Tuesday, April 3, 2018 | By: The Write Way Cafe

Tuesday Special: Five-Minute Writing Tips by Kathleen Kaska

Kathleen Kaska



Just when you think you’ve mastered punctuation, a semi-colon comes along and bites you in the butt. Then you learn that infinitives can be split, prepositions can end your sentences, buts can begin another, and you feel so much better—inspired. You move forward, create a perfect sentence, words no one else has ever written. You imagine Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Poe, penning their masterpieces, beckoning you to join the fun. Another masterful sentence, then a dazzling paragraph, an entire page of literary genius. You think bestseller, Pulitzer, Nobel. The morning comes, but nothing else. Then inspiration tosses you a bone, which doesn’t do a darn bit of good, so you bury it along with your laptop. Sound familiar?

These tongue-in-cheek five-minute writing tips had their origins as Cave Art Press blog posts. The tips include writing styles, grammar and punctuation rules, and tips on the down and dirty of publishing and marketing, a skill everyone needs no matter what their field of study. To keep these tips short and humorous, references and stories about egg-laying chickens and how dogs think, The Three Bears and The Seven Dwarfs, Contrary Mary and Goldilocks, high-school English teachers and the United States Post Office, the TV series 77 Sunset Strip and Breaking Bad, Pope Francis and Michelle Obama, and a prairie dog who walked into a bar were used.

Available for purchase at: Cave Art Press


Kathleen is giving away three copies of her book.  To be eligible just leave a comment below!

Kathleen Kaska is a Texas gal who now lives in Washington. Except for an eighteen-month hiatus when she moved to New York City after college, she lived in Texas continuously for fifty years. Since then Texas has been hit and miss—a little hit, but a heck of a lot of miss, having grown up in a hidden burg where the mayor was believed to be a dog. Who wouldn't miss that?

Kathleen is the author two awarding-winning mystery series: the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series set in the 1950s and the Classic Triviography Mystery Series, which includes The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book. Run Dog Run, the first mystery in her new animal-rights series, was released in March 2017. It was her passion for birds that led to the publication The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story (University Press of Florida). She has been the marketing director for Cave Art Press since 2015.

Website       Black Opal Books     Twitter     Facebook

11 comments:

Kathleen Kaska said...

Thanks for having me as a guest on The Write Way Café's Tuesday Special, HiDee. I had such great fun writing this book. I include punctuation and grammar rules I can never seem to remember. I'd love to hear from your readers about tricks they used to remember the rules. "I" before "e" except after ""c?"

Angela Adams said...

"I" before "e" except after ""c?" -- I say this all the time, Kathleen, and people look at me like I'm crazy. Best wishes with your book.

Eileen Moynihan said...

Hi! This book would be very helpful.

HiDee said...

Thank you so much for joining us, Kathleen! I still rely on "I" before "e" except after "c". I know there have to be other rules with catchy phrases. I just need to find them! Maybe your book is the answer!

Kathleen Kaska said...

What's funny is I use my own book to check myself. Thanks for having me, HiDee!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a really great book for writers! Excited to see what's next.

Mike said...

Awesome idea and opportunity! Have always blazed a path of my own, but this would really help develop and strengthen my overall writing! Cool beans!

Chris Pavesic said...

This looks like a good resource.

Kathleen Kaska said...

Mike and Chris, Thanks for your comments. The book started out as blog posts for the Cave Art Press newsletter. Several of our readers commented that I should published the posts in a collections—and this was the result!

Kathleen Kaska said...

Margy, I'm still writing the writing-tips once a month for the Cave Art Press newsletter.

The Write Way Cafe said...

Congratulations Angela Adams, Margy, and Mike -- You are the winners of Kathleen's book! Please send me an email at thewritewaycafe@gmail.com with your email address so Kathleen can contact you.