Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing


Book Description

Online sensation Grammar Girl makes grammar fun and easy in this New York Times bestseller Are you stumped by split infinitives? Terrified of using "who" when a "whom" is called for? Do you avoid the words "affect" and "effect" altogether? Grammar Girl is here to help! Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than twenty million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective e-mailing, Grammar Girl's print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.




The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design


Book Description

• Authors are top game designers • Aspiring game writers and designers must have this complete bible There are other books about creating video games out there. Sure, they cover the basics. But The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design goes way beyond the basics. The authors, top game designers, focus on creating games that are an involving, emotional experience for the gamer. Topics include integrating story into the game, writing the game script, putting together the game bible, creating the design document, and working on original intellectual property versus working with licenses. Finally, there’s complete information on how to present a visionary new idea to developers and publishers. Got game? Get The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design.




Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students


Book Description

Named to the International Reading Association's 2012 Teachers' Choice book list Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students is a complete and comprehensive guide to all things grammar from Grammar Girl, a.k.a. Mignon Fogarty, whose popular podcasts have been downloaded over twenty million times and whose first book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, was a New York Times bestseller. For beginners to more advanced students, this guide covers it all: the parts of speech, sentences, and punctuation are all explained clearly and concisely with the warmth, wit, and accessibility Grammar Girl is known for. Pop quizzes are scattered throughout to reinforce the explanations, as well as Grammar Girl's trademark Quick and Dirty Tips—easy and fun memory tricks to help with those challenging rules. Complete with a writing style chapter and a guide to the different kinds of writing—everything from school papers to letter writing to e-mails—this guide is sure to become the one-stop, essential book on every student's desk.




Ultimate Guide to Business Writing


Book Description

The Ultimate Guide to Business Writing is a comprehensive guide on how to write any kind of business document. Written clearly in an engaging voice, it explains in depth the whole process: from determining objectives to establishing readers’ needs, conducting research, outlining, and designing a template; to writing the first draft; to editing for meaning, accuracy, concision, style and emotional impact; to creating glossaries and indices; to proofreading and working with reviewers. The book also explains how to exploit the psychology of perception and motivation, collaborate effectively with business colleagues, manage documents holistically across an organisation, and deal with the other everyday practicalities of managing knowledge in a corporate environment. Every section of the book is packed with questions to stimulate thinking and generate meaningful answers, and dozens of examples of what works and why. The book’s also rich in practical examples drawn from real life, anecdotes, humour, and visual aids. But the advice isn’t just practical and anecdotal: it’s also rigorously supported by scientific evidence from notable linguists and psychologists such as Steven Pinker, Daniel Goleman and Yellowlees Douglas. And anyone keen to explore further will benefit from the bibliography and links to videos and other online resources. The book is ideal not just for professional business writers, such as editors, technical writers, copywriters and creative directors; it’s also suitable for anyone whose job requires them to write, whether it’s something as simple as an email or as complex as a set of policies or a handbook.




Writing Irresistible Kidlit


Book Description

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.




Ultimate Writing Guide for Students


Book Description

Grammar Girl, whose first book was a "New York Times" bestseller, returns in this complete and comprehensive guide to grammar for beginners to the more advanced student. Includes Grammar Girl's trademark Quick and Dirty Tips, along with a style guide to different kinds of writing.




Grammar Girl's Punctuation 911


Book Description

Previously published as part of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Online sensation Grammar Girl makes punctuation fun and easy in Grammar Girl's Punctuation 911. Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad punctuation—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make with grammar. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than twenty million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Now, Mignon tackles the most commonly asked questions regarding punctuation. From semi-colons to serial commas and ellipses to asterisks, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome punctuation rules.




The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook


Book Description

2022 Bookauthority: Best College Ebooks of All Time: Winner 2022 American Writing Awards Nonfiction Health Category: Winner 2022 IAN Book of the Year Outstanding Non-Fiction Health/Medicine: Winner 2022 International Impact Book Award Winner 2021 Gold Medal Florida Authors & Publishers Association Presidents Award: Health Category 2021 Gold Medal Winner of the International Book Award: Health Category 2021 Silver Medal Winner of the Nautilus Award: Health, Healing, Wellness & Vitality 2021 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite: Health & Fitness 2021 New York City Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite in the Health & Fitness category 2021 Firebird Speak Up Talk Radio Winner 2021 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal: Young Adult Nonfiction 2020 Gold Medal Winner of the Literary Titan Award 2020 American Book Fest Best Book Awards Winner: College Guides Consider this College Health 101—an award-winning guide to what students really want (or need) to know about their mental and physical health when they're away from home. College students facing their first illness, accident, or anxiety away from home often flip-flop between wanting to handle it themselves and wishing their parents could swoop in and fix everything. Advice from peers and “Dr. Google” can be questionable.The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook provides accurate, trustworthy, evidence-based medical information (served with a dose of humor) to reduce anxiety and stress and help set appropriate expectations for more than fifty common issues. What if you can’t sleep well (or can’t sleep at all) in your dorm room? What if a pill “gets stuck” in your throat? What if your roommate falls asleep (or passes out) wearing contacts, and wakes up with one painfully stuck? Your friend’s terrible sore throat isn’t Strep or Mono? What else could it be? What should you do for food poisoning? When do you really need X-rays for a sprained ankle or injured toe? What helps severe test anxiety or fear of public speaking? Dr. Jill Grimes has the answer to these questions and many more. Her guidebook is designed to help you: Decide if and when to seek medical help Know what to expect when you get there Plan for the worst-case scenario if you don’t seek help Learn how you can prevent this in the future Realize what you can do right now, before you see a doctor Understand the diagnostic and treatment options Got questions about tattoos, smoking, vaping, pot, and piercings? No worries, Dr. Grimes has covered those topics, too, as well as a few things you might not know about the use and abuse of stimulant (ADD) prescription medications. Pair this book with the DIY First Aid Kit detailed in the bonus section to help you, your roommates, and your friends have a healthier, happier semester!




Writing with Stardust


Book Description

'Writing with Stardust' will launch your writing skills into a different orbit. It not only shows you how to write, it teaches you how to look at the world with an 'artist's eye'. Spring is described as nature's defibrillator in the book. In the same way, the techniques used here will be the high voltage pacemaker you have been looking for in your writing. Ready to greet you are females with constellation-blue eyes and megawatt smiles. Males with Hercules-gold hair move like panthers in slow-mo. Thumb plump bumblebees, wings a-thrum, loot from honeypots of mustard-yellow flowers. Willowy waterfalls swoop into infinity pools while the stars above sparkle like angel fire. Pine and peat, mint and meringue; all the smells and tastes you could wish for are inside. Join us on a multisensory voyage of discovery that will change the way you think forever. Nature can be a cruel mistress, however. Blood-red moons leer over boiling seas while mariners try to defy ancient curses. Grim faced men fight for their lives under starless skies and sun blasted deserts burn hotter than Greek fire. Even the lightning flashes like the cold, gold prongs of the Apocalypse. The book provides a platform for students, parents, teachers and lovers of English to launch their descriptive powers into a new orbit. The word banks contain words for five different levels of ability. Whether you are a young English student or a seasoned scribe, you will find that this book will transform the way you think about descriptive writing.




The Book on Writing


Book Description

You’re going to love the way Paula LaRocque teaches in The Book on Writing. A celebrated writing coach with a sense of humor and a gentle touch, she’s also a master writer herself with a long and distinguished career in both teaching and practicing the art of writing. The Book on Writing contains 25 chapters in three sections: • A dozen essential but easy-to-apply guidelines to good writing, from the importance of clarity to the value of a conversational tone. Paula LaRocque believes learning is easier and more successful when we are not only told but also shown. So her Book on Writing is chockfull of actual writing examples that supplement and illustrate principles that apply as naturally to fiction as they do to nonfiction. • How to tell a story—from building suspense, to effective description, to the uses of metaphor and literary devices. Paula LaRocque also deals with the narrative “engine” and the value of the archetype in plotting and characterization—as well as with pace and speed and leveling what she terms writing’s “speedbumps.” • A clear and concise handbook that deals with common problems in grammar, usage, punctuation, and style—the kind of problems that often trouble even wordsmiths. The handbook also debunks pesky language “rules” that are actually myths. The Book on Writing is one-stop shopping for writers. Read it once, and you’ll be a better writer. Read it often, and you’ll be among the best.