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: everted…. I discovered the writing of Aminatta Forma earlier this year, thanks to the recommendation of a client. Her arresting and multi-layered […]
What does the word ‘everted’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Do you know how important stories are to writing? Learn how to be a great storyteller… Our dishwasher broke last week. It was an expensive model — a Bosch — and only three years old so I was plenty peeved. Making matters worse, our
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I often write about how we talk to ourselves, usually in a highly negative way, as in: My sentences are so boring. I’m a terrible writer. No one enjoys reading what I’m producing. My supervisor/editor/boss thinks I’m a loser. But I didn’t know, until I read a fabulous new book called Chatter by psychologist Ethan
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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 why we stop writing…. Do you tell yourself lies about your writing?
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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 a series of similes and metaphors from Ocean Vuong…. Ocean Vuong is a young Vietnamese-American poet, essayist and novelist, who was born on a rice farm in
The figurative language of Ocean Vuong… 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: panopticon…. I’m a big believer in the relationship between writing and music. For that reason, a piece in the New York Times on
What is the meaning of the word ‘panopticon’? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 5 minutes Here are my 10 favourite articles or posts from last month, focusing on the most useful, helpful and entertaining pieces for writers. Handle your perfectionism Are you a perfectionist? Many writers tell me they are although I usually find the bigger problem is their
PubCoach top 10: March 2021 Read More »
A member of this group recently posted a question in Jell. I thought the answer to it might be interesting and useful to more than just one person, so I am copying it here. Question: Can you give me any advice about how to make a mindmap so it becomes more than just a list
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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 where to look for a literary agent…. Readers ask me all the
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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 similes and metaphors from Aminatta Forna…. Aminatta Forna (pictured above) was born in Scotland, raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain and spent
The figurative language of Aminatta Forna…. Read More »
