All posts by Catherine L. Tully

Catherine L. Tully is a writer, photographer and educator. She has been published in magazines such as American Style, Boys' Life and Chicagoland Business Elite among many others. See more about her at www.catherineltully.com or view her photography at www.moonbeamdigital.com.
advice

When Writing Is Rough…

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Everyone who is in this field experiences some rough patches. Times where they are blocked, discouraged, burnt out or just plain tired. This is normal, expected and healthy–so long as you don’t get stuck there.

Every career field has its ebb and flow, so down times are nothing to worry about. But if you are stuck in a rut, fried beyond repair (or seemingly so) or feeling really funky, it may be time to shift gears. Here are a few tips for getting through those dark times and coming out on the other side, refreshed and ready to go….

  • Give up. By give up, I don’t mean quit. I mean give up on trying to power through for a while and focus on something else. Can’t write that article? Put it aside and work on marketing yourself. Don’t have another query in you? Go through your old work and try and sell some re-prints. Sometimes going forward no matter what–just doesn’t make good sense.
  • Go away. Perhaps the cure is nothing but a simple change of scenery. Do you always write at home? Go to a coffee shop for a week and see if it replenishes your drive. Take your laptop to the park and set up shop for the afternoon–and write something fun. Getting out of a rut can sometimes be as easy as changing the background.
  • Get moving. If you’ve been sitting at a desk day after day, churning out copy, perhaps you need a little physical activity. Nothing beats depression like a brisk walk or bike ride to get those endorphins churning. Try it. You’ll see.
  • Get feedback. If you’re feeling down, sometimes talking with another writer can help snap you out of your funk. We’ve all been through hard times here and there and there’s nothing like someone in the “biz” to help you get some perspective on things.

What do you do to get out of a downward spiral? Help another writer and share a tip or two!

editorial, Words and Reason

Continental Confusion

by Cynthia Clampitt

Cynthia Clampitt
Cynthia Clampitt

Most good writers know that writing is a bit livelier if they use a variety of words, rather than just repeating the same word over and over. This is probably truest for verbs, but also applies to nouns. For example, Windy City or Big Apple might stand in for Chicago or New York. However this substituting really only works when the substitute truly parallels that which is being replaced. Problems arise when a term, name, or phrase is not completely understood.

The situation where I see this most commonly occur is in discussions of Latin America. I find that a lot of writers, and probably most of the general public, are usually a little vague on definitions when talking or writing about Latin America.

As both an editor and a general reader, I’ve seen numerous instances where the term Latin America is used interchangeably with South America. However, they’re not interchangeable. Not all of South America is Latin America, and Latin America is considerably larger than just South America.

Broadly defined, Latin America is those parts of the North and South American continents where they speak a Latin-based language. Again, that brings in another element of potential confusion. It’s not just Spanish, but also includes Portuguese and French. So one should not use “Spanish-speaking countries” in lieu of “Latin America,” because Portuguese (official language of Brazil) and French are part of the mix.

Latin America includes Mexico, which is a substantial part of North America. It also includes parts of the Caribbean, but certainly not all of it: for example, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti are part of Latin America, but English-speaking Jamaica, Nassau, or Barbados are not.

Latin America also includes most of Central America, which is not actually a separate entity; it’s just the tail end of North America. Belize, however, though it’s part of Central America, is not part of Latin America. It’s part of the British Commonwealth.

Most of South America is Latin America, but don’t use Latin America to mean South America, and don’t assume all of South America is part of Latin America. The official language of Suriname is Dutch. In Guyana, the population is of East Indian, African, Amerindian, and mixed origin, and they speak English, Guyanese Creole, or Amerindian languages. So neither is part of Latin America. French Guiana is a department of France. Like Haiti, they speak French, so they are part of Latin America, but not Hispanic America.

Actually, Hispanic is occasionally another part of the confusion. It doesn’t just mean Spanish, it means Spanish and Portuguese people, speech, and culture. So, again, “Spanish-speaking countries” would not be a good substitute for Latin America.

So when writing, regardless of the outlet, make sure you use the term Latin America correctly. It is not Spanish America. It is not South America. Lots of folks are unclear on this, but as writers, we can help clear up the confusion.

BIO: Contributor Cynthia Clampitt is a freelance writer, food historian, and traveler. She loves history, geography, culture, literature, and language—and the place where all of these intersect. She is the author of the award-winning travel narrative, Waltzing Australia, and keeps two blogs, http://www.theworldsfare.org and http://www.waltzingaustralia.com.

advice

Short & Sweet vs. Long & Detailed

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Which kind of writer are you?

Most of us fall into one of two camps–people like me who can’t seem to add length to a piece to save their lives and…

People like my co-editor, Joe, who have to trim and cut to fit a word count.

Everything I write comes out short. I dread assignments where they want 1,500 words and think to myself, “Do sidebars count?” every time I get one. I have to go into the assignment thinking about how I’m going to stretch it. Now I can do it, but it takes some doing. It’s simply not my natural style.

Other writers (like Joe) are the opposite, penning a lengthy piece and then having to decide what they can leave out in order to fit the word count. I think they have it easier. I’d prefer to cut rather than add…it just seems to flow better.

Funny thing is…traditionally my style of writing works better for the web, and I have written mostly for print in my career. Joe’s style works better for print, and – you guessed it – he’s done more web writing. Funny isn’t it?

Which do you prefer?

(Note: I thought about adding to this post, but it’s really just as long as it needs to be. Right?)

editorial, Words and Reason

Words and Reason: Hear Ye, Hear Ye

by Cynthia Clampitt

Cynthia Clampitt
Cynthia Clampitt

It is unlikely that any of you have ever heard Old English (and, to be honest, it’s not highly likely that loads of you have even heard Middle English, unless you studied Chaucer in school). Most people are surprised to learn that Shakespeare was writing in Modern English, but that’s what it was. However, as you’re probably aware, a few things have changed since the bard’s day.

One thing that makes a big difference is the change in the size of the working vocabulary of the general population. Shakespeare’s vocabulary ran around 25,000 words (though I’ve seen higher estimates), while the average vocabulary of English speakers today ranges between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Granted, there are some of us who collect words as if they were gold, but that is becoming less common.

Pity that working vocabularies are so low today, as English is a wildly rich language. Because it in essence merged two languages (Anglo-Saxon and French, after the Norman Conquest in 1066), and has since that time adopted words freely from languages around the world, it has vastly more words than any other language—something like three times as many words as our nearest competitor, German.

English is an amazing language, evolving and absorbing words: kangaroo, pecan, rodeo, pajama, shampoo, kimono, chipmunk, safari, barbecue, and thousands more. However, some of the evolution in modern English makes it harder to understand what one is reading, even when reading things written as recently as the first half of the 20th century.

Today, I thought I’d share a couple of things that could help you if you’re visiting England or if you’re reading anything written a while back (in some cases, that includes anything before about 1970). Continue reading Words and Reason: Hear Ye, Hear Ye →

advice

Why A Thesaurus Works

by Catherine L. Tully

Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully
Freelance-Zone Editor, Catherine L. Tully

Every writer has keywords and catch-phrases that they use all the time. (I can spot the ones that Joe uses easy, and I’m sure he can name a bunch of mine!) These standard “lists” of things we each use regularly aren’t a bad thing–they allow us to churn out that rough draft quickly and get the idea down before losing the thread of what we are trying to say. Still, using words outside of the subconscious can illuminate your writing and inspire your reader.

Enter the thesaurus.

Now. I’m going to give a disclaimer here…I really don’t believe you should use a thesaurus to replace words so that you sound more lofty, or just for the sake of impressing your reader. You should still seek to communicate clearly and succinctly. Still, the thesaurus can rescue you from yourself if you know what you are doing with it.

I often write a draft of something and then go back through it to take out repeated phrases or weak words. Instead of sitting there with my eyes closed trying to come up with a good replacement, I simply pull up my online thesaurus and type in the word I’m looking to switch out. It takes far less time and it gives me some great alternatives. Truthfully, it is one of my favorite tools.

Here is a quick example…

If I used the word “energy” and wanted to be more specific, the thesaurus gives me some good choices: animation, fire, power, potency, verve, vivacity….

The trick to using this tool well is to make sure you are selecting a word that improves your sentence, not one that muddies the water. Sometimes this means looking up the word you are thinking about using to make sure it is actually a more descriptive one–or that it even works in context. (Here’s a basic one to try.)

What is your favorite writing tool?

editorial, Words and Reason

Words and Reason: In a Fix with Affixes

by Cynthia Clampitt

Cynthia Clampitt
Cynthia Clampitt

Continuing our focus on writing language-acquisition lessons for educational publishers, I’d like to talk about affixes. Affixes are things that get stuck on words to change their meanings or their parts of speech. The two primary types of affixes—the only ones you’ll be asked to teach in textbooks—are suffixes and prefixes, stuck on (or fixed) after or before the words to be changed.

Most people think they know about suffixes and prefixes, but it’s surprising how often they are misled by words that look like they might be affixes but are, in reality, word parts. A word is only an affix if you can take it away and still have a word (or close to a word, as minor changes do occur occasionally).

Part of the reason this gets tricky is there are a few roots that appear as both word parts and affixes. These word parts that double as affixes are known as combining forms. For example, uni-, which means “one” or “having only one,” can be a prefix, as in unicycle or unicellular. But it can also be a word part, as in unify. Unify means to make one, so it still has the same meaning from the same root, but it’s clearly not a prefix. If you take it away, you’re left with -fy, which is not a word.

Another example is trans a word that is very useful to teach. However, if you teach it as a prefix, use examples such as transatlantic or transcontinental. If you use transfer, we’re again talking word part, not prefix.

When explaining these two affixes, point out to students that prefixes change meaning and suffixes change part of speech. For example, unhappy is the opposite of happy. Meaning changed. Happy is a noun; happily is an adverb. Part of speech changed.

It’s also important to keep in mind that some affixes have more than one meaning, and more than one root. For example, the prefix “ex-“ can be the Greek “out of” or the Latin “former.” Make sure you know which one you’re teaching in a lesson, and make sure the examples you give all match the definition you’re using. (Only in rare cases will you have enough space to compare both meanings, so remember to say, when defining, “One meaning of ex- is…,” so students know there are other possibilities.) Continue reading Words and Reason: In a Fix with Affixes →