In this latest instalment of my Expert Series I am delighted to welcome back Melissa Donovan with her recipe to help you to add some flavor to your writing.

Melissa who is a writer and website designer is the founder and editor of the excellent Writing Forward blog where you can find a wealth of creative writing tips and ideas.

While you are here be sure to also pay a visit to her first guest appearance with her popular Top 10 Reasons Your Blog Is Still A Sad Little Sideshow.

Top 10 Ways to Spice Up Your Writing

Have you ever wished your writing had more flavor? More pizzazz?

We’ve all seen the kind of writing that commands a reader’s attention. It has kick and punch, style and personality. It draws us in and doesn’t let us go – it haunts us, lingering in our minds long after we’ve read the last line.

It reeks of talent.

But talent is usually an illusion. Most writers don’t wake up one day and spontaneously produce distinguished work. It takes years of practice and study and a lifetime of good writing habits. The talented might get there faster and easier, but hard work will get you there too.

Whether you’re struggling with simple concepts like grammar and sentence structure or facing more advanced problems, like how to make your prose vivid and emotional, these ten tips show you how to make your writing more palatable.

1. Reading is Fundamental

If you don’t read well, you won’t write well. If you want to make your readers laugh, read funny books. If you want to make them cry, read sad stories. If you want to make them swoon over your word-craftiness, then read good literature and poetry. If you want to captivate readers and hold their imaginations hostage, read everything you can get your hands on, study it, and master the craft by reading with a writer’s eye.

2. Whet Your Palate

A lot of writers rail against poetry. It’s for the art crowd, the academics, the elite. But those are misconceived stereotypes. Plenty of poetry is raw and gritty. If you want to give your writing more zeal, poetry will do the trick. It will teach you tons of crafty techniques that make your writing leap off the page and into your readers’ hearts. Read it, study it, and write a bit of it.

3. Gather Your Ingredients

Good writing is concocted from a vast and diverse vocabulary. Start by reading a lot and make it a point to look up any words you don’t know. Plenty of dictionary sites and apps offer a word of the day. Do crossword puzzles and play Scrabble (and other word games). Or, be hardcore and just read the dictionary. And when you can’t find the perfect word, turn to the thesaurus (that’s what it’s there for).

4. Practice Makes Perfect

A respectable chef doesn’t serve a dish the first time he or she prepares it. A recipe must be perfected through practice, and the same it true for writing. Keep a journal. Do some writing exercises. Don’t be afraid to write poorly or to experiment and be willing to take risks. You’ll learn something from every writing session.

5. Let it Marinate

We live in world of sound bites and instant gratification. We’re all itching to click that publish button. But publishing without pause is bad practice. Have you ever noticed that a project you felt was brilliant after the first draft barely deserves a one-star rating when you revisit it after a few days?

When you let a piece rest before doing anything with it (including editing, submitting, and publishing), you can review it with a fresh and more objective perspective.

6. Add a Dash of Personality

When writers let personality come through in their writing, it’s called voice. Some writers have a uniquely consistent voice and we can identify their work just from its tone. Others are masters at taking on different voices for different projects. Experiment with letting your personality seep into your writing.

7. Sprinkle it with Edits

Can you imagine being served a half-baked cake at the world’s finest bakery? You bite into it expecting a sweet, heavenly pastry and instead you get a mouthful of batter. That’s what unedited writing tastes like. It’s bland, lumpy, and it leaves a bad taste in your readers’ mouths.

If you want to look like a real professional, edit and proofread everything: manuscripts, query letters, blog posts, emails, text messages, and even your social media updates.

8. Respect Your Guests

You’re invited to a dinner party, and when you arrive, the house is a mess. There are filthy clothes on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink, and the host looks like a slob. That’s what it’s like when readers suffer through writing that is lacking proper grammar. You don’t have to become a professional linguist, but you should have firm grasp on the basic rules. Get a good grammar and style guide, and then use it diligently.

9. Experiment!

Meals would be dull if we had to eat the same foods every day. Mix it up. Try different forms. You might be certain that you want to write fiction, but dabbling in poetry, essay writing, and blogging might show you other avenues you’d like to pursue. Plus, your experience in one form will inform the others, making you an all-around stronger writer.

10.  Stay for Drinks

The writing community is a warm and supportive one. You can easily find other writers online or check local directories for writing groups and workshops in your area. Engaging with the writing community has infinite benefits and rewards. You can bounce ideas around with fellow writers, talk shop, and learn new concepts, and most importantly, you can share your work.

Giving and getting critiques is an excellent way to strengthen your writing. If you’re dedicated to building your skills, honing your craftsmanship, and developing habits that make you a better writer, you’ll soon find yourself writing prose that captivates readers. Your work will sizzle.

Many thanks to Melissa for her informative and entertaining article. Please do let her know what you think and add any tips you think could be added to the menu, your comments are always welcome!

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About the Author: Melissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. She is also the founder and editor of Writing Forward, a blog packed with creative writing tips and ideas. Follow her blog on Facebook or connect with Melissa on Twitter or Google Plus.

Image credits
Writing: vinni123 – Flickr
Jalepenos: Marcus Zorbis – Flickr

I was delighted when writer, author and poet Jessica Kristie agreed to take part in my Expert Series with her thoughts on poetic expression.

It came as no surprise given the subject matter when Jessica, with a Twitter bio stating ‘Poetry is my heart, anchors my soul and documents my journey’, produced such a beautiful article which is definitely a refreshing change from my usual Top 10 format!

You can find out a lot more about Jessica and her work at Jessica Kristie and you can also connect with her on Twitter @jesskristie and on Facebook.

The Poetic Expression

When I was ten I discovered poetry.  Poetry to me at that age was molded around Dr. Seuss and Nursery Rhymes. Then it wrapped around Robert Frost and Edgar Allen Poe.  My style manifests in the contemporary but my heart still beats with writers like Pablo Neruda and Bukowski.  As much as poetry lay by the wayside of literature, it is still highly respected amongst those in the writing industry.

Appreciation still runs thin by the common reader.  My own children remind me often of their dislike of poetry.  What I fear they don’t understand is that their idea of what is considered poetry is limited to highly metaphorical works that teachers cling to for deconstruction.

These forms are great for colleges and even for High School, but it often takes the enjoyment out of it for the person who is only there because they have to be.  There are amazing forms of poetry that beat past the basic rhyme scheme or confusing metaphors that leave only confusion to the untrained reader.

Poetry is art, and bleeds from the veins of so many hands. For the poet, it is a necessary expression. It brings release, a healing platform, and understanding.  Personally I use it to mend gaps in my own understanding of the human condition.  As poetry is subjective, it brings an enormous amount of range for your enjoyment.  This does not excuse bad forms of writing, which are out there and we have all experienced them.

I always encourage people to try their hand at poetry and just like any other form of writing, or any skill for that matter, know your strengths and weaknesses. Hone your skills and keep writing.

Don’t sell yourself short by assuming you don’t enjoy poetry due to reading a few poems that did not spark your interest. Find the form that touches your heart and speaks the words that you couldn’t find, but desperately needed to say.

Here are some beautiful expressions of poetry that will fit any set of tastes.

Old School Poetry from writers like Robert Frost and Edgar Allen Poe:

“Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today.
Nothing gold can stay.” – Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay

Contemporary Old School Poetry from wonderful poets such as Pablo Neruda and Maya Angelou:

“When I lived amongst the roots

they pleased me more than flowers did,

and when I spoke to a stone

it rang like a bell.” – Pablo Neruda, Too many Names

Contemporary Poets such as Sharon Olds and Mary Swander.

“My daughter
is free and she is in me–no, my love
of her is in me, moving in my heart,
changing chambers, like something poured
from hand to hand, to be weighed and then reweighed.” – Sharon Olds, High School Senior

Spoken word holds some of the greatest poetic talent I have ever seen, my favorite being Andrea Gibson. Spoken word is an entire community of its own and I would encourage everyone to take time to research some of the wonderful talents out there.

“yesterday I carved your name into the surface of an ice cube
then held it against my heart till it melted into my aching pores
today I cried so hard the neighbors knocked on my door
and asked if I wanted to borrow some sugar
I told them I left my sweet tooth in your belly button.” – Andrea Gibson, Maybe I Need You

There is poetry for every aching soul and words out there that will speak to you in a language you never knew before.  Take time to appreciate the many talents and wonderful people who shed their skin everyday for you to read.

Many thanks to Jessica for sharing her thoughts about poetic expression. What do you think of Jessica’s poetic advice? What does poetry mean to you and which are your favourites? Please do let us know by adding your comments below.

Thank you for visiting the Top 10 Blog. If you like what you see I hope you will share and if you would like to see more like this please Subscribe, Follow and Like using the buttons at the top of the page.

What a lucky man I am that Deborah Riley-Magnus is making a welcome return (for the 3rd time) as a guest on the blog.  This time Debbie has been considering all the important things she no longer has time for now that writing has taken over her life. By the time you get to the end you will wonder how she found the time to write it!

If you like this article then please check out her earlier offerings Top 10 Phases of Author Rejection and Top 10 Things Authors Worry About. You can follow Debbie on Twitter @rileymagnus and you can also connect with her at all the places listed at the end of the post.

Holy crap, I swear I’m too old for this! My life seems to just roll like a Zamboni over everything these days. My first book, entitled Cold in California, is finally being published and will be released in March of 2011. A proposal I’ve written for a book to help authors find success through marketing, promotions and publicity is looking for a publisher. There’s the sequel to Cold in California to write … the women’s fiction I’m finishing and oh yes, aren’t there holidays coming up? Can it really be the end of October already?

Recently, a dear twitter friend from across the pond in lovely England asked where his “party girl” went and I started to wonder. When was the last time I partied? Had a drink? Couch potatoed it in front of the television all day? Too long! That’s when I realized that many authors and writers are probably just like me and it was time to tell Top 10 Blog all about the 10 things I WISH I had time to do!

1. Read a newspaper

… a whole newspaper … and not just the top five headlines.

2. Clean the house

I know, it sounds pretty bad and I’ve threatened to fire the maid I don’t even have because of the full dishwasher. Time required to clean the house is shocking. 10 minutes to locate, drag out and check the vacuum cleaner. 10 minutes to remember how to change said vacuum cleaner bag. 15 minutes to strategize how much of the house can be vacuumed without having to move the plug to another outlet. 20 minutes to actually vacuum. 10 minutes to catch my breath, rewrap the cord and put the vacuum cleaner away. That’s 65 minutes? 65 precious minutes! Ain’t happening! Not with 30 emails coming in per minute and a 5,000 word writing goal for the day.

3. Put on makeup.

You know, when I run to the local corner store or out for a Starbuck’s skinny vanilla latte, it would be nice to take the time to put on my face. As it is, my smile suffices as my sole makeup. People smile back. It might be out of pity, but they do smile back.

4.  Go for a long walk

There are so many times I hit a creative wall, can’t write another word or simply require a little non-related visual stimulation. How grand it would be to just drive to a nearby park or beach and take a nice, refreshing long walk. But I probably should put on makeup … and the newspaper headline said it might rain (major news in SoCal, trust me) … and there’s the time involved for the driving and actual walking that I really can’t spare, so I settle for a brief sit on my porch.

5. Reach out and touch someone

Remember those emotional Bell Telephone commercials? There’s nothing more pleasant or satisfying than having a long, leisurely conversation with a loved family member … but me? I moved to the west coast five years ago and my family’s on the east coast and I never think about that “reach out and touch someone” thing until it’s past midnight in Pittsburgh. Sigh.

6. Go out on a Friday Night

Ohhh yes, I remember that. The old TGIF fun and games. A night at the end of the week when we’d all get fancied up … or fancied down … and go out for some drinks. A little karaoke. Gin and tonic … white wine spritzers … a few cold Heinekens. Boy do I miss those days!

7. Have season tickets to anything

Seriously, ANYTHING. I used to have baseball season tickets, symphony season tickets, concert season tickets. Now, going to see a triple-A ball game is a monumental effort. Can I spare the time? I’ll have to set my phone to alert me to emails. Maybe I can take my laptop and do a little writing during the seventh inning stretch?

8. Go Shopping

OMG I used to LOVE shopping, even if it was of the “window” variety. Strolling through department stores and malls, looking at everything from small kitchen appliances to bedding and outerwear. Absolute delight! Not to mention the fun of carrying it all into the house and admiring it all over again. Now, if I need a coat and I want a red one, I have been known to ask the sales clerk “Where’s the red coat department?”

9. Enjoy a leisurely restaurant meal

Oh the pleasure of it. Going to a restaurant at prime dinner time. Waiting in the bar for a table while sipping my favorite libation and chatting casually with strangers. Taking my time perusing the menu and savoring a wonderful meal … including dessert. These days, with my crazy busy schedule, I usually order by phone for pick up, or rush to the restaurant at five PM to miss the crowds. Me and fifty blue-haired people over eighty with walkers or electronic wheel chairs, eating amidst too loud musak. Good Lord!

10. Take a vacation

Key West, Florida! Jackson Hole, Wyoming! Napa Valley, California! Seven days and six nights of nothing but vacation. I want that. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to do that. I mean … do people really still take vacations

Okay. How sad am I? Seriously! Decision made. Things have got to change. I’ll start with a deep breath and maybe back off on my workload. Then … I dunno … maybe a long walk on the beach. After all, I do live in Southern California.

I blog – http://rileymagnus.wordpress.com/
I fiction – http://coldincalifornia.com
I write – http://deborahriley-magnus.com/
I play – http://whispersofthemuse.org/
I cook – http://vampiresdonteat.wordpress.com/
I tweet – http://twitter.com/rileymagnus
I facebook – http://facebook.com/deborah.rileymagnus
I should be sooo tired!

*All images courtesy of smemon87

I am delighted to welcome back a previous guest, Deborah Riley-Magnus, with another great Top 10 which I have no doubt will strike a chord with all you writers out there.  Deborah is a writer and publicist and is a self confessed ‘writeaholic’.  You can find out more about her at her excellent Deborah Riley-Magnus Writeaholic Blog and at all the places listed at the end of the post.

Check out her first guest post Top 10 Things Authors Worry About then read this list and you will get a real feel of the angst of the writing process!

I suppose this top ten can apply to all kinds of rejection – for love or a job or even Facebook friendship, but I’m writing a Top Ten for the phases of rejection we writers and authors cope with. Trust me … if you know a struggling writer, take them out to dinner, buy them a bottle of tequila and pat them on the back every chance you get because they need it.

Big time.

In case you don’t know, a writer doesn’t just write the way a breather breathes or a laugher laughs. Some writers suffer through writing article after article and hope to have more articles accepted than rejected. Others write novels or nonfiction books. People, we’re talking about suffering through conceptualizing, plotting, writing, developing and editing a finished product of between 60,000 words and 120,000 words! (Most non-writers I know have difficulty not abbreviating their thirty word grocery list.) Needless to say, after facing and conquering all that … it’s time to shoot for the moon and begin the query process.

The query process? Shiver. That’s where you hand pick agents from hand picked literary agencies based on the genre you write and the preference and success rates of the agent. Then you literary pitch them. You take that 120,000 words and distill them down to perhaps 200 of the best to describe the power, excitement and attraction of your book. You send these out and wait. Then the rejections come in. Personally, I got over a hundred rejections and learned origami to spin some kind of pleasure into the whole process.

Here are the Top Ten Phases of Author Rejection based on my own personal experience. Methinks it applies to just about every writer out there.

Top Ten Phases of Author Rejection

1. Oh? Really? Huh. (That’s the first 10 rejections)

2. Huh? Did the first ten talk to the second ten? Are they all blind, or is this a conspiracy?

3. Uh, maybe I should look closer at who I’m querying?

4. It’s a horrible book and no one will ever buy it!

5. It’s an amazing book and someone is bound to see that! I just need to find the one seeing agent among all the blind ones!

6. I need a brownie and a week off.

7. Maybe it’s time to take some of the expert’s advice, do some Twitter and Facebook, blog and create a book website? Yeah, maybe I should do that. After all, agents do Google, don’t they?

8. OMG! Are the rejections getting nastier or are the agents getting more vocal. The last few rejections were not form letters. Maybe there are a few seeds of wisdom in there?

9. More Brownies. A mentor. A full re-plot and rewrite. Rethink the query letter. Re-examine the genre. Resume the query process. Pray.

10. Query 101 went out. More brownies and a membership with Weight Watchers may be in order.

Like I said, this is my personal story and now I get to talk about the good part. My 102^nd query received a request for the full manuscript followed quickly by an offer of representation. Now, I humbly (and nervously) await the next success and do whatever my agent suggests to help him sell the novel to the perfect publisher. Hopefully soon I can write a Top Ten Ways to Celebrate Getting a Publishing Contract, LOL. Not sure but I will assume brownies and the Bahamas will be involved.

I fiction - coldincalifornia.com
I write - deborahriley-magnus.com
I play – whispersofthemuse.org
I cook – vampiresdonteat.wordpress.com
I tweet – twitter.com/rileymagnus

I should be sooo tired!

Many thanks to Debbie for another entertaining Top 10

Photo Credit:1. Flickr 2. Flickr

The third in the series of ‘Top 10 Articles For…..’ looks at the art of writing consistently good content for your blog. Having good content is without doubt one of the key cornerstones of a popular blog, after all who wants to return to somewhere where, on your first, or indeed your last visit, you were not entertained or stimulated.

Just click on the images or links to read these articles. Twitter links have been added where appropriate.

There is a huge amount of information out there to help you with writing content and what I have tried to do is to pick a selection of articles that I found useful and which give different angles to approach the task from.  Whether you are a beginner or an experienced blogger I hope that you will find something new to help you in that writing task you are about to undertake.

So lets start at the beginning, you have decided to write an article for your blog.  I am assuming that you have already decided where your niche is going to be and what topics you are going to write about.  How about starting with a good title, I have come to realise how vital a good title is and how it can affect how many people will find you. (More about that in a later post) Try this one for starters from Misty Belardo.

1. Title

This article was produced by Misty Belardo @mistygirlph at Ink Rebels

2. Structure

Next an interesting take on writing from Darren Rowse at Problogger

Darren, who is a must read for any budding blogger, shares how he would approach a blog post in the same way that he would a sermon.  You can watch a video of Darren in this one.

3. Be persuasive

When you are writing your blog post you are trying to persuade your reader to do something.

This post is from Brian Clark at Copyblogger. If you are writing for your own pleasure rather than selling a product you may not consider that you need to persuade.  I would however disagree, are you not wanting the reader to agree with your opinion or return to you again, your writing needs to persuade them to do so.

4. Have fun writing

Another one from Ink Rebels, this time from Diana Adams @adamsconsulting I think this a great article and teaches a lesson that we all should heed, that is don’t take yourself too seriously!

5. Overcome that block

We all have days when nothing gets done.  Try getting into these good habits as recommended by @DeniseWakeman in Social Media Examiner. I must admit I am not the most organised person but I am finding that trying to adopt good habits and a sound system in this way does help me.

6. Grammar

Correct use of grammar is, I think becoming a dying art. I have always considered that I have good grasp of the basics and I really think that the use of correct grammar in everything you write is so important. (OK I am waiting for someone to point out my failings in that direction!)

Try this article from Jay Adams published by Smedio which sets out some of the most obvious pitfalls.

7. Practice makes perfect

You can’t expect to get it right straight away or all the time so you need to practice your skills.

The excellent @chrisbrogan explains all.

8. Developing your writing

I wanted to include some more general advice about writing and I think this series of articles from author Deborah Riley-Magnus serves that purpose well.

Debbie goes through the whole process of writing and publicising your work, who knows where your writing might take you? You can follow Debbie @rileymagnus

9. Ready to give up?

Had enough, creative juices dried up? Back to Darren Rowse again with some suggestions as to how you can get things moving again.

10.Other important stuff to think about or add

There are so many other things to think about when you are writing for your blog. I think this recent article from @Lovtoo published on Tech18 sums it up quite nicely.

So there you have my list of favourite articles for writing great content.  There are so many great articles out there on this subject and I am aware that I have not even scratched the surface, please let me know which articles you found helpful so that we can all share.

Please let me know how you think this series is shaping up, are there any subjects that you would like me to include?

Back next week with Top 10 Articles for…Promoting your blog.