Reading time: About 3 minutes If digital happiness has eluded you, consider walking away from your cellphone more often…. Does the idea of digital happiness seem as unattainable as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Does it sound like the fantasy of having NO emails in your inbox? Or like the […]
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Reading time: Just over 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 other writers. Today I discuss a blog post on how to write description… I haven’t written a word of fiction since Grade 10, when I was
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Viewing time: 4 mins. 44 secs. The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #85, which describes how to deal with perfectionism. The post first ran on Aug 27/21. Transcript: Welcome to
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Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Elizabeth Wetmore… Before devoting herself to writing, Elizabeth Wetmore tended bar, taught English, drove a cab, edited psychology dissertations, and painted silos and cooling
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Rhona McAdam says she deliberately avoids streaming and other television services, which can eat up too much of her thinking, reading and writing time…. Rhona McAdam was born in BC, has lived in Edmonton and London UK, but now makes her home in Victoria. She spent a memorable year in
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Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you resolved to improve your writing habits for 2026? Don’t leave it up to your New Year’s resolutions… I used to find it exceptionally difficult to exercise. I’d delay, postpone and prevaricate. The thought about my need to exercise rested on my shoulder like a judgmental parrot that wouldn’t
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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 other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about the magic of three…. From the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, to the children’s rhyme three
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Viewing time: 5 mins. 56 secs. The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #92, which describes how to avoid plagiarizing. The post first ran on Aug 20/21. Transcript Welcome to The
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Casey Cep… Typically, when I find figurative language, the writing is somewhat flowery. I mean that in a good way, of course, although flowery language doesn’t suit
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Reading time: About 5 minutes Writing is always going to be harder after a holiday. But taking a break isn’t a mistake! Here’s how to get back into writing after a break… Did you eat too many chocolate-dipped shortbreads this Christmas? Drink lots of glasses of eggnog or mulled wine? Nip out of town for
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