Grammar Guide
Present Progressive Tense

I am using the present progressive tense to prove a point: It's not wrong. It can be done.

But to liven up your writing, why not stick to verbs with punch and vigor? If you fall into the trap of the "to be" conjugation followed by a sickly little -ing word, oof, what life is left in your sentence?

Throw powerful, active verbs into your sentences and watch your writing leap off the page! Readers react to motion and sensation, so give it to them in waves. Of course, all good things should be doled out in moderation, so don't exhaust your readers, but watch out for the overuse of present progressive, also. It's usually a signal that you're in passive voice! And we all know the doom of passive voice, don't we? Ah, perhaps that will be next week's Grammar Guide topic.

(Sandy Lender, author of Choices Meant for Gods, has been an editor in the magazine publishing industry for fourteen-plus years.)
"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."