Word count: 263 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 discuss an article on standing while you work, recently published by the Economist… I have a bad back. What started […]
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Word count: 215 words Reading time: Less than 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 write today about one produced by Hendrik Hertzberg, in the New Yorker. Why is it so much fun
The great Weiner roast… Read More »
Word count: 286 words Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about an article on Lyme Disease by Michael Specter, published recently in the New Yorker. I can remember pulling a tick from the leg of one of my daughters
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Word count: 195 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: harmattan. When I first encountered the word harmattan, while reading Will Ferguson’s compelling novel 419, I had no idea what it meant. But
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Word count: 728 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Succeeding at something is not just because of what you do — it also stems from what you DON’T do. Here are nine ideas you need to give up to become a better writer… This is a short list of ideas you should give up
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Word count: 720 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes A bag of hammers typically refers to something that’s dumb or stupid. But I prefer Michael J. Fox’s definition — he takes it to mean anything that makes our lives more difficult…. I’m not generally a star-struck kind of person but I’ve admired Michael J.
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Word count: 228 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 photographs of young writers recently posted on Buzzfeed… When I was 20, I thought I
The author as a young man (or woman)… Read More »
Word count: 247 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. Today, I write about a sentence by Lucy Grealy. Lucy Grealy wrote deeply moving memoir, Autobiography of a Face, as I
The cruelty of children is immense… Read More »
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 simile from the late Lucy Grealy. I first learned about the late poet Lucy Grealy several years ago when reading Ann Patchet’s book, Truth and Beauty. I wasn’t terribly impressed
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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: buoyant. I’m just guessing, but I probably learned the adjective buoyant when I was in grade 3. (If that sounds too braggy, let me
