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: quisling. I’m a trailing edge baby-boomer, born in the late 1950s. My parents, both Canadians, were deeply marked by the Second World War. My father
What’s a quisling? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Last week I wrote about the benefits of the word yes. Today, I reflect on the advantages of just saying no. I have a bad back. I know I’ve created this back myself, after 30 years of stooping over a computer keyboard and hunching
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Reading time: Less than two 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 about Italo Calvino… I once worked for an editor who believed that Italian journalist
Are you a hedgehog, fox, eagle or hummingbird? Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Do you know how to manage your communications suppliers? Here’s some advice that will get them working FOR you rather than against you…. As someone who works in communications, I end up managing a host of suppliers. Maybe you do, too. Writers, copy editors, proofreaders, graphic
How to stop aggravating your suppliers…. Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors from Elizabeth Renzetti. I’m a big fan of the journalist Elizabeth Renzetti who writes for the Globe and Mail newspaper. She’s funny, opinionated and articulate
The figurative language of Elizabeth Renzetti… 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: ambuscader. One of my readers, Richard Holden, has published a collection of short stories in a genre he calls “Elderlit.” I hadn’t before
What’s an ambuscader? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes There are five excellent reasons why you should say yes to writing more often. Here is a real-life email from one of my potential clients who wants to write for the theatre. It said: “I’ve put a hold on my play. I’m afraid of the
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Reading time: Just over 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 on NOT writing by Bill Hayes…. It amuses me that my topic for today’s post is a
Could not writing be a good thing? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes If you want to ask me something or share your opinion of what I’m writing about, here’s a step-by-step guide for how to comment on my blog… Readers sometimes tell me they’re unable to comment on my blog. I’ve spoken to my webmaster about
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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 a metaphor from Nathan Heller. I love San Francisco. My husband and I went there for our honeymoon and returned for our 10th wedding anniversary. (The remarkable aspect of that,
The figurative language of Nathan Heller…. Read More »
