If you were a novel written during a special month, what novel would you be? Take this quiz and find out which classic novel corresponds with your personality!
In the quiz, you will be presented with multiple-choice questions. There are no right or wrong answers. Just choose the answer that most closely matches how you feel or what you think. Have fun!
Are you feeling frustrated and unproductive? Like you’re constantly busy but the things that really matter aren’t getting done?
Check out these six time management tips that will help you increase productivity, lower stress, and get you closer to your goals!
There was a day when I looked up and realised that I had become someone who professionally replied to email, and who wrote as a hobby. I started answering fewer emails, and was relieved to find I was writing much more. —Neil Gaiman
Are emails pulling you away from your actual work? Finding your creative flow—especially when writing—is tough enough as it is. It doesn’t help to have the constant distraction of emails dinging into your inbox.
The solution? Instead of responding to each email as it comes in, have set times of day where you’ll work through all your messages. Schedule several hours of uninterrupted work so you can focus and get in the zone, then take thirty to sixty minutes to catch up on emails.
While you’re in work-mode, be sure to close your email tab on your browser and turn off notifications to your phone, so it’s out of sight, out of mind.
And don’t worry, unless you’re corresponding with galactic invaders, waiting a few hours to respond to your emails will not cause the world to end.
Can’t find the time to get all your to-do’s done? There are plenty of awesome apps to help you organize your to-do lists, but have you tried scheduling tasks directly on your calendar?
Using your calendar of choice, create appointments for all your big to-do’s. You’ll have a visual reminder (and notifications) of exactly what you should be working on and when.
Remember to schedule tasks at your peak performance time. When and where are you at your most creative? Do you write best sitting in bed at midnight? Or at 7 a.m. in your favorite cafe? Avoid scheduling your creative work for times when you’re going to be tired or distracted.
Be realistic and give yourself enough time for each task. This can reduce guilt if you’ve felt like you should be getting more done, but can now see there aren’t enough hours in the day. And this can also reveal a problem if you’ve been wasting a lot of time on distractions or busy work.
Planning your week (or month) in advance will help you save time and maximize your productivity. Know when your deadlines, important meetings, and obligations are happening and work backwards from there.
Giving a presentation on Thursday morning? Block off your Wednesday night for prep time or rest.
Want to spend less time in the morning prepping your lunch? Schedule meal prep for Sunday night so you can batch your lunches.
Feeling burnt out and need to introvert? Schedule alone time for Tuesday. Know you’ll need human contact? Plan game night for Friday.
Scheduling things like gym time and laundry will keep your life running smoothly. And remember to always allow enough time for a good night’s rest—your work will take twice as long if you’re exhausted from too little sleep or working long hours without a break.
Spending way too much time browsing Facebook? Watching cat videos? Keeping up-to-the-second on developing news?
If your willpower is failing, you may need to give yourself some extra help to unplug from your time-wasters.
Remove time-wasting sites from your browser’s bookmark bar so you’re less tempted to visit them. Minimize distractions by turning off your phone notifications during work hours (or if that’s too advanced, just turn your phone on silent and toss it in a drawer).
In need of desperate measures? Download an app that will block you from visiting Facebook and other sites.
Of course, it’s worth differentiating between the true time-sucks and activities that aren’t work-related but are beneficial. Grabbing lunch with a friend is a great social thing to do. Just make sure you have a set start and end time, so you don’t chat for two hours and lose half the afternoon.
Sure, who doesn’t want their work to be perfect? But striving for perfection is a sure way to kill your productivity and creativity.
The pressure you feel to produce perfect work can lead to procrastination, anxiety, “playing it safe,” and a lot of wasted time making marginal improvements to work.
When you reset your expectations away from perfection, you’ll find it’s easier to experiment and take risks, to get projects finished and move on to bigger and better things.
Improving your writing takes a lot of practice. You’re not going to write a “perfect” novel or blog post or ad campaign the first time around. Don’t let the expectation of perfection paralyze you from growing your skills!
Are you using your time to get closer to your goals, or are you putting everyone and everything else first?
Maybe you want to build your audience, write your memoir, get your MFA, or change careers. Make yourself and your future a priority by scheduling time every week, or every day, to work toward your goals.
Large projects can feel overwhelming, so break things down into manageable pieces. If you want to finish your first draft in six months, how many pages will you need to complete per week? How many hours per day will you need to write?
Life may be busy, but don’t let anything get between you and achieving your dreams!
You’ve just read an interesting article online. It covered a subject you’re passionate about, so you dash off a brilliant comment. It begins:
Your right about most of your assessments, but I think you missed the big picture.
You go on to write a carefully-worded paragraph, and you’re certain everyone who reads it will be dazzled by your brilliant insights. And then the first reply to your comment rolls in and it’s simply:
*You’re
You’ve inadvertently tossed out some troll bait, and you’ve captured the attention of a grammar troll. It doesn’t matter whether that mistake was a typo or a momentary lapse; you’ve been publicly corrected in a way that undermines your intelligent response and maybe even implies you’re not as smart as you think you are.
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Is it possible to troll-proof your online writing? Grammar checkers help, of course, but careful proofreading before you hit send is always the best way to sidestep embarrassing gaffes. Here’s how to avoid throwing chum into the murky online waters and keep those bottom-feeding trolls where they belong.
How can one little punctuation mark cause so much trouble? Apostrophes trip up even the most seasoned writers from time to time. Examine your comments before you post them to make certain you’ve used the correct form of your/you’re or its/it’s.
Also remember that apostrophes show possession; they don’t make words plural. Here’s an apostrophe primer in case you need a refresher.
A subject-predicate construction should have only one negative form in standard English. You’ve probably bristled at statements like “I don’t have nothing better to do.” That’s because the speaker used a double negative, pairing don’t with nothing. The standard usage would be: “I don’t have anything better to do.”
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Many double negatives are obvious, and they sound wrong (or at least colloquial) when we hear them. Although some double negatives are part of our casual vernacular, if you use one while trying to eloquently communicate a point in an online discussion, steel yourself for potential backlash. Ain’t you got no learnin’?
If you comment with “I literally died when he said that!” don’t be surprised if a troll comes calling to let you know that, unless you’re typing from beyond the grave, you meant “figuratively.”
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Just one little typo can give a grammar troll a raison d’etre. If you write then when you mean than or loose when you mean lose, stand back—Trolly McTrollface can’t be far behind.
Yes, irregardless is a word, but you’re unlikely to get away with using it in an online conversation, or even a face-to-face conversation with a grammar pedant. Seventy-four percent of those who responded to a Grammarly survey expressed the opinion that irregardless is an abomination. Don’t expect a grammar troll to forgive the nonstandard usage.
To, too, and two don’t mean the same thing. Expect any grammar troll lurking in the bushes to pounce on a mistake like “Maybe he ate to many tacos for lunch” by letting you know that you should have written too, instead. There, their, and they’re are similar troll bait when used incorrectly.
There’s a reason many language resources contain lists of commonly confused words—they trip us up on the regular. Be on the alert for similar words with related but distinct meanings, such as lesser/fewer, affect/effect, further/farther, and among/between.
True story: I was once laughed at for telling my dog to “go lie down.” We’re so accustomed to using the wrong word in this instance that the correct one sounds foreign. But sleeping dogs do indeed lie, not lay.
Lie means to recline and lay means to place. And then there are different verb tenses, and . . . well, it gets a bit complicated. But grammar trolls are likely to know the difference, so here’s a guide to tackling the lay vs. lie challenge.
If you do post a mistake, and you attract the attention of a grammar troll, don’t sweat it. Trolls feed on chaos, so the best thing you can do is deprive them of what they crave. Here’s an example of superb troll wrangling:
You: Your right about most of your assessments, but I think you missed the big picture.
Trolly McTrollface: *You’re
You: Whoops! Nice catch.
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It’s a cross between a ninja throwing star and a spinning top. It’s a useful way to enhance focus, and it’s a huge distraction that has no place in the classroom. What the heck is it about this piece of plastic that’s so darn polarizing?
A fidget spinner has three prongs (usually), is small enough to fit in your palm, and spins around a weighted disc at the center. It’s made of metal or plastic and can come in all sorts of exciting and playful colors. You can nab them for a few bucks at joints like 7-Eleven or gas stations, or find more pricey ones with specialty features (or rush shipping) online.
As for what it does: aside from spinning, not much.
Seriously, no one knows. They’ve existed in some form or another for years but suddenly blasted off in popularity a month or so back. In all likelihood, one kid had a fidget spinner to boost concentration, and her or his classmates figured out it was a new opportunity to do tricks and not pay attention in class.
But no one knows the exact origin of the fidget spinner craze. All that is known is that sometime this spring, kids started cajoling, pestering, pleading, and coercing parents into buying them the toys.
The result: toy businesses, gas stations, Amazon, and other companies that sell fidget spinners have found themselves selling out. A toy store owner in Michigan said he sells up to 150 a day, and an online company that sells baubles for under $5 limits spinners to two per customer. For more proof of their popularity, 49 out of the fifty best-selling toys on Amazon are fidget spinners or similar devices.
The fidget spinner craze is just that crazy.
Fidget spinners are marketed as useful tools for kids with autism and ADHD. In theory, they’re also great for stress.
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Though most don’t come in overhead-fan size, the potential for play and even developing tricks appears to be addictive. According to experts, the talented trickster can balance it on a palm, foot, or nose; stack several to get a spinning tower; or play catch with it (apparently, it’s hard to catch something that comes spinning at you through the air). With kids’ playtime habits increasingly occupied by screens and apps, a toy they can do actual things with is giving some parents a sigh of relief.
On a more serious level, they do appear to have actual benefits for children who struggle with concentration. Carol Povey, director of the Centre for Autism at the U.K.’s National Autistic Society, spoke to the potential value of fidget spinners for children who have difficulty focusing in class:
Having something that spins or twists can help to ground and balance [autistic children]….anecdotally we believe they do work.
They work, that is, for children with diagnosed difficulties staying focused. For kids who will do anything for a distraction, it’s another matter.
They’re small and you can do tricks with them. Where’s the controversy in that?
Apparently, in the fact that they’re small and you can do tricks with them. This makes for a tough time for teachers, many of whom have found the noise of spinning to be an increasingly regular soundtrack in recent months, and have to cope with wannabe trick performers busting out the moves every time Teacher’s back is turned.
Dr. Mark Rapport, director of the Children’s Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida, had a more negative take on the fidget spinner:
Using a spinner-like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD.
At the end of the day, whether the fidget spinner is a boon or a curse depends on the individual using it. But when dozens of individuals are using it during class time, the verdict seems to be that it’s a bit closer to the curse category.
Besides, you have to suspect that when tech folks develop an app to sub in for something you could use like a good old-fashioned toy, it’s probably downhill from there.
No. But be careful. They can be addictive.
Adults might be better than children at resisting the temptation to play with spinners instead of paying attention. Still, the motivation for grown-ups isn’t just the distraction; it’s the stress release. Richard Gottlieb, a consultant at Global Toy Experts, says:
People don’t smoke as much, so they have to figure out a way to work out their stress.
Whether an anti-smoking aid, a concentration booster, a debilitating distraction, or a fun new toy to do tricks with, the fidget spinner is here to stay. At least, until the next new fad comes along.
There, their, and they’re are the big trio of commonly confused words. All three of them are pronounced the same, and the spelling differences don’t seem to do a good job of stopping people from mixing them up.
There can be used in a couple of ways. As an adverb, there is the exact opposite of the word here and means “at that place”:
There is also often used as a pronoun. In that case, it’s role is usually to introduce a word or a clause:
Their is the third-person plural possessive pronoun:
They’re is what you get when you contract “they are” or “they were.” It’s the same kind of thing that happens when you contract “we are” into “we’re,” or “you are” into “you’re”:
Beside and besides are quite commonly confused with one another despite their different definitions. Even though they are spelled almost the same, they are not used in the same way.
Beside, without the s, tells us the location of something. Besides, on the other hand, means “in addition,” “in addition to,” “moreover,” or “as well,” depending on context.
Beside is a preposition that means next to or at the side of. The preposition beside physically places two nouns side by side.
I place my dream journal beside my bed every night.
The barn beside the farmer’s house was falling down.
Will you sit beside me at dinner?
Though it would sound a little more informal, these sentences would be grammatically identical and consistent in meaning if beside is replaced with next to.
I place my dream journal next to my bed every night.
The barn next to the farmer’s house was falling down.
Will you sit next to me at dinner?
Besides can be used either as a preposition meaning “in addition” or an adverb meaning “moreover,” and it is a little less stiff and formal to use than those two terms.
Because the tone of this sentence is conversational (not like an essay, for example), it would sound stuffy if we replaced besides with its synonym, moreover.
A middle ground might be to use what’s more.
If you do choose to go the less formal route, know that having besides at the beginning of a sentence is perfectly acceptable.
The same holds true when besides is used as in addition. Besides is the more conversational and less formal of the two terms.
Do you have any M&Ms in addition to the green ones?
Beside the point is a common idiom that means “unimportant” or “not relevant to the matter at hand”. Many people incorrectly use besides the point, which is understandable since both besides and beside the point can crop up when a topic is being argued or reasoned through.
No one wants to be guilty of a real crime and a grammar crime when using besides (that is to say, in addition). Use beside instead.
If you feel grammatically empowered after learning how to use beside and besides, read about these other commonly confused words.
In November, Grammarly worked with around 300 writers from 27 countries (and 44 U.S. states) to write a group novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). We called the project #GrammoWriMo; and, clocking in at a total of 130,927 unedited words, we are proud to say that our draft was among the 41,940 completed!
We kicked off the editing process right away by running the text of the novel through our automated proofreader to check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Here are the top five writing mistakes that our writers made in this first draft:
Our novel, The Lonely Wish-Giver, is being sold on Amazon.com as an e-book for $0.99. All proceeds will be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in keeping with the theme of the book.
“What you don’t wish for will always be beyond your reach.” ― Micheal Ende
Thank you for all of your contributions to our 2013 GrammoWriMo e-book. We’ll look forward to working with you in 2014 — where we hope to learn from some of the mistakes we made in the process to improve our technique!
