Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes from Jennifer Haigh…. The most recent novel by Jennifer Haigh takes on the topic of abortion. And as the New York Times puts it, ” it would be a terrible mistake […]
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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 term: Belisha beacon… When I read a juicy novel, I particularly enjoy the way it sends me scurring to the dictionary or the internet. The Julian Barnes book
What’s a ‘Belisha beacon’? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Are you fastidious about planning for your desired word count? If not, you should be. Read on to learn why…. Whenever a writer asks me why it’s so important to know their word count goal before starting to write, I tell them the following story. I used to be an
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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 blot post about song lyrics in books… Have you ever noticed how rarely you’ll hear the familiar melody “Happy birthday to
Can you quote song lyrics in books? (Without being sued?) Read More »
Viewing time: 3 minutes 31 seconds 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 the issue #6, about how to recognize good writing, which ran on Feb. 24/17. Transcript: Welcome to The Write Question,
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Reading time: I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of images from Sarah Polley. You may know Sarah Polley as a TV star, famous for her role as Ramona Quimby in the television series Ramona, based on Beverly Cleary‘s books. Subsequently she became famous for her
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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: sehnsucht… I was being lazy when I read the novel The Italian Party by Christina Lynch. It was an easy, unchallenging book described by The New York Times Book Review
What is ‘sehnsucht’? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Do you usually try to hide your mistakes? Or have you had the opportunity to learn why mistakes are good? I’ll never forget a mistake I made early in my career as a journalist. I was 24 years old and running a community newspaper. A civic election was coming up,
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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 post about guest posting…. When I started blogging more than 15 years ago, I had 34 subscribers. All were friends and
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Viewing time: 3 minutes and 32 seconds How to break procrastinating habits? 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 the issue #5, about how to stop procrastinating, which ran on Feb. 17/17. Transcript:
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