Reading time: About 3 minutes Today’s post is a letter I’ve written to one of my coaching students (I’ve changed her name to preserve anonymity.) I think you might find these thoughts helpful, as well. Dear Sarah, I’m writing to follow up on our last coaching call. I think you’re […]
Why you should stay longer with your writing questions Read More »
Word count: 243 words 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 writers. Today I give you a link to a story on the history of words, found in the
Uncovering news about the history of words Read More »
Word count: 217 words Reading time: Less than 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 Anakana Schofield. It’s hard to believe that Malarky is a first
Under the rubble that’s himself… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from Johanna Schneller in the Globe & Mail. I remember seeing a photo of Robert Redford about 10 years ago and being shocked by how much he’d aged.
The figurative language of Johanna Schneller… 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: carmine. I’ve known for decades that the word carmine means “red.” But I didn’t know any more than that. So, I decided
What, exactly, is carmine? Read More »
Word count: 730 words Reading time: About 3 minutes How do you work when you really, really don’t want to? Take my advice on how to overcome adversity in your writing… I’m blaming it on a hard-boiled egg. I had food poisoning last week. I’m guessing the egg, although refrigerated, had
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Word count: 250 words 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 writers. Today I examine a mini-profile of William Zinsser. William Zinsser is the author of one of my
Clutter is the disease of American writing Read More »
Word count: 247 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 Adam Gopnik. I’ve written before about Adam Gopnik. My admiration for
Before they were unmoored from their spines… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from novelist Nicole Bokat. If you read my blog regularly, you may recall my recent post about a sentence by Nicole Bokat. That sentence had originally appeared in
The figurative language of Nicole Bokat… Read More »
Word count: 272 words Reading time: Just over 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: recrudescence. In 2010, I read the marvellous novel Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. It won the Pulitzer in
What does recrudescence mean? Read More »
