Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from Luis Alberto Urrea… I bought and read the novel The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urea (pictured above) after hearing several laudatory reviews on NPR […]
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: levantine… I live in a city, Vancouver, that is roughly 50 percent Asian. As a result, reading a book titled Crazy Rich Asians (by Kevin Kwan) makes me want
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Reading time: About 3 minutes If you’ve ever chafed against limits — time, money, raw materials or client demands — read today’s post to learn how to be more creative despite constraints… One of my clients emailed me this week with an important question about habits. “I often try to balance between routine and getting
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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 Rachel Khong… Unless I take careful notes, I usually can’t remember who has recommended individual books to me. This is a particular disadvantage with
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Reading time: About 3 minutes If you don’t know how to meet deadlines, my hunch is that you frequently say something like, ‘I’ll do this by the end of the month.’ Here’s why you should stop… How often do you tell yourself the lie that you’ll finish your project, report, chapter or even entire book,
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Reading time: Less than 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 a blog post by Lily Brooks-Dalton… Lily Brooks-Dalton (pictured above) was born and raised in southern Vermont. Her memoir, Motorcycles I’ve Loved was a finalist
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from Tayari Jones…. I read a couple of laudatory reviews of the novel An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (pictured above) and decided to read it for
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: skirling… I love onomatopoeia — words imitating the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Examples? Buzz. Sizzle. Cuckoo. And when I recently encountered the word skirling, I assumed it fell into the same
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Reading time: Less than 4 minutes If you’ve never learned how to deal with guilt, make doing so one of your most important goals for 2022… I have many flaws and shortcomings. For example, I’m blindingly impatient, especially with myself. I’m so persistent that you might be inclined to call me stubborn. And I occasionally
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Reading time: Less than 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 a blog post by Derek Sivers on the upside of self-employment… I have been my own boss for 26 years now.
What’s the upside of self-employment? Read More »
