Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from English novelist Jeanette Winterson. I’ve heard Jeanette Winterson interviewed on the radio several times. She’s so engaging that each interview has inspired me to pick up one […]
The figurative language of Jeanette Winterson… Read More »
Word count: 259 words Reading time: About 1 minute Here is some important information for people who follow my blog using an RSS reader. Normally, I give you my “word-of-the-week” on Wednesdays. Today, however, is an urgent note for anyone who reads my blog using an RSS reader. As you
Say goodbye to Google as your RSS reader Read More »
Word count: 786 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Looking for some summer book suggestions? I’m on track for reaching my year-end goal of reading 52 books and here is my semi-annual accounting that may give you some of your own reading ideas. My habit is to post for you
Recommended books: Summer 2013 Read More »
Word count: 233 words 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 writers. Today, I provide a link to an article by Tim Kreider. When I first read an
How much we don’t know… Read More »
Word count: 271 words Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. Today’s comes from Herman Koch. The novel, The Dinner, by Herman Koch (pictured here)
You have voids and then you have voids… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Walter Kirn in the New Yorker. I cannot remember where I first read about “Clark Rockefeller”. Perhaps it was in Vanity Fair. That seems the right place to
The figurative language of Walker Kirn… Read More »
Word count: 228 words 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: importunate. I’d never have predicted I’d discover a story on mushrooms — used as a packing material, replacing
What does importunate mean? Read More »
Word count: 754 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Ambiguous writing is generally a bad thing. But there are times when a writer ought to welcome a healthy does of ambiguity. Here’s why… When I learned I was pregnant with triplets, 20 years ago, I was desperate to know their
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Word count: 250 words Reading time: 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 writers. Today’s article comes from Sarah Jio. I don’t read murder mysteries and I dislike horror movies. When it
Word count: 278 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing skills is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. Today’s comes from Jill Lepore in a story about Robert Ripley. Somehow, the
He looked remarkably like a vampire… Read More »
