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: shura… I enjoyed Amy Waldman’s remarkable first novel, Submission, so much that I asked for a copy of her second book, A Door in the Earth as […]
What does ‘shura’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 5 minutes Do you work at beating bad writing habits? Don’t just ignore them! Instead, deal with them promptly — before they become deeply engrained… I was sitting on a bus last week —one of those long painful rides that seemed to be taking almost a century — when I turned
Is a frozen shoulder killing your writing? Read More »
Today’s subject is “How do you know that you’ve written enough? That is, how do you decide when you’re finished?” Thanks so much to Joan Rush for suggesting this excellent topic. I want to begin by quoting Priscilla Long who is a fabulous writer and teacher — she’s based in Seattle — and if you’re
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Reading time: About 5 minutes Have you ever read a book that had an all-out-of-proportion impact on you? Today’s post gives you 10 books that changed my life. The New York Times last week ran an article under the headline “the book that changed my life.” The paper had asked its readers to pick a
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So, if you want to give up your habit of procrastinating, be sure you ask yourself what you’re getting from it. (We don’t procrastinate because we’re stupid. Or lazy! We procrastinate because we usually have very logical reasons for not wanting to do something.) The best way to get to the core of the issue
Giving procrastination the old heave-ho Read More »
There’s a particularly nasty strain of flu going around this year. I know because my husband caught it two weeks before Christmas. I knew he was really sick because he took a day off work, something he’s done only three times in the 32 years we’ve been together. (When fighting a bug, he washes his
How do you deal with being sick? Read More »
Reading time: About 7 minutes In the season after Christmas, when life seems flat and winter feels cold, dark and endless, I like to settle in by the fire and wrap my fingers around a steaming cup of fine reading. Here are my 10 favourite articles or posts from last month, culled from more than an entire
PubCoach Top 10: January 2020 Read More »
Is your big writing project starting to make you feel OVERWHELMED? Here are seven tips that will not only help you feel better but that will also make you a more productive writer: Take a break: The biggest part of your problem may be that your “well” isn’t full enough. Just as a conventional well
How to reduce your feelings of being overwhelmed Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes Do you usually struggle with your annual self-improvement plans? Here’s a better way to view New Year’s resolutions for writers…. You may wonder why I’m writing about New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 6. Haven’t I missed the deadline — the biggest scariest, most important deadline in the entire year? Actually, no.… I’m
The truth about New Year’s resolutions Read More »
Many writers don’t understand the value of giving their piece of writing a substantive edit (also known as a developmental edit or a comprehensive edit.) In fact, some writers don’t even know what these terms mean! In substantive editing your goal is to consider a document’s concept and content, intended use, organization, design, and style. The
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