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Children's Authors and Illustrators Week: February 1-7
Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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

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.

muscular woman holding stacks of books
Monday, January 28, 2019

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

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.

open notebook
Thursday, January 17, 2019

A pen in the hand: a reflection on freewriting

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.

Two people reading beside each other
Friday, December 14, 2018

Why we need diverse holiday-themed fiction for adults

It’s December! You know what that means right? The holiday season is right around the corner. From Hanukah to Kwanzaa December is a time for family get-togethers and lots of food. So in the spirit of the holiday season, I decided to look up holiday-themed books (and by holiday-themed, I mean books that have a certain holiday as a key part of the plot) and was very disappointed with what I found. Holiday-themed books appear to be synonymous with Christmas books.

A man writing the parts of an essay on a board
Friday, December 7, 2018

Planning

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.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018

What is rhetoric

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
Tuesday, November 27, 2018

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

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!