Be a Better Writer

Provides essential tips, exercises, and techniques for aspiring writers. Whether looking for better grades, better self-expression, or a better shot at college, this comprehensive collection of professional writing advice is just what students need to be a better writer. Get the inside scoop on the tricks of the trade categorized by six ingredients of good writing: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Construction, and Punctuation. Original.

Steve Peha is a leading voice on reading, writing, and education reform. As the founder of Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. (TTMS), he has developed strategies that help teachers deliver more effective instruction and help kids improve their literacy skills.Steve has delivered hundreds of workshops for teachers, administrators, and parents. He has also addressed school boards, PTAs, and other organizations to discuss current challenges in education reform.In 2001, Steve was asked by The Seattle Times to write The Effective Learning Series, a bi-weekly column on best practice teaching that won the Innovators in Education Award from the Newspaper Association of America. Over the years, he has contributed more than 200 columns to this program, most recently an 18-part series on life skills for high school students.Steve holds a BA in English from Boston University. He lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Margot Carmichael Lester, and their dog, Ursa. Margot Carmichael Lester stays on top of two careers, plying her trade as a professional writer and also as a business consultant as President of The Word Factory.Margot's writing appears regularly in magazines and newspapers as well as on the web. Her business journalism has been featured in Money Magazine, Multifamily Executive Magazine, The Los Angeles Business Journal, The Los Angeles Downtown News, The Triangle Business Journal and the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer. She is the author of Real Life Guide to Life After College and Real Life Guide to Starting Your Career. Her career advice appears monthly on Monster.com and in newspaper and magazine stories nationally.Prior to founding The Word Factory, her writing and consulting business, Margot served as director of marketing for the nationally-ranked Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Margot began her writing career in high school as the school page columnist for her hometown paper, The Chapel Hill (N.C.) News.Margot holds a BA in Journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, with her husband, Steve Peha, and their dog, Ursa.