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Think back to your first swimming lesson, or the first time you went to the pool. Did you jump in with both feet right away? If so, how did that go? Likely, you got in slowly, or if you decided to take the leap, hopefully someone caught you before you got into trouble. Now think of an Olympic swimmer like Katie Ledecky or Penny Oleksiak. How do they get in the water at the start of a race? When the buzzer goes off, there’s no time to use the ladder.

a crazed man hacking through a door with an axe to attack a cartoon thesaurus

A thesaurus groups together words that are similar in meaning. It exists for those tip-of-the-tongue moments when the right word seems just out of reach: “Gah! I need another word for something that’s pretentious … to be pretentious, to put on airs … Ah! An affectation!”

Children's Authors and Illustrators Week: February 1-7

Take a minute and think back to when you were a little kid. Did you have a favourite book? Was there one story that your parents had memorized because you asked for it to be read so often? These short stories for tiny people might appear simple and easy to write; however, I would argue they take a great deal of skill to create. The authors breathe life into colourful characters of all shapes and sizes, and for that, they deserve some credit and applause.

I was not an athletic child. Never one to break out a ball on the playground, never one to try out for teams or clubs.

When was the last time you sat down with a pen and paper, and just wrote something? I’m talking about you and your own creativity, no prompt whatsoever. I can guess what you’re thinking. University is busy and finding time is hard. Why use a pen and paper when everything is handed in electronically? Why would someone use writing as a break from more writing? These are valid thoughts, but before you tune out, let me tell you about my notebook, and why pen and paper have become my best friends over the past few years.

A man writing the parts of an essay on a board

At the drop-ins, I often have people coming who are in the beginning of the writing process. They have often run into issues when writing, such as running out of ideas, unclear writing, or weak arguments. Their mistake? They simply overlooked one important part of the writing process: planning.

As any writer knows, you need to plan out what you’re writing in order for it to be effective. Planning out your writing allows you to develop stronger arguments and be clearer in presenting them – both of which are essential to writing a successful university-level assignment.

Picture of two heads facing opposite directions with colors coming out of their mouths to symbolize communication and ideas.

Have you ever tried to convince your parents to increase your allowance? I have. I remember trying to use whatever method I had to make my parents see my point of view, which caused me to use rhetoric without even being aware of it. Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking or writing, and we use it in one way or another whenever we communicate.

Naruto sleeping with his head on a table

You may already know that getting your sleep is important for your mental and physical health. But, did you also know that it’s important for writing papers too? Honestly, writing strong papers is hard in general. Now if you’re also not sleeping well enough to even function properly, then writing that strong paper is going to be even harder. The solution? Time management!

Have you ever wanted to write a novel? If the answer is yes, this blog post is definitely for you. If the answer is no, like myself, then not to worry; you can still benefit from this information.

Writing a novel takes a lot of time and dedication, which can be a big deterrent for many people. However, National Novel Writing Month is a good opportunity to finally get that novel started or, if you don’t want to write a novel, improve your writing.

A boy looking at interconnected arrows leading to different endpoints in confusion.

Imagine opening up your local newspaper one day to find the headline: ‘Police Begin Campaign to Run Jaywalkers Down’. What does this mean?

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A stroke of creativity

Thesaurus abuse: or a gross misappropriation of lexicon

Big stories for small people: A reflection on books from my childhood

A writer's pen is a muscle: take it to the gym

A pen in the hand: a reflection on freewriting

Planning

What is rhetoric

How to manage your time for the sake of sleeping and writing

NaNoWriMo: a writer's marathon

How to ensure clear communication in writing

University of Waterloo | Writing and Communication Centre

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