Viewing time: 3 mins. 16 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 issue #10, about whether it makes sense to write in your first language, which first ran on March 24/17. Transcript: […]
Should you write in your first language? (video) Read More »
Reading time: About 2 mins. I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from John Banville…. John Banville is an Irish novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He has won the 1976 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the 2003 International Nonino Prize, the 2005 Booker Prize
The figurative language of John Banville… Read More »
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: brume…. If you’d asked me to describe brume and I hadn’t seen the spelling, I’d have thought you were talking about the herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family. Common
Reading time: About 3 minutes Have you ever kept a writing tracking record? This simple document — you can create it easily in your own word processing software — will revolutionize your productivity…. When I wrote my first book, I made so many mistakes. I didn’t have a daily writing goal that was specific enough
Why writers should use a secret sauce — tracking Read More »
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 about feeling shame after publishing… A recent post on the website Lit Hub featured five writers talking about
Is it weird to feel shame after publishing? Read More »
Viewing time: 2 minutes 45 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 issue #9, about how to get better at budgeting writing time. It ran first ran on March 17/17. Transcript: Welcome
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Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about images from Edward Carey… If anyone recommends a book of historical fiction to me, I’ll take a close look and probably read it. This is what happened with Little — a fictionalized,
The figurative language of Edward Carey… Read More »
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: enfilade…. I know when I read a Julian Barnes novel that I’m going to have the bonus of several new words to learn. This was the case
What does ‘enfilade’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Has it ever occurred to you to plan for the worst while hoping for the best? This is precisely why preparing for imperfection is such an integral part of the writing process. If I had a dollar for every person who told me they couldn’t write because they were a “perfectionist,” well,
How do you prepare for imperfection? 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 address the question: is writing like homework? Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, who was co-author of the 1980 and 1983 Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back
Is writing like homework? Read More »
