Keep Calm and Write On!

Happy Writing Wednesday!  For Week 8, we have some very special writing tips to help you not only survive but thrive through the last few weeks of term.  Here is our personal writing tip : Get outside and move. That’s right, you heard me--today’s writing tip is to take a break from writing. We all need it! If you still want to exercise your writing muscles, narrate a story in your head while you explore the outdoors. Describe the world to yourself: What do you smell, hear, see, feel? Pay attention to your surroundings and see what comes to mind.   Once you’ve taken that well-needed break, check out our academic writing tip : Having an accountability buddy can be life-changing when it comes to staying focused. Get on Zoom with a classmate or friend and challenge yourselves to continually write for 30 minutes. If you’re feeling brave, share what you’ve written with each other! If you’re in need of a buddy to help you stay accountable, try using a website like fo...

Happy Writing Wednesday! It’s Week 7, and things are starting to get real. As we move toward the end of term, you might be getting started on some larger writing projects for classes that have term papers assigned. Or, you might be finishing up a project that you’ve been working on over the last week or two. Regardless of your workload, the Writing Center is here for you. Today, we have two tips to help you in your academic and personal writing lives. Our first tip is an academic tip from Writing Assistant Tricia, and we think it is truly genius: The next time you go to edit a sentence, think about it like a math problem. 1+1=2 the same way a noun+verb+complete thought=one complete sentence. Read Tricia’s blog post here for a more detailed description of how this can work. The next tip is a personal tip , to help with mental health: What is dragging you down this week? Write down three major stressors in your life on separate pieces of paper. Crumple them up, burn them (saf...

Growing up, I aced every math test. I loved that there was always a formula for getting to an answer; I just had to remember it. I did okay in my English and writing classes, but I was a math person. It was not until I went to college that I started to enjoy my writing classes. I did not realize it at the time, but I liked them because I was looking at my writing assignments as if they were math equations.  I am sure you are wondering what I am talking about, so let me explain. In math we learn that y=mx+b is the formula to find the slope and intercept of a function. It is a basic formula, there are hundreds of them for finding all sorts of information. The same types of formulas can be used for writing. Here are some formulas I created to help remember sentence structure. Feel free to use them and create your own: n + v = B (n + v) + m + f + (n + v) = XS (n + n) + v = PS n + (v + v) = PV Variable code: n = subject, v = verb, B = simple sentence, m = comma, f = coordina...

For our Week 6 Writing Wednesday writing tip, we invited LBCC students to share what their experience has been like with writing during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Here is what one student had to say. Writing During Lockdown By Stacy Anderson I find that during my down time from school and work I think a lot about writing. I don't write with much punctuation or capitals. I just let the thoughts flow. My spelling is horrible and I see a lot of red squiggly lines. I'm still learning computers. I started out virtually computer illiterate. But I am learning at a good pace I think. Typing little papers to myself helps me to focus my mind on pleasant thoughts. I may start writing short stories in my free time. Thank you for your weekly tips and for all the help from your center.

Happy Writing Wednesday! This week, the Writing Center has just one writing tip for you. It can be academic or personal, depending on what has been inspiring you lately. Here is our writing tip for today: Think about what it has been like to write over the course of this term. Have you been doing any personal writing? Writing for your classes? Lecture notes? Group discussion posts? Poetry? Journal entries? Creative writing? Texting friends and family? Write a little reflection about what it has felt like to write during the shutdown. What’s keeping you inspired? What is your atmosphere like while you work? What challenges are you facing?  If you decide to write on this topic, we’d like to invite you to submit your writing for us to post on this blog. You can email your finished product to writingcenter@linnbenton.edu if you would like to share. Taking a moment to reflect on your experiences with writing and inspiration may help you learn more about yourself as a writer and...

“Music, Motherhood Connection and the Shutdown: A Particular Food Group” blog post by Karen Canan Singer and actor Cynthia Erivo said this in a live stream interview/song association segment with Terrell Grice of The Terrell Show : “Music: I genuinely believe that that carries a person’s soul and a person’s energy within it, and that kind of energy is… I think it’s tangible.  You can touch it, you can feel it, and when you take that away completely, it’s like removing a limb… when you take away that food [talking to Terrell about the energy exchange he is missing without doing his song association Youtube show during the shutdown] it’s like a particular food group that you can’t get unless these people are doing it” (40:23). I’m sure that’s true, because I, Karen Canan, get tremendous energy from watching the show, and that’s not even experiencing the incredible singing and conversation live, let alone being the actual host.  The shutdown has affected all of us.  My...

Happy Writing Wednesday! This blog post is part of our series of weekly writing tips from the LBCC Writing Center.  The Writing Center is here to support you in your writing projects for any class, at any point in the writing process. Each week, we’ll be sharing one personal writing tip (for your mental health) and one academic writing tip (for your scholarly health). Today, our writing tips are brought to you by our Writing Assistant Tricia. Personal tip : Think of a song that stirs feelings inside of you. Write about why you think it does this to you. What memories does it create? What do the lyrics mean to you? Songs are meant to inspire, so take advantage of that. Academic writing tip : When you have a paper due, bring a voice recorder with you everywhere. You never know when inspiration will hit, and you will think of the perfect addition to your essay. Keep it near your bed at night. Some of the best thoughts, and some of the strangest ones, happen when your mind is r...

Happy Writing Wednesday! This blog post is part of our series of weekly writing tips from the LBCC Writing Center. The Writing Center is here to support you in your writing projects for any class, at any point in the writing process. Each week, we’ll be sharing one personal writing tip (for your mental health) and one academic writing tip (for your scholarly health). Today, our writing tips come from Writing Assistant Dani Tellvik. Here is her personal writing tip: Write about one way your life has changed in the last month, and how you’ve adapted to it. It can be a positive, negative, or neutral change. And her academic writing tip: Take a moment to write and reflect on how you’re doing in your classes. Write down what you’re feeling good about and why and consider hanging it up somewhere prominent, like above your workspace or on the kitchen fridge. Then identify what is challenging you and reach out to classmates, instructors, or tutors in the Learning Center. Write o...

Happy Writing Wednesday!  This blog post is the first in a series of weekly writing tips from the LBCC Writing Center.  The Writing Center is here to support you in your writing projects for any class, at any point in the writing process.  Throughout history, writing has been a common pastime for individuals stuck at home. However, writing from home can present its own set of challenges, too. We hope that these weekly writing tips will help you to stay sane and productive while we all ride out Spring Term 2020 together in isolation.  Each week, we’ll be sharing one personal writing tip (for your mental health) and one academic writing tip (for your scholarly health).  Today’s writing tips are brought to you by Writing Assistant Karen Canan. Here is her personal writing tip:  When you wake up in the morning, make it a habit to think about a moment in your life that you could make into a short, little writing piece. Keep a pad of paper and pen nex...