My car, which once belonged to my Dad, is old, but reliable.”

This sentence is a good example of using a comma before a common conjunction word, in this case the word ‘but’, where you would naturally pause. ‘old, but reliable.’

There is an exception to this rule, as there is with most things. If the two main clauses are short and the sentence is very simple, then the comma would not be needed.

‘Jasmine rode and Frank walked.’

In most cases do not use a comma before a conjunction that links two simple words or phrases. For example, two names and two actions.

‘Frank and Jasmine ate and drank all night.’

As before, if you are listing more than 3 words or names, that is the time when you whip out your comma.

‘Frank, James and Jasmine stayed up all night eating and drinking.’

The purpose of the comma is to make a sentence very easy and obvious to understand but also to help with the flow. If I hadn’t have used that comma the sentence would have looked like this:

‘Frank James and Jasmine stayed up all night eating and drinking.’

That makes it look like Frank’s last name is James, Frank James, which obviously isn’t right.

‘Frank and James and Jasmine stayed up all night eating and drinking.’ Ok, so that clears up the confusion as to Frank’s name, but once again it looks childish and not how we would phrase it if we were speaking it. if you are unsure as to how your sentence reads, then please, please, read your work aloud to see how it flows. Just reading that sentence out felt awkward and not at all comfortable.

Another time when you would use a comma is before a name, but this is only when someone is being addressed.

“Hi, Grandma, how are you?”

This sentence would still make sense without the comma so some people think that you don’t need it, like that little comma guy is redundant, but he’s not. Please don’t leave him out as he can be the difference between:

“Let’s eat Dad.”

And “Let’s eat, Dad.”

We are not promoting cannibalism here, so let’s get it right.

So, to clarify:

- Use a listing comma in a list wherever you could use the words and/or instead. Do not use them anywhere else.

- Use a listing comma before and/ or only if this is necessary to make your meaning clear.

Now we’re moving on to the joining comma.

He is slightly different to the listing comma and a tiny bit trickier to master, but once you get the basic’s you’ll find that with practice it’ll become second nature to know when and how to use him.

A joining comma, as the name suggests is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence. When using it, it must be followed by a suitable connecting word. The connecting words which can be used this way are and/or/but/while and yet.

Here are some examples of it being used.

“You must finish that project by Monday, or you will be fired.”

“Jason applied for the promotion, and we expect Sam to do the same.”

Remember that you cannot join two sentences with a joining comma without once of those joining words. For clarification, here are some examples of it being wrongly used:

“The British are notoriously bad at learning foreign languages, the Dutch are famously good at it.”

“Mel and Sue once hosted a baking show, Noel and Sandy took over.”

These sentences don’t have the required joining words.

Joining two sentences like this is one of the most common punctuation errors and one that I’ve done many times myself in my early days of writing, but it is also one of the easiest to avoid if you pay a little attention to what you are writing.

You must either follow the comma with one of the connecting words listed before, or you must replace it with a semicolon, which I will cover in another video very soon.

It’s important to remember that most other connecting words cannot be proceeded by a joining comma. For example: however, therefore, hence, consequently, nevertheless and thus.

With this rule the following examples are also WRONG;

“Two members of the group were too ill to go on, however the rest decided to continue.”

“West Ham are two points behind the leaders, therefore they must win their last game.”

Once again, these sentences require a semicolon to join them, not a comma.

To recap: Use a joining comma to join two complete sentences with the words and, or, but, yet or while. DO NOT use a joining comma any other way.

The gapping comma:

The gapping comma is very easy to use. We would use one to show that one or more words have been left out when the missing words are simply repeats of words already used in the same sentence.

Here is an example of a sentence without a gapping comma:

‘Some students wanted to base their school mascot on the name of their team, others wanted to base it on the name of the school.’

A gapping comma would be used in the second half of the sentence just before the second statement.

‘Some students wanted to base their school mascot on the name of their team; others, on the name of the school.’

That little gapping comma allowed us to cut out unnecessary repeating words. I’ve also used a semicolon there to abide by the rules I explained before about the joining comma as there wasn’t a correct joining word there, again I’ll explain the semicolon in another video.

Now, here’s were we get a little more complicated.

A gapping comma and a listing comma can both be used in the same sentence to better convey your meaning, making your writing easier and clearer to understand. But don’t you worry, it’s not as daunting as it sounds, I promise. Work with me, we’ll break it down and make this a painless a lesson as possible.

Here is an example, I’m going to tell you the commas as I read the sentence out to you so you can spot them.

‘Italy is famous for her composers and musicians, (listing) France,(gapping) for her chefs and philosophers,(listing) and Poland,(gapping) for her mathematics and logicians.’

I followed the rules of the gapping comma being used to show that words are missing, and the listing comma to create a list within the sentence because there were three countries mentioned and I used the correct connecting word of ‘and’.

The gapping commas weren’t strictly necessary here, I just added them to show you how it could work. You could leave them out and the sentence would still be perfectly clear.

‘Italy is famous for her composers and musicians, France for her chefs and philosophers, and Poland for her mathematics and logistics.’

Again, I followed the rules, there were three or more countries and I used the correct connecting word.

This is a question of judgement and personal tastes. I always prefer to have a simpler and less crowded sentence if I can, so if the sentence is clear enough without the additional gapping commas, then I would leave them out. It’s good to remember that when reading people tend to naturally pause when they see a comma, obviously that’s what most of us were taught in school ‘add a comma when you pause’. But that can actually draw out and fragment a sentence in a way that you didn’t want. So always read your work out loud to yourself, pausing for the commas and see if it feels clunky and fragmented to you. if it does, then leave them out or re-write it in a way that sounds better to you.

Honestly I rarely, if ever, use a gapping comma myself. I prefer to change the sentence to avoid the repetition we are eliminating with the gapping comma as if find that it can sometimes feel a little old fashioned for my tastes. But that is purely personal preference and how I prefer to write, you will develop your own style in time.

And lastly, we have the lovely little bracketing commas, a cute little pair (sometimes called isolating commas) that have a completely different job to the other three. Just to make life, and writing, more interesting. The little buggers.

The rule with bracketing commas is that a pair of them are used to mark off a weak interruption in a sentence. This is to add additional information to a sentence and then continue the original sentence flow straight after as if the brackets and the interruption, never happened. They are basically used in place of brackets especially in dialogue.

For example:

‘Gemma, a friend of the family, came up the path and knocked on the door.’

‘The teaching assistant, who had come from another school, was named Rachel.’

‘Julie did, of course, like sausages.’

As you can see, I’ve used bracketing commas to add a little nugget of information. Here’s the rule with using bracketing commas, as I said before, the sentence before them should continue to flow as if the interruption never happened. That means that if you took away the commas and the additional information, the remaining writing should fit together and make a seamless sentence that still makes sense.

This is always the case with bracketing commas and it gives you a very simple way of checking your punctuation. If you have off set some words with bracketing commas and you can’t then remove those words without destroying the entire sentence, then you have written it wrong.

For example:

‘But, beyond the door, lay freedom.’ It sounds like a lovely little sentence, but if you take away the commas and smush it together, it makes no sense.

‘But lay freedom.’ That’s not even a thing.

The correct way to do this would have been to not get fancy and have it as a sentence in its own right.

‘But beyond the door lay freedom.’ There is nothing wrong with keeping things simple.

Here’s another example of them being incorrectly used:

‘She dug in her bag for her cigarettes, and finding them, quickly lit one.’

Again, as a sentence in a book it sounds fine, it paints the scene quite nicely, but we aren’t here for that, we are here to make sure the rules of punctuation aren’t broken, and you my friend, are a broken sentence.

Take away the offset words and what do you have?

‘She dug in her bag for her cigarettes quickly lit one.’ Does that sound right to you? you had better not say yes, because if you do you can get off this learning train right now. The sentence feels incomplete and makes no sense.

In this case the best thing to do would be to move the commas.

‘She dug in her bag for her cigarettes and, finding them, quickly lit one.’

Now if you take away the bracketed words you get.

‘She dug in her bag for her cigarettes and quickly lit one.’ It’s not a great sentence, but it makes sense, which is better than nothing.

Now, a bracketing comma used as an interruption can be used on its own and not as part of a pair, when the interruption comes at the beginning or the end of a sentence.

This is for two reasons. We never put a comma at the beginning or end of a sentence, can you imagine it? how weird would that look?

The other reason is because there is nothing else to separate it from. It’s not a pause in speech, its an interruption or additional information from the full sentence.

For example:

‘At the end of the day, I think I can count this as a job well done.’

Or:

‘I think we can count this as a job well done, at the end of the day.’

Both are technically correct and the sentence both make sense without the additions, although I personally feel that the second one feels a bit clunky and odd to me. Again, personal preference, as I know many people that would speak the sentence in that way.

So, bracketing comma golden rules:

-Use a pair for a weak interruption which could be removed from a sentence without it ruining the comprehension of the sentence.

- If the interruption comes at the beginning or the end of a sentence, use just the one bracketing comma.

- Make sure that the words you isolate with the commas are really an interruption and that the sentence makes sense without them and flows on its own.

Let’s recap all the commas once more before I sign off.

- We use a listing comma in a list of three or more items or people where the words ‘and or or’ would be possible instead.

- We use a joining comma before the words ‘and, or, but, yet, or while’ followed by a complete sentence.

- We use a gapping comma to show that words have been left out of a sentence instead of repeating them.

- We use a pair of bracketing commas to set off an interruption in the middle of a sentence, but only one if the interruption is at the beginning or the end of a sentence.

Well done guys, we got through it. I hope this has made things a little easier for you. as always, if you have any questions or any suggestions of things you would like me to cover, hit me up on here or one of my social media accounts. I’m always happy to help.

Until next time, blessed be and happy writing.

[wordynerdbird]

📚 #newblogpost #blogpostalert #authorlife📖 #justkeepwriting #neverevergiveup #readthisblog #writersblog #indiecreative #indieauthorsofig #bloggersofinstagram #indieauthorlife #igauthorlife #fellowcreatives #fellowcreativeminds #thewriteway #workethics #authorssupportingauthors #thisishowweindie #jvlpoet #wordynerdbird https://www.instagram.com/p/Bumd5kwABV8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14zekfgz1psty

[orange-slinky]

Ive written 10 Original poems on #Mirakee! I'm so proud of myself. The app alone has given me closer new friends and insight beyond my own understanding! 😃 #KeepWriting! 📚💜🖋 Eh. Why not? Tags!~ #Writing #JustKeepWriting #poem #poems #likes #life #like #poet #poemlove #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity 📝🖋💜😅 (at Rockdale County, Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtrYVzSnqDT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5j73sn9btuac

[ryanpetriewrites]

Chapters one and two of my #nanowrimo project are done on day one. I hope to have this level of productivity over the course of the month. Juggling a job and a novel will be a trial but I’m determined to make it work! #writersofinstagram #justkeepwriting #typingawaythehours https://www.instagram.com/jodumarsiwrites/p/BppfkPBnRcq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1alulbsmxjsuu

[katayamoon-writes]

Writing 3 stories at night every night is the new normal for me. If you want to read them definelty check out goodnovel for when lightening strikes and Greek Alphas. Look up the Billionaire's Baby Mama only on dreame. Determination. #writersofinstagram #romance #greekgods #billionaire #teenlove #justkeepwriting #goodnovel #dreame https://www.instagram.com/p/CSyG86hryTX/?utm_medium=tumblr