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My first draft had "said" on every page. My writing group told me to mix it up, so I went hunting for dialogue synonyms. I found lists with hundreds of options: whispered, shouted, murmured, muttered, exclaimed, replied, responded, answered. But I quickly learned that word choice matters. "He...

I always thought memoirs were for famous people. Then a friend read an essay I'd written about my grandmother and said "this should be a book." I laughed. But the seed was planted. Turns out, anyone with a story can write a memoir—you just need to find your focus . You can't write your whole...

I used to stress so much about essay length. Is 500 words enough? Is 5 pages too many? After years of writing and checking countless assignment guidelines, I've finally got a handle on what's expected at different levels. Thought I'd share for anyone else confused. High school essays typically...