Nothing gets us in trouble more as a writer than misusing punctuation. A misplaced comma can often change the meaning of what we are saying and confuse our readers. To help you understand the basic rules, I am going to keep the sample sentences very basic.   First rule:  Any part of a sentence that can be deleted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence should have commas before and after that word, clause, or phrase.   Example: Oslo, who is my smallest dog, is lear

As I’m writing this blog post, I’m in the process of assessing my writing goals for myself and my students. I think writing goals are...

I love being a writing consultant and coach for both teen writers and adults. I believe that we all need encouragement and guidance through the writing process. When I work with teens or adults, I challenge them with writing prompts that are both creative and academic in nature. Why do I use both creative and academic exercises when I am coaching someone? I am asked this question from time to time, and my answer always remains the same: creative writing strengthens our nonfic