Most of us heard or read stories about cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, blockchain and so on over the past few years. Few of us, however, understand what those terms mean. Given that those technologies are probably here to stay, writers and readers alike would benefit from a basic understanding of the terminology involved. Below you will find an initial list with 32 terms. We plan to update it as new ones appear. 1. Bitcoin Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency. It is…

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Writing and publishing a book is a huge (and wonderful) undertaking – and you’ll want all the help you can get. There are loads of great downloadable tools out there for book authors, like Scrivener (for writing), Calibre (for producing ebooks) and KDP Rocket (for finding good keywords to use on Amazon). But in this post, I want to focus on online tools – ones that you can use through your web browser. Here are ten of the best, for…

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Writers sometimes sabotage their efforts to express themselves by leaving key information out of a sentence, resulting in confusing statements. Each of the following examples suffers from obfuscation due to one of more missing words. Discussion after each sentence explains the problem, and a revision provides a solution. 1. It has been called one of, if not the best film Smith has directed. This type of error, frequently committed by professional and amateur writers alike, is the result of an…

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Do you ever find yourself distracted when you’re writing? I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer who could honestly answer “no” to that question! Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, checking the news headlines, browsing a few webcomics, answering emails, ordering that book from Amazon you’d forgotten about … there are so many distractions just a click away. The good news is, there’s plenty you can do to help yourself to focus as you write. I’ve split my suggestions into three…

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Point and words and compounds containing that root, as well as terms with the element punct- and some similar (and not so similar forms), are all cognate, deriving from the Latin verb pungere, meaning “prick” or “stab.” Such words are listed and defined in this post. appoint: officially fix or set, or assign or name, or equip or furnish as appropriate; an appointee is a person assigned to an office or position, and an appointment is such an assignment, or…

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This post lists and defines words stemming from game and gamble, both of which derive from the Old English word gamen, meaning “amusement,” “fun,” and “joy.” A game is an activity for amusement or diversion, or a scheme or a tactic, and to make game of someone is to mock that person. In the first sense, the word may refer to an activity that has little or no equipment, such as tag, or to a game of chance or skill…

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Blog posts might look straightforward, but if you’ve ever tried to write one, you may have found it was harder than you expected. Whether you want to start a blog as a hobby, as a step towards freelancing, or as a tool to promote your book … your blog posts need to be well-structured and well-written. Of course, blogging offers a lot of freedom. You don’t have to write to a specific length, in the way that you would if…

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This post lists suffixes—any group of letters attached to the end of a word, a base, or a phrase to convey a meaning related to that of the root element—that pertain to qualities. Examples of nouns featuring a particular suffix are provided after the suffix. Suffixes attached to words to refer to a quality of being or a state or condition include the following:-acity: perspicacity, capacity-an: partisan, urban-ance: attendance, balance-ate: apostate, reprobate-cracy: democracy, theocracy-cy: residency, privacy-dom: kingdom, wisdom-ence: sentience, abscence-ern:…

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You might think avoiding other influences makes you a more original writer. But nobody can write in a vacuum. Even the meanings of words depend on how others have used them. You didn’t invent the English language. Everything you write, you learned from someone else, even if only from your first grade teacher. Only when you’re aware of your influences as a writer can you transcend them, instead of unconsciously copying them. Instead, reading other writers (which you already do)…

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If you are still on the fence about becoming a DailyWritingTips Pro subscriber, here are five reasons that will certainly convince you to join today. 1. 50% discount ($3.99 per month) The regular price of the subscription is $7.99 per month. For a limited time we are offering the subscription with a 50% discount, so you pay only $3.99 per month. When you join you will also lock your subscription price and won’t be affected when it increases in the…

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