Are You a Serious Writer? How Can You Know for Sure?

Ever wondered what sets serious writers apart from all the others? Kelton Reid offers five fundamental things.

Are These Really Grammar Rules?

Ever been told not to end a sentence with a preposition? Who told you that? Why did they tell you that?

In her article, GRAMMAR PURITY IS ONE BIG PONZI SCHEME, June Casagrande (author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies and Mortal Syntax) explains that despite what the grammar 'experts' say, some things are merely stylistic choices.

Getting Stuff Sold Through Real Estate Writing

I've done a fair amount of real estate writing over the past few years for both residential and commercial clients. For almost 2 1/2 years, I was the content manager for a local real estate agency. I wrote loads of real estate stuff for them. I've also written a good bit for freelance clients like BCZ Homes, Green Efficient, and Nest Home Solutions. 

Here's an article I wrote last fall for Mindflash, a training company which lists tips for training real estate agents. 

More Recommended Reads

Reading is a huge part of my life. Here are some of my recent recommended reads. The first three are 'kids' books: The last one is hysterical.

The Doubt Factory by Paulo Bacigalupi
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
La Belle Sauvage by Phillip Pullman
Shroud of Eternity: by Terry Goodkind
Paradox Bound by Peter Clines
How to Live Safely in A Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Alteration by Kingsley Amis
Skios by Michael Frayn

Happy reading!

Learning From My Writing

As a professional writer, I don't know everything about every subject my clients want me to cover. So when I write an article for a client, I spend time researching so that I can write intelligently about the topic. For example, I'm not a finance guy, but if I'm writing about money and finance, I do research.

This brings me to one of my favorite things about writing for a living. I am always learning new things. And I'm not just learning, I'm learning things that I probably never would have even dreamed of learning if I wasn't being asked to write on the subject. 

My newest client, Brad at Progressive Health, has tasked me write articles on health issues, specifically regarding health, medications and dietary supplements. And already, I've learned a lot. Below is the first article I wrote on ADHD and Acupuncture. 

As I learned from my research, acupuncture is as effective as powerful meds like Ritalin for treating ADHD. And without side effects to boot! Give it a read!

Latest Recommended Reads

Here are the books I've read since my last Recommended Reading post. While all these books were good, the ones in bold were the most enjoyable reads.

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos
The Epiphany Machine by David Burr Gerrard
Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Time Travel by James Gleick
The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill
The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time by Steven Sherrill
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
Universal Harvester by by John Darnielle
House. Tree. Person by Catriona McPherson
Down Among the Sticks and Bones Seanan McGuire
The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson
Celine by Peter Heller

Also, I didn't list the books that I started, but didn't finish because I didn't enjoy them. Happy reading!