Viewing time: 1 minute Big writing project feeling daunting? Join my free Oct. 8 class and learn how 250 words a day can move your manuscript forward. Transcript You open your long manuscript to see how much more you have left to write. Then you close it again. Another
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Reading time: About 2 minutes James Young likes to use a musical analogy for the act of writing: “There doesn’t have to be a “drum fill” after every verse or refrain; sometimes, you are just keeping the rhythm….” James Young spent 14 years as a staffer in the Senate and House,
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Intrusive thoughts when writing can stop you cold. Try these six defusion techniques, from silly voices to thanking your mind. I have a thought that shows up at roughly the 400-word mark of every first draft I write. It says: your readers will find this
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Reading time: About 1 minute Writers are often told they should join a critique group. I have never done this because I know when critiques become dangerous… Some writers get a great sense of satisfaction from belonging to a writing group. I don’t. While I’m 100% in favour of peer support,
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Recording time: 56 seconds You can be forgiven for quickly answering “no” to the question: Can grammar ever be fun? But you’d be wrong. Just ask Karen Elizabeth Gordon. Transcript: Grammar books put many writers to sleep. This one does the opposite. The Transitive Vampire, by Karen Elizabeth
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Gene Fowler…. Gene Fowler was always eminently quotable. My favourite line of his is: “Writing is easy. All you
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Mahtab Narsimhan says that she’s written in the morning for so long now, it’s become a firm habit and she feels as though something is missing if she doesn’t do it. Mahtab Narsimhan is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 critically acclaimed books in
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Reading time: About 3 minutes What to do when you can’t write: some days the words won’t come. Four research-backed strategies to get them moving again. Some days the words won’t come. You sit down at the desk you tidied for the occasion. You open the file. The last paragraph
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Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss how to write about difficult topics…. My video editor emailed me a few moments ago. She was
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Viewing time: 1 minute Writing perfectionism keeps you staring at a blank page. Good writers aren’t better at first drafts. They’re better at revision. Transcript Here’s a myth that keeps writers stuck: good writers get it perfect the first time. They don’t. Not one of them. The blank-page genius
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