50 Ways to Help You Write

About the Book

An easy-to-follow guide to successful writing, from first notes to final draft. Letters, memos, proposals, resumes, news releases, term papers, articles, stories, poems, and more. Upbeat, motivating, practical. An entire writer's workshop in one handy volume featuring specific exercises and models for all types of writing. Includes start-up sheets, checklists, review sheets, "before" and "after" versions, outdoor writing experiments, common errors in grammar and punctuation, tips for becoming your own best editor, and ten things to try when you are stuck.

Clear steps and examples bring rapid writing improvement. Based on the author's thirty years' experience teaching in colleges and corporations, 50 Ways to Help You Write generates vivid, effective writing.

Sample Exercises: Business writers can "follow the MBA formula" (main point, benefits, action) to organize writing. Creative writers can sit by a window or a river, follow the steps to heighten awareness, and "let nature express your theme." Article writers learn to "freely write your gripe" with compassionate objectivity. Students writing papers economize their time by first filling in a quick "Plan Your Pages" sheet. Teachers will find dozens of new, proven classroom "experiments" yielding a rich experience from which words freely flow.

About the Author

Fran Shaw, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Connecticut at Stamford, has been teaching writing at colleges and corporations for thirty years. She was a Danforth Fellow at Stanford University, a columnist, and a Madison Avenue copywriter. This award-winning author created the Write It Up video course.