Suffice it to say, we were a little bit crazy! I had the privilege of “teaching” a creative-writing class in Ginnie’s and my home this winter. The reason I put “teaching” in quotation marks is, as anyone who’s ever taught creative writing knows, you don’t really teach creative writing, you just get out of the […]
These three common writing mistakes can keep your first novel from realizing its full potential. Debby Hudson / Unsplash I often get two responses when I tell people that I write books. The first is, “Oh, I don’t think I could ever do that!” The second is just the opposite. “You know, I had an […]
When I (Abē Levine) started interning here at NPR, I worked nights as a wedding server. And one thing always made those shifts longer: speeches. Those toasts honoring the newlyweds were often stuffy, over-rehearsed, and thirsting for personality. Are you a middle/high school teacher or student podcaster? Learn more about NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge here: […]
If there is a past tense in the principal clause, this must be followed by a past tense in the dependent clause. Ergo, there must be no conflict or incongruity. This is called “tense attraction.” The tenses in the English language unnerve many writers, especially the younger ones. They have the tendency to shift tenses […]
