Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Side projects are things we do that aren’t our main jobs. Does that thought invigorate you or make your heart sink? I’m firmly in the former camp… This blog/newsletter started as a side project. Back in 2006, I had a writing/editing contract with a big corporation that paid the bills. But I […]
How side projects can help keep you sane 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 book written by Bárdur Oskarsson… Even though I’m a fully grown adult, I love children’s literature. Young adult novels, such as
Incubation and the flat rabbit Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute The next time a boss or client tells you not to worry about whether your writing includes enough stories, I suggest you get him or her a copy of the book Significant Objects. Here’s why. Back in 2009, American authors Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn bought a series of random objects thrift stores,
Why your stories are significant Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and personification from novelist Sarah Waters. I’ve now read three Sarah Waters novels. The Paying Guests was not my favourite — not by a longshot. (Fingersmith earned that distinction.)
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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: hermeneutical. I love few things more than reading about food, when two of my most intensely held pleasures combine into one glorious mouthful. When I read the New Yorker article
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Communicators need to use writing transitions — or bridges — from one sentence to the next. In that sense, we’re a little bit like ironworkers… Bridges, connectors or transitions are the words, phrases and stylistic devices that help direct readers through our writing. Sometimes I even like to imagine them as
Why writers need to build bridges 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 useful blog post by Susan Weinschenk. I’m a big fan of Susan Weinschenk AKA the Brain Lady, a PhD psychologist who writes about how to
Four magic questions… Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes I never thought I’d see the words crisis communications and Jian Ghomeshi in the same sentence. Now, they seem inseparable… If you don’t live in Canada, you might be unaware that Jian Ghomeshi was a media god in this country. He was host of the popular CBC radio program Q. He
Case study: crisis communications gone wrong 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 glorious handful of metaphors from New York Times writer David Carr… I came of age during Watergate. The Senate Watergate committee began its nationally televised hearings in 1973 when I was
The figurative language of David Carr… 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: titivating. I discovered the writing of Sarah Waters about 10 years ago when I read her marvellous 2002 novel Fingersmith. A Victorian crime novel with fine writing and
What does titivate mean? Read More »
