Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a smart metaphor from a Margaret Talbot piece in the New Yorker. When my husband and I finish with our New Yorkers, we pass them along to a friend. Preparing myself to let […]
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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: gallimaufry. When I read the new Elizabeth Gilbert novel, The Signature of All Things, I was gobsmacked to see a word I couldn’t fathom: gallimaufry. Here is how she
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Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Does writing scare you? Maybe the problem is you don’t have a system for writing. I faced the same challenge with Hollandaise sauce, recently…. Cooking doesn’t usually scare me. I’ve made soufflé, mousse, bread without a machine and turkey dinner for 22 without turning a hair grey. But for some reason,
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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 article written by Kristopher Jansma. I am frequently troubled by endings. I don’t like many of them. The applies not just
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute Has anyone ever told you that speeches need numbers? Here’s why… I volunteer to coach a debating team at my local high school. I enjoy working with kids (grade 8s and 9s) and I’m glad to help them learn the value of public speaking at a young age. Here’s
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about the figurative language of Elizabeth Gilbert. I was not ferocious fan of Elizabeth Gilbert’s signature book Eat, Pray Love. But I admired its (much less popular) sequel, Committed. I also found her
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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: pellucid. There are certain words I like mainly because of the sound of them. Take, pellucid, for example. Isn’t that a beautiful word? I encountered it, recently, when I
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Would you like to banish your writer’s block? Here is an easy-to-implement suggestion that’s guaranteed to work… Clients of mine are sometimes surprised when I suggest that they write for only five minutes a day. “That sounds crazy, embarrassing,” they tell me. “What possible benefit could I get from that?”
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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 10 words to cut from your writing… I like editing techniques that are really easy to use. Not everyone understands
Reading time: About 2 minutes Clichés are overused expressions. And business cliches…well, they’re bad for business… Are clichés really that bad in business? Yes. And let me tell you why. Clichés are overused expressions. At one time they might have been original. But now they’re old and stale. They make reading (or listening to a speaker) boring and
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