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Excerpts: Denotation and Connotation in Poetry Writing Most people go through life using language haphazardly. That’s how we get words like irregardless, which has the exact same meaning as regardless. But writers, and especially poets, don’t have the luxury of throwing words around indiscriminately. Clear and compelling prose and verse demand that we pay due diligence to the words we choose. We...Read More The post Denotation and Connotation in Poetry Writing first appeared on Writing Forward. Homophones: Hear, Here When I see professional signs or business documents with words spelled incorrectly, it’s like someone’s dragging nails down a chalkboard, which is not a sound I want to hear. But I try not to get too riled up. I know that spelling isn’t easy for everyone. However, I do believe that with a little effort,...Read More The post Homophones: Hear, Here first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: Creative Writing: Reflective Journaling 21 Do-It-Yourself Editing Tips Writing Tips: Write Now! Creative Writing Prompts for Crafting Compelling Imagery Poetry Writing Exercises: Using Connotation to Find the Perfect Word   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises

Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952 Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Creative Writing: Reflective Journaling A journal is a chronological log, and you can use a journal to log anything you want. Many professionals keep journals, including scientists and ship captains. Their journals are strictly for tracking their professional progress. Fitness enthusiasts keep diet and exercise journals. Artists use journals to chronicle their artistic expressions. A writer’s journal can hold...Read More The post Creative Writing: Reflective Journaling first appeared on Writing Forward. 21 Do-It-Yourself Editing Tips The human mind is a funny thing; it likes to play tricks on us. For example, when we proofread and edit our own writing, we tend to read it as we think it should be, which means we misread our own typos and other spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes as well as problems with word...Read More The post 21 Do-It-Yourself Editing Tips first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: Writing Tips: Write Now! Creative Writing Prompts for Crafting Compelling Imagery Poetry Writing Exercises: Using Connotation to Find the Perfect Word Narrative Point of View in Storytelling Poetry: Making Music with Words   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952 Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: How to Construe and Convey Tone in Poetry In literature, tone is the mood, attitude, or emotional sensibility of a written work. In poetry, tone expresses the narrator’s disposition toward the poem’s subject, the reader, or the narrative itself. We might describe a poem’s tone as irreverent, relaxed, sarcastic, solemn, jubilant, or desperate. Tone can be any emotion or state of mind, and a...Read More The post How to Construe and Convey Tone in Poetry first appeared on Writing Forward. Punctuation Marks: The Colon The colon is one of the most clearly-defined punctuation marks. It occasionally acts as a stand-in for a comma or period (though when one of these other punctuation marks will do, the colon is unnecessary). Most commonly, the colon functions as an introductory punctuation mark, notifying the reader that the forthcoming information supports, explains, or...Read More The post Punctuation Marks: The Colon first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: Unusual Writing Activities That Will Boost Your Creativity Five Grammar Habits Every Writer Should Adopt A Week’s Worth of Experimental Journal Prompts Storytelling Exercise: Time Lapse Fiction Writing: The Setting of a Story   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952 Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Writing Tips: Write Now!   “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.” – E. B. White What are your ideal writing conditions? Is it quiet, or are there stimulating background noises? Are you alone, curled up in a chair with a pen and a notebook, or are...Read More The post Writing Tips: Write Now! first appeared on Writing Forward. Creative Writing Prompts for Crafting Compelling Imagery Today I’d like to share a collection of prompts from 1200 Creative Writing Prompts, which contains a variety of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction writing prompts. Some of the prompts in the book are story starters. Some are word lists. The prompts I’m sharing today are simple but provocative images that are designed to spark a...Read More The post Creative Writing Prompts for Crafting Compelling Imagery first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: Poetry Writing Exercises: Using Connotation to Find the Perfect Word Narrative Point of View in Storytelling Poetry: Making Music with Words Grammar Rules: Further vs. Farther How to Be More Creative in Your Writing   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952 Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Poetry Writing Exercises: Using Connotation to Find the Perfect Word Poetry writing exercises are an excellent way to develop writing skills, especially skills that are essential to writing compelling poetry. Writing exercises can provide us with new perspectives, techniques, and ideas that strengthen and improve poems we’ve written and poems we have yet to write. Words are the most basic building blocks for writers, and...Read More The post Poetry Writing Exercises: Using Connotation to Find the Perfect Word first appeared on Writing Forward. Narrative Point of View in Storytelling Today’s post includes excerpts from What’s the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing, chapter six: “Narrative Point of View.” Enjoy! The terms story and narrative can be used interchangeably, meaning a sequence of events, real or fictional, that are conveyed through any medium ranging from prose to film. However, when we talk about narrative, we’re...Read More The post Narrative Point of View in Storytelling first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: Poetry: Making Music with Words Grammar Rules: Further vs. Farther How to Be More Creative in Your Writing Eight Characteristics of Good Writing Ten Tips for Writing a Book   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952 Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Poetry: Making Music with Words Most writers are primarily concerned with the meaning of the words they choose. Is the language precise and accurate? Do the words provide the best connotation for what the writer is trying to communicate? Does the language show, rather than tell? But poets take language a step further and push it into the realm of...Read More The post Poetry: Making Music with Words first appeared on Writing Forward. Grammar Rules: Further vs. Farther Believe it or not, the words further and farther have different meanings, although people tend to use them interchangeably. And it’s no surprise, because these two words look and sound similar, and the difference in meaning is subtle. Plus there are a few circumstances when they are legitimately interchangeable. Let’s solve the further vs. farther...Read More The post Grammar Rules: Further vs. Farther first appeared on Writing Forward. Recent Articles: How to Be More Creative in Your Writing Eight Characteristics of Good Writing Ten Tips for Writing a Book Writing Resources: The Crafty Poet 100 Poetry Prompts   Share Tweet Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing 101 Creative Writing Exercises Sign up to receive free books on the craft of writing in exchange for an honest review.   Learn More Copyright © 2026 Writing Forward, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Writing Forward 911 Lakeville St. #123 Petaluma, CA 94952