One of My Favorite Authors: Cinda Williams Chima

If you’re like me and love to read you’ve developed a certain preference for an author or a writer. Every time that author or writer comes out with a new story/book you almost immediately gravitate towards it. For me, I have several. But one of my favorite authors goes by the name of Cinda Williams Chima. You might have seen her Seven Realms’ novels and other series at bookstores like Barns & Nobel.

 

Cinda Williams Chima, in her own words, “came from a long line of fortune tellers, barn dancers, Musicians, tavern brawlers, and spinners of tales”. She started writing by giving intimate objects and animals a voice, like real people with their own distinct characteristics. Her first success in writing was when she was in 5^th grade when her poem, Science is a Wonderful Thing, was displayed at the 6^th grade elementary science fair. However, she didn’t pick up writing again (after leaving high school) until her children were born.

There are many things I like she does well. Her worlds feel alive and real. The characters have their own characteristics, motives, etc. and don’t get lost in the background. She can paint the scene with detail, switch and create multiple tones, and can connect/bring the characters together in a complex web without sacrificing their individual goals.

There are many things you can pick up to influence your own writing by reading (Cinda’s stories or other stories). If you’re interested in learning even more about her, please go here.

 

Grammarly: My Tip/Trick to Fixing Grammar

Grammar is an important when writing a story because a lack of it could make someone stop reading it. I also suffer from some bade grammar habits. That is, until I found this 3.7-star tool called Grammarly. Grammarly is my trick to catch grammar mistakes. As you’re writing your paragraph Grammarly is calculating the errors and lists it on the side once you’re done writing. Once you’re done you can click on it, and it automatically brings you to the error and offers what could be solution to fix it.

Grammarly also catches repeated words, lack of capital letters, correct use of certain words, etc. These are free and not limited. However, if you want features like vocabulary enhancements, the plagiarism tool, fixing inappropriate tones, etc. then you’ll have to pay a subscription. This is the one thing I don’t like about it since its locking these things behind a paywall and the price is not cheap compared to other tools that do the same thing. For example, ProWritingAid’s subscription is $60-$70. It also glitches sometimes. Grammarly is mostly intended for beginners though, meaning that the subscription is an option.

If you really want to buy the subscription then log in, go to Account, click Subscription, click Go Premium and pick either annually ($144 a year), quarterly ($60 every 3 months), or monthly ($30 a month). 

To use it, first login. The dashboard will look like this but empty.

 Click New and let Grammarly do the work.