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 novelist Katherine Heiny…. I seldom read what might be described as “chick-lit.” That kind of writing usually doesn’t appeal to me. I can’t recall why I […]
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Reading time: Just over 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: restive…. I started subscribing to the New Yorker magazine back in 1993, shortly after Tina Brown (pictured above) had become its editor. While I’d found much of her work
What does ‘restive’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes A research diary can take a number of different forms, but it will help you declare your opinions about your research AND allow you to stay connected with the writing process…. After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, at about the age of 11, I started keeping a diary.
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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 similies and metaphors from omaopy editor Mary Norris…. The majority of people who are really good at grammar often aren’t hugely creative. It’s almost as if talent in
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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: spavined…. When I read a Calvin Tomkins story about artist Dana Schutz in the New Yorker, I was thrilled to see it gave me three fascinating words.
What does ‘spavined’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes Can an electronic editor like ProWritingAid help you improve your writing? Here are my thoughts after having tested the program for several years…. When I wrote about the grammar-checking software Grammarly several years ago, my post generated huge reader response (some 279 comments online) and it still regularly generates emails
Is it worth paying for ProWritingAid? (And is it better than Grammarly?) Read More »
Reading time: Just over 3 minutes Some people just never seem to find the time to be able to write. Here is my best advice on how to prioritize writing…. I learned some hard lessons when I wrote my first book. It took me more than a year of angst-ridden, slogging work, and while I
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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 metaphors and similes from novelist and screenplay writer Tom Perrotta…. Tom Perrotta (pictured above) is the bestselling author of nine works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were
The figurative language of Tom Perrotta…. 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: prosody…. As a voracious reader, I regularly encounter words I’ve seen many times before but that I’m still hard-pressed to define. Prosody is one such word. I
What is ‘prosody’? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Are you good at collecting quotes from your interview subjects? Here’s a primer on how to ask better questions… As a former journalist, I’ve done more than my share of interviews, many of them with then big-name Canadian authors. I was a books editor at a metropolitan daily for
How to ask better questions… Read More »
