Word count: 237 words Reading time: about 1 minute Easter offers a four-day long weekend in Canada. That’s why, on Monday, my husband and I could be found taking a 90-minute walk along the beaches of Boundary Bay. This spectacular area, only a 30-minute drive from where we live, offers water, wide open spaces and […]
Word count: 733 words Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you know how to stop procrastinating about your writing? Let me give you five suggestions that should help… A friend of mine emailed me last week, despairing over her very bright teenager’s inability to finish an essay. The essay was already late and the
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Word count: 300 words Reading time: Just over 1 minute I don’t know about you but I cannot write when I have a messy desk. Even if I take all my papers — without any sorting at all — and dump them into my inbox so the rest of my desk is clear, I am
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Word count: 200 words Reading time: Less than a minute I read as much of the New Yorker my time will allow each week. Not infrequently, I am way behind. As a former journalist, articles about newspapers, magazines and non-fiction writers frequently grab my eye. Thus, I recently read a story about journalist Dwight Macdonald in the Sept.
Dwight Macdonald was at risk of becoming a journalist Read More »
Word count: 471 words Reading time: About 1.5 minutes For most of my life, I was a night owl. I HATED going to bed and would force myself there at 1 or 2 am and perhaps take an hour to fall asleep. The next day, of course, I had a hard time waking up, dragging
Sleep Cycle can help you awaken earlier, to write Read More »
Word count: 223 words Reading time: less than a minute Not much of a fan of murder mysteries, I’ve never before read anything by the formidable P.D. James. Ah, but she’s a canny one. Determined to reach people like me, she has borrowed her most recent set and characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
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Reading time: 2.5 minutes If you’re an “awfulizer” who procrastinates until deadlines are near (or passed!) here are five writing tips to help you become eager and optimistic about writing…. Awfulizers are people who expect the worst. They are the Alexanders of this world, constantly experiencing one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day after
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Reading time: About 2.5 minutes As soon as I saw the title of the book The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, pictured here, I wanted to read it. Even if the work had nothing to do with writing (and that’s pretty much the case) I reckoned I could grab some useful tips that I
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Word count: 219 words Reading time: Less than 1 minute If you increase your vocabulary you’ll not only help your reading, you’ll also make your writing more precise. Here is my word of the week, perseverate. Do you ever come across a word that you’ve read many times before and suddenly realize you don’t know what it
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Word count: 627 words Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Even if (like me) you were a fan of Steve Jobs, you wouldn’t have wanted him to be your writing coach… I admit it. I’m a Machead. I love my iMac and my iPhone and my iPad. I find them reliable, beautiful and incredibly easy to
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