Tenses

Tenses: I'm not saying I'm perfect at remembering all the tenses, and you might not use them all, but there are: Simple Present, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, Simple Past, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous, Simple Future, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous:

Simple Present:

• For repetitive or normal actions in current periods:
• She sleeps throughout most of the day
• He carpools to work
• For facts:
• Cats have four legs
• Chicago is the city of Illinois
• For habits:
• She puts her pants on before her shirt
• He brushes his teeth after each meal
• For things that are all true:
• People perspire when they sweat
• There were four United States presidents who were killed

Present Continuous:

• For actions happening now:
• You are playing too many video games. Go outside.
• My pen isn't working anymore. It needs ink. Can I borrow yours?
• For future plans:
• I'm going to the movies with Max. Maybe some other time.
• My sister is visiting again this Saturday.
• Repeating actions to annoy someone: * Note: The word "always" is in the sentences
• I'm getting tired of you always being late all the time.
• Why are you always correcting my grammar?

Present Perfect:

• Actions that happen at an unscheduled time before the current time:
• I have been to the Eiffel Tower
• How many times have you been to the Eiffel Tower?
• Have you met Ashley?
• Action that ends recently:
• She has broken her promise
• She hadn't finished her homework yet
• Mentions about things that happened in the past, and are still happening:
• Megan has lived in the same house for 22 years
• Skyler has always loved shopping

Present Perfect Continuous:

• Point out an action that's been finished, but evidence is still there
• Ruby must have cooked today, the kitchen smells like a restaurant
• I have a stiff back. I shouldn't have slept on the sofa
• Mention an action that hasn't finished yet
• I've been at my job for 10 years and still haven't gotten a raise
• I was told she'd be here in an hour and she hasn't shown up yet
• Talks about a list of actions
• I'm worried because she's been calling me every five minutes
• She has written her a letter every day 
• Often used with words such as "since," "for," "all week," "for days," "lately," "recently," or "over the last few months"
• I've been working here since 2006
• All she did for the last for days was complain about him

Simple Past:

• Actions that happened in the past:
• We moved here in 2001
• I met Alex yesterday
• Who do you work for?

Past Continuous:

• Event that happened in the past:
• Last night I was watching a comedic film
• The motorcycle was loud
• Actions that are interrupted:
• Heather was yelling at Wendell until their child came in
• The dog was walking nicely until he saw a squirrel
• Two or more things happening at the same time:
• I was reading while the tv commercials were on
• She was texting her friend while she was a foot away
• Polite questions:
• I was wondering if you could help me carry these heavy boxes?
• I was thinking you might help me with fixing my car?
• Annoyance:
• She was always coming late for dinner
• She was always early for the party, we couldn't get ready in time

Past Perfect:

• An action that happened prior to another action in the past:
• After I had begun exercising, I lost a lot of weight
• I realized I had left my cell phone in the car, so I couldn't check my voice mail
• An action that happened prior to a specific time in the past:
• I had fallen asleep in class an hour the teacher started his lesson
• The show had been filmed before a live studio audience
• Event that happened in the past and continued into the past:
• You were the last to had used the murder weapon before it went missing
• They had lived in England for 25 years before they moved to America

Past Perfect Continuous:

Simple Future:
Future Continuous:
Future Perfect:
Past Perfect Continuous:

5 W's and How. 5 or 6 senses.

One of the many important things I sometimes forget to do is use the 5 W's and How. Also, the 5 or 6 senses.

What I mean is: 

• Who: Who was there
• What: What was the person doing there
• Where: Where is the location of where the person is
• When: When was the person doing this task (day/time)?
• Why: Why was the person doing this task?
• How: How did the person do it?

5 or 6 senses 

1. See
2. Smell
3. Hear
4. Taste
5. Feel (this could mean touching and emotional feelings).
6. (see dead people)

Not all senses will be used in chapters or scenes such as eating (taste) unless your character is having dinner, snack, candy or whatever. Characters will not eat all the timeWhen writing senses, you might use a lot of verbs = action words.

1. See: When I turned my head I saw the beautiful woman across the way. (Turned)
2. Smell: I covered my nose when I smelled the rancid human waste in the sewer (covered)
3. Hear: I curved my hand around my ears so I can hear her better (curved)
4. Taste: I was excited because I knew I would get to taste my mom's cookies (excited)
5. Feel: I felt embarrassed when found out I couldn't make (sad = emotion) and (burned = touch) my hand on the skillet 
6. See dead people like on the 6th sense, ghost whisperer, etc.

The pros and cons of joining writer's groups

Pro: You would get helpful criticisms such as getting ideas on how to improve grammar, writing tips, show you what you're missing in your story to make it better, what you could remove in your story to make it better. If you have the opportunity to critique people's submissions, you could do the same, help others improve their works. 

Cons: Some members can be real jerks who dislike your story in general, topic (witches) or just a chapter of your story. 

If someone doesn't like your story, or anything for that matter, you have to have thick skin. I just tell myself, "I can't please everyone" and let the negative comments roll off my back. Don't be discouraged if they're not taking your ideas, it's their story, they can take it or leave it. Ditto when  they give you suggestions. 

What I do is I circle or put a comment on my word doc as to what the person is talking about and who said it. 

For example: In my story, I wrote "She wiped her watery eyes with her knuckle." 
Someone, Ilene asked "Was she crying? If so, mention tears". I circled the comment and put an arrow <--Ilene. 

This is just so if I wanted to, I could go back to the person and say "I like your idea" or if I think it's stupid or choose not to use it, "That's okay. I don't want to use it, even though it would help readers understand why she was doing that."
I hope this makes sense to my readers.

What does "doing the math" have to do with writing?

Some people don't realize that they have to do math while writing. I hate doing math, but like most, only if it's regarding something I care about, like in this case. It's super important to do the math correctly; otherwise, people will correct you, saying things won't make sense or you're stupid, and you don't know your history.

For example:
Mother died in 2000
Her daughter was 16 when that happened.
The daughter was born in 1990
If the daughter was born in 1990 and the mom died in 2000, the mom would've been 33

2006 - 16 = 1990 (daughter's birthday)
2006 - 1973 =  33 (mother would've been 33 years old when she died.)
1990 - 1973 =  17 (mom would've been 17 when she had her daughter.)

If this makes any sense to anyone, then I've done the math correctly.

What Does Show vs. Tell Mean?

Some people have had many examples, but my favorite example is this:

Telling. He's angry

Showing: He bangs on the table so hard it rattles

What Has Inspired Me To Write?

To be honest, I don't know what motivated me to write, but I do recall that I began writing at the age of five, around the time I learned to read and sketch.

About Me

I'm Phylicia, an unemployed, disabled person who is interested in writing, reading, drawing, playing video games, watching movies and TV, listening to music, and doing jigsaw puzzles. I attend another writers' group and serve as a volunteer secretary at one in 2026. Throughout high school, college, and the present, I attended a variety of writing clubs. To the best of my ability, I provide feedback on members' entries to help them improve their poetry or stories. In my role as secretary, I add potential new members to the mailing list, notify members of upcoming meetings so they can contribute if they'd like, and explain how the club operates. 

I have always had a passion for those ideas since I was a kid. In Pre-K, I remember reading "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss a lot. 

When I was 12, I received a "Write and Illustrate Your Own Book" kit. The company would bind the pages into a story as if it were professionally published. 

My brother taught me to draw when I was about 5 years old, starting with Mickey Mouse; then I used "How to Draw" books and took art classes. I have a lot of patience because I learned pointillism, hatching, and cross-hatching techniques in college. I could do a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, no matter how big or tiny, in a single day. 

I could do a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, regardless of its size. The shortest amount of time was 1 day; the longest was 10 days.

In the year 2010, a writers' group I attended did a compilation of "Poems, Prayers, and Prose." I designed numerous designs for the front and back cover and also wrote for the group and other people.

In college, I wrote a poem as an assignment called "Just Another Friday Night" and submitted it to a contest. It was in a compilation of poems in "Famous Poets of the Heartland." It read like a story about someone in a karaoke bar saying that you don't need to be a good singer to sing karaoke.

I like going to book clubs because I get to hear other people's perspectives and see if they agree or disagree with mine. 

For a while, I ran an art company called "Stipplings For U" where I could create original or non-original drawings (like Marilyn Monroe) and market them. Friends, relatives, and teachers made up the majority of my clients. There weren't many clients, and maintaining the website was too expensive.