Word count: 320 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by Collum McCann. I tried reading the novel Let the Great World Spin […]
And then my soul in a sling… Read More »
Word count: 232 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: balustrade. I’ve known for years — decades, even — that the group of spindles underneath the railing in a set of stairs was
What’s a balustrade? Read More »
Word count: 626 words Reading time: About 2 and a half minutes Do you avoid your work because you fear a link between negative emotions and writing? If so, you’re likely losing the chance to achieve something really meaningful. I recently spent five days camping in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. It’s a
How to weather the rain in your writing life Read More »
Word count: 481 words Reading time: Less than 2 minutes 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 discuss an article written by journalist Roy Peter Clark. I’ve long admired the writing of Roy Peter Clark. A
The short sentence as gospel truth Read More »
Word count: 274 words Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on a sentence written by Ian McEwan. I’m a big fan of novelist Ian McEwan. Atonement is
Beyond the tinnitus hiss of silence… Read More »
Word count: 318 words 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 trio of effective metaphors from novelist Tan Twan Eng. Malaysian writer Tan Twan Eng had his first novel, The Gift of Rain, long-listed for the Man Booker prize.
The figurative language of Tan Twan Eng… Read More »
Word count: 271 words 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: quixotic. I’ve encountered the adjective quixotic in my reading practically since I started reading, almost 50 years ago. I can even recall looking it up
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Word count: 868 words Reading time: About 3 minutes Does the idea of writing a book seem impossibly delicious and ridiculously improbable? I’m here to tell you, you can do it! You can learn how to write a book, if you do it with me. When I first dreamed of writing a book, I had
How to write a book Read More »
Word count: 170 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 discuss a series of photos of writers’ hands commissioned by Wofford College. Wofford College in South Carolina has done
Writing advice from Wofford College… Read More »
Word count: 332 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on sentence written by English author Neil Gaiman. I loved the 2009 novel Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The moon was a thin white smile… Read More »
