I’m sure my opinions will build as I continue to travel, but as it stands, this is what I’ve observed while exploring Africa, Asia, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and domestic cities and states in between. Also, let me state that I am a U.S. citizen who's lived overseas in South Korea in 2012, so a lot of my rhetoric comes from that experience…

After writing and publishing books for over five years, I feel like I have useful tips and hacks to help new writers have professional-looking work whether they write a book or not.

At the top of the year, I said that 2018 is the year of the writer (specifically, the author). It is now the end of April and I still believe that. But you know what I realized? I encouraged aspiring..

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…

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!

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.

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.

Happy New Year!

2016 has been amazing for me, thus far. Hopefully, you guys have the same testimony. Instead of me talking about how grateful I am for another year, I'm gonna follow the same new year process I started last year where I list highlights of the previous year--broken down into months--showcasing the new and/or exciting things I've accomplished and learned.

click here to read my 2014 diary, otherwise, continue reading:

JANUARY

-Released my first short story fiction on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (although Amazon says a different date)

-Visited the eatery "Lemonade " in Manhattan Beach and fell in love with it