Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Is writing burdensome to you? Consider whether you might be taking on more responsibility than you need to… My son, who is studying to become an opera singer, must display a panoply of skills: Singing without a microphone. Learning a smattering of six different languages. Knowing how to build and […]
What a circus act can teach you about writing… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes 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 recent Brain Pickings article about writer Ann Patchett… I’ve been a fan of Ann Patchett ever since I read her spellbinding novel,
I pluck the butterfly from the air… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes How much time do you spend preparing for what can go wrong? If you’re ready to be prepared you can save yourself both embarrassment and some bad decisions… Fallout from the May 6/15 Alberta election has made me recall some of the mistakes I’ve made in my own professional
Why you need to be prepared for anything… 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 some dazzling similes and metaphors from Kevin Brockmeier… I have a not-so-secret affection for memoir. It’s my favourite genre and I usually manage to read about a dozen each year. A memoir by Kevin Brockmeier, however, is
The figurative language of Kevin Brockmeier Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes 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: henid. I love learning new words! Some writers — such as Alice Gregory — make the task especially easy by including definitions of unusual words, directly in the
Reading time: About 3 minutes People often suggest to me that they’ll be wasting time if they allow themselves to write without editing while they go. Here’s why I disagree… Whenever I talk about the crappy first draft or writing first and editing later some people always object. Last week, when I ran a webinar for a group
Feel like you’re wasting time with your crappy first draft? Here’s how to find out… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes 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 in defence of books on paper… I’m a dedicated reader who zips through at least 52 books each year and a
In defence of books on paper Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Here’s why I care about correct use of the pronoun who — and why you should care, too… I try not to be outraged by simple grammatical errors. I grew up in a household where my father heaped scorn on people who didn’t speak correctly. As a result, I
Who cares about “who”? 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 about a handful of similes and metaphors from Alexandra Fuller… I used to belong to a book club and one of the first works we devoured was the 2003 memoir Don’t Let’s Go to the
The figurative language of Alexandra Fuller… 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: dilatory… Are you too dilatory in your writing? I encountered the word dilatory in my recent reading. It appeared in the book Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Here’s how
What does dilatory mean? Read More »
