Reading time: About 2 minutes Sherry Hobbs says that writing a book is not the end of the process. Instead, it’s only the beginning… The daughter of an Air Force Colonel, Sherry Hobbs spent her childhood traveling around the world, including living in Saigon, Vietnam, when her father was the Air Attache, and in Paris […]
Reflections on writing with Sherry Hobbs Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Don’t white-knuckle your way through a first draft. Instead, learn to rehabilitate your attention. Did you know that school children are having a hard time watching movies in class? Why? Because the movies are too long. Raised on a diet of 10-second videos and their parents’ glazed-over phone faces, kids
How to rehabilitate your attention (and actually focus again) Read More »
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 other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about why writers should not be their own editors… I teach people how to be better self-editors. Yet I
Why writers should not be their own editors * Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from author Ling Ma… Chinese American novelist Ling Ma (pictured above) won a 2018 Kirkus Prize for her first novel Severence. Her work was also listed as a
The figurative language of Ling Ma… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Elizabeth Bachinsky refuses to let fear get in the way of her writing — even though it tries really hard. Once she gets momentum, she says, writing becomes easy enough for her to keep on going. Elizabeth Bachinsky is the author of six books of poetry, including Home of Sudden
Reflections on writing with Elizabeth Bachinsky Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Academic writing is challenging. Here are four mistakes that will stall your dissertation…. If you want more support and accountability for your writing, now is the time to think about joining my three-month writing program. The quarterly admission window closes at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, and the next opportunity to join
Four mistakes that will stall your dissertation (and how to fix them) Read More »
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 written by Austin Kleon…. Austin Kleon is the Texas-based New York Times bestselling author of three illustrated books and a
How Austin Kleon can teach you to use a notebook Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from William Maxwell… I had never heard of William Maxwell until a client introduced him to me. Although long dead (Maxwell lived from 1908 to 2000) he was an
The figurative language of William Maxwell…. Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Aaron Cully Drake is one of the rare writers who absolutely loves editing. Aaron Cully Drake doesn’t actually use his middle name — except in publishing — because people struggle to find the right spelling, so he doesn’t want to put that level of stress on someone he’s just met.
Reflections on writing with Aaron Cully Drake… Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes The NATO typo shows why we need to learn from our mistakes and not obsess over them… It was a jaw-dropping typo. And it appeared in an astonishing place — the New York Times. In a headline. It read: “A North American Treaty Organization Without America?” In fact, if you
The NATO typo, Jane Austen and why I’m not worried Read More »
