To “B” or not to “b”? That is the question.

Are you confused about capitalization? It’s hard to remember all the rules and the English language is full of exceptions.

An author recently asked about when to capitalize academic course names. If someone is taking courses in biology and French, are both in caps?

I thought I knew the answer but I reverted to the classic cliché—when in doubt, check it out—and hauled out The Chicago Manual of Style. I was sure that languages are capitalized—well, 99% sure—but I needed confirmation. I was a little iffy about biology.

Courses of study are addressed in Chapter 8, Names and Terms, under section 8.95. “Official names of courses of study are capitalized.” The examples show that generic course names are not.

So I sent her the following examples for illustration:
Specific Course Names
I’m taking French 101.
I signed up for Conservation Biology. 

Generic course names
I’d like to take a course in French. (still capitalized because it’s a language)
I think I’ll take a course in biology next fall. (lower case because it’s generic)

To sum up, languages are always capitalized. So are specific course names. Anything else is not. If you have a specific case you’d like to clear up, or you need help with other writing topics, contact info@wordsofpassion.com for more information. I’d be happy to help!

In sports, players rely on a coach to organize the team, motivate them, understand which members are the better players, and inspire them to perform to their best ability.

Today, the field of coaching has exploded. There are life coaches, business coaches, executive coaches, career coaches, financial coaches, personal coaches, health coaches, dating coaches, and, of course, writing coaches. And the list goes on. Despite the field, coaching facilitates psychological, emotional, or mental growth. In other words, you go to a coach to improve something: personal relationships, weight loss, financial status, business growth, how you write.  

Coaching helps you utilize your skills and talents and hone them, refine them, improve them so you can reach your goals. Think of Cinderella with her fairy godmother. After hours of directing mice and birds and other animals to stitch a new dress and gather vegetables (aka coaching), she waved her magic wand and Cinderella had a new gown, slippers, footmen, and a beautiful coach (the grand result).

Coaches use their own magic to inspire you with the task at hand. They do this through a combination of tools and techniques. For example, you can probably open a bank account on your own. But you might need a coach to plan your financial retirement goals. Or you may not have any trouble writing a short story. But expanding that short story into a book may feel so intimidating you don’t even try.

Coaches are experts in their particular fields. Imagine your favorite teacher combined with your favorite relative. You want someone who will stretch your boundaries and push you to do your best. Someone who’s supportive and encouraging, who knows how to praise you for a job well done and make you believe in yourself when you feel like a failure. 

Don’t settle for just an okay coach. Visualize this person in living Technicolor. What is her personality? Is she soft-spoken or authoritative? Does she sit on the sidelines or is she right there with you, helping you over the rough spots? When you know what you want you’ll be able to attract that kind of person to you. One who not only matches your writing needs, but someone who’s also a match for your heart.

How does it work?

Coaching teaches you the tools to tackle the problem. If you have trouble with noun-verb agreement, understand the basics with exercises. If your descriptions crawl instead of gallop, explore words that give your story energy and enthusiasm. If your characters are too weak, use a GMC chart (goal, motivation, and conflict) to create more tension. 

When I first started taking writing classes, I was overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work. Go through my entire manuscript and look for scenes that don’t work? You’ve got to be kidding. Search for all the times I used the word “smile” and rewrite or rephrase those sentences to avoid repetition? I think I’ll pass.

I rarely did the work in my early classes, preferring to skim over the parts I felt were unnecessary. And my writing showed it. When I finally learned that work = lessons learned, my writing improved. Dramatically.

As with any skill, the key is practice. Even professional writers take classes and improve over time. Writing is about sharing yourself—the deep inner you—with the world. When you use those skills to write from the heart, you inspire others.

Words are my passion and I love helping people excel. Like the fairy godmother that delighted in assisting Cinderella, it’s extremely rewarding for me to see the joy on my clients’ faces when they hold their finished books. 

Schedule a complimentary consultation to find out how my coaching services can help you.

Who's writing your story? You or your characters?  Author Kim Boykin's characters have minds of their own.

Read more here.
 

From the beginning of time, storytellers have enthralled audiences with tales of adventure, romance, courage, and triumph. People love stories. They’re curious about each other. Your friends want to know how you found Mr. Right.
Your business associates want to learn your secret to success.  Your family wants to help you over your heartache and heartbreak and celebrate the good times.

Everybody has a story. Have you struggled to find work and finally landed the job of your dreams? That’s a story. Were you stuck in bad relationships for years before you learned how to attract the right person? That’s a story. Did you always want to write a book but lacked confidence until you found someone who inspired you to take action? That’s a story.

The power of stories is their ability to teach and inspire. Heroes inspire others with their courage. Think of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Mahatma Ghandi, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr. They believed in the power of dreams and helped make our world a better place. Or William Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll. Their writing has shaped the minds of students for years and inspired many to become authors.

Stories share common themes. You’re not alone in the world. You’re not the only one who searches for a dream  career. You’re not the only one who desperately wants the love of your life. And you’re certainly not the only one who wants to make a million dollars. Everyone wants to love and be loved. Good relationships are a common goal. So are having a comfortable life and making a difference.

If your story talks about one or all of those things then you have something in common with other people. People reading your story feel a connection to you, to the things you’ve experienced. Your story has universal appeal. With universal appeal your story can reach hundreds, thousands, even millions of people. But how do you put that in your book, especially if you’re writing nonfiction? 

Spicing It Up
Nonfiction books can seem dry. Too technical. Just page after page of detail. It’s important to share information with your readers. And there’s a way to make that information more interesting.

You do it with personal stories. 

Suzy had a great idea for a book to help people with relationship problems. She’d been in and out of bad relationships for over 10 years and finally found the man of her dreams. But she didn’t know how to start writing. Every time she tried to write she froze. She’d start a sentence then erase it. Start again and write a couple lines and decide to change direction. After fifteen minutes of this she wanted  to tear up the paper and she’d done this for several days. She was in tears when we met and ready to give up hope. 

I had her take several deep breaths to calm her down then I asked her to tell me how she met her current husband. Her eyes brightened, her slumped shoulders straightened, and her whole body radiated purpose. She was relaxed, passionate, and on a mission. When she finished her story, I told her, “Start with what you know. Start with the story of how you met your husband.”

The last two paragraphs are a personal story.  They’re not about details or technicalities. They don’t tell you about sentence structure or character development. They talk about a personal struggle and how a shift or victory was reached. Suzy was inspired when she left her coaching session and she was able to go home and write. You want your stories to inspire people, to show them a way out of their struggle, to let them know someone has been successful and they can be too.

The next time you write, include a personal story. What happened to you? What struggle did you
overcome? What personal stories can you share?