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: flummery…. When a friend recommended the book Conclave to me, I thought I was looking for a non-fiction work exploring the selection of a new Pope by […]
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Reading time: About 3 minutes If you’re easily distracted, it’s going to be tough for you to write. Here’s how to increase your attention span, to make the work or writing easier. For a couple of years, my kids started calling me “Daphne,” instead of mom when they wanted to get my attention. Why? Somehow
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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 metaphors, similes and personification from Gail Honeyman…. When I heard the book title, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (pictured above), I suspected it might be either
The figurative language of Gail Honeyman…. Read More »
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: scrimshaw… Someday soon, I will create a dictionary of the words I’ve seen several hundred times but still have no idea what they mean. It embarrasses me
What’s a scrimshaw? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Survivorship bias might sound like a pointy-headed theory that has nothing to do with writing. But read on to learn why that’s a mistaken idea… I apologize for throwing a scary piece of jargon your way with the term survivorship bias. What does this strange phrase mean? And what does
How does survivorship bias give you dumb ideas about writing? Read More »
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 metaphor from New Yorker scribe Andrew Marantz…. I like political satire as much as the next person, but American politics is so coo-coo right now that satire scarcely seems necessary. Still,
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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: riverine…. In reading the New Yorker, I encountered a word I’d never seen before. It appeared an Aug. 21/17 article headlined, “Is there any point to protesting?”
What does ‘riverine’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes If your writing ever makes you feel helpless, it’s time for you to use learned hopefulness to inspire and support your writing… If the COVID epidemic has taught us anything, it’s schooled us in the concept of what psychologists call “learned helplessness.” Basically, this theory holds that when faced
How you can use learned HOPEFULNESS for your writing Read More »
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 from J. Courtney Sullivan… I had never heard of the American author J. Courtney Sullivan (pictured above) until I read her novel Saints for All Occasions. While I enjoyed
The figurative language of J. Courtney Sullivan…. Read More »
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: doodad…. Of course, I know that a doodad is an ornamental attachment or decoration or a small article whose common name is unknown or forgotten. (I show some
‘Doodad’ – what’s the origin of the word? Read More »
