My Name is Ashton Hoffman

I’ve been having trouble writing lately. That’s not really news – I think most writers have trouble writing. Especially when they’re young, busy, and unpracticed. But that doesn’t make it any less upsetting. Most writers, I believe, will tell you what they have trouble with. Plotting, dialogue, character development – thesis choosing, quote integration, analysis, … More Brett Lott – On Life

“Vocation” is a ridiculously vague word. An originally religious term, vocation has been increasingly secularized over the years to mean everything from your calling to your 9-5 to joining your local priesthood. What a word. Two of those definitions are (theoretically, at least) easy enough to understand. Your job is, well, your job. It’s the … More Thoughts on Vocations

I’ve been posting a lot of my old writing on here. Originally, I intended to write much more original content for this blog. But college is, as I’m sure you know, extremely demanding and the opportunity to get ahead on an assignment by sharing work I’ve already done is all too enticing during this stressful … More A Minute

Two of my classmates and I did an interesting exercise today – we wrote a story together. Sort of. I’ve written stories with another writer before. Well, a story, if you want to get technical. However, Mandy’s and I’s approach to creative collaboration has always been distinctly collaborative. We use google docs to, quite literally, write together. … More Creative Collaboration – Sort Of

Changes Chapter 1 – Suz I hurried to scribble in the answers, my hands practically flying over the papers as I wrote. It was five minutes to the bell and I was, once again, sitting in the library, furiously attacking my math homework that was due in T-minus 300 seconds and counting. Needless to say, … More Changes

In his article, “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar,” Hartwell (1985) introduces an idea that, for me, was revolutionary. Grammar, as we refer to it in the classroom, is not the grammar that we use in our speech, but a collection of imperfect rules that attempt to explain it. As such, “grammar” is not a law. … More Grammar, Grammar, Grammar

From the moment she entered the room Julia was ready. She headed directly to her bed, reaching for the bag hidden underneath. Headmistress would skin her alive if she knew she had this but, with any luck, Julia would be long gone by then. She worked quickly, gathering the few possessions she knew would be useful – … More Welcome to Your Recruitment

In her article, Composing as a Woman, Flynn (1988) writes that women, in general, tend to write about relationships. Despite my personal feelings about her argument, I have noticed a tendency to orient my own writing, especially when it comes to creative nonfiction, around relationships. However, there’s another trend that dominates my writing even more than … More It’s Called Introspection