WRITE A BIT EVERY DAY

Some people like to bake. Some like to ride bikes or scooters. Others like to paint or play basketball. They do it because they enjoy it, and no one has to tell them to keep baking or riding bikes and scooters, or painting or playing basketball. But as they keep doing what they enjoy, they get better at it.

The same goes for writing. I assume you're visiting this site because, like me, you enjoy writing. And you want to get better at it.

Get a notebook or a binder, and keep your thoughts and informal pieces of writing in it. A binder is a good place for loose sheets of different sizes. A notebook keeps all your thoughts together.

I’ve got at least a dozen notebooks of varying sizes strewn around the house. I love notebooks with nifty cover designs. Sometimes I’ll buy a notebook because of its cover, with no actual idea of what I’m going to do with it. I know I’ll write something in it, eventually.

1) I have notebooks that act as baby diaries; I kept diaries of my kids’ antics when they were very young.

2) I have notebooks for keeping track of expenses. If you get an allowance or earn an income through odd jobs, then you should be keeping track of your expenses too. It’s a good habit that will stand you in good stead when you’re older.

3) I have notebooks where I have jotted down ideas for future stories or projects.

4) And of course I have notebooks where I have written down partial or complete stories. Some of these I later typed up on the computer.

So today I’d like you to pick up one of your notebooks or a binder, and write something. Write something that you’re inspired to write. It can be a humorous grocery list, a backwards poem, a story about your left shoe, a description of the view outside your window written for someone who is blind, or directions on how to travel via sewers from your home to your school.

Write something fun that you’ll enjoy writing.

When you’re done, write me in the comments and let me know what you’ve chosen to write about.

WORDS IN RED

Did you notice a bunch of words in red in this blog post?

Assume

Informal

Strewn

Nifty

Antics

Stand you in good stead

Jotted

You can go back and see how they were used in context.

You might know all of them, some of them, or none of them. As I said in a previous post, don’t be afraid of big words or new words. Make friends with them. Use them when speaking or in your writing.

I will explain a few of them to you. If you need to, look the rest up or ask someone.

Strewn: is the past tense of “strew”. It is usually used in the passive voice (“was/were strewn”). It refers to many, usually small, things in a relatively small area, in no apparent pattern but the randomness of being placed there. Does that make sense or is it making your head spin? You can strew flowers or petals for a wedding, strew toys all over the living room floor (and make your parents mad!), or strew your homework on your bed. Strewn looks messy or nice, depending on what it is!

A few examples:

-Rose petals were strewn on the dance floor.

-Jane’s mother arrived home to find toys strewn all over the living room floor.

-His notebooks and pens were strewn all over his bed.

Antics: is a fun word to use to describe someone’s wild behaviour. It’s always used as “antics”, not “antic”. There is usually a lot of physical movement. It’s not always good or approved behaviour.

A few examples:

-His antics during gym class made the teacher frown.

-The toddler’s antics at the bank made clients smile.

-Their antics during the test got them a detention after school.

Stand you in good stead: This is a phrase that needs to be used together. This will stand you in good stead, that will stand you in good stead, it stood him in good stead… It means something useful, something that you can learn from, benefit from, something that helps you, helped you, or will help you.

A few examples:

-Reading books over the summer holiday stood her in good stead in September.

-If you put at least 10% of your savings into the bank, this will stand you in good stead in 10 years’ time.

-Studying over the weekend instead of goofing off stood him in good stead when the class sat the exam.

You can write me in the comments with one of your own clever sentences. I would love to see what you have written!