Many of us believe that writing well in English means, above all, writing "grammatically". If our knowledge of grammar is thin, we may feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and even vaguely guilty whenever we put fingers to keyboard. Considering that most of our information about grammar comes to us from our teachers in the form of negative feedback rather than any positive presentation of what grammar is, it's no wonder that so many of us spend so much time wondering and worrying over our everyday writing tasks.

Our belief that sticking to the rules of grammar is the most important quality of good writing is wrong for at least two reasons.  Read More

Suffering from the writing blues? Nothing you write seems inspired, interesting, or perhaps even intelligible. Take heart, maybe it's a growth spurt in disguise. These quotations celebrate the value of difficulty and failure.  Read More