Reading time: About 3 minutes Most of us prefer to succeed, but if we have to fail, it’s possible to fail better as a writer… You’ve undoubtedly already heard Samuel Beckett’s advice: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” It comes from his second-to-last piece of work ever published, Worstward Ho, a short piece of prose […]
How can you fail better as a writer? 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 two posts about how to make smart use of your smartphone…. See the photo at the top of this post? The
How to make smart use of your smartphone Read More »
Viewing time: 4 mins. 12 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 #94, which addresses how to get clients to meet deadlines. The post first ran on June 7/19. Transcript:
How to get clients to meet deadlines (video) Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Lisa Halliday…. Lisa Halliday (pictured above) became celebrated for her first novel, Asymmetry. It appeared on many top 10 book lists including those of the New York
The figurative language of Lisa Halliday… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Do you frequently tell yourself you’re “too busy”? If so, today’s message describes how your mindset can boost your productivity this year, maybe even dramatically. By Ann Gomex While working in my first job after university, I received a valuable piece of advice from one of my mentors. It’s something
How your mindset can boost your productivity this year Read More »
There’s no Power Writing from me today as I’m taking some time off this week to celebrate Christmas and the new year. I hope you get a break, too, and I’ll be back in time for next week’s post, January 2nd. Happy New Year!
Viewing time: 5 mins. 55 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 #91, which addresses how to write a personal statement. The post first ran on May 17/19. Transcript: Welcome
How to write a personal statement (video) Read More »
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 images from American novelist Andrew Sean Greer…. One of the top five books I read in 2018 was the Pulitzer-Prize-winning comic novel Less, by Andrew Sean Greer (pictured
The figurative language of Andrew Sean Greer… Read More »
Reading time: About 4 minutes Do you fear you’ve ever been somewhat dysfunctional about Christmas? Here’s how writers can retain the holiday spirit… The ghosts of Christmases past still haunt me. There was the frustrating Christmas when my family’s struggling weekly newspaper had its typesetting machine break down just before our largest issue of the
How writers can retain the holiday spirit 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 Ann Handley… Ann Handley (pictured above), is a writer, digital marketer, and Wall Street Journal best-selling
Ann Handley’s PANDA advice…. Read More »
