That Feeling You Get When You Know It’s Just Right.

How do you know when a sentence is correct or not? As any native speaker of any language will tell you: it’s correct because it feels right. Of course, if you’ve studied linguistics, you might reply with something a little more high brow. You might refer to the “correct” or “incorrectness” of the grammar/wording/syntax/pronunciation/etc.

Now, assuming that you aren’t a native speaker of English (for example) – but you’ve been speaking it for a long time, long enough to write creatively in it anyway – you might have that feeling of ‘rightness’. Here at Cecile’s Writers, we are for the most part ‘native’ speakers. However, discussion on the rightness or wrongness of a word or sentence construction can get heated. For example, Vanessa asked us if you travel ‘in’ or ‘on’ a plane (you can see the blog post that spurred this particular conversation), to which each of us responded yes, no and maybe. Ask a native speaker and they will probably tell you I travel ‘in’ a train or I will travel ‘on’ a train.

The Intrusive Word: When the Right Word Is in Another Language

This tip is for anyone who has ever tried to write in one language but another one keeps intruding.

Have you ever found yourself  in “the writing zone” – inspired, full of energy, the words just jump out and land ‘bang & splat’ onto the page like magic – so you write and write and suddenly, you find that the next word you are about to put down fits perfectly into the sentence, only it happens to be in another language? The pace then slows to a halt and for all the world, you just cannot find any other word that fits as well.

Making the Best of Technology

This weekend I went on a TED Talks spree. I must’ve seen about 50 videos on everything from James Cameron and his love for the deep sea diving to The Child President. I know TED is sometimes viewed as making scientists and philosophers appear as performing monkeys for the masses, but I beg to differ. Take a tour through TED Talks and I guarantee that even after a 5 or 10 minute talk you’ll feel a little happier, a little more optimistic and perhaps a little more inspired.

Closing Arguments: The Subtle Art of Email Endings

Have you ever found yourself writing an email and as  you reach the closing, you find you do not know how to sign off or say goodbye? Do you find that ‘Sincerely’ is too formal and ‘cheers’ is too informal?

Never fear, I am here.

Let me explain.

Formulas

In school you are taught how to write a letter and if you are of the internet generation, you probably were also taught how to write an e-mail. That’s all well and good, but here is where it gets interesting. To end a letter you have to use what is referred to as a ‘complimentary close’ or ‘closing’ (for the purposes of this post I will refer to it as the letter ending(s)).

What You Make of Time

Time takes on a very strange connotation when it comes to writing. Ok it’s not only with writing since most people experience that time flies when you’re having fun and crawls when you’re bored. But time seems to take a life of its own when you write or plan to write or procrastinate to write. It has a whimsical bent and is neurotic, bipolar and slightly schitzophrenic. Don’t believe me? Take an alarm clock and set it to go off in 10 minutes. Now start writing. Really, start writing, and then come back, I’ll still be here.

Fifty Shades of I’m Bored Already

E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey - This was the book of the year as far as hypes go. Naturally I got hold of a copy somewhere back in May last year. O.M.G this book made me angry. And not because I have anything against popular fiction or because I’m a prude or a literary snob (I read Twilight, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The DaVinci Code and The Celestine Prophecy, The Clan of the Cave Bear etc with gusto, and by gusto I mean the same way I  buy a box of Ferrero Rocher’s once in a while and eat them all by myself as I watch the latest RomCom).

Sofia’s Favorite Reads of 2012

Last year the books I read were – as usual – from an assortment of genres.

Classics

My intention was to finish reading War and Peace in 2012 as I mentioned in this post, I still intend to read it, but it’s going to have to be a project for 2013. The classics I read this year were unexpected because I read them for a free online course (Greek and Roman Mythology given on Coursera). I read The Odyssey (see my review here), The Aeneid and Hesiod among others. And by read I mean that I learnt to read them, thanks mainly to the professor of the course, Peter Struck. His analyses and explanations were so good, they did what any good teacher does – inspire students to learn. Don’t believe me? Then take the course.  As I already gave my perspective on The Odyssey, I won’t repeat myself.

5 Christmas Story Prompts

It’s almost December and I smell Christmas. In the spirit of the season, here are 5 prompts that might help you find some inspiration in that most happy or sad, annoying, stressful and all around crazy Holliday.

 Stranger than fiction