How to Structure a Less Stressful Sunday

Do you know where the seven-day week came from?

Your first inclination may be to assume that the seven-day week is based on some celestial phenomenon, like the year (loosely based on the earth’s orbital period) or the month (which was supposedly invented to mimic lunar cycles). Unfortunately, you’d be wrong.

The seven-day week, like the five-day workweek it encompasses, is completely man-made. Artificial. Made up.

via GIPHY

Even though we made up the workweek, the anxiety many people feel on Sunday nights is very real. According to a poll by Monster.com, 76 percent of respondents in the US reported some form of Sunday night anxiety. And it’s no surprise that so many folks feel apprehension as the weekend comes to a close and Monday’s boring spectre looms.

There are a few ways to beat these blues, though, by creating a Sunday schedule that works for you. Here’s how you can move beyond the sleepless, anxiety-ridden evening to a beautiful capstone of your weekend.

Before Sunday: Rest, Recharge, Invest, Plan

A great Sunday starts with great preparation.

Experts on work stress and anxiety suggest that beating the “Sunday blues” starts on Friday, when you need to take a few moments to review your week, assess your performance, and build your Monday to-do list.

Here’s a tip: Don’t know how to make that to-do list? We have a quiz for that.

Now, for the obvious-but-difficult truth: if you spend Friday and Saturday nights disrupting your sleep schedule with things like alcohol and shenanigans, Sunday morning might be rough. The best Sundays will follow Fridays and Saturdays where you rest, recharge, and prepare for your week.

But, if you want to still have fun and beat stress, there’s probably a balance between an 8 p.m. bedtime and raging until the sunrise. You just need to find the weekend schedule that works for you.

There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.

― Mindy Kaling

Sunday Start: Find Your Friends

Socializing on the “weekend” is often limited to Friday and Saturday, but it doesn’t have to be that way! If you’re an extrovert or other person who feels most energized by having others around, why not set up your social time for Sundays? Studies show that spending time with friends can protect us from the most negative side effects of stress, so giving a few hours of calm social time on Sunday a shot might be worth it.

Sunday Morning: Do One Thing You Love

Even if you love your work, there is probably one thing you love to do more. If possible, try to start your Sunday on a positive foot by doing that one beloved hobby, pastime, or ritual first. You could go for a morning hike, watch a comedy special, make pancakes, or just hang out with your dog. The world is your oyster, and breaking the Sunday script has to start somewhere!

Sunday Afternoon: Tackle a Project

Of course, if projects stress you out, this may not be your go-to strategy to beat stress. But if you need a distraction from intellectual stresses at work, diving into a non-work project might help to distract you for a few hours. The more manual labor involved, the better.

Sunday Evening: Work It Out

via GIPHY

Insomnia is a common component of so-called “Sunday night syndrome.” To beat it, though, you probably don’t need to turn to sleeping pills. With some planning, you can beat mild insomnia all by yourself.

You know the best way to beat insomnia, according to science? Work out, and work hard. Make yourself so physically tired you can’t possibly stay awake. So, if you know Sunday nights are difficult for your sleep schedule, plan a long run, hike, bike trip, or gym sesh on Sundays.

Sunday Night: Read a Damn Book

At this point, most of us know that blue-lit screens (like phones, tablets, laptops, and TVs) can affect sleep. So why not head this off at the pass by picking up a real, pages-and-binding book and going on an adventure?

What’s your Sunday-night stress reliever? Tell us in the comments below!

Learn the Types of Writing: Expository, Descriptive, Persuasive, and Narrative

Whether you write essays, business materials, fiction, articles, letters, or even just notes in your journal, your writing will be at its best if you stay focused on your purpose. While there are many reasons why you might be putting pen to paper or tapping away on the keyboard, there are really only four main types of writing: expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative.

Each of these four writing genres has a distinct aim, and they all require different types of writing skills. You may also have heard them referred to in an academic setting as modes of discourse or rhetorical modes. Institutions of higher learning teach nine traditional rhetorical modes, but the majority of pieces we are called upon to write will have one of these four main purposes.

Expository Writing

The word expository contains the word expose, so the reason expository is an apt descriptor for this type of writing is that it exposes, or sets forth, facts. It is probably the most common writing genre you will come across throughout your day. In an expository piece, a topic will be introduced and laid out in a logical order without reference to the author’s personal opinions.

Expository writing can be found in:

Textbooks Journalism (except for opinion and editorial articles) Business writing Technical writing Essays Instructions

All of these kinds of writing are expository because they aim to explain and inform.

The municipal government of Happyville unanimously approved the construction of sixty-two miles of bike trails in 2017. Made possible by a new tax levy, the bike trails are expected to help the city reach its sustainability and clean air goals while reducing traffic and congestion. Eighteen trailheads with restrooms and picnic areas have been planned at a variety of access points. The city expects construction to be complete in April 2021.

Because this paragraph supplies the reader with facts and figures about its topic, the new bike trails, without offering the author’s opinion on it, it is expository.

Descriptive Writing

The aim of descriptive writing is to help the reader visualize, in detail, a character, event, place, or all of these things at once. The author might describe the scene in terms of all five senses. Descriptive writing allows the writer a great deal more artistic freedom than expository writing does.

Descriptive writing can be found in:

Fiction Poetry Advertising Journal and diary writing

The children pedaled leisurely down the Happyville Bike Trail, their giggles and whoops reverberating through the warm spring air. Sweet-scented wildflowers brought an array of color to the gently undulating landscape, tempting the children to dismount now and then so they could lay down in the springy, soft grass.

Through description, this passage paints a vivid picture of a scene on the new bike trail.

Persuasive Writing

The aim of persuasive writing, or argumentation, is to influence the reader to assume the author’s point of view. The author will express personal opinions in the piece and arm him- or herself with evidence so that the reader will agree with him or her.

Persuasive writing can be found in:

Advertising Opinion and editorial pieces Reviews Job applications

The bike trail is the glittering gem of Happyville’s new infrastructure. It winds through sixty-two miles of lush landscape, dotted by clean and convenient facilities. If you haven’t experienced the Happyville Bike Trail yet, ditch your car and head outside! Could life in Happyville get any more idyllic?

A number of statements in this paragraph are opinion rather than fact: that the bike trail is a glittering gem, that the facilities are clean and convenient, and that life in Happyville is idyllic. Clearly, the author’s aim here is to use these depictions to persuade readers to use the bike trail.

Narrative Writing

The purpose of narrative writing is to tell a story, whether that story is real or imaginary. Pieces in a narrative style will have characters, and through the narrative, the reader learns what happens to them. Narrative writing can also include dialogue.

Narrative writing can be found in:

All types of fiction (e.g., novels, short stories, novellas) Poetry Biographies Human interest stories Anecdotes

As I cycled down the trail, I heard children giggling and whooping just around the bend. I crested a small hill and coasted down the curving path until I found the source of the noise. Three little girls sat in the grass by a big oak tree. They were startled to see me, and I smiled kindly to put them at ease.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked.

“Nothing,” they chirped in unison.

In this passage, the author sets the scene on the bike trail from his or her own point of view (which is referred to as narrating in the first person). Using both description and dialogue, the story that takes place is laid out in chronological order.

Understanding Your Purpose Empowers Your Writing

Simply puzzling out which of these four types of writing best suits your purpose and adhering to it can help you write more efficiently and effectively.

To summarize:

• Expository writing sets forth facts. You can find it in textbooks, journalism (except opinion or editorial articles), business writing, technical writing, essays, and instructions.
• Descriptive writing evokes images through rich description. You can find it in fiction, poetry, journal writing, and advertising.
• Persuasive writing aims to sway the reader toward the author’s point of view. It is used heavily in advertising, and can also be found in opinion and editorial pieces, reviews, and job applications.
• Narrative writing tells a story. It can be found in fiction, poetry, biographies, human interest stories, and anecdotes.

The Great Indentation Debate

Writers have a lot on their plates. They have to fend off writer’s block, perform meticulous research, and ensure the content they produce captivates their target audiences. They must pay close attention to catch grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation mistakes, and typos. Formatting often takes a backseat on a writer’s priority list–especially when it involves something so seemingly trivial as indentation.

The first thing a reader may notice when she accesses one of your web, ebook, or print pages is the look of the content. Formatting involves making decisions about font type and size, and even about the space between lines. Don’t believe that this could possibly make a difference? According to some research, if the Federal government decided to change its preferred font from Times New Roman to Garamond on all printed documents, it could save around $400 million!

Indentation, the much-maligned formatting technique, provides readers with a sense of continuity. Indentations signal to the reader that she is about to dive into another topic or start a new section of a novel. They help present content in a logical fashion. But the debate continues over which indentation method works best. Should you indent paragraphs as you type or simply skip spaces?

What the Style Guides Have to Say

When in doubt, refer to a style guide to answer a question about formatting and sourcing content. But make sure you follow the same style guide throughout your document; Chicago style, APA style, and Harvard style all differ in their approaches to indentation.

The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style requires all text to be double-spaced, including the notes and bibliography sections. Chicago recommends that writers indent the first line of a new paragraph by hitting the tab key. You hit the tab key between three and seven times to provide the proper space between the first line and the left margin. But using the tab key for indentation can cause problems with some e-book software programs that do not recognize the tab key as a form of indentation.

APA Style

APA style identifies two types of indentation: First line and hanging. First line indentation begins to the right of where the next line begins. APA requires most paragraphs to adhere to first line indentation. Hanging indentation places the first line of a paragraph to the left of where the next line starts. APA recommends using hanging indentation for reference lists. Writers should manually set the reference position for indents to .5 inches from the left margin. Writers should double space content that includes tables, headings, quotations, and references. The number of indentation spaces varies depending on the style of writing. Formal presentations should include only a few spaces of indentation, while casual content can use more indentation spaces.

Harvard Style

The Harvard style manual recommends indenting content as you type, as opposed to indenting after the manuscript is complete. Although this method takes more time, the reasoning behind it makes sense. Writers who add indents as they write organize their content through the creation of paragraphs. The writers who wait until they complete the rough draft of their manuscripts typically have trouble finding the right places to separate the text into paragraphs.

To Set a Paragraph Indentation in Microsoft Word

Technology has almost completely taken the manual typing of indentation spaces out of the hands of writers. Now, we use word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, to set indentations. To set a paragraph indent in Word, place the cursor in the paragraph you want to indent or highlight the entire paragraph. Access the Format menu and click the Paragraph command. Within the Paragraph dialog box, enter the desired width of the indent and then select the type of indent. Click OK and then close the dialog box.

The Bottom Line

Freelance writers differ in their indentation preferences. However, when it comes down to it, the type of indentation used to format a document typically depends on who you are writing for. Before you finalize a project, check with your client to see if he or she prefers Chicago style, APA style, or Harvard style. Then, set the client’s preferred indentation formatting by using the easy to access commands within Microsoft Word.

In your own writing, what type of indentation do you prefer? Share in the comments!

How to Create Sharp Angles in Your Writing

This assignment should be no problem. In fact, it’ll be a blast. What could go wrong? Suppose for a moment that all you have to do is write a children’s song about otters.

The trouble is, there are so many scintillating facts about otters that it’s hard to know where to begin. Do you start with general info—that they’re highly adorable four-legged carnivorous swimmers? Or do you zero in on something more specific?

You could focus on a single nifty detail, like how sea otters’ dense, nearly waterproof fur traps air for insulation, keeping them snug even in cold Pacific waters. Or you could sing about how groups of river otters ward off predators like crocodiles by relentlessly yelling at them.

Choose well, because you’ll only have so much time to hook your audience before their minds drift. For rapper Aesop Rock, the way a swimming otter can use its belly as a table, munching a tasty meal while backstroking, proved irresistible. The result is the one-of-a-kind “My Belly.”

Whether you’re working on a presentation, a blog post, a rap, or a cover letter, cracking into a new piece of writing is tough. When your subject is broad and multifaceted, where to start rarely feels obvious. You need a way in, a distinct perspective, an angle. This is what differentiates your piece from a generic overview. There might be others like it, but this one is yours.

So what’s your angle?

There are a few questions to consider when deciding your angle:

• What precisely will you illuminate for your audience?
• What will be unique about your approach to this subject?
• How much do you assume your readers already know about it?

Properly calibrating that last item is essential. You want people to feel surprised and curious within the first sentence or two, not lost or confused. You certainly don’t want to bore folks with an intro inanely reminding them that otters are mammals, just as you’d prefer not to torpedo your next job application by opening your cover letter with “I hope you hire me.”

A test that editors sometimes use is the question, “What part of this would be most important or exciting to tell your grandmother?” The answer can reveal a lot about your angle. (If the result feels awkward, substitute the grandmother for “friends on a Friday night,” or “hiring committee” as needed.)

Lede the way

The angle needn’t always be spelled out in your final draft, but for journalists, it points to the first and most important sentence from which all else flows: the lede. (That spelling apparently arose to distinguish the term from the the lead type used in old-timey newspaper presses, although some argue its usage stems more from lore than actual history.)

You’ve likely heard of this as the who-what-when-where-why approach to news writing, but it’s a helpful thought process in many other fields as well. Michelle Nijhuis, who writes for National Geographic and edited the indispensable Science Writers’ Handbook, cautions it’s best not to overthink this part early on.

As you outline, don’t let the specific language of the lede hold you up. If you start fiddling, try SciLancer Stephen Ornes’s technique: ‘I write a dummy lede—basically, the most banal and uninteresting introduction to the piece—just to get it over with temporarily. Then, after I’ve written about half the first draft, I can go back and improve the lede.’

Most news stories make a promise of what the story will contain with their lede and then deliver on that promise with more details, context, and quotes further down. Any information that’s not pertinent to the lede tends to get cut or saved for another day.

Topics vs. stories

To sharpen your angle, tighten your focus. A helpful planning exercise is to ask whether you’re writing about a topic or telling a story. Here’s an illustration of how such a conversation might go:

WRITER: I wanna write about childhood.

EDITOR: Yawn. That’s a topic. What’s the story?

WRITER: It’s funny how we see our parents differently once we’re grown up.

EDITOR: You’re gonna have to be more specific.

WRITER: It’s much easier to understand my dad’s actions now that I know what a hangover is.

EDITOR: You could say the same about me. Keep talking.

WRITER: Like this time he was watching a golf video, working on his swing in the living room, and took out an overhead light, and rained glass all over the carpet.

EDITOR: Now we’re getting somewhere.

It’s difficult to directly tackle a topic in a way that doesn’t feel bland or unwieldy. By contrast, stories offer endless avenues for invention and allow room for some writerly personality. They’re often more memorable.

For instance, suppose your task is to write a few thousand words about sinkholes in Florida. Taking this as a head-on topic might mean starting with some forgettable statistics, alongside sterile facts about geologic processes. Meh. Instead, New Yorker writer David Owen opts to begin with a story:

In the fall of 1999, much of Lake Jackson—a four-thousand-acre natural body of water just north of Tallahassee and a popular site for fishing, waterskiing, and recreational boating—disappeared down a hole, like a bathtub emptying into a drain. Trophy bass became stranded in rapidly shrinking eddies, enabling children to catch them with their hands and toss them into picnic coolers, and many of the lake’s other fish, turtles, snakes, and alligators vanished into the earth.

It’s worth noting that where reporters covering hard news traffic in ledes, longform feature writers sometimes employ a nut graf or billboard—a concise explanation of what makes the subject worth caring about.

Nut grafs traditionally appear near the end of an opening section, but they don’t always make it into the final product. Sometimes they’re just a helpful tool for condensing your thoughts and feeling out your angle as you mash out an early draft. Don’t be afraid to write one, Nijhuis says, and take it out once you’re nearly finished.

She also cautions against burning up all your best material too early; remember to save some excitement to help you draw readers through the middle to a rewarding conclusion:

While we obsess about beginnings, we often don’t spend enough time sculpting our endings, or kickers, and that’s too bad. Endings are our last word to the reader, and often what readers will remember most. I like to end with a small scene that serves as a coda to the rest of the story, but there are infinite possibilities: consider powerful quotes, pithy observations, or just a strong statement in your own voice.

Just as a well-considered angle lights the way into a piece of writing, it helps inform how you finish it. Know where you’re coming from and what you’ll deliver to readers, and the path forward will shine that much brighter.

Essay Writing Mistakes: The 3 Ss and How to Correct Them

Guest Post by Jennifer Frost, LoroCreative

“To write is human, to edit is divine.” — Stephen King

You’ve probably already read and heard the tips on how to write an essay, from developing a thesis statement to crafting an unforgettable conclusion. But you may still dread showing your work to others because you are not sure if you’ve missed some errors or failed to follow a rule. Maybe you don’t have a teacher, an editor, or a friend beside you all the time to identify the parts of your writing that you need to correct or improve. So today, we will help you become your own editor and share with you a checklist of common writing mistakes based on the key areas of an essay, the 3 Ss: Substance, Structure, and Sources.

SUBSTANCE

Common Mistake # 1: Too Many Topics

Having too many topics in your essay would defeat the purpose of your thesis statement, the main point of your essay. Have you ever been asked about your dream job and you end up talking about your summer vacation, your mother’s fight with her boss, or your trip abroad next month? If so, then you’ve got to narrow it down

What to do


Use these guide questions to help you craft a focused thesis statement: What is the essay question? What are the requirements? Do all your paragraphs support your answer to the essay question? Are you expected to inform, argue, narrate, or persuade your readers?

Focus on the question. Focus on your answer. When you’re asked to describe your mother, don’t talk about how naughty your sister is or how busy your father is. Describe how your mother takes care of you, your sister, and your father.

Common Mistake # 2: Lack of Evidence Caused by Obsession with Adjectives and Adverbs

You might be always describing people and how they do things: “My teacher is beautiful. She teaches us excellently.”

But your readers might ask: “What made you say your teacher is beautiful? Why is she an excellent teacher? How does she teach?”

You can write all the adjectives and adverbs that sound good to the ears but your point remains unclear.

What to do

Don’t describe people; explain your description of them. Don’t describe how they do things; show how they do things. You can also use examples, evidence, or information from scholastic documents.

Take a look at this sentence: “Aside from her blue eyes and good posture, my teacher’s beauty shines when she encourages us to read and act the stories in class.”

Isn’t this clearer than the previous sentence?

STRUCTURE

Common Mistake # 3: Comma Splices, Run-on Sentences, and Missing Commas

A comma splice happens when two independent clauses are joined together by a comma. A run-on sentence is a combination of two independent clauses with no proper punctuation. Commas are necessary when there are three or more items that appear in a list and when separating clauses from one another.

What to do

When in doubt, check a grammar book when evaluating your use of commas. There are several ways to fix a comma splice and a run-on sentence. Keep in mind that commas are used not only for the structure of a sentence but to distinguish ideas and elements.

Common Mistake # 4: Passive Sentences The passive voice occurs when in a sentence, the subject is not the doer of the action but is being acted upon by the verb. According to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, using the passive voice might lead to awkward sentences, but it is acceptable when the information being delivered needs more attention than the doer or carrier of that information. One example is the result of a study where “the writing appears to convey information that is not limited or biased by individual perspectives or personal interests.”

What to do

Changing passive into active voice starts with recognizing the subject and turning the tense of the verb into the same tense as the helper, and ending the sentence with the receiver of the action. Here is an example from the Language Portal of Canada:

Passive: The novel Obasan was written by Joy Kogawa. Active: Joy Kogawa wrote the novel Obasan.

SOURCES
 Common Mistake # 5: Plagiarism

Common Mistake # 5: Plagiarism The Harvard Guide to Using Sources defines plagiarism as the practice of not crediting an idea or any language to its original source, such as un-cited quotation and un-cited or inadequate paraphrase. Committing plagiarism has serious consequences. Moreover, it may be easy to copy-past information from the Internet nowadays, but you know what’s the most difficult here? This habit teaches you to be lazy and become a thief.

What to do

Style Guides, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago, are accessible online and in the nearest libraries. The topics and rules are organized in a way that it would be easy for you to find the instructions you are looking for. Remember that citing your sources properly is not only a way of respecting others but it can also boost your credibility and commitment to keeping your work professional.

Editing a paper may seem tough for it requires a fresh pair of eyes and the willingness to grow as a writer. However, it’s good to remember that revisions are signs of growth and respect for your readers, and they can always be turned into better visions for your future writings.

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Jennifer Frost — Jennifer is a blogger, writer, mother, wife, and English teacher located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She’s an open-minded person who loves to travel, while exploring new places, foreign cultures, and learning new languages.