writing – MEMORANDUM

Blogging: My New Favorite Pastime

picture of a blog — “Living SILsationally” blog

Blogging: My New Favorite Pastime

By Silvia Pettway

Blogging has become a very close companion of mine over the past few years. As an English major whose entire academic career has been consumed with formal essays and 10-12 page research papers, I can admit that it is refreshing to write and research certain interests of mine that do not revolve around passing a class.

Blogging has given me the freedom to not only explore and write about other avenues that interest me, but it has also given me the ability to reach other individuals that have similar hobbies, ideas and interests as I do.

What is blogging and how did it become so widely regarded as another outlet for writers, journalists and pretty much anybody who has something to say? I see blogging as an open diary, where you get to express yourself without the limits of privacy.

As a lifestyle blogger, I can honestly say that I truly don’t know how the concept of blogging turned into something so massive in the world of media, but this new medium has influenced millions of individuals around the world. There are many different genres of blogging that can pique anyone’s interest. Lifestyle, travel, fashion, politics, beauty and the news are just a few of the outlets that welcome the style of blogging.

I believe for any writer, it is important to reserve time each day to simply write. It doesn’t have to be a profound piece of work, nor does it have to be something small. Writing anything encourages the creative flow and allows us to release the thoughts that have consumed our minds throughout the day. I try to post on my lifestyle blog, “Living SILsationally” as often as I can. And when I can’t post, I at least write ideas that I would like to explore on my blog.

Technology has undoubtedly taken over our world in every aspect. Blogging is proof of this. In 2008, the news blogging journal, the Guardian released an article about “The World’s 50 most powerful blogs” and at the top of this list was the widely popular political blog journal the Huffington Post.

Before illustrating the highlights of the Huffington Post, the authors of the article describe how bloggers are typically seen as the underdogs in comparison to mainstream media.

Hearing news on television has a profoundly different effect than reading a blogger’s latest post that gives their opinion of what the news has reported. Blogging garners emotions and expresses thought; most of the time, their followers agree with how they feel. This makes sense because in order for a blog site to have followers, there has to be a similarity in interest, or else the followers would not visit the site.

In the professional writing world, there isn’t much room for expressing emotions, and opinionated thoughts conflict with the facts that news brings. So blogging is a great way for writers in the professional world to talk about about the interests that they love without the rules and regulations that limit their writing and ideas.

An advantage to blogging is that it can become a stepping stone for journalists to advance in their careers as professional writers. The Next Web writes about Shane Evans, the Deputy editor of Goal.com, a soccer blog. Evans states that “in today’s information-based society, where everything is at your fingertips […] people are basically teaching themselves how to be journalists. Gone are the days when you need a degree to show how credible you are as a writer. If your blog gets a ton of hits and you have thousands of followers on Twitter, you get taken seriously.”

Of course, there are many ways for an individual to express themselves, but I believe that blogging allows more room for connecting with others, which is great for us introverts that have a difficult time opening up our lives to others.

Blogging creates opportunities for networking in the professional field as well, which is an especially important asset for professional writers. With blogging, the viewers of your blog get to see more of your personality become vividly expressed. If the right potential employer views your blog and enjoys what they see, then they may be more willing to welcome you on board as a member of the staff.

The progression of this new form of media is exciting and unique for the world of writers. I know I’ve certainly enjoyed writing as SILsationally as I can.

Rhetoric and Discourse in Professional Writing

stack of English textbooks — English textbooks

By Jessica Robbins

When it comes to discussing controversial issues, it can be challenging to talk to someone with whom we disagree. It is even harder to write about these issues because we don’t know how our words will be perceived. If our language is hostile and unsympathetic to opposing opinions, it is likely that some readers will become frustrated or simply stop reading. This is a problem for writers because those who disagree with us are often the very people we want our message to reach.

As creators of nonfiction, professional writers face a unique disadvantage when it comes to tackling contentious topics. While a creative writer has the luxury of disguising their ideas inside metaphor and literary critics can conveniently mask their opinions behind literary critique, professional writers must discuss controversial situations openly.

At some point, professional writers are faced with a difficult question: How can I communicate my beliefs in a way that is considerate of those who feel the exact opposite?

This question may have no simple answer, but there are certainly steps we can take to ensure that our ideas are at least heard. According to Dr. Bruce McComiskey, the director of the professional writing program, finding common ground is the most important step when engaging in any type of discourse. Expressing interest in a shared concern is always the best place to start because it lets the other party know that you understand why they would be upset about a particular issue.

Dr. McComiskey goes on to say that it is never a good idea to start with your own personal view if it directly opposes someone else’s. Establishing an element of connection is necessary to make sure that no one feels immediately excluded. We must communicate that we know and understand the other side’s argument before we move forward with the conversation.

The next step in this process is, of course, addressing the issue itself. This is a delicate process for writers, considering the other party is absent at the time the argument is being made. It can be hard to decide exactly when and where a particular idea, phrase, sentence or choice of wording is going to discourage a reader. Therefore, we must be vigilantly to ensure that our argument never comes across as condescending toward a specific belief or ideology.

Keeping condescension out of our work can often pose a challenge. It is impossible to predict exactly how every word will be received, but there are precautions that writers can take to reach the largest audience possible. According to McComiskey, one of the rhetorical devices that individuals use far too frequently is the passive voice. It removes the controversy in a lot of ways, he says, but it does not move the conversation forward, which defeats the purpose of writing about these subjects in the first place. McComiskey says: “If the goal is to offend, then offend.”

It is important to say what you want to instead of tiptoeing around it. The reality of the situation remains that a conversation cannot take place if we never speak candidly about issues that have the potential to offend.

Arguably the most significant aspect of respectful, persuasive writing is keep opinions out of places they don’t belong. We should all listen more than we speak. For writers, this means frequent research as it relates to our topics of discussion. We need to understand the conversation from all angles before we present an opinion. Additionally, examining existing discourse can help us decide what works and what doesn’t when approaching sensitive subjects.

Writing about emotive issues is no easy task. It requires transparency, vulnerability, open-mindedness and, usually, a consent to have your own beliefs criticized. Identifying and establishing some element of common ground is the most important step we can take in these written conversations. Everyone deserves to feel respected and included, regardless of their beliefs.

Writers should always keep the opposing party in mind in order to reach the largest audience possible and communicate that we are listening as much or more than we are talking. Keeping the conversation open ensures that we are actively seeking a solution to these issues and not simply fighting to get our own way.

Professional Writing in Applications

By: Hannah Jurkiewicz

I recently took EH 315: Intro to Professional Writing and I found the skills required to write professionally translate outside of writing careers. Many scholarship and fellowship applications have word or character limits making it important to choose your words wisely.

Introductory professional writing courses provide students with the skills to write effective and clear documents, ensuring their readers will understand their purpose.

When applying for competitive scholarships, fellowships and grants these skills will be beneficial and may help to set your application apart.

The Seven Cs of Professional Writing will help you complete your scholarship application with ease.

What are the Seven Cs?

Clear
Coherent
Complete
Concise
Courteous
Concrete
Correct

When it comes to applications with word limits, it is important to emulate these seven characteristics.

Oftentimes, applications ask for personal essays and responses to questions to gain an understanding of you and your goals. You want to convey yourself in the most complete and clear way possible so your audience can see how you stand out and are the best recipient for the scholarship.

Begin by understanding the prompt for the application and start writing what comes to mind. Having an understanding of what you are being asked to write will help you provide the most correct response.

It might be helpful to begin by writing your narrative response with all the information you want to say. Then, through editing, you pick out what is most important to the story for the application. Editing down allows you to be more concise and concrete about what you want the reader to gain.

Continue to reflect on the prompt and narrow down the details you find most pertinent to your response. The editing process will also aid in creating a coherent and complete narrative for your audience.

"Through understanding and editing your responses multiple times, you will have a product you feel conveys you as best as possible."

Scholarships are highly competitive and require time and effort to apply to. Scholarship applications challenge candidates to be concise through limitations. These applications also require the applicant to have a concrete understanding of themselves and the ability to convey that well through writing.

The basis for professional writing and communication stems from the 7Cs, but these characteristics of communication will be helpful outside of the job market as you utilize them in your personal narratives and responses for scholarships.

Growing Your Writing

By: Laura Jane Stallo

Many students only go to the Writing Center when they are required to as a part of their graded assignments, or when they are struggling with an essay. While the Writing Center does help students with both of those things, they do so much more.

The Writing Center currently offers two forms of tutoring for students, live and asynchronous. Michael Williams, a first-year undergraduate tutor at the UWC, explains the difference.

“Because of the pandemic, we haven’t been able to meet in the office,” Williams said. Much like the rest of the university, the Writing Center offers their services virtually through Zoom where students can schedule 30-minute or hour-long appointments with tutors.

During live appointments, the tutors will meet with students over Zoom and will walk through the essay with student. The tutors can help students with anything from “brainstorming” to showing students “what needs to be edited,” and "why," said Williams.

The process is slightly different with asynchronous tutoring. “It’s basically the same thing, except you don’t have that live feedback,” Williams said.

Students submit documents to the Writing Center, and the tutors “take that Word document or PDF, and we do our best to give feedback and give explanations along the way as if we were actually in a Zoom meeting.” Williams said.

Strengthening your own writing

When asked what some of the most common mistakes students make in their essays, Williams said they can be broken into two categories, “grammatical and structural.”

“Comma splices tend to be an issue a lot,” Williams said, adding that most of the grammatical mistakes tend be the easiest to point out. “In a Zoom meeting, you can read the essay back to them and they’re able to catch it themselves.”

"Even the best wordsmiths are bound to make simple grammatical mistakes," Williams said.

“It’s important to know the difference between commas, semicolons and periods, and when to use them.”

If you are ever confused if your sentence is a run-on or if you should have used a semicolon or a comma, you are not alone, and the Writing Center is there to help you answer those questions and more.

When it comes to structural mistakes, Williams highlights the importance of reading the assignment guideline carefully. “There are some who don’t follow the assignment guidelines,” Williams said, with many students feeling unsure of what the professor is asking of them.

“It’s always good to read the assignment guidelines on your own, and if you still need help following the assignment guidelines, we can help with that,” Williams said.

Style Guides

The Writing Center is also equipped to accept essays and articles from any discipline or style guide. “As tutors we take in all kinds of papers from all kinds of disciplines,” Williams said.

“A lot of my students have been from remedial English courses,” though Williams has also had students from “The School of Business to engineering to psychology and even graduate students.” With such a variety in backgrounds, tutors are constantly learning about different rules and style guides.

“Most of us already know MLA, and that’s the typical style we teach in, but we’re still able to help with whatever style,” Williams said. Most students are familiar with the rules of which style they are writing in, but if the tutors ever encounter an obscure style guide they are not familiar with, most style guides have digital copies available all over the internet.

“We trust students enough that they are able to find the resource for us and that they we are able to go through it together, kind of like following the assignment guidelines, and we take that as a learning experience,” Williams said.

The tutors also get offers to attend training seminars held throughout the semester to learn more about specific style guides. “It’s the expectation that as a tutor, when you do have breaks in your work schedule, it doesn’t hurt to go through the instruction manuals,” Williams said.

Workshops

While most students take advantage of the Writing Center’s tutoring services, the center also offers workshops throughout the semester for students.

“The workshops are free and open to the public. Usually we’ll have a couple of senior-level tutors who help to conduct workshops, to help the community out with basic issues that we see,” Williams said.

The workshops are similar to mass-tutoring sessions, Williams said. During the Fall 2020 semester, the Writing Center offered three sessions: “Presentation on How to Find and Correct Your Errors,” “Presentation on How to Reflect on Your Writing” and “How to Manage Writing Anxiety and Writer’s Block.”

One of the biggest roadblocks and misconceptions that students have about the Writing Center is that it is only a place to go if you feel like there are problems with your writing, Williams said.

“Workshops and tutoring sessions can be for people of all levels – all disciplines,” Williams said, and emphasized that, “We’re helping you to evoke the best writer that is already in you.”

Working for the UWC

The Writing Center is a resource available to strengthen your writing through either one-on-one tutoring sessions or workshops. It can also be a place to gain a variety of skills and connections by working there.

“I’ve learned a lot and it’s definitely been one of my favorite experiences this semester,” Williams said.

“One of the most important things working here has taught me is the importance of different writing styles…working with a lot of different students from first-gen students to students who aren’t native English speakers has been really interesting.”

“As a tutor is has been a really good experience to read and hear a lot of different voices and hear a lot of different experiences and to look more into my own narrative voice,” Williams said, and “learning how to edit other people’s papers has taught me how to edit my own papers better.”

“One of the biggest things about working at the Writing Center,” Williams said, “is that we’re very friendly, we never want to put (the student) in a position where we’re very hard on you.”

“Before I came to the Writing Center, I was always the person that people came to when they needed help with their papers, so I was already used to being in that environment but being a tutor at the Writing Center has given me a lot more confidence in doing that and has also given me a lot more skills and resources with working with different students and different writing styles,” Williams said.

Whether you just want feedback on an essay or want to be on the other side of the screen, the Writing Center is an excellent resource to develop your writing, no matter your year or skill level.

Journalism and Professional Writing

By Taylor Hanson

“I am finally out of college, ready to build a career as a writer, and start a new chapter in my life.” This is what many aspiring professional writers say as they take their first steps towards building their career. But what does a career for a journalist and aspiring writer look like?

Before taking these initial steps, it is important to know how to obtain a career and what requirements there are, as well as duties you will perform. This is why I decided to research what kind of jobs are available for journalism and creative writing, as well as the requirements they prefer.

I also found that being familiar with other writers and their work improves your own. Performing marketing and editing tasks to get a book published, as well as work with co-writers and editors is important for development. This aids creative writers but also others whose work involves writing.

Life as a writer

I conducted an interview with a relative, Becca, who has two books published and a lot of experience in performing duties as a writer. Her occupation is a sociologist who conducts qualitative research. In this career, one must perform a lot of data analysis and writing based on the data collected while conducting research.

I asked her what education she has for her career, “I received training in my master’s program in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and my PhD program in Sociology at University of Georgia.” These were the first steps in her career in research and data analysis, and how to publish about her research.

According to Becca, she did not receive much training on how to write books in these programs. Instead, she learned how to write by, “looking at other authors I admired, reading their books not only with an eye towards substance but structure and style.” She also mentioned that co-authoring has been extremely helpful to her as it has allowed her to work with others in her field with more experience and learn how they write.

“At the end of the day, writing is about producing a lot of material you will never use, editing, writing, and rewriting. It is having the patience and commitment to return to the same chapters over and over again to improve phrasing, organization, and flow. Those are probably the most useful skills I have ever learned while writing these three books.”

Becca informed me that academic publishing is different from fiction or non-academic publishing. For her publishing process, Becca prepares a book prospectus consisting of 5-10 pages, which provides a summary of the book’s arguments, a breakdown of its chapters, presentation of the book’s contributions relating to other scholars, and finally, a biographical sketch that positions her as an expert in her field.

During the interview I learned that having connections with editors helps the publishing process. Becca met two editors she has worked with at academic conferences, and she has cultivated a relationship with another editor for years. In her explanation of getting books published, Becca informed me, “Once you have a contract with a book publisher, it is completely up to you to produce a manuscript that can be sent out for review. So, it is important to be well-organized and plan ahead so you can complete the project on time.” Her advice for future job seekers? “Get involved in groups and events that are organized around your profession of interest as soon as you can.”

Job Searching

I wanted to see what kinds of jobs might be available to aspiring writers, so I researched job advertisements on Indeed.com, Salary.com and Simplyhired.com , which are highly recommended sites for job-searching. General Assignment Reporter for 1819 News, one of the jobs on their site, requires 3-5 years of experience covering news for online publication, a bachelor’s degree in journalism (preferred but not required), and experience in journalism (three years is preferred). Tasks include writing stories to attract readers to expand 1819 News, collaborating with editors, and producing different news features as well as analysis of complex issues.

Digital Copywriter with Strong Automotive Merchandising, the second job advertisement I found, requires a bachelor’s degree in English, journalism or writing. The employers prefer their applicants to have at least one year of experience in copywriting. Employees will perform responsibilities such as creating blog posts, working closely with Content Marketing Coordinators, proofreading, and editing content, and digital reporting.

The last job I found was a novel writing job for eGlobal Creative Publishing, requiring no prior experience except writing. Tasks include writing about fantasy, fiction, romance, video games, LGBTQ+ issues, and many more topics. This would be. I found many jobs that piqued my interest, which provided comfort that there are opportunities for those of us pursuing a writing career. I recommend these sites for anyone in search of a job if you aren’t sure where to start.

Learning how to find the information needed to pursue a career is essential for me as a creative writing major and aspiring journalist, but also for other careers. Pursuing a career requires this kind of research early in life to make sure you are taking the steps that will help to build your specific career. It is helpful to know what kind of jobs are available, what is required to obtain them, and what tasks you will perform to make sure the job fits your interest.

While performing my job search analysis, I had difficulty finding the exact jobs that fit a creative writing concentration. There are a lot of jobs available for diverse writers in many concentrations, such as proposal writers, proofreaders, and news reporters. I learned not only that there are many different careers for writing, but many that require different expertise.

Using What You Know

After my research, I now know what a creative writer and journalist needs to focus their degree on, what duties will be performed as a professional writer, and what jobs are available. I also learned how to gain connections and build my way in the writing industry successfully. In all, I believe this process provides clarity, understanding, and self-discovery. I was able to discover what kind of future I can have, as well as how to pursue it correctly.

Before conducting research for this article, I was unsure of what it meant to be a journalist, and even less sure of what kind of journalist I wanted to be. Following Becca’s advice, making connections, staying consistent and dedicated, and preparing to create a lot of content to continuously recreate will help me and anyone in this occupation become successful as a writer.

I hope this helps anyone wanting to pursue a professional writing career. These steps I took to gain a better understanding of what a writing career looks like and how to obtain it are helpful steps for anyone searching for a career. Job sites such as Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com are helpful sites to find job advertisements, but there are many other sites available if those do not meet your expectations.

Gain connections and talk to your teachers for advice on achieving a successful writing career. There are never-ending sources, and no one can stop you from becoming who you want to be. “Talking with people working towards the same goals, or people who are already working in the profession, helps you prepare but also develop networks and a base of support.” (Becca Hanson).

Blazer’s Block

By ThaLiscia Rankins

Julie with entire face covered and her head down — Julie struggling with writer’s block

We all have encountered or been the person who watches a cursor blink in silent despair, or changes the font twenty times, before giving up and going to bed.

This feeling of having no idea what to write about and feeling frustrated with beginning a writing assignment is known as writer’s block. If you are reading this article you probably know this feeling. We have writer’s block when we can’t get started writing, or when we are stuck halfway through our paper and can’t seem to move forward.

Reasons why we Experience Writer’s Block

- Fear
  Writer’s block can often occur in the drafting stage of a project

Writing can be scary for anyone, especially someone who is very introverted. We experience fear because we are afraid of putting our thoughts out into the open and being judged by our readers, ultimately leading to stress. Wanting to be as good as everyone else, striving to be perfect when you write something or holding unrealistic standards can lead to writer’s block.

Someone who is good at writing may experience writer’s block because of high expectations and not wanting to let anyone down. Maybe you are presenting an idea in class, and fear of rejection makes it harder to write.

- Content
  Josh is unsure of how to begin his sports article

Several specific things about a writing assignment can lead to stress but the content of the paper is a major reason why we experience writer’s block. Sometimes it is hard to find information about what we are writing about or we run out of ideas for the assignments. The content could be complicated, hard to write about or we just don’t want to do it because it does not interest us.

- Burned Out

If you are a writer who has been working constantly, you are more than likely burned out and need to take a break. Writing too much can be bad, especially if you are not getting enough rest. Remember, not resting your mind can cause writer’s block and sleep deficiency is associated with problems in concentration, memory and the immune system.

Overcoming Writer’s Block

Quanterrius thinking about what to write — Quanterrius is contemplating what to write

- Ease the Tension

Writer’s block is frustrating and getting around it can be challenging. Sometimes taking a break and doing something fun to take your mind off of a paper for a while can help with writer’s block.

Some creative ways to help with writer’s block includes: listening to music, going for a walk (walking helps to relieve stress and free thoughts), and playing games—whether it’s on a PlayStation, laptop or phone will help you focus on something else.

- Eliminate Distractions

While some people need to ease the tension by doing something like playing games, other people struggle with avoidance and distractions. Turn your phone on airplane mode to mute distractions, use an app like AppDetox to lock individual apps or turn off all electronic devices. Changing your workspace could help eliminate distractions as well. If you are sitting in your room trying to write a paper, going to a library or somewhere quiet with other people who are also studying helps with distractions. A change in setting could really get ideas flowing.

- Just Write

Write about something that is fun and changes the subject to something different. There are websites that support writers and give them a chance to write about something different with fun writing prompts. Sometimes the only way to get past writer’s block is to write what you are struggling with and get it down on paper; handwriting things before typing them can help with your ideas and thoughts.

You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block- John Rodger

Controlling Flow in Writing

By Ashton Cook

Coherence and cohesion are important to keep in mind when writing

From news to fiction to blog posts, writers seek to grab attention with their work. It is one of the reasons why creators create: to express themselves in a way that leaves an impact. In writing, however, that impact can be heavily hampered by flaws in coherence and cohesion.

To keep the reader happily invested in whatever they are reading, the text must seem natural and accessible, or flow.

Coherence and Cohesion

For readers to connect to a piece of writing, the text must be capable of comfortably communicating with them, which relates to coherence. But to be coherent, the words themselves must be able to connect as seamlessly as possible, which is to be cohesive.

It can be daunting to revise the flow of a piece. Sometimes, the issue with an article can come down to just one word choice, and finding that problematic phrase can feel similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. There are some ways to help make the process simpler.

Who? What? Where?

First and foremost, to know if you’re communicating fluidly with your audience, you must know who they are. If the article or story is meant for a younger audience, using complicated language won’t be very effective. If the target is an academic group, See Mike hike and similarly simple phrasing might come across too dull.

Another thing to consider is sentence length. While it is good to have some sentences that run for a decent amount of space, having too many can leave the reader feeling like they cannot breathe. Too many short sentences can be equally overwhelming. Utilizing a good mix of the two can help keep a reader from breaking away from the text.

Sometimes the issue with a piece of writing isn’t in the sentences. Paragraphs can be too lengthy or too brief, or they may introduce material at wrong times. Looking at how you could restructure what you’re working on can lead to finding new ways of strengthening it.

Resources Around You

There is some writing that, no matter how much we rethink and revise, we’ll never be satisfied with. Something is forgotten, leaving the whole text feeling incomplete. Or, maybe, something is awkward, but you can’t figure out what it is. Times like these are when you should have someone review your work with you. Visiting the University Writing Center on campus, meeting with a professor or finding a good friend are all great solutions for when revision feels like hitting a wall.

Don’t Trust the Process(or)

By Chase Coats

An anxious student

Let’s be honest; we all want to fit in, and for a foreign writer, sometimes that can prove to be quite a challenge.

It should come as no surprise that writing is an area where non-native speakers seem to have the most anxiety.

Entering the business world, many wish they could hide their accent or any sign that English is their secondary language, and that’s why software like Grammarly is appealing to so many!

Grammarly appeals to people who want their ideas to be heard, but don’t want to be bothered with the nitpicking that can often make or break their writing or meaning.

If you’re unfamiliar with Grammarly, it’s a program that prides itself on not just fixing minor mistakes, but improving one’s writing as a whole by interacting with the user. Grammarly highlights detected errors and offers suggestions for corrections or substitutions, but ultimately it’s up to the user to decide for themselves.

But does Grammarly allow someone still grappling with the language barrier the confidence to operate their software effectively?

What happens if what is highlighted goes beyond spelling and punctuation, and leans more towards the trickier laws of grammar or even word choice? For the non-native-speaker, a demographic that Grammarly boasts has benefitted from their services, Grammarly’s suggestions can actually muddy up the voice in one’s writing. To make matters worse, Medium.com reports that On average, Grammarly only finds 40% of errors in non-native-English.

Sinister Synonyms

The main area of concern lies in the program’s thesaurus, which attempts to improve a writer’s word choice to make their work seem more eloquent and professional. This would be one of the product’s features that a foreign voice would hope to utilize, but reviews have shown that the suggested synonyms can either be archaic or just plain weird.

An example of this questionable word choice is best seen in Writing-Skills.com’s review of Grammarly, where the word “plain” in “plain English” was the focal point. Rather than keeping the word “plain” (the software having deemed it too generic), Grammarly offered words like “basic” or “clear” as substitutions. For a foreign voice still trying to assimilate to a more Western way of speaking, these are the moments that defeat the whole purpose for using the software in the first place.

A writer must have the confidence to be able to know when Grammarly may have made a mistake, and for a non-native speaker already struggling with a transition between languages, this presents a real problem. The final verdict on Grammarly? As a product that claims to be a powerful tool for…foreign students…English language learners, and non-native-English-speaking professionals, Grammarly has the potential to fail those who truly need it most.

Turning Off The Lights

A Soft Resistance to Complicating the Process

In 2013, Microsoft released a new iteration of Word folded into their ubiquitous Office suite. Amazingly, it came with the option to pay a recurrent subscription fee for a premium license.

Even five years on, the notion of paying a subscription fee for something you could find floating somewhere in pre-installed bloatware was questionable. Not to mention the free version was relatively feature-complete for someone uninterested in much more than simple formatting or editing functionality.

If you bought a laptop with Office pre-loaded around that time, you were probably spoiled with a generous free trial from Microsoft, but you’d eventually get a prompt to re-up for continued service.

And service really is the operative word here.

At a certain point the entire business realized that as for selling software outright,
there just isn’t cash in it like there ought to be. We’re now buying services in lieu of
programs, games, or utilities because the real money is in the customer captured.

That is, the sustainer. In the subscriber.

The consumer should be a dairy cow eager to be milked, not some one and done steer ready for slaughter.

Okay, that’s a bit much, but the point is that regular (and palatably inexpensive) purchases became standard. Take a look at Apple’s highest grossing apps list. How many offer in-app or incremental purchases?

This is really all to say I can’t call myself a fan of this business model, and I know I’m not alone because the term “microtransactions” by itself is enough to raise a certain type of person’s blood pressure, but I’m burying the lede here.

What I want to address isn’t just the incremental payment model, but the resulting feature creep of software. Why do we need so many versions of Microsoft Word if not to justify the narrative that it’s not a page you put words on, it’s a whole ecosystem?

You should be signing up for another year of service, looking at banner ads next to your unfinished novel (really coming together, by the way), and boning up
on Word’s upcoming Chinese social media integration.

Thing is, this user experience is fundamentally antithetical to creative work.

Luckily, there are alternatives.

All kinds: stone tabla with stylus, dictating to a manservant, screaming your copy directly to readers, pen and paper.

Now, if you’re like me you can’t afford yet another manservant. I also like typing on computers, and the way they can save my writing as document files. So really, none of those quite get the job done.

What I do instead is use an ancient (and static) program called Darkroom, a minimalist word processor for Windows adapted from the yet more ancient Writeroom for Mac. Darkroom has features like allowing line breaks, 48 options for text color, and saving in .txt format.

It has few other features, and it’s perfect.

Darkroom Screenshot — Gaze not too long upon its glory, for neon green settings in full screen mode disturb the weak of heart and sensitive of eyes.

Well, almost perfect. Like I said, it has no other export options besides .txt, doesn’t have shortcuts for bold and italicize, and I have not been able to discern what the middle two buttons in that upper right column actually do (seriously, let me know if you find out).

Also, if you rely heavily on spellcheck, well, this probably isn’t for you, albeit if you’re like me you find autocorrect more frustrating than helpful and that’s mercifully absent as well.

In any case, I’d highly recommend checking out minimal software like Darkroom. I saw a noticeable uptick in productivity when I started using it. It feels good to write outside the visual context of document creation for once.

There’s nothing but the words when you’re finally writing “writing” rather than a Word or Google doc.

Writing in a Digital Age

By Alli Patton

Sports Illustrated

When I was younger, wide-eyed and curious, I would flip through the glossy pages of magazines like Rolling Stone and National Geographic, and dream that one day my words would appear behind their covers. I loved the physical, tangible aspects of print media, all the flipping, pausing, turning, dog-earing. With something new and exciting to explore on the next page, there was always so much satisfaction with every flip.

Now that print media is essentially dying in this Digital Age we are caught in, is that same satisfaction lost? Can a reader be just as influenced by an article plastered on a screen? At a time when Twitter is considered a reliable news source and anything of significance can be relayed through an emoji, does the death of print also mean the death of writing?

Let us hope not. The swiping of a screen and the clicking of links has now replaced the joy in flipping a page and ogling at the words etched upon it, but has the content changed and become less mesmerizing?

Of course not, because writing is not the page-to-page motions, it is the actual content. An audience can still be reached through a screen. The little Allis of the world can still be touched and moved by words. The only difference is those words can be accessed with the touch of a button and those pages can be thumbed through with the swipe of a finger.

The Digital Age may have killed print, but it most certainly hasn’t done away with writing. If anything, written content is more accessible, easier to navigate and more widely explored. For instance, a lot of magazines, such as National Geographic and Rolling Stone, can now be read through a digital format on their websites. Today, words are bolder, voices are louder and opinions are stronger than ever. That is something you can’t get between the pages of a magazine. Life.