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: cruft… My word-of-the-week comes from my good friend Eve Johnson. She stumbled across it twice in one day. The word, cruft, was new to […]
What does ‘cruft’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Predicting what might go wrong is not a dark art — it’s an essential skill for anyone who wants to pursue a career as a writer… My husband considers me to be an awfulizer. By this he means a person who expects the worst
How to stop yourself from being a quitter Read More »
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 written by Cal Newport… I discovered Cal Newport (pictured above) five or six years ago via
Beware of attention residue when you’re writing Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute It’s easy to spend your time processing email. The real challenge is to do the important work. Here’s how… Did you do anything important today? Note that I’m not asking whether you completed your “to do” list. Nor am I asking how many meetings
Do the important work first Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today with a host of figurative language from Dominic Smith. Writer Dominic Smith (pictured above) grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas. He is the author of
The figurative language of Dominic Smith 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: soubrette… Earlier this year I read the funny and interesting memoir Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin. An actor, comedian, writer, producer and
What’s a soubrette? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 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 written by Derek Sivers… I’ve just returned from a marvellous three-week August holiday. My husband and
The value of disconnecting Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Writing about science is not easy but at least it’s logical. The main point to understand is the the absence of a study never proves anything…. I was on holiday for much of August so I didn’t have time to weigh in on the dental
How not to write about science 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 series of similes from Wesley Morris. Even while on holiday (as I was for much of the month of August), I read the New York Times on
Like buttah and satin… 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: gimlet-eyed. Listening to podcasts has become one of my new favourite pastimes. I never miss Freakonomics and I also make time for Fresh
What does ‘gimlet-eyed’ mean? Read More »
