Make It about YOU

Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.  

Our principle concern this month is staying within our holiday budget.

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I wish I could remember who gave me this wonderful advice about writing: “Aim to write something that no one else could write.”

What does that mean? My friend Karen White (a superb writer) explains it this way: “If it’s already on the internet, don’t write it.”

Everything you write needs a perspective or experience that’s unique to you. That doesn’t always require I or me. It does require adding something that another writer might not have thought about.

Suppose you’re telling your readers how to bake a cherry pie. There are recipes all over the internet! Why would anyone be interested in your recipe?

The answer is that you know a trick that makes your pie better. Maybe you can make foolproof pie crust, for example.

Perhaps you can tell a story about discovering the magic ingredient or extra step yourself – baking with your grandmother when you were growing up, for example. (Stories are solid gold for writers!)

Picture courtesy of Ann Larie Valentine (CC License)

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

The correct word in today’s sentence is principal. (A principle is a rule. Notice that both words end in le!)

Our principal concern this month is staying within our holiday budget.  CORRECT

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What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.
“A useful resource for both students and professionals” – Jena L. Hawk, Ph.D., Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

“Personable and readable…Jean knows her subject forwards and backwards.” – Adair Lara, author of Hold Me Close, Let Me Go