The Black Panther movie is expected to generate about $200 million this weekend. Aside from the projected monetary success, the critically-acclaimed reviews will put..

We all know the basic capitalization rules like capitalize the first word of a sentence. But there are a few more common rules for capitalization that I'd like to bring to your attention.

1. Capitalize Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the name of noun (a person, place, thing, or idea). More specifically, a "proper noun has two distinctive features: 1) it will name a specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and 2) it will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence. For example…

Three years ago today, I published my first (and only) short story. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), I, too, had a dream. As a child, I dreamt of becoming a famous author among other things. I didn't think it was possible, so I pushed that dream aside and pursued careers that had more clearly-outlined paths like teaching…

Hopefully, today's blog post will be motivating. Why? Because it shows me actively trying to accomplish one of my 2017 goals--which was/is to expand my brand by securing more speaking engagements. Well, I definitely spoke to more audiences than usual, but not as much as I would've liked to. In any case, I'm very grateful for the opportunities I had to enlighten people on the importance of proper (correct) grammar, language capital, and diverse teaching methods.

Here's the second video in my #ClassroomConversations video series. (You can watch the first video here.) I am in my element--the classroom setting--discussing ways that the home, school, and community can impact a student's academic journey!

Happy November, writers!

It's the first of the month...wake up, wake up, wake up! (Corny, I know.)

Anyway...

I'm excited because today is not just the first of any month, but it's the first of November...THEE month for writers!

For those who are not familiar, November is "National Novel Writing Month," also known as "NaNoWriMo." This is the month that a lot of writers were/are born. This is the month filled with tons of online writing encouragement and advice from other writers, novelists, etc. This is the month that I got serious about writing my first book, SoKoDiaries: An American Teacher Living in South Korea. (Although I didn't publish my first book until February 2013, it was mostly written in November 2012 while I was overseas in South Korea.) So much literary magic has happened since then!

English is the global language, therefore, it's important that we write and speak it properly and correctly. That being said, there are grammar mistakes that are more common than others, and I want to talk about 3 of them. Not only will I discuss these 3 common grammar mistakes, but I will also share ways to avoid them. (I'll keep the blog post short and sweet because I have a video that goes into more detail.)

1 || Avoid not knowing the difference between THEN and THAN

Example sentences with "then":

I went to the store, then I went to school.
In 2012, I lived in South Korea. Life was simpler then.

Writing a book is not easy. Sure, there are some simple strategies you can use to make the book-writing process more digestible, but the work still needs to be done. The WRITING still needs to be done. If you're anything like me, you don't want to wait 17 years to write the second chapter of your book after writing the first, and then another 17 years to write chapter three. I'm exaggerating, of course, but I know that writing a book can be a slow process for some people. And I understand that there are different types of writers, so there are different types of writing processes; however, I have a few tips that I believe will help every type of writer write their book faster.

1 || Put your book in a 3-ring binder so you know it’s real

This may sound cheesy and pretentious all at the same time, but it works. Sometimes, we get so tied to our computers/laptops, that we can't see our writing progress or lack thereof. If you print your book out and see those bald-headed chapters, then it'll hopefully inspire you to fill them out. Or you may find that you actually need to edit a few chapters and scale down. Or you may find that your book is not that far from publish-worthy. I'm telling you, the physical, printed papers help with the book-writing process. It will feel more like a book, and it will be organized in case you want family and friends to proofread it.

Happy New Year! (I hope I'm not too late with the well wishes.)

For the past two years, I've written annual blog diaries to highlight some cool, noteworthy things I’ve done throughout the year to help me be more grateful for my life. These annual blog diaries also include documented moments of growth in my business. This may sound like a weird, vain, or possibly silly concept, but it has worked for me in the past. Although I will no longer document accomplishments in this way, my annual blog diaries helped me learn the importance of gratitude. The simple things in life really do matter. (NOTE: I deleted a lot of info because I felt it wasn’t for the public.) Nevertheless, these notes are still pretty transparent.