If you know me on a personal level, and have for a little while, there is a strong probability you are familiar with my love of Harry Potter. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me in what I am about to say, but to the best of my recollection, I started reading the … More Can we leave well enough alone?
There are few things in this world that are worse than absolutely destroying a television series with poor writing. Unless you consider ruining a series with poor writing that was, up until a certain point, written exceptionally well. I’m willing to bet just about everyone could name a series that became an unfortunate victim of … More Can we stop ruining television series with poor writing?
This past weekend, great friends of ours came to my parent’s place for dinner. This couple is primarily friends with my mom and dad, which is how I was introduced to them; in time, they have become wonderful friends of my own, Blaine and my sister as well. We often engage in stimulating conversation with … More Why are we still teaching Shakespeare in schools?
Creative writing, for anyone unfamiliar with the premise, suggests its purpose directly within its title; it is the act of writing creatively, meaning there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it, and further, the writing itself can occur in a variety of forms. For one person, creative writing might resemble a short story, … More Let’s talk about creative writing prompts
In the world we find ourselves living in, it can be challenging when rifling through articles and other sorts of media publications to determine what is accurate, what isn’t, and what is considered to be an absolute steaming pile of horse shit. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do consider horse shit to be … More Are you misinformed?
To the best of my recollection, I believe I have had my blog going strong for at least five years now. There is a solid chance I’ve been blogging longer than five years, but I don’t really feel like scrolling all the way back to my very first post – this would take hours and … More The beauty of blogging
As I’ve mentioned once or twice here on my blog, I work full-time for my family on our farm, but I do squeeze in some English tutoring when time permits. I figure I should probably make use of my rather expensive and extensive post-secondary education, and I like to think I’ve managed to establish a … More Recognizing the diversity of our own stories
As of late, I have been debating as to whether or not I should once again dabble in some creative writing. I mean, technically speaking, I suppose my blog is a form of creative writing, and I, therefore, engage in it on a daily basis. But, I personally wouldn’t loop my blog in with creative … More Finding freedom in creative writing
After reading the title of this post, I figured I should probably stipulate that when I say contractions, I am referring to the grammatical kind, not the pains that are experienced once a woman is in labour. Had I not stipulated which version of the word contraction I am discussing in this post, I may … More Understanding contractions
As I have mentioned here on my blog before, I’ve been dabbling in English tutoring, part-time, for a few months now. So far, I’ve really been enjoying it; I have a handful of clients, varying in age and skill level, and while I very much am a person of routine, I’ve been enjoying the unpredictability … More Gaining knowledge through new opportunities
Podcasts aren’t new. They’ve been around for a hot minute, and most of us are fully aware of how great they are. Everyone but me, apparently, but I am pleased to report that I recently have begun to delve into the black hole of available podcasts, and so far, I’m really enjoying their existence. In … More The beauty of podcasts
Creative writing, aside from my blog, is something I sincerely wish I dabbled in more than I do. Creative writing is the shit; for me, it’s like a temporary escape as you’re able to delve into an entirely fictional world and create it as you see fit. It’s quite similar to reading, in a lot … More Want to try creative writing? Read this
Spelling is something considered to be a tremendous hurdle for a lot of us to conquer. And, really, I can see why. As someone who studied English in university, I am fully aware of how fucking ridiculous spelling can be within the English language, and, simply put, the spelling of specific words really doesn’t make … More Do you struggle with spelling? Read this
Commas are vastly underrated, in my own humble opinion. Sadly, a lot of us aren’t actually familiar with how to properly use commas, which is why I think there is a little hostility towards them, but once you gain an understanding of how and further why they work, you’re smooth sailing, my friends. I thought … More Let’s hear it for the comma
When I was a teenager, I experienced the phase I believe many teenage girls do which involves becoming somewhat heavily invested in ~inspirational~ quotes. I’m not exactly sure as to what it is that spurs this longing deep within the spirit of most adolescent girls to become fixated with quotes found on platforms like Pinterest … More Need some inspiration? Read this
As I mentioned in my former post about punctuation and proper use in the English language, there are a lot more forms of punctuation than we arguably realize. Most of us, when we think of punctuation, consider more common forms of it, for example, periods, exclamation points and question marks. But, as anyone who knows … More Navigating even more punctuation
In lieu of yesterday’s post discussing synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, I thought I would continue with the English theme for today’s post. Like I said yesterday, I’m brushing up on my English knowledge via tutoring and I figure this information is (hopefully) relevant to someone out there. Today, we shall be discussing punctuation and how … More Navigating punctuation
Within the past couple of months, I’ve been dabbling in tutoring. More specifically, I’m tutoring folks who are looking for some assistance pertaining to the English language, and I’ve been enjoying it so far. Because I haven’t exactly applied my English learnings to a more detailed degree since coming back to work full-time on the … More What in the homonym?
I’ve dabbled in newspaper article writing here and there for a few years now. I’ll be honest and admit that I haven’t written one for a while, but if I were to add up all of the articles I’ve written over a span of about five years, it’s probably in the hundreds, which is wild. … More Here’s how to write a solid newspaper article
I have started to dabble in a wee bit of English tutoring here and there as of late. I figure it might be beneficial to actually put my education to use, seeing as I’ve been inactive in the journalism world for a while now, and because I was so turned off by journalism in the … More Recognizing the subjectivity of the arts
As most of us English-speaking individuals are well aware, English is a rather unique language in terms of its grammatical stipulations, spelling, and phonetical pronunciation of certain words. I would go so far as to say that a lot of elements of the English language don’t make much sense, and seeing as I studied English … More What in the word?
In lieu of the blog posts I wrote a little while ago regarding using quotation marks in the English language, I thought it might be beneficial to offer some tips and tricks in terms of how to go about writing a strong essay. I realize essay writing isn’t exactly an essential life skill to possess, … More Here’s how to write a great essay
Anyone who is relatively familiar with the English language could have probably guessed that a single post wouldn’t suffice to delve into the convoluted aspect of understanding how to properly use quotations in this particular language. I probably could have jammed all of the learnings affiliated with proper quotation use in English into one blog … More Navigating the use of quotation marks, continued
English is a damn difficult language to learn. For those of us who were brought up speaking this language, we recognize its intricacies, but they don’t really baffle us all that much because we were taught the language from such a young age. For folks who are not fluent in English and were brought up … More Navigating the use of quotation marks
Allow me to begin this post by stating that I am not, by any means, a professional creative writer. I’m not even entirely sure as to how one goes about becoming a certified creative writer; is one granted this title after publishing a text? Or perhaps the title is bestowed on someone who undergoes proper … More Read this for some creative writing tips
The other day, I had a bit of a twilight zone moment, if you will. I was exercising in my basement, and for some unknown reason, my mind was suddenly inundated with memories from when I was playing the sport of rugby, which I loved. It was a passion of mine, when I was playing, … More The significance of taking the time to explore what we love
If you, at any given point in life itself, have read a book, watched a television series or a movie, or have seen a theatre production, there is a probable chance that you have related to or have been affected by a fictional character. It is possible that the impact of said fictional character influenced … More Recognizing the influence fictional characters can have on our lives
Reading holds a spot near and dear to my heart. I used to be far more of an avid reader than I am now, although I wish this wasn’t the case. I fell in love with books, reading and words when I was quite young, and I’m pretty sure I had read all of the … More COVID-19 has more kids reading
In the writing world, there are plenty of different realms to spark creativity and inspiration in. Nature writing is one such example, and it is actually one of my favourite ways to write; it provides an opportunity to truly delve into the artistic details of our beautiful planet, and I personally find myself able to … More Hoping to improve your nature writing skills? Here’s your chance to learn from the pros
Yesterday afternoon, I received a text from Bell reminding me that today is #BellLetsTalkDay. I made a mental note to be sure to use the hashtag across social media platforms as I normally do. Last night, I got to thinking about the matter and realized I should probably put my thoughts onto some virtual paper. … More #BellLetsTalkDay
ontheedgeofeverything 