Get a Crash Course in Writing from 2. Journalists. I only remember one practical writing lesson from my three years as an English major Whenever you can, put the best bits at the end of the sentence. Put the next best bits at the beginning, and put the rest in the middle. This trick works in every kind of writing, and I wish Id spent my college years learning more tricks like it, instead of pretending to read The Brothers Karamazov. Writing is one of the easiest skills to learn without paying college tuition. You could get a pretty solid start just from this collection of writing advice from twenty prominent journalists. Metafilter user notthewater gathered the advice from articles, online courses, podcasts, live talks, and a drinking game. Some highlights The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean on finding story ideas The percentage of ideas you pursue, vs. In fact, its great to practice following an idea and saying, Not gonna work. Pulitzer winner Anne Hull on writing about a culture as an outsider Be conscious of the distancing language that inhabits most newspaper stories. Set a goal for intimacy. As a reporter, be physically present to witness and absorb, if even for three hours. The Girl in the Window writer Lane De. Gregory on finding secret editors Finding people you admire, whether writers or editors or not, is important, especially if you dont trust or respect the person who was assigned to you. New Yorker Talk of the Town contributor Lillian Ross on expressing opinions Your point of view should be implicit in your choice of facts and quotes in your report. If you have anything to say, about the world, about life, look for a way to say it without making a speech. Slouching Towards Bethlehem author Joan Didion on editing as you go along When I finish work at the end of the day, I go over the page that Ive done that day, and I mark it up. And then I make the corrections in the morning, which gives me a way to start the day. Criminal justice reporter Beth Schwartzapfel on anecdotes in dry factual stories I think of them as raisins in oatmeal, or the signs people hold on the sidelines of a marathon. The leading information resource for the entertainment industry. Find industry contacts talent representation. Watch Evidence Online. Manage your photos, credits, more. I think wed do better with a healer, I suggested to my Overwatch team earlier this week. We were in the spawn room defending the Temple of Anubis and. Search or upload videos. Popular on YouTube Music, Sports, Gaming, Movies, TV Shows, News, Spotlight. Browse Channels. Theyre little surprises or jolts of pleasure to remind people of what theyre reading and why it matters. Certain themes run throughout Narratives need character and tension. Collect story ideas everywhere and keep a file. Get your subjects comfortable around you and let yourself into their lives. Find the interesting details that can double as iconic examples. Write like youre telling the story to a friend. While the advice is especially targeted at journalists, just like that old sentence structure trick, it applies to all kinds of writing. And unlike my English major, its free. My debut novel, The Biographies of Ordinary People Volume 1 1. May 2. 3, 2. 01. 7. Read more Read. How to Deal with a MiscarriageIm sorry, theres no heartbeat, my doctor said to me. She didnt sound very sorry, leaving the room so quicklyostensibly so I could pull up my underwearthat she couldnt hear me burst out in tears. There are many ways to lose a pregnancyfrom the traditional bleeding in the toilet, to a missed miscarriage where you dont even know that you miscarried, to a blighted ovum where the baby never started growing at all, to an ectopic pregnancy, where the fetus implanted in the wrong place. Ive had most of themthey all suck, let me tell youand Ive learned the important ways to deal with a miscarriage. Chances are you were told in school that you could get pregnant any time you have sex so dont have Read more Read. First, you will probably be in shock. No matter how nervous you were about becoming a mom, no matter how skeptical you were of the pregnancy working out, you will be disappointed times a million. And as awful as this all issad and frustrating and emotionalthe first thing you have to do is figure out how to start or complete the miscarriage process. There are a number of ways to terminate a failed pregnancy and Ive done most of them. Naturally. This means you just let nature take its course. You wait for the bleeding to start and for the pregnancy to pass. For very early pregnancies, like chemical pregnancies which never registered a heartbeat, this is often the recommended route. My very first miscarriagewhere I didnt really know I was pregnant until the prior daypassed this way, and it felt like a really late period. Had I not taken three pregnancy tests, thats what I would have assumed it was. Some women prefer to do the natural way no matter how far along in their first trimester they are, but the downside is that you could be waiting a whilewhich totally creeped me out in my second miscarriage, knowing there was a non living fetus inside of me. Also, it could be super messy ditto on the creepy. And it can also be incomplete, sending you to surgery anyway see 3. The Pill. There is a pill that can help the miscarriage proceed fasterespecially if it already started. Misoprostol, which induces labor and for miscarriages is often given together with Mifepristone also can be messy and from what Ive heard, extremely painful. I was advised not to use this because you often end up in surgery anyway see 3. Surgery. As you can see from my previous two conclusions, I am a big fan of the surgical procedure to terminate a failed pregnancy, specifically the D C. I am not a doctor, so I cant give any medical advice except to tell you there are risks to every surgery. But as a patient, by my third miscarriage, I preferred this method of removing the contents of the uterus, usually under general anesthesia. There is a surgical procedure called aspiration which involves a vacuum and no general, but I found it awful to be awake, making conversation and watching everything happening. An ectopic pregnancy must be surgically removed. Heres why I preferred the D C Your pregnancy is terminated quickly and painlessly, for the most part. You dont have to witness any of the sad bloodshed. It is the most effective way of making sure everything is removed and to get you ready for your next pregnancy. MOST IMPORTANTLY and I cant stress this enough so Im going to give it a separate headline. Get It Tested. If you have surgery you can get what is medically called the products of conception tested. That means they can chromosomally test your fetus and see what, if anything, was wrong with it. For older patients, patients undergoing IVF, or in my non medical opinion, any patient, it is a great comfort to find out that something was wrong with the fetus, which is why it didnt make it. On the other hand, if they find out that there was nothing wrong with the babythat it was chromosomally normalyou can investigate other solutions to prevent it from recurring. In fact, Im such a fan of this method that by my 4thand finalmiscarriageI scheduled it right away so I could make sure not to lose my chance to test the products. Moving On. Its only after youve dealt with ending the miscarriage that the real loss may hit you youre not pregnant anymore. The sadness of this will be accompanied by actual physical symptoms, such as a drop in hormones those happy making chemicals that buoyed your bump. I myself often experienced a palpable gut wrench from the drop, as well as a weight gain that no doctor had warned me about. Look, Im not going to sugar coat this There was no good thing about any of my miscarriages. And most people didnt have any good things to say about it either, like, At least you can get pregnant. Thanks a lot. But maybe the one good thing that can come out of this is that I suffered through indecision and different procedures so you dont have to. Im sorry, theres no heartbeat, my doctor said to me. She didnt sound very sorry, leaving the room so quicklyostensibly so I could pull up my. Given the prominence of nipples throughout video game history, why are we, as a society, so obsessed with these small, circular, newly Nintendoofficial areas of skin. Psychic Cayce Bridges helps police solve murders by mentally linking with the murderer. Then she discovers a murderer with the same talent who wants to share the. I only remember one practical writing lesson from my three years as an English major Whenever you can, put the best bits at the end of the sentence. Put the next. Hopefully you can get through the physical part, so youll be free to focus on emotional healing and hopefully, get started trying again.