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: marmoreal. I’ve never read anything by William S. Burroughs, not even Naked Lunch (1959), but when flipping through a stack of my beloved New […]
What does marmoreal mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes My husband and I recently returned from a three-week trip to Europe. Here is part 2 of a three-part series on each of the cities we visited. Today I focus on Prague with a piece on the importance of separating writing and editing. (Part 1, on Amsterdam, is
Writing advice from the Czech president 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 headlined, “A Tiny Good Deed Can Go a Long Way”…. The article I want to
The surprising results of tiny good deeds… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes Does your company ever need to hire writer? Here are some tips on how to help writers succeed… I recently accepted a contract with a small communications firm. They wanted me to write some stories that perfectly fit the style I best like to
How to help writers succeed 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 the metaphorical efforts of Tom Rachman. The book The Imperfectionists earned a spot on my top 10 list of novels for 2010. It stunned me that a first-time novelist
The figurative language of Tom Rachman… Read More »
Reading time: About 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: penumbra. By the time I hit grade 11, I’d mostly opted out of maths and sciences and, instead, focused on literature and social studies.
What’s a penumbra? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes My husband and I just returned from a three-week trip to Europe. Here is part 1 of a three-part series on each of the cities we visited. Today I focus on Amsterdam with a piece on biking and writing. I didn’t own a bike
Biking (and writing) like it’s no big deal Read More »
Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Preparing myself for the holiday I’m on right now has reminded me about the value of deadlines… When you read this column, I will be in Vienna enjoying the sights and sounds of a city that was either the birthplace or burial site of Brahms, Schubert,
Why you need to understand the value of deadlines Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes How long does it take you to write something? How you answer this question may be one of the most important decisions you make… Our society lavishes praise on anything involving time and money. Is something expensive? It must be really good. Did you
How long will it take you to write this? 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 a song about word crimes written by Weird Al Yancovic… I was charmed when my friend Marcelle
What does Weird Al know about word crimes? Read More »
