Do You Have a Catharsis Handy? Five-Minute Writing Tips
Kathleen Kaska
These 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. 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, my high-school English teachers and the United States Post Office, 77 Sunset Strip and Breaking Bad, Pope Francis and Michelle Obama, and a prairie dog who walked into a bar were used.
Five-Star Review By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
Do You Have a Catharsis Handy? Five-Minute Writing Tips is a nonfiction writing skills guide by Kathleen Kaska. Kaska is a blogger, author and the Marketing Director of Cave Art Press. She was also a middle-school science teacher for twenty-five years, and is an avid bird-watcher. She learned the tricks of the writer’s trade from other writers, such as William Zinsser, Mary Norris and Stephen King, while keeping close tabs on the venerable style guides such as Strunk and White. Her guide is separated into three parts: Inspiration, Style and Nonsense, followed by a section on grammar and punctuation and, finally, an introduction to the mysteries of writing, marketing and publishing your work.
Kathleen Kaska’s nonfiction writing skills guide, Do You Have a Catharsis Handy? Five-Minute Writing Tips, is first and foremost an act of love. Kaska loves words and the power that an author can wield with the right combination of ideas, words and just enough grammar to make it work. Purists who’ve been trained under the guidance of classic grammar texts, such as Otto Jesperson’s works on English grammar, will probably find themselves somewhat relieved at Kaska’s common-sense and modernized take on grammar and style — I know I was. I was caught up in her enthusiasm and delight with her colleague’s husband’s “Douglassims” and loved her ideas for coping with the ever-dreaded writer’s block.
Each tip is artfully presented in the author’s smooth, conversational style. And while I fear I’ll still shamelessly indulge my love of using archaic words and phrases, and continue leaving in just a few more words than absolutely necessary, I learned a lot from reading this engaging collection of blog posts. Her ideas on finding or forming writing groups are especially helpful, and her tips on marketing and publishing are illuminating. Do You Have a Catharsis Handy? Five-Minute Writing Tips is most highly recommended.
Publisher: Salvo Press
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
ISBN-10:1930486898
ISBN-13: 978-1930486989
Discussion Questions for Murder at the Arlington
1. What was your impression of Sydney’s response upon finding the body in her hotel room?
2. How does Sydney’s cousin, Ruth Echland, affect the plot?
3. What are Sydney’s true feelings about being single?
4. What is the theme of the story? The series is set in the early 1950s. Would the theme change if the story were set in current times?
5. How does Sydney’s life differ from most other women of her time? Where would you say she places her emphasis?
6. Would you describe Sydney as a rebel? Why or why not?
7. How does Sydney’s relationship with her father reflect who she is? How about her mother?
8. Besides Sydney visiting the casinos and a few other shady places in Hot Springs to find the killer, what else resulted from her underground forays?