Reading time: About 4 minutes The price of groceries is rising these days. But that’s not true of everything. The Internet allows us to do so much at absolutely no charge. Here’s a digest of great no-cost tools for writers… Do you ever feel that there’s just not enough time in your day to accomplish everything […]
26 fantastic no-cost tools for writers Read More »
Reading time: About 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 an book written by Washington Post copy editor Bill Walsh…. I recently read an article on the term the the American Dialect Society
Yes I could care less Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes Have you ever considered using speech recognition software? Here’s what it can do for you… I am writing this blog post without moving my hands. That’s because I’m using speech recognition software. Here are five reasons why you might want to consider using such software, too: It allows me to write faster than
Here’s a device to help you write faster… 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: jink…. I’d heard rave reviews of Anne Enright’s writing since 2007 when her breakout novel The Gathering won the Man Booker prize. Nevertheless, I’d never managed to read a
What does it mean to jink? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Is your writing as fast as you want it to be? If not, perhaps it’s time to think about email productivity for writers… I typically receive somewhere between 200 and 350 emails a day, by which I mean emails that I must answer. (In other words, I’m not including
Is email derailing your writing? 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 an article about the exclamation point written by Lauren Katz… I confess: I sometimes overuse exclamation marks. Mostly, I do this in
I’m not kidding about the exclamation point… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Could taking a fresh start — apart from on New Year’s Day — help you accomplish something important? Two classes I ran this week ended up being better, livelier than usual. One, for my Get it Done group, seemed friendlier and more engaged. The other, for my Extreme Writing
The benefits of a fresh start 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 — and a simile — from Guy Lawson. I read a New York Times Magazine piece about new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, some time before Christmas. Written by Guy
The figurative language of Guy Lawson… 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: riparian. As a youth, I was a serious canoeist. I had belonged to the Girl Guides (known as the Girl Scouts in the US) and, when I hit
What does “riparian” mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you think there ought to be some new year’s resolutions for writers? Let me suggest something that will work even better… I know it’s resolution season. New year’s plans seem to lurk in blogs like dangerous creatures in swamps. But not here. I don’t believe in new year’s
Here’s a non-resolution that could change your writing life Read More »
